Navigation Devices for Mobile Phones

A mobile phone has several buttons/keys e.g. numerical keys, side keys, camera buttons and navigation keys. SEMC, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, has mainly used the joystick and the rocker key as their navigation devices since they released their first phone in 2002. These technologies are used in all their phones except smart phones, e.g. W950 and P990. During the years SEMC has experienced some quality problems with their navigation devices, mainly with the joystick, because of the lack of ability to keep dust out. As the development of mobile phones progress, with more functions and larger quantity of data to go through, the need of a navigation device with more possibilities arise. The purpose of this master thesis was to perform a pre-study on the next generation navigation devices for mobile phones and based on that give recommendations to SEMC of which navigation devices suitable to be used in the future

Overview of microoptics: Past, present, and future

Through advances in semiconductor miniaturization technology, microrelief patterns, with characteristic dimensions as small as the wavelength of light, can now be mass reproduced to form high-quality and low-cost optical components. In a unique example of technology transfer, from electronics to optics, this capability is allowing optics designers to create innovative optical components that promise to solve key problems in optical sensors, optical communication channels, and optical processors

Biometric Systems Interaction Assessment: The State of the Art

The design and implementation of effective and efficient biometric systems presents a series of challenges to information technology (IT) designers to ensure robust performance. One of the most important factors across biometric systems, aside from algorithmic matching ability, is the human interaction influence on performance. Changes in biometric system paradigms have motivated further testing methods, especially within mobile environments, where the interaction with the device has fewer environmental constraints, whichmay severely affect system performance. Testing methods involve the need for reflecting on the influence of user-system interaction on the overall system performance in order to provide information for design and testing. This paper reflects on the state of the art of biometric systems interaction assessment, leading to a comprehensive document of the relevant research and standards in this area. Furthermore, the current challenges are discussed and thus we provide a roadmap for the future of biometrics systems interaction research

ReSCon '11, Research Student Conference: Book of Abstracts

The fourth SED Research Student Conference (ReSCon2011) was hosted over three days, 20-22 June 2011, in the Hamilton Centre at Brunel University. The conference consisted of technical presentations, a poster session and social events. which focused on current research being conducted within the School of Engineering and Design by postgraduate research students from the School. The conference is held annually, and ReSCon plays a key role in contributing to research and innovations within the School

The Impact Of The Development Of ICT In Several Hungarian Economic Sectors

As the author could not find a reassuring mathematical and statistical method in the literature for studying the effect of information communication technology on enterprises, the author suggested a new research and analysis method that he also used to study the Hungarian economic sectors. The question of what factors have an effect on their net income is vital for enterprises. At first, the author studied some potential indicators related to economic sectors, then those indicators were compared to the net income of the surveyed enterprises. The resulting data showed that the growing penetration of electronic marketplaces contributed to the change of the net income of enterprises to the greatest extent. Furthermore, among all the potential indicators, it was the only indicator directly influencing the net income of enterprises. With the help of the compound indicator and the financial data of the studied economic sectors, the author made an attempt to find a connection between the development level of ICT and profitability. Profitability and productivity are influenced by a lot of other factors as well. As the effect of the other factors could not be measured, the results – shown in a coordinate system - are not full but informative. The highest increment of specific Gross Value Added was produced by the fields of ‘Manufacturing’, ‘Electricity, gas and water supply’, ‘Transport, storage and communication’ and ‘Financial intermediation’. With the exception of ‘Electricity, gas and water supply’, the other economic sectors belong to the group of underdeveloped branches (below 50 percent). On the other hand, ‘Construction’, ‘Health and social work’ and ‘Hotels and restaurants’ can be seen as laggards, so they got into the lower left part of the coordinate system. ‘Agriculture, hunting and forestry’ can also be classified as a laggard economic sector, but as the effect of the compound indicator on the increment of Gross Value Added was less significant, it can be found in the upper left part of the coordinate system. Drawing a trend line on the points, it can be made clear that it shows a positive gradient, that is, the higher the usage of ICT devices, the higher improvement can be detected in the specific Gross Value Added

