37 research outputs found
Energy efficient enabling technologies for semantic video processing on mobile devices
Semantic object-based processing will play an increasingly important role in future multimedia systems due to the ubiquity of digital multimedia capture/playback technologies and increasing storage capacity. Although the object based paradigm has many undeniable benefits, numerous technical challenges remain before the applications becomes pervasive, particularly on computational constrained mobile devices. A fundamental issue is the ill-posed problem of semantic object segmentation. Furthermore, on battery powered mobile computing devices, the additional algorithmic complexity of semantic object based processing compared to conventional video processing is highly undesirable both from a real-time operation and battery life perspective. This
thesis attempts to tackle these issues by firstly constraining the solution space and focusing on the
human face as a primary semantic concept of use to users of mobile devices. A novel face detection algorithm is proposed, which from the outset was designed to be amenable to be offloaded from the host microprocessor to dedicated hardware, thereby providing real-time performance and
reducing power consumption. The algorithm uses an Artificial Neural Network (ANN), whose topology and weights are evolved via a genetic algorithm (GA). The computational burden of the ANN evaluation is offloaded to a dedicated hardware accelerator, which is capable of processing
any evolved network topology. Efficient arithmetic circuitry, which leverages modified Booth recoding, column compressors and carry save adders, is adopted throughout the design. To tackle the increased computational costs associated with object tracking or object based shape encoding, a novel energy efficient binary motion estimation architecture is proposed. Energy is reduced in the proposed motion estimation architecture by minimising the redundant operations inherent in the binary data. Both architectures are shown to compare favourable with the relevant prior art
Intelligibility model optimisation approaches for speech pre-enhancement
The goal of improving the intelligibility of broadcast speech is being met by a recent new direction in speech enhancement: near-end intelligibility enhancement. In contrast to the conventional speech enhancement approach that processes the corrupted speech at the receiver-side of the communication chain, the near-end intelligibility enhancement approach pre-processes the clean speech at the transmitter-side, i.e. before it is played into the environmental noise. In this work, we describe an optimisation-based approach to near-end intelligibility enhancement using models of speech intelligibility to improve the intelligibility of speech in noise.
This thesis first presents a survey of speech intelligibility models and how the adverse acoustic conditions affect the intelligibility of speech. The purpose of this survey is to identify models that we can adopt in the design of the pre-enhancement system. Then, we investigate the strategies humans use to increase speech intelligibility in noise. We then relate human strategies to existing algorithms for near-end intelligibility enhancement. A closed-loop feedback approach to near-end intelligibility enhancement is then introduced. In this framework, speech modifications are guided by a model of intelligibility. For the closed-loop system to work, we develop a simple spectral modification strategy that modifies the first few coefficients of an auditory cepstral representation such as to maximise an intelligibility measure. We experiment with two contrasting measures of objective intelligibility. The first, as a baseline, is an audibility measure named 'glimpse proportion' that is computed as the proportion of the spectro-temporal representation of the speech signal that is free from masking.
We then propose a discriminative intelligibility model, building on the principles of missing data speech recognition, to model the likelihood of specific phonetic confusions that may occur when speech is presented in noise. The discriminative intelligibility measure is computed using a statistical model of speech from the speaker that is to be enhanced.
Interim results showed that, unlike the glimpse proportion based system, the discriminative based system did not improve intelligibility.
We investigated the reason behind that and we found that the discriminative based system was not able to target the phonetic confusion with the fixed spectral shaping. To address that, we introduce a time-varying spectral modification. We also propose to perform the optimisation on a segment-by-segment basis which enables a robust solution against the fluctuating noise. We further combine our system with a noise-independent enhancement technique, i.e. dynamic range compression.
