Computer Engineering Commons^™

Voice Activated Command And Control With Speech Recognition Over Wireless Networks, Tony Ayres, Brian Nolan

The ITB Journal

This paper presents work conducted to date on the development of a voice activated command and control framework specifically for the control of remote devices in a ubiquitous computing environment. The prototype device is a Java controlled Lego Mindstorm robot. The research considers three different scenario configurations. A recognition grammar for command and control of the robot has been created and implemented in Java, in part in the recognition engine and in part on the robot. The physical topology involves Java at each node endpoint, that is, at the handheld PC (iPaq), the PC workstation, the Linux server and onboard …

Statistical Language Models For Graphical Object Recognition, Laura Keyes, Andrew O'Sullivan, Adam Winstanley

The ITB Journal

This paper explores automatic recognition and semantic capture in vector graphics for graphical information systems. The low-level graphical content of graphical documents, such as a map or architectural drawing, are often captured manually and the encoding of the semantic content seen as an extension of this. The large quantity of new and archived graphical data available on paper makes automatic structuring of such graphical data desirable. A successful method for recognising text data uses statistical language models. This work will investigate and evaluate similar and adapted statistical models (Statistical Graphical Langauge Models, SGLM) to graphical languages based on the associations …

Interactive 2d And 3d Graphics Over The World-Wide Web With Actionscript, Hugh Mccabe

The ITB Journal

Many efforts have been made to provide a mechanism for delivering interactive 3D content over the World-Wide Web. The majority of the solutions put forward require the use of a proprietary plug-in on the client browser and none of these required plug-ins have so far become part of the standard browser installation package. The Macromedia Flash player has however achieved near ubiquitous status as the standard plug-in for displaying interactive multimedia and graphics content. Flash does not provide native support for 3D graphics but the recent addition of the Shape Drawing API opens up the possibility of developers using ActionScript …

Voice Enabled Indoor Localisation, Kieran Harkin, Kevin Curran, Eoghan Furey

The ITB Journal

The ability to track objects in real time offers a wide range of beneficial applications that include safety, security and the supply chain. The problem with location based systems is that they can be inconvenient and time-consuming to locate an object. A user has to access a computer and log onto a location system to locate an object. There are several problems with current location determination interfaces. Firstly a user has to log on to a computer; this can be inconvenient and time consuming as the user may have to locate a computer (which may be in another area of …

Mobile Phone Game Localisation, Leonie Troy, Matt Smith, Richard Gallery

The ITB Journal

Often, mobile phone games are developed over a short time span. Because of the additional work and complexity that localisation requires, such games are frequently produced without localisation in mind. In recent years automation and standardisation of localisation has been developed and promoted by the Localisation Industry Standard Association (LISA) and Oasis. Mobile phone game localisation involves various types of language transfer on a small scale, which challenges the localisation process carried out on a game. Our work investigated the workflow for the localisation of a mobile phone game into Spanish and German using a LISA Standard TMX (Term Base …

Development Of An Enhanced Generic Data Mining Life Cycle (Dmlc), Markus Hofmann, Brendan Tierney

The ITB Journal

Data mining projects are complex and have a high failure rate. In order to improve project management and success rates of such projects a life cycle is vital to the overall success of the project. This paper reports on a research project that was concerned with the life cycle development for large scale data mining projects. The paper provides a detailed view of the design and development of a generic data mining life cycle called DMLC. The life cycle aims to support all members of data mining project teams as well as IT managers and academic researchers and may improve …

Is Your Wireless Network Being Hacked?, Paul King, Ivan Smyth, Anthony Keane

The ITB Journal

Wireless networks provide vulnerable gateways for unauthorised entry to networks or even a standalone wireless computer. The independent radio signals that constitute wireless communications have no physical boundary to keep them in check. This allows a third party to easily eavesdrop on communications sessions and by capturing the data packets, they can break the encryption keys and access the data within the network. The public awareness of the insecurity of wireless networks is surprisingly poor despite frequent news media reports of the vulnerabilities of the equipment and the activities of the criminals prepare to exploit it. In this paper we …

Towards Arabic To English Machine Translation, Yasser Salem, Arnold Hensman, Brian Nolan

The ITB Journal

This paper explores how the characteristics of the Arabic language will effect the development of a Machine Translation (MT) tool from Arabic to English. Several distinguishing features of Arabic pertinent to MT will be explored in detail with reference to some potential difficulties that they might present. The paper will conclude with a proposed model incorporating the Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) technique to achieve this end.

