Computer Engineering Commons^™

Application Of Inversions To Lossless Image Compression, Ziya Arnavut

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Linear prediction schemes, such as that of the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), are simple and normally produces a residual sequence with lower zero-order entropy. Occasionally the entropy of the prediction error becomes greater than that of the original image. Such situations frequently occur when the image data have discrete gray levels located within certain intervals. To alleviate this problem, various authors have suggested different preprocessing methods. However, the techniques reported require two passes. We extend the definition of Lehmer-type inversions (Lehmer 1960 and 1964) from permutations to multiset permutations and present a one-pass algorithm based on inversions of a …

Arts, Computers And Artificial Intelligence, Sol Neeman Ph.D.

Engineering Studies Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Science and art seem to belong to different cultures. Science and technology, mainly the products of the intellect, use terminology and vocabulary that are concise and well defined. In contrast, in artistic expression, ambiguity is a powerful component. Still the relationship between these two different categories of human activity is interesting and fascinating. In this paper, a general comparison of these two disciplines will be introduced. Then the possibility of mechanical creation of art using computers and artificial intelligence will be discussed. This will be followed by two techniques which are used to create poetry and music. First, a statistical …

Real-Time Visual Speech Articulation Training Aid, Neiyer S. Correal

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A real-time visual articulation training aid has been implemented. It provides instantaneous visual feedback of vowel and stop-consonant production on a computer screen. The vowel training system corresponds to an improved floating-point implementation of a previous fixed-point system developed by Beck (1992). The new implementation provides better accuracy and an approximate five-fold increase in speed. Acoustic features computed from global short-time spectral shape are used for classification of vowels. Temporal spectral trajectories timed to begin with burst onset are used for stop consonants. A neural network is used to transform measurements of auditory stimuli from the feature space to a …

Resource/Dataflow Graph Operating System Development, Sriram J. Coimbatore

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Implementation of a new dataflow schedule model is the objective of this thesis. The dataflow model algorithm called the resource/dataflow graph model is implemented on a peer-to-peer communication network comprising of six personal computers. This dataflow model is implemented making use of an earlier dataflow model called ATAMM (Algorithm to Architecture Mapping Model) developed by ODU and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Development issues include modification of the RDFG testbed operating system and a scheme to transfer data buffers using the ethernet channel from one processor to another processor. This, in turn, equips each sub-module of an application with …

Globally Optimal Periodic Robot Joint Trajectories, Daniel J. Simon

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper presents a new method for the planning of robot trajectories. The method presented assumes that joint-space knots have been generated from Cartesian knots by an inverse kinematics algorithm. The method is based on the globally optimal periodic interpolation scheme derived by Schoenberg, and thus is particularly suited for periodic robot motions. Of all possible periodic joint trajectories which pass through a specified set of knots, the trajectory derived in this paper is the ‘best’. The performance criterion used is the integral (over one period) of a combination of the square of the joint velocity and the square of …

An Empirical Comparison Of Area-Universal And Other Parallel Computing Networks, Ronald I. Greenberg, Lee Guan

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper provides empirical comparison of the communication capabilities of two area-universal networks, the fat-tree and the fat-pyramid, to the popular mesh and hypercube networks for parallel computation. While area-universal networks have been proven capable of simulating, with modest slowdown, any computation of any other network of comparable area, prior work has generally left open the question of how area-universal networks compare to other networks in practice. Comparisons are performed using techniques of throughput and latency analysis that have previously been applied to k-ary n-cube networks and using various existing models to equate the hardware cost of the networks being …

Visual Speech Recognition Using Multiple Deformable Lip Models, Devi Chandramohan

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Motivated by the fact that human speech perception is a bimodal process (auditory and visual), several researchers have designed and implemented automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems consisting of both audio and visual subsystems, and shown improved performance relative to traditional purely auditory systems. Several visual speech reading approaches have used deformable templates to model the shape of a speaker's lips. Deformable templates are models of image objects, which can be deformed by adjusting a set of parameters to match the object in some optimal way, as defined by a cost function. Using a single deformable lip model has disadvantages such …

Genetic Algorithms Vs. Simulated Annealing: A Comparison Of Approaches For Solving The Circuit Partitioning Problem, Theodore W. Manikas, James T. Cain

Computer Science and Engineering Research

An important stage in circuit design is placement, where components are assigned to physical locations on a chip. A popular contemporary approach for placement is the use of simulated annealing. While this approach has been shown to produce good placement solutions, recent work in genetic algorithms has produced promising results. The purpose of this study is to determine which approach will result in better placement solutions.