Usability in biometric recognition systems

Mención Internacional en el título de doctorBiometric recognition, which is a technology already mature, grows nowadays in several contexts, including forensics, access controls, home automation systems, internet, etc. Now that technology is moving to mobile scenarios, biometric recognition is being also integrated in smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices as a convenient solution for guaranteeing security, complementing other methods such as PIN or passwords. Nevertheless, the use of biometric recognition is not as spread as desired and it is still unknown for a wide percentage of the population. It has been demonstrated [1] that some of the possible reasons for the slow penetration of biometrics could be related to usability concerns. This could lead to various drawbacks like worst error rates due to systems misuses and it could end with users rejecting the technology and preferring other approaches. This Thesis is intended to cover this topic including a study of the current state of the art, several experiments analysing the most relevant usability factors and modifications to a usability evaluation methodology. The chosen methodology is the H-B interaction, carried out by Fernandez-Saavedra [2], based on the ISO/IEC 19795 [3], the HBSI [4], the ISO 9241-210 [5] and on Common Criteria [6]. Furthermore, this work is focused on dealing with accessibility concerns in biometric recognition systems. This topic, usually included into the usability field, has been addressed here separately, though the study of the accessibility has followed the same steps as the usability study: reviewing the state of the art, pointing and analysing the main influential factors and making improvements to the state of the art. The recently published standard EN 301 549 – “Accessibility requirements suitable for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe” [7] has been also analysed. These two topics have been overcome through the well-known user-centric-design approach. In this way, first the influential factors have been detected. Then, they have been isolated (when possible) and measured. The results obtained have been then interpreted to suggest new updates to the H-B interaction. This 3-steps approach has been applied cyclically and the factors and methodology updated after each iteration. Due to technology and usability trends, during this work, all the systems/applications developed in the experiments have been thought to be mobile directly or indirectly. The biometric modalities used during the experiments performed in this Thesis are those pointed as suitable for biometric recognition in mobile devices: handwritten recognition signature, face and fingerprint recognition. Also, the scenarios and the applications used are in line with the main uses of biometrics in mobile environments, such as sign documents, locking/unlocking devices, or make payments. The outcomes of this Thesis are intended to guide future developers in the way of designing and testing proper usable and accessible biometrics. Finally, the results of this Thesis are being suggested as a new International Standard within ISO/IEC/JTC1/SC37 – Biometric Recognition, as standardization is the proper way of guaranteeing usability and accessibility in future biometric systems. The contributions of this Thesis include: • Improvements to the H-B interaction methodology, including several usability evaluations. • Improvements on the accessibility of the ICT (Information and Communications Technology) products by means of the integration of biometric recognition systems • Adaptation and application of the EN 301 549 to biometric recognition systems.El reconocimiento biométrico, que es una tecnología ya madura, crece hoy en día en varios contextos, incluyendo la medicina forense, controles de acceso, sistemas de automatización del hogar, internet, etc. Ahora que la tecnología se está moviendo a los escenarios móviles, el reconocimiento biométrico está siendo también integrado en los teléfonos inteligentes, tabletas y otros dispositivos móviles como una solución conveniente para garantizar la seguridad, como complemento de otros métodos de seguridad como el PIN o las contraseñas. Sin embargo, el uso del reconocimiento biométrico es todavía desconocido para un amplio porcentaje de la población. Se ha demostrado [1] que algunas de las posibles razones de la lenta penetración de la biometría podrían estar relacionadas con problemas de usabilidad. Esto podría dar lugar a diversos inconvenientes, ofreciendo un rendimiento por debajo de lo esperado debido al mal uso de los sistemas y podría terminar con los usuarios rechazando la tecnología y prefiriendo otros enfoques. Esta tesis doctoral trata este tema incluyendo un estudio del estado actual de la técnica, varios experimentos que analizan los factores de usabilidad más relevantes y modificaciones a una metodología de evaluación de la usabilidad, la "H-B interaction" [2] basada en la ISO / IEC 19795 [3], el HBSI [4], la ISO 9241 [5] y Common Criteria [6]. Además, este trabajo se centra también en los problemas de accesibilidad de los sistemas de reconocimiento biométrico. Este tema, que por lo general se incluye en el campo de la usabilidad, se ha tratado aquí por separado, aunque el estudio de la accesibilidad ha seguido los mismos pasos que el estudio de usabilidad: revisión del estado del arte, análisis de los principales factores influyentes y propuesta de cambios en la metodología H-B interaction. Han sido también analizados los requisitos de accesibilidad para las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) en Europa, bajo la norma EN 301 549 [7]. Estos dos temas han sido estudiados a través de un enfoque centrado en el usuario (User Centric Design - UCD). De esta manera, se han detectado los factores influyentes. A continuación, dichos factores han sido aislados (cuando ha sido posible) y medidos. Los resultados obtenidos han sido interpretados para sugerir nuevos cambios a la metodología H-B interaction. Este enfoque de 3 pasos se ha aplicado de forma cíclica a los factores y a la metodología después de cada iteración. Debido a las tendencias tecnológicas y de usabilidad, durante este trabajo, todos los sistemas / aplicaciones desarrolladas en los experimentos se han pensado para ser móviles, directa o indirectamente. Las modalidades utilizadas durante los experimentos realizados en esta tesis doctoral son las que se señalaron como adecuados para el reconocimiento biométrico en dispositivos móviles: la firma manuscrita, la cara y el reconocimiento de huellas dactilares. Además, los escenarios y las aplicaciones utilizadas están en línea con los principales usos de la biometría en entornos móviles, como la firma de documentos, el bloqueo / desbloqueo de dispositivos, o hacer pagos. Los resultados de esta tesis tienen como objetivo orientar a los futuros desarrolladores en el diseño y evaluación de la usabilidad y la accesibilidad en los sistemas de reconocimiento biométrico. Por último, los resultados de esta tesis doctoral se sugerirán como un nuevo estándar de ISO / IEC / JTC1 / SC37 - Biometric Recognition, ya que la normalización es la manera adecuada de garantizar la usabilidad y la accesibilidad en los futuros sistemas biométricos. Las contribuciones de esta tesis incluyen: • Mejora de la metodología de evaluación H-B interaction, incluyendo varias evaluaciones de usabilidad. • Mejora de la accesibilidad de los sistemas de información / electrónicos mediante la integración de sistemas biométricos y varias evaluaciones. • Adaptación y aplicación de la norma de accesibilidad EN 301 549 al campo de los sistemas biométricos.Programa Oficial de Doctorado en Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y AutomáticaPresidente: Patrizio Campisi.- Secretario: Enrique Cabellos Pardo.- Vocal: Marcos Faundez Zanu