Vertical Search Engines, Kevin Curran, Jude Mc Glinchey

The ITB Journal

This paper outlines the growth in popularity of vertical search engines, their origins, the differences between them and well-known broad based search engines such as Google and Yahoo. We also discuss their use in business-to-business, their marketing and advertising costs, what the revenue streams are and who uses them.

Be Aware With A Honeypot, Stephen Meyer, Ivan Smyth, Mark Cummins, Anthony Keane

The ITB Journal

The Internet has already become a hostile environment for computers, especially when they are directly connected with a public IP address. We have experienced this hostile activity where on an average day; the ITB Honeypot recorded over a thousand reconnaissance attacks seeking unauthorised entry onto our private network. Our Honeypot is a basic PC running Windows XP with no services offered and no activity from users that would generate traffic. The Honeypot is running in a passive state on a stub-network where all inbound and outbound traffic is recorded at the bridging computer to the WAN. We report on the …

Using Extended Analogy To Teach Fundamental Computing Concepts, Damian Gordon

The ITB Journal

Using analogies has long been used to help explain complex ideas in teaching. One of the most important ideas that a computing student must understand is the basic architecture of a digital computer. Since the late 1960s the standard teaching approach used to explain computer architecture is the Little Man Computer (LMC) Paradigm. This research seeks to expand upon this standard explanation through the use of a relatively recently developed technique called Extended Analogy. Extended analogy seeks to combine regular analogy with exaggeration or dramatic emphasis. In this case the LMC paradigm is extended by use of Samuel Beckett's play …

A Survey Of Procedural Techniques For City Generation, George Kelly, Hugh Mccabe

The ITB Journal

The computer game industry requires a skilled workforce and this combined with the complexity of modern games, means that production costs are extremely high. One of the most time consuming aspects is the creation of game geometry, the virtual world which the players inhabit. Procedural techniques have been used within computer graphics to create natural textures, simulate special effects and generate complex natural models including trees and waterfalls. It is these procedural techniques that we intend to harness to generate geometry and textures suitable for a game situated in an urban environment. Procedural techniques can provide many benefits for computer …

Rapid-Prototyping Emulation System For Embedded System Hardware Verification, Using A Systemc Control System Environment And Reconfigurable Multimedia Hardware Development Platform, Dave Carroll, Richard Gallery

The ITB Journal

This paper describes research into the suitability of using SystemC for rapid prototyping of embedded systems. SystemC[1][2][3] communication interface protocols [4][5] are interfaced with a reconfigurable hardware system platform to provide a real-time emulation environment, allowing SystemC simulations to be directly translated into real-time solutions. The consequent Rapid Prototyping Emulation System Platform1, suitable for the implementation of consumer level multimedia systems, is described, including the system architecture, SystemC Controller model, the FPGA configured MicroBlaze CPU system and additional logic devices implemented on the Multimedia development board used for the hardware in the PESP, illustrated in the context of a typical …

Integration And Communication Of Process Support Tools In An Online Virtual Learning Environment, L. Raeside, B. Busschots, Shen Fei, J. G. Keating

The ITB Journal

The Education through Virtual Experience (EVE) research group based at the National University of Ireland Maynooth have successfully developed an online Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) for Astronomy as part of the Virtual Telescopes in Education (VTIE) project. The VTIE VLE has been developed to provide online software support for the engagement of schoolchildren and their teachers in a scientific process. The development of an online VLE to support a scientific process has brought about complex interactions from the user perspective. This has lead to complex integration and communication challenges from the software implementation perspective. This paper contains a high level …

Stereoscopic 3-D Presentation For Air Traffic Control Digital Radar Displays, Jason G. Russi, Brent T. Langhals, Michael E. Miller, Eric L. Heft

AFIT Patents

An apparatus and method of presenting air traffic data to an air traffic controller are provided. Air traffic data including a two dimensional spatial location and altitude for a plurality of aircraft is received. A disparity value is determined based on the altitude for each aircraft of the plurality of aircraft. Left and right eye images are generated of the plurality of aircraft where at least one of the left and right eye images is based on the determined disparity value. The left and right eye images are simultaneously displayed to the air traffic controller on a display. The simultaneously …

Ben Regoso, Benjamin Regoso

Spring 2017

One of the first people I met when I first arrived on campus in the summer of 2010 was the IT Support “guy.” Based on past experience with IT in other places, my expectations were low. I figured I would pass him my tech gear and he would work everything out. A quick, simple transaction is all that was needed. Ben Regoso’s work ethic reset my expectations and, more importantly, began to shape my own perspective on how to work with others even when the task is “just” transactional.