We found significant improvement in non-stationary noise condition, but no significant differences to the state-of-the art system (spectral shaping and dynamic range compression) where found in stationary noise condition
Transmission strategies for broadband wireless systems with MMSE turbo equalization
This monograph details efficient transmission strategies for single-carrier wireless broadband communication systems employing iterative (turbo) equalization. In particular, the first part focuses on the design and analysis of low complexity and robust MMSE-based turbo equalizers operating in the frequency domain. Accordingly, several novel receiver schemes are presented which improve the convergence properties and error performance over the existing turbo equalizers. The second part discusses concepts and algorithms that aim to increase the power and spectral efficiency of the communication system by efficiently exploiting the available resources at the transmitter side based upon the channel conditions. The challenging issue encountered in this context is how the transmission rate and power can be optimized, while a specific convergence constraint of the turbo equalizer is guaranteed.Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit dem Entwurf und der Analyse von
effizienten Ăbertragungs-konzepten fĂźr drahtlose, breitbandige
Einträger-Kommunikationssysteme mit iterativer (Turbo-) Entzerrung und
Kanaldekodierung. Dies beinhaltet einerseits die Entwicklung von
empfängerseitigen Frequenzbereichs-entzerrern mit geringer Komplexität
basierend auf dem Prinzip der Soft Interference Cancellation Minimum-Mean
Squared-Error (SC-MMSE) Filterung und andererseits den Entwurf von
senderseitigen Algorithmen, die durch Ausnutzung von
Kanalzustandsinformationen die Bandbreiten- und Leistungseffizienz in Ein-
und Mehrnutzersystemen mit Mehrfachantennen (sog. Multiple-Input
Multiple-Output (MIMO)) verbessern.
Im ersten Teil dieser Arbeit wird ein allgemeiner Ansatz fĂźr Verfahren zur
Turbo-Entzerrung nach dem Prinzip der linearen MMSE-Schätzung, der
nichtlinearen MMSE-Schätzung sowie der kombinierten MMSE- und
Maximum-a-Posteriori (MAP)-Schätzung vorgestellt. In diesem Zusammenhang
werden zwei neue Empfängerkonzepte, die eine Steigerung der
Leistungsfähigkeit und Verbesserung der Konvergenz in Bezug auf
existierende SC-MMSE Turbo-Entzerrer in verschiedenen Kanalumgebungen
erzielen, eingefßhrt. Der erste Empfänger - PDA SC-MMSE - stellt eine
Kombination aus dem Probabilistic-Data-Association (PDA) Ansatz und dem
bekannten SC-MMSE Entzerrer dar. Im Gegensatz zum SC-MMSE nutzt der PDA
SC-MMSE eine interne EntscheidungsrĂźckfĂźhrung, so dass zur UnterdrĂźckung
von Interferenzen neben den a priori Informationen der Kanaldekodierung
auch weiche Entscheidungen der vorherigen Detektions-schritte
berßcksichtigt werden. Durch die zusätzlich interne
EntscheidungsrĂźckfĂźhrung erzielt der PDA SC-MMSE einen wesentlichen Gewinn
an Performance in räumlich unkorrelierten MIMO-Kanälen gegenßber dem
SC-MMSE, ohne dabei die Komplexität des Entzerrers wesentlich zu erhÜhen.
Der zweite Empfänger - hybrid SC-MMSE - bildet eine Verknßpfung von
gruppenbasierter SC-MMSE Frequenzbereichsfilterung und MAP-Detektion.
Dieser Empfänger besitzt eine skalierbare Berechnungskomplexität und weist
eine hohe Robustheit gegenßber räumlichen Korrelationen in MIMO-Kanälen
auf. Die numerischen Ergebnisse von Simulationen basierend auf Messungen
mit einem Channel-Sounder in Mehrnutzerkanälen mit starken räumlichen
Korrelationen zeigen eindrucksvoll die Ăberlegenheit des hybriden
SC-MMSE-Ansatzes gegenßber dem konventionellen SC-MMSE-basiertem Empfänger.