Cellulose Nanocrystal Chiral Structures for Electronics and Photonics

This dissertation reports on the integration of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) as photonic films into optoelectronic devices, where the films’ inherent left-handed mesoporous chiral nematic structure acts as a circular polarized light (CPL) filter in the visible light range. The outcome demonstrates for the first time micro- scopic semiconducting devices based on cellulose, capable of producing specific electronic outputs when irradiated with either left- or right- handed CPL (LCPL and RCPL, respectively). For this proof-of-concept two distinct optoelectronic devices are targeted: a thin-film field-effect transistor and a thin-film photodiode, spanning the whole visible electromagnetic spectrum. The devices are jointly developed each one with a specific type of CNC, presenting photonic bandgaps that are tuned for the active layer of the devices. On the one hand, lab-produced (home-made CNCs – HM-CNCs) are synthesized through sulfuric acid hydrol- ysis, yielding HM-CNC films with a photonic bandgap in the blue/UV region. On the other hand, industrially produced Na neutralized spray-dried CNCs by CelluForce (C-CNCs) are studied on behalf of their redispersion in water to yield C-CNC films with a photonic bandgap in the green/red region. The work is essentially divided into three main parts: • Study of liquid crystalline and photonic properties of HM-CNCs and C- CNCs in aqueous suspensions (Chapter 3) • Implementation of HM-CNCs into field-effect transistors (Chapter 5) • Implementation of C-CNCs into thin-film photodiodes (Chapter 6) The main objective of Chapter 5 deals with the implementation of HM-CNCs films, optimized through the first Objective in Chapter 3, into field-effect tran- sistors based on amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (a-IGZO) as the semicon- ductor. In the resulting devices the HM-CNC films take simultaneously the role of the devices’ dielectric as a solid-state electrolyte and as a photonic filter for CPL. Consequently, this study encompasses two sub-objectives, connected firstly to the study of the electrochemical properties of these films and their success- ful integration into field-effect transistors without compromising self-assembly behavior. And secondly, successful proof of CPL sensing capabilities of these devices. The final study shows the incorporation of C-CNC films, into amorphous silicon-based thin-film photodiodes, achieving a light sensor capable of discrimi- nating between RCPL and LCPL. The spectral response of the fabricated photo- diodes is maximum for specific wavelengths in the green/red region. Irradiating the devices in these wavelengths they produce photocurrents that are over 50% distinct between RCPL and LCPL. Fast transient responses (on the order of ms) of CPL are shown with possible logic operations, as well as humidity sensing. Films produced through the methods described in Chapter 3 show promis- ing properties for their application in sensing, co-templating, enantioselectivity, photonic pigments or anti-counterfeiting. The insights presented in Section 5.1 contribute to applications in solid-state ionics of mesoporous structures or the combination of optically active electrolytes capable of providing unique func- tionalities in ion-gated transistors and circuitry. Finally, the types of devices pro- duced in Section 5.2 and Chapter 6 may find applications in photonics, emission, conversion, or sensing with CPL but also imaging, spintronics, optoelectronic counterfeiting or information processing with logic