Ben’s attitude and posture in every “transaction” I’ve had with him …

A Current-Dependent Switching Strategy For Si/Sic Hybrid Switch-Based Power Converters, Jiangbiao He, Ramin Katebi, Nathan Weise

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Abstract: Hybrid switches configured by paralleling Silicon (Si) Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBT) and Silicon Carbide (SiC) Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors (MOSFET) have been verified to be a high-efficiency cost-effective device concept. In this paper, a current-dependent switching strategy is introduced and implemented to further improve the performance of Si/SiC hybrid switches. This proposed switching strategy is based on a comprehensive consideration of reducing device losses, reliable operation, and overload capability. Based on the utilization of such Si/SiC hybrid switches and the proposed switching strategy, a 15-kW single-phase H-bridge inverter prototype was implemented and tested in the laboratory. Simulation and …

Exploiting On-Chip Voltage Regulators As A Countermeasure Against Power Analysis Attacks, Weize Yu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Non-invasive side-channel attacks (SCA) are powerful attacks which can be used to obtain the secret key in a cryptographic circuit in feasible time without the need for expensive measurement equipment. Power analysis attacks (PAA) are a type of SCA that exploit the correlation between the leaked power consumption information and processed/stored data. Differential power analysis (DPA) and leakage power analysis (LPA) attacks are two types of PAA that exploit different characteristics of the side-channel leakage profile. DPA attacks exploit the correlation between the input data and dynamic power consumption of cryptographic circuits. Alternatively, LPA attacks utilize the correlation between the …

Evaluation Of The Efficiency Of An Arm-Based Beowulf Cluster Versus Traditional Desktop Computing For High Performance Computing, Nicholas Addiego

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In the realm of scientific computing, it has become increasingly important to focus on results driven growth (Kamil, Shalf and Storhmaier). Doing this enables researchers to continue building the rapidly expanding area of scientific discovery. However, with the growth comes a cost of the amount of resources consumed to accomplish these results. Large supercomputers are consuming power at a rate roughly fourteen thousand times that of a traditional American household (U.S. Energy Information Administration). Parallel to this, public consumers have been driving the mobile industry and the research behind it. The need to have faster and faster mobile devices that …

Perception Of 3d Symmetrical And Near-Symmetrical Shapes, Vijai Jayadevan, Aaron Michaux, Edward Delp, Zygmunt Pizlo

MODVIS Workshop

No abstract provided.

Advanced Text Analytics And Machine Learning Approach For Document Classification, Chaitanya Anne

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Text classification is used in information extraction and retrieval from a given text, and text classification has been considered as an important step to manage a vast number of records given in digital form that is far-reaching and expanding. This thesis addresses patent document classification problem into fifteen different categories or classes, where some classes overlap with other classes for practical reasons. For the development of the classification model using machine learning techniques, useful features have been extracted from the given documents. The features are used to classify patent document as well as to generate useful tag-words. The overall objective …

Improving A Particle Swarm Optimization-Based Clustering Method, Sharif Shahadat

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis discusses clustering related works with emphasis on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) principles. Specifically, we review in detail the PSO clustering algorithm proposed by Van Der Merwe & Engelbrecht, the particle swarm clustering (PSC) algorithm proposed by Cohen & de Castro, Szabo’s modified PSC (mPSC), and Georgieva & Engelbrecht’s Cooperative-Multi-Population PSO (CMPSO). In this thesis, an improvement over Van Der Merwe & Engelbrecht’s PSO clustering has been proposed and tested for standard datasets. The improvements observed in those experiments vary from slight to moderate, both in terms of minimizing the cost function, and in terms of run time.