Im zweiten Teil wird der Einfluss von System- und Kanalmodellparametern auf
die Konvergenzeigenschaften der vorgestellten iterativen Empfänger mit
Hilfe sogenannter Korrelationsdiagramme untersucht. Durch semi-analytische
Berechnungen der Entzerrer- und Kanaldecoder-Korrelationsfunktionen wird
eine einfache Berechnungsvorschrift zur Vorhersage der
Bitfehlerwahrscheinlichkeit von SC-MMSE und PDA SC-MMSE Turbo Entzerrern
fßr MIMO-Fadingkanäle entwickelt. Des Weiteren werden zwei Fehlerschranken
fßr die Ausfallwahrscheinlichkeit der Empfänger vorgestellt. Die
semi-analytische Methode und die abgeleiteten Fehlerschranken ermĂśglichen
eine aufwandsgeringe Abschätzung sowie Optimierung der Leistungsfähigkeit
des iterativen Systems.
Im dritten und abschlieĂenden Teil werden Strategien zur Raten- und
Leistungszuweisung in Kommunikationssystemen mit konventionellen iterativen
SC-MMSE Empfängern untersucht. Zunächst wird das Problem der Maximierung
der instantanen Summendatenrate unter der BerĂźcksichtigung der Konvergenz
des iterativen Empfängers fßr einen Zweinutzerkanal mit fester
Leistungsallokation betrachtet. Mit Hilfe des Flächentheorems von
Extrinsic-Information-Transfer (EXIT)-Funktionen wird eine obere Schranke
fĂźr die erreichbare Ratenregion hergeleitet. Auf Grundlage dieser Schranke
wird ein einfacher Algorithmus entwickelt, der fĂźr jeden Nutzer aus einer
Menge von vorgegebenen Kanalcodes mit verschiedenen Codierraten denjenigen
auswählt, der den instantanen Datendurchsatz des Mehrnutzersystems
verbessert. Neben der instantanen Ratenzuweisung wird auch ein
ausfallbasierter Ansatz zur Ratenzuweisung entwickelt. Hierbei erfolgt die
Auswahl der Kanalcodes fĂźr die Nutzer unter BerĂźcksichtigung der Einhaltung
einer bestimmten Ausfallwahrscheinlichkeit (outage probability) des
iterativen Empfängers. Des Weiteren wird ein neues Entwurfskriterium fßr
irreguläre Faltungscodes hergeleitet, das die Ausfallwahrscheinlichkeit von
Turbo SC-MMSE Systemen verringert und somit die Zuverlässigkeit der
DatenĂźbertragung erhĂśht. Eine Reihe von Simulationsergebnissen von
Kapazitäts- und Durchsatzberechnungen werden vorgestellt, die die
Wirksamkeit der vorgeschlagenen Algorithmen und Optimierungsverfahren in
Mehrnutzerkanälen belegen. AbschlieĂend werden auĂerdem verschiedene
MaĂnahmen zur Minimierung der Sendeleistung in Einnutzersystemen mit
senderseitiger Singular-Value-Decomposition (SVD)-basierter Vorcodierung
untersucht. Es wird gezeigt, dass eine Methode, welche die Leistungspegel
des Senders hinsichtlich der Bitfehlerrate des iterativen Empfängers
optimiert, den konventionellen Verfahren zur Leistungszuweisung Ăźberlegen
ist
Biometric Systems
Because of the accelerating progress in biometrics research and the latest nation-state threats to security, this book's publication is not only timely but also much needed. This volume contains seventeen peer-reviewed chapters reporting the state of the art in biometrics research: security issues, signature verification, fingerprint identification, wrist vascular biometrics, ear detection, face detection and identification (including a new survey of face recognition), person re-identification, electrocardiogram (ECT) recognition, and several multi-modal systems. This book will be a valuable resource for graduate students, engineers, and researchers interested in understanding and investigating this important field of study
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Strategies for Devising Automatic Signal Recognition Algorithms in a Shared Radio Environment
In an increasingly congested and complex radio environment interference is to be expected, which poses problems for Automatic Signal Recognition (ASR) systems.