A simplified model of the placement problem, circuit partitioning, was tested on three circuits with both a genetic algorithm and a simulated annealing algorithm. When compared with simulated annealing, the genetic algorithm was found …

Speech Feature Computation For Visual Speech Articulation Training, Stefan Auberg

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A new version of the Visual Speech Articulation Training Aid was implemented which provides real-time visual feedback for speech articulation training. This version was migrated to a Windows Multimedia PC from a previous version which used a Personal Computer (PC) system and additional specialized and expensive custom hardware. This new version will make the system more available to schools and private users. A new method was developed for computing spectral/temporal features which characterize the speech sounds. In addition to the typical frame-based spectral analysis parameters, the new method represents temporal changes of the spectrum with a small number of features. …

Translation Of 'Profiles In Faith', Monish Ranjan Chatterjee

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Sarat Chandra Chatterjee (1876-1938) may be considered one of the three most significant figures of the literary component of the Bengal Renaissance, the other two being Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (1838-1894) and Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). As much as Bankim Chandra is identified with the new age in the Bengali novel, and the development of serious vernacular journalism, and Rabindranath with modern/classical movements in Bengali poetry and music, along with novel ideas in methods of education and teaching, Sarat Chandra, as a novelist and storyteller, perfected the art of narration and critical analyses of a variety of contemporaneous social and political issues, …

Incorporating Matlab's Signal Processing Toolbox Into A Dsp Course At An Undergraduate E.E. Program, Sol Neeman Ph.D.

Engineering Studies Faculty Publications and Creative Works

This paper provides some suggestions for incorporating MATLAB's Signal Processing Toolbox into a DSP course. Often, in a DSP course, students have difficulties understanding abstract and non-intuitive concepts and seeing their relevance to the practical part of their curriculum. The tools offered by MATLAB's Signal Processing Toolbox, can help to make these concepts more tangible and provide a perspective for students. Some basic tools relevant to an undergraduate DSP course will be introduced, including examples of tool use and graphic results. The tools presented will be applied in the areas of synthesis and analysis of signals, FFT computation, impulse response …

Aliasing Reduction In Staring Infrared Imagers Utilizing Subpixel Techniques, Joseph C. Gillette, Thomas M. Stadtmiller, Russell C. Hardie

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We introduce and analyze techniques for the reduction of aliased signal energy in a staring infrared imaging system. A standard staring system uses a fixed two-dimensional detector array that corresponds to a fixed spatial sampling frequency determined by the detector pitch or spacing. Aliasing will occur when sampling a scene containing spatial frequencies exceeding half the sampling frequency. This aliasing can significantly degrade the image quality. The aliasing reduction schemes presented here, referred to as microscanning, exploit subpixel shifts between time frames of an image sequence. These multiple images are used to reconstruct a single frame with reduced aliasing. If …

Atomic Broadcast In Heterogeneous Distributed Systems, Osman Zeineldine

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Communication services have long been recognized as possessing a dominant effect on both performance and robustness of distributed systems. Distributed applications rely on a multitude of protocols for the support of these services. Of crucial importance are multicast protocols. Reliable multicast protocols enhance the efficiency and robustness of distributed systems. Numerous reliable multicast protocols have been proposed, each differing in the set of assumptions adopted, especially for the communication network. These assumptions make each protocol suitable for a specific environment. The presence of different distributed applications that run on different LANs and single distributed applications that span different LANs mandate …

Safe Stratified Datalog With Integer Order Programs, Peter Revesz

School of Computing: Conference and Workshop Papers

Guaranteeing termination of programs on all valid inputs is important for database applications. Termination cannot be guaranteed in Stratified Datalog with integer (gap)-order programs on generalized databases because they express any Turing-computable function. This paper introduces a restriction of those programs that can express only computable queries. The restricted language has a high expressive power and a non-elementary data complexity.

Linda Jacobson Interview Virtual Reality Evangelist, Loretta L. Lange

SWITCH

In the interview with Linda Jacobson, a Virtual Reality (VR) artist, Jacobson discusses the current and future state of VR technology’s role in the politics of the body, social identity, self, gender, class, and race. This article discusses the fact that barriers to access exist for a more diverse set of artists across race, class, and gender to engage with VR technology and the need to evolve the development platform, so artists can implement their ideas in a low-cost way. The author discusses Jaron Lanier’s ideas about using VR to explore other identities based on a theatrical model where the …