Real Time Learning Level Assessment Using Eye Tracking, Saurin S. Parikh, Hari Kalva

MODVIS Workshop

E-Learning is emerging as a convenient and effective learning tool. However, the challenge with eLearning is the lack of effective tools to assess levels of learning. Ability to predict difficult content in real time enables eLearning systems to dynamically provide supplementary content to meet learners’ needs. Recent developments have made possible low-cost eye trackers, which enables a new class of applications based on eye response. In comparison to past attempts using bio-metrics in learning assessments, with eye tracking, we can have access to the exact stimulus that is causing the response. A key aspect of the proposed approach is the …

Understanding Deleted File Decay On Removable Media Using Differential Analysis, James H. Jones Jr, Anurag Srivastava, Josh Mosier, Connor Anderson, Seth Buenafe

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Digital content created by picture recording devices is often stored internally on the source device, on either embedded or removable media. Such storage media is typically limited in capacity and meant primarily for interim storage of the most recent image files, and these devices are frequently configured to delete older files as necessary to make room for new files. When investigations involve such devices and media, it is sometimes these older deleted files that would be of interest. It is an established fact that deleted file content may persist in part or in its entirety after deletion, and identifying the …

Source Anonymization Of Digital Images: A Counter–Forensic Attack On Prnu Based Source Identification Techniques, Prithviraj Sengupta, Venkata Udaya Sameer, Ruchira Naskar, Ezhil Kalaimannan

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

A lot of photographers and human rights advocates need to hide their identity while sharing their images on the internet. Hence, source–anonymization of digital images has become a critical issue in the present digital age. The current literature contains a number of digital forensic techniques for “source–identification” of digital images, one of the most efficient of them being Photo–Response Non–Uniformity (PRNU) sensor noise pattern based source detection. PRNU noise pattern being unique to every digital camera, such techniques prove to be highly robust way of source–identification. In this paper, we propose a counter–forensic technique to mislead this PRNU sensor noise …

Harnessing Predictive Models For Assisting Network Forensic Investigations Of Dns Tunnels, Irvin Homem, Panagiotis Papapetrou

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

In recent times, DNS tunneling techniques have been used for malicious purposes, however network security mechanisms struggle to detect them. Network forensic analysis has been proven effective, but is slow and effort intensive as Network Forensics Analysis Tools struggle to deal with undocumented or new network tunneling techniques. In this paper, we present a machine learning approach, based on feature subsets of network traffic evidence, to aid forensic analysis through automating the inference of protocols carried within DNS tunneling techniques. We explore four network protocols, namely, HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and POP3. Three features are extracted from the DNS tunneled traffic: …

An Accidental Discovery Of Iot Botnets And A Method For Investigating Them With A Custom Lua Dissector, Max Gannon, Gary Warner, Arsh Arora

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

This paper presents a case study that occurred while observing peer-to-peer network communications on a botnet monitoring station and shares how tools were developed to discover what ultimately was identified as Mirai and many related IoT DDOS Botnets. The paper explains how researchers developed a customized protocol dissector in Wireshark using the Lua coding language, and how this enabled them to quickly identify new DDOS variants over a five month period of study.

Underwater Celestial Navigation Using The Polarization Of Light Fields, Samuel Bear Powell

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Global-scale underwater navigation presents challenges that modern technology has not solved. Current technologies drift and accumulate errors over time (inertial measurement), are accurate but short-distance (acoustic), or do not sufficiently penetrate the air-water interface (radio and GPS). To address these issues, I have developed a new mode of underwater navigation based on the passive observation of patterns in the polarization of in-water light. These patterns can be used to infer the sun__s relative position, which enables the use of celestial navigation in the underwater environment. I have developed an underwater polarization video camera based on a bio-inspired polarization image sensor …

The Replacement Of Network Switches, Sean Fenton

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

Networking equipment often has to be replaced every few years in order to keep up with network speed demands and bandwidth, as well as the expiration of equipment. Gallaudet’s network switches were approaching their End of Life (EoL) and the Gallaudet networking team decided to replace the networking equipment to improve the network efficiency at Gallaudet. After much research and debate, the decision was made to replace current Cisco networking equipment with Juniper in order to optimize the network speed for Internet traffic. Cisco and Juniper are competing brands for a wide range of networking equipment. The capstone project is …

Adaptive Region-Based Approaches For Cellular Segmentation Of Bright-Field Microscopy Images, Hady Ahmady Phoulady

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Microscopy image processing is an emerging and quickly growing field in medical imaging research area. Recent advancements in technology including higher computation power, larger and cheaper storage modules, and more efficient and faster data acquisition devices such as whole-slide imaging scanners contributed to the recent microscopy image processing research advancement. Most of the methods in this research area either focus on automatically process images and make it easier for pathologists to direct their focus on the important regions in the image, or they aim to automate the whole job of experts including processing and classifying images or tissues that leads …