This thesis explores strategies for improving ASR performance in the presence of interference. The thesis breaks the overall research question down into a number of subquestions and explores each of these in turn. A Phase-symmetric Cross Recurrence Plot is developed and used to show how a radio signal can be manipulated to separate information about the modulation from the information being carried. The Logarithmic Cyclic frequency Domain Profile is introduced to illustrate how a logarithmic representation can be used for analysing mixtures of signals with very different cyclic frequencies. After defining a canonical ASR system architecture, the concepts of an Ideal Feature and Interference Selectivity are introduced and applied to typical features used in ASR processing. Finally it is shown how these algorithmic developments can be combined in a Bayesian chain implementation that can accommodate a wide variety of feature extraction algorithms.
It is concluded that future ASR systems will require features that can handle a wide range of signal types with much higher levels of interference selectivity if they are to achieve acceptable performance in shared spectrum bands. Intelligent segmentation is shown to be a requirement for future ASR systems unless features can be developed that have near ideal performance
Cooperative Radio Communications for Green Smart Environments
The demand for mobile connectivity is continuously increasing, and by 2020 Mobile and Wireless Communications will serve not only very dense populations of mobile phones and nomadic computers, but also the expected multiplicity of devices and sensors located in machines, vehicles, health systems and city infrastructures. Future Mobile Networks are then faced with many new scenarios and use cases, which will load the networks with different data traffic patterns, in new or shared spectrum bands, creating new specific requirements. This book addresses both the techniques to model, analyse and optimise the radio links and transmission systems in such scenarios, together with the most advanced radio access, resource management and mobile networking technologies. This text summarises the work performed by more than 500 researchers from more than 120 institutions in Europe, America and Asia, from both academia and industries, within the framework of the COST IC1004 Action on "Cooperative Radio Communications for Green and Smart Environments". The book will have appeal to graduates and researchers in the Radio Communications area, and also to engineers working in the Wireless industry. Topics discussed in this book include: ⢠Radio waves propagation phenomena in diverse urban, indoor, vehicular and body environments⢠Measurements, characterization, and modelling of radio channels beyond 4G networks⢠Key issues in Vehicle (V2X) communication⢠Wireless Body Area Networks, including specific Radio Channel Models for WBANs⢠Energy efficiency and resource management enhancements in Radio Access Networks⢠Definitions and models for the virtualised and cloud RAN architectures⢠Advances on feasible indoor localization and tracking techniques⢠Recent findings and innovations in antenna systems for communications⢠Physical Layer Network Coding for next generation wireless systems⢠Methods and techniques for MIMO Over the Air (OTA) testin
Cooperative Radio Communications for Green Smart Environments
The demand for mobile connectivity is continuously increasing, and by 2020 Mobile and Wireless Communications will serve not only very dense populations of mobile phones and nomadic computers, but also the expected multiplicity of devices and sensors located in machines, vehicles, health systems and city infrastructures. Future Mobile Networks are then faced with many new scenarios and use cases, which will load the networks with different data traffic patterns, in new or shared spectrum bands, creating new specific requirements. This book addresses both the techniques to model, analyse and optimise the radio links and transmission systems in such scenarios, together with the most advanced radio access, resource management and mobile networking technologies. This text summarises the work performed by more than 500 researchers from more than 120 institutions in Europe, America and Asia, from both academia and industries, within the framework of the COST IC1004 Action on "Cooperative Radio Communications for Green and Smart Environments". The book will have appeal to graduates and researchers in the Radio Communications area, and also to engineers working in the Wireless industry. Topics discussed in this book include: ⢠Radio waves propagation phenomena in diverse urban, indoor, vehicular and body environments⢠Measurements, characterization, and modelling of radio channels beyond 4G networks⢠Key issues in Vehicle (V2X) communication⢠Wireless Body Area Networks, including specific Radio Channel Models for WBANs⢠Energy efficiency and resource management enhancements in Radio Access Networks⢠Definitions and models for the virtualised and cloud RAN architectures⢠Advances on feasible indoor localization and tracking techniques⢠Recent findings and innovations in antenna systems for communications⢠Physical Layer Network Coding for next generation wireless systems⢠Methods and techniques for MIMO Over the Air (OTA) testin