states that depend solely on the handedness of the incident light.Esta dissertação é dedicada ao estudo de nanocristais de celulose (cellulose nanocrystals - CNCs) e à sua integração como filmes fotónicos em dispositivos optoelectrónicos, explorando a sua estrutura nemática quiral com orientação de rotação para esquerda como um filtro de luz polarizada circularmente (circu- lar polarized light - CPL) no comprimento de onda visível. Os resultados deste trabalho demonstram dispositivos microscópicos à base de celulose, capazes de responder com sinais elétricos específicos quando irradiados por CPL à esquerda (LCPL) ou CPL à direita (RCPL). Para esta prova-de-conceito são destacados dois dispositivos optoelectrónicos distintos: transístores e fotodíodos. Os dispositivos desenvolvidos incorporam diferentes tipos de CNCs com um hiato fotónico espe- cífico correspondente à região de absorção das camadas ativas dos dispositivos. De um lado são sintetizados CNCs em laboratório (home-made CNCs – HM-CNCs) que resultarão filmes fotónicos com um hiato no Azul/UV. De outro lado, CNCs comerciais da CelluForce (C-CNCs), em forma de pó. A redispersão desse tipo de CNCs em água é investigada, e resulta em filmes fotónicos com um hiato na região do verde/vermelho. Essencialmente, o trabalho está divido em três partes principais: • Estudo das propriedades líquidas cristalinas e fotónicas de suspensões aquo- sas de HM-CNCs e C-CNCs (Capítulo 3) • Implementação de HM-CNCs em transístores (Capítulo 5) • Implementação de C-CNCs em fotodíodos (Capítulo 6) Capítulo 5 estuda a implementação de filmes de HM-CNCs, otimizados no objetivo do Capítulo 3, em transístores de efeito de campo onde o semicondutor é o óxido de índio-gálio-zinco amorfo (a-IGZO). Nos dispositivos finais, o filme de HM-CNCs assume uma dupla funcionalidade: funciona como o dielétrico do transístor (na forma de um eletrólito de estado sólido), e atua como um filtro seletivo de CPL. Logo, esta parte está divida em dois sub-objetivos: a primeira estuda as propriedades eletroquímicas dos filmes de HM-CNCs, e a sua integração em transístores de efeito de campo sem perda das propriedades de self-assembly, enquanto a segunda parte é dedicada à prova de conceito da deteção seletiva de CPL. O estudo final demonstra a incorporação de filmes de C-CNCs em fotodíodos baseados em silício amorfo, que resulta em sensores de luz capazes de diferenciar entre os dois estados de CPL. A resposta espetral dos fotodíodos é máxima para comprimentos de onda específicos na região do verde e do vermelho. Ao irradiar os dispositivos finais nesses comprimentos de onda com CPL, estes apresentam uma diferença de 50% nas foto-correntes medidas para cada um dos dois estados de CPL. Os dispositivos finais mostram tempos de resposta rápidos (na ordem dos ms), o que os habilita a serem implementados em circuitos para operações lógicas baseadas em estados de polarização e também como sensores de humidade. Filmes produzidos no Capítulo 3, mostram propriedades promissoras para a sua aplicação em sensores, pigmentos fotónicos, e na área de anti-falsificação e segurança. Os resultados da Secção 5.1 contribuem para aplicações em iónica de estado sólido de estruturas mesoporosas, ou a combinação de eletrólitos ótica- mente ativos. Por fim, os dispositivos fabricados na Secção 5.2 e Capítulo 6, podem ser aplicados em áreas de fotónica, emissão, conversão ou sensores de CPL, mas também imagiologia, spintrónica, anti-falsificação por dispositivos optoelectró- nicos, ou processamento de informação com estados lógicos que dependem da polarização da radiação incidente