Broadband Dynamic, Holographically Self-Recorded, And Static Hexagonal Scattering Patterns In Photorefractive Knbo3:Fe, Nickolai Kukhtarev, Tatiana V. Kukhtareva, John Caulfield, Partha P. Banerjee, Hsueh-Ling Yu, Lambertus Hesselink

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We have observed and explained three types of hexagon pattern formation in photo refractive crystal KNb03:Fe. These are:

• Dynamic (laser induced)
• Semipermanent (holographically stored)
• Permanent (induced by a static domain grid) over a wide wavelength range

Transient Wave Mixing And Recording Kinetics In Photorefractive Barium Titanate: A Nonlinear Coupled Mode Approach, Partha P. Banerjee, John M. Jarem

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

By using rigorous coupled-wave diffraction theory along with a time-dependent nonlinear formulation, we analyze two- and multiplewave coupling and the grating kinetics in BaTi03 with different boundary interfaces. Efffects of electrostatic and optical anisotropy have been included in the analysis. Significant mode conversion to higher orders is observed only when the boundary interfaces are highly mismatched.

Comparison Of Time-Domain Reflectometry Performance Factors For Several Dielectric Geometries: Theory And Experiments, S. V. Maheshwarla, R. Venkatasubramanian, Robert F. Boehm

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Research

We propose three nontraditional dielectric geometries and present an experimental and theoretical analysis and comparison of time domain reflectometry (TDR) performances for them. The traditional geometry (the probes inserted in material of essentially infinite extent) is compared to three nontraditional geometries where the probes are affixed outside of a core sample, inside of a bore, or flat on the surface of a semi-infinite solid. Our derivation relates the velocity of electromagnetic wave propagation to the complex permittivities and permeabilities of the media and the geometry for the three nontraditional configurations. Experimental results for air, styrofoam, dry sand, wet sand of …

Guest Editorial: Special Section On Photorefractive Nonlinear Optics, Partha P. Banerjee

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Hand in hand with experimental work in photorefractives, there is a lot of activity in modeling photorefractive materials and experimental observations in the open literature. This special section contains a paper by Banerjee and Jarem, who use a rigorous coupled wave theory to analyze two- and multiple-wave mixing photorefractive barium titanate, modeled through the Kukhtarev equations.

Navigation Satellite Selection Using Neural Networks, Daniel J. Simon, Hossny El-Sherief

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The application of neural networks to optimal satellite subset selection for navigation use is discussed. The methods presented in this paper are general enough to be applicable regardless of how many satellite signals are being processed by the receiver. The optimal satellite subset is chosen by minimizing a quantity known as Geometric Dilution of Precision (GDOP), which is given by the trace of the inverse of the measurement matrix. An artificial neural network learns the functional relationships between the entries of a measurement matrix and the eigenvalues of its inverse, and thus generates GDOP without inverting a matrix. Simulation results …

Novel Kalman Filtering Method For The Suppression Of Gyroscope Noise Effects In Pointing And Tracking Systems, Marcelo C. Aigrain

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

A primary cause of degraded performance in pointing and tracking systems is the jitter in the line of sight. This jitter is caused by the residual angular motion of the stabilized platform within the system. A major contributor to this residual motion is the gyroscope noise. Thus, to reduce angular jitter, lower-noise gyroscopes are selected, generally at a premium cost. Another approach is to enhance the accuracy of the gyroscopes electronically (by suppressing measurement noise) before their outputs are fed into the stabilized platform control system. Optimal filtering techniques can be used for this purpose. The goal is to estimate …

Apparatus For Forming Fine Particles, Dennis R. Alexander

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

To alter feedstock material, the material is exposed to laser radiation applied at a selected angle of incidence, intensity and wavelength related to the refractive index of the feedstock material. Fine uniform particles may be formed through vapor explosion and/or plasma formation and used by this method to coat surfaces, such as with paint or adhesive or to supply uniform small particles to a heat engine. Moreover, moving materials such as a column of liquid may be subjected to high internal pressure and temperature for creating physical and chemical changes.

Losslees Compression Of Rgb Color Images, Nasir D. Memon, Khalid Sayood

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Although much work has been done toward developing lossless algorithms for compressing image data, most techniques reported have been for two-tone or gray-scale images. It is generally accepted that a color image can be easily encoded by using a gray-scale compression technique on each of the three accounts the substantial correlations that are present between color planes. Although several lossy compression schemes that exploit such correlations have been reported in the literature, we are not aware of any such techniques for lossless compression. Because of the difference in goals, the best way of exploiting redundancies for lossy and lossless compression …

Using Matlab To Illustrate The 'Phenomenon Of Aliasing', Sol Neeman, Ph.D.