Liveness Detection of a Finger Based on Changes of Papillary Lines

Existuje mnoho spôsobov podvodov proti biometrickým systémom (BS) a niekoľko techník na zabezpečenie BS proti týmto podvodom. Jednou z nich je detekcia živosti. Na oklamanie senzorov otlačkov prstov sa používajú latentné otlačky, gummené napodobeniny prstov a tenké fólie pripevnené k povrchu prstu. Počas skenovania otlačku prstu sa tiež využíva detekcia živosti. Používajú sa rôzne vlastnosti živého prstu, napr. pot, elektrická vodivosť, atď. V tejto diplomovej práci je skúmaný nový prístup k rozpoznávaniu živosti. Je založený na rozťažnosti prstu ako dôsledku úderov srdca/pulzu. Ako sa koža rozťahuje, zväčšujú sa aj vzdialenosti papilárnych línií. Celý prst expanduje približne o 4,5µm, dve susedné papilárne línie o 0,454µm. Táto hodnota koliduje s vlnovou dĺžkou modrého a zeleného svetla. Výsledok práce je nasledovný. Rozlíšenie snímacieho zariadenia nie je dostatočné na zachytenie rozťažnosti medzi dvoma susednými papilárnymi líniami. Taktiež, z dôvodu kolízie s vlnovou dĺžkou viditelného svetla sa prejavuju difrakčný efekt a výsledok je ovplyvnený touto chybou.There are several frauds against biometric systems (BSs) and several techniques exist to secure BSs against these frauds. One of the techniques is liveness detection. To fool fingerprint sensors, latent fingerprints, dummy fingers and wafer-thin layer attached to the finger are being used. Liveness detection is being used also when scanning fingerprints. Several different characteristics of the live finger can be used to detect liveness, for example sweat, conductivity etc. In this thesis, new approach is examined. It is based on the expandability of the finger as an effect of heartbeats/pulsation. As the skin is expanding, also the distances between papillary lines are expanding. Whole finger expands approximately in range of 4,5 ľm , the distance between two neighbor papillary lines in 0,454 ľm . This value collides with wavelength of blue and green light. The result from this work is following. The resolution of the capturing device is not high enough to capture the expandability on distance between two neighbor papillary lines. Also, because of collision with wavelength, the diffraction effect is presented and the result images are influenced by this error.