Engineering Studies Faculty Publications and Creative Works

The phenomenon of aliasing is important when sampling analog signals. In cases where the signal is bandlimited, one can avoid aliasing by ensuring that the sampling rate is higher than the Nyquist rate . But in cases where the signal is not bandlimited , aliasing is unavoidable if the signal is not filtered before it is sampled. It is then crucial to understand the phenomenon in order to estimate the distortion generated when the signal is reconstructed from its samples. Using the software package MATLAB by MathWorks, Inc ., two examples are presented. The first is a pure sinusoid which …

A General Approach To Boolean Function Decomposition And Its Application In Fpgabased Synthesis, Tadeusz Luba, Henry Selvaraj

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Research

An effective logic synthesis procedure based on parallel and serial decomposition of a Boolean function is presented in this paper. The decomposition, carried out as the very first step of the .synthesis process, is based on an original representation of the function by a set of r-partitions over the set of minterms. Two different decomposition strategies, namely serial and parallel, are exploited by striking a balance between the two ideas. The presented procedure can be applied to completely or incompletely specified, single- or multiple-output functions and is suitable for different types of FPGAs including XILINX, ACTEL and ALGOTRONIX devices. The …

Accelerating Conservative Parallel Simulation Of Vhdl Circuits, Joel F. Hurford

Theses and Dissertations

This research effort considers heuristic and cost model based techniques for the optimal partitioning of VHDL circuits for parallel simulation. Correlation statistics are gathered on a wide variety of graph-based a priori parameters. Linear regression is used to identify significant parameters for inclusion in a representative cost model. Driving a greedy search, this cost model is used to improve upon initial heuristic partitions. The influence of feedback dominated previous research so a no-feedback algorithm is used to create the initial partition The circuits studied range from 1,050 to 4,243 gates.

Biofeedback Gait Training Auditory Vs. Visual Techniques, Timothy D. Hiemenz

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Training lower extremity amputees to walk normally is quite a difficult task. Amputees must wear a prosthesis so they can walk at all. This allows them some mobility, but their walking pattern may be unnatural. If their gait is temporally asymmetric, they need to exert more energy to move about. This research was initiated to help lower extremity amputees to walk more efficiently using biofeedback gait training. Two types of feedback were developed and tested to determine which method gave the most understandable feedback, validating its use in a clinical setting.

A normal gait cycle uses the lower limbs to …

Complex Index-Of-Refraction Measurements For Rp-1 Liquid Rocket Fuel, Dennis R. Alexander, Ramu Kaiwala, Robert D. Kubik, Scott A. Schaub

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Complex index-of-refraction values of RP-1 liquid rocket fuel are reported at laser wavelengths of 0.193 m (ArF excimer), 0.4765 m (argon ion), 0.488 im (argon ion), 0.5145 ji.m (argon ion), 0.532 m (Nd-YAG, frequency doubled), 0.6328 pm (He-Ne), 1 .064 im (Nd-YAG), and 10.5915 im (C02). The imaginary part of the index of refraction (k) is determined by traditional transmission methods. The real part (flr) at the specific laser lines is determined using reflectance measurements, critical-angle measurements, Mueller matrix elements, and Michelson interferometric measurements. Reflectance measurements are used to obtam n at a wavelength of 0.193 m. The critical-angle method …

Constraint Objects, Divesh Srivastava, Raghu Ramakrishnan, Peter Revesz

School of Computing: Conference and Workshop Papers

We describe the Constraint Object Data Model (CODM), which enhances an object-based data model with existential constraints to naturally represent partially specified information. We present the Constraint Object Query Language (COQL), a declarative, rule-based query language that can be used to infer relationships about and monotonically refine information represented in the CODM. COQL has a model-theoretic and an equivalent fixed-point semantics, based on the notions of constraint entailment and "proofs in all possible worlds." We also provide a novel polynomial-time algorithm for quantifier elimination for set-order constraints, a restricted class of set constraints that uses membership of subset-equal.

Rank Conditioned Rank Selection Filters For Signal Restoration, Russell C. Hardie, Kenneth E. Barner

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

A class of nonlinear filters called rank conditioned rank selection (RCRS) filters is developed and analyzed in this paper. The RCRS filters are developed within the general framework of rank selection(RS) filters, which are filters constrained to output an order statistic from the observation set. Many previously proposed rank order based filters can be formulated as RS filters. The only difference between such filters is in the information used in deciding which order statistic to output. The information used by RCRS filters is the ranks of selected input samples, hence the name rank conditioned rank selection filters. The number of …