Thesis subjects 2013 2014 - Industrieel ingenieur …masterproef.tiwi.ugent.be/onderwerp/voorstellen/Masterproefonderw... · simultaneous translation and electronic voting ... thesis

5/03/2013 1

Thesis subjects 2013 – 2014

Distributed echo cancelling in video conference systems .............................................................. 2

Digital filtering of microphone contact noise .................................................................................. 3

Lowcost multirate video transcoder with parallel hardware acceleration ..................................... 4

System model of new conference systems ..................................................................................... 5

Rewind and catch-up function on interpreter desk ........................................................................ 6

Design and implementation of a VHDL validation suite .................................................................. 7

Digital dynamics processor for microphone conditioning .............................................................. 8

Development of a PoE daisy chained emergency panel for railway applications ........................... 9

Video handling in passenger information screens – FPGA design ................................................ 10

Virtual platform for embedded software ...................................................................................... 11

Porting of existing c application into an osgi framework .............................................................. 12

Development of an xml template rendering engine using C++ and OpenVG on an i.MX53

processor board ............................................................................................................................. 13

Evaluation of XMOS technology for passenger information systems ........................................... 14

Design and usage of a RS485 communication channel monitor and adapter .............................. 15

Design of a reliable acoustic call system ....................................................................................... 16

Virtual validation environment for the healthcare sector ............................................................ 17

Improving audio speaker quality for elderly persons .................................................................... 18

Improve nursing workflow via co-design & automation methods ............................................... 19

Using classification to predict usage peaks of a e-learning platform ............................................ 20

5/03/2013 2

Distributed echo cancelling in video conference systems Description: When setting up a high quality full duplex video conference, one of the biggest challenges is to remove echo’s from the audio signal. A conference microphone does not only capture the speech of the far end participant, but also the signals from the speaker. Combined with the link delay, this can be perceived as an echo at the other location. If one of the rooms is a large conference room with multiple microphones instead of one, the order of complexity of the echo canceller quickly rises, due to the increasing number of acoustic feedback paths between the microphones and speakers that are involved in the conference. In this thesis we will investigate the feasibility and quality of a conference system with distributed echo cancelling. In such a system, a relatively simple echo canceller will be added to each individual microphone, in order to achieve a qualitative overall noise cancelling. After measuring the acoustic feedback in some test set-ups, several algorithms will be evaluated and tested in matlab. The best candidate will then be implemented on an FPGA, so that the final performance in a real conference system can be evaluated.

Televic Company/Department:

Televic Conference offers the most recent technologies for discussion systems, applications for simultaneous translation and electronic voting systems.

Nature of the work

Level Specialty Type of work. Location Type Num of students

MSc. electronics Research: 50% Implem.: 25% Experim.: 25%

School/ Televic site

hardware/ embedded software

1

5/03/2013 3

Digital filtering of microphone contact noise Description: One of the disturbances, noises that can deteriorate the microphone signals during a meeting, are contact noises. The contact noises can come from delegates writing, moving a paper, dropping their pencil, moving their chair, pressing voting buttons or even from the vibrations of the their laptop fans. During this internship we would like to estimate these contact noises from a MEMS microphone mounted on the PCB. In a second step, this information can be used to suppress the noises in the microphone signal. An additional challenge is that the total processing time for the noise reduction cannot exceed a few milliseconds, due to the real time nature of the application. During the thesis, some measurements on hardware will be performed to investigate the correlation between the contact noise, the desired microphone signal and the signal picked up by the MEMS microphone. The results of these measurements to test noise reduction algorithms in matlab and finally, the best candidate will implemented in VHDL for real time evaluation.



Nature of the work


MSc. electronics Research: 33% Implem.: 33% Experim.: 34%

School/ Televic site

hardware/ embedded software

1

5/03/2013 4

Lowcost multirate video transcoder with parallel hardware acceleration Description: People want to use their own mobile device for assisting for instance to a conference. One of the key topics is video with an as short as possible delay and as good as possible quality. The purpose of this project is a study and an implementation of this challenge. The content of the project is first: to investigate the possibilities to provide multiple quality versions of the same video stream using low cost hardware modules and second: to implement this project for the IOS system with a as short as possible delay using the Raspberry Pi hardware.



Nature of the work


MSc. IT, ICT, electronics

Research: 33% Implem.: 34% Experim.: 33%

School/ Televic site/field

Software/ embedded software

1

5/03/2013 5

System model of new conference systems Description: For the design of new conferencing systems, more and more features are added. The subject of this thesis is to research and develop a system model that will allow us to virtually stress test various parts. The ultimate goal of the system model is to aid architectural design and system dimensioning. The primary focus is on networking aspects such as end-to-end latency, qos, packet drop probabilities. If time allows, other aspects can be added as well such as processing requirements, power distribution, … First, existing state-of-the-art modeling tools are to be investigated e.g. ns-3. After that, the best suiting solution is customized for our particular use case, taking into account the various specifications and parameters listed above. This customization may include creating a high-level model of our products, e.g. modeling a delegate unit as combination of a 3-port switch and a packet generator (e.g. computer):

Delegate Unit 1 Delegate Unit 2 Delegate Unit 3 Delegate Unit 4

Delegate Unit 8 Delegate Unit 7 Delegate Unit 6 Delegate Unit 5

Central Unit

Finally, the model will be verified using information from existing installations.



Nature of the work


MSc. ICT Research: 50% Implem.: 40% Experim.: 10%

School + Televic Software 1

5/03/2013 6

Rewind and catch-up function on interpreter desk Description:

Televic Conference provides solutions for a wide variety of applications that require

moderated discussion, simultaneous interpretation and electronic voting. During multi-

lingual conferences interpreters make sure the participants can follow the ongoing discussion in

their native language. In cases where interpreters have to translate very specific terminology, they

may need to “rewind” into the conversation to hear the difficult phrases a second time. Of course,

this can introduce a significant time delay between the actual conversation and the translated

channel. To mitigate this delay, a “fast forward” function is required to catch up with the live

conversation. However, the pitch of the voice should not change during this fast playout, in order

to maintain a good intelligibility.

During the first phase of the thesis, a “fast forward” algorithm that can maintain the pitch of the voice, needs to be selected. Its quality and portability towards FPGA will be validated with a matlab implementation. During the second phase, the “rewind” and “fast forward” functionality will be integrated in the FPGA (Altera) of a Televic unit.



Nature of the work


Master Electronics or ICT


School Televic

Matlab, VHDL

1

5/03/2013 7

Design and implementation of a VHDL validation suite Description: Validation and verification of code, whether application software, embedded software or VHDL, is increasingly important to assure a high level of quality while reducing maintenance effort afterwards. A key element in code verification is the test bench. The subject of this thesis is the design and implementation of an automated yet configurable VHDL test bench for the next-generation Televic Conference system IP blocks. The blocks to be tested vary from audio and video processing blocks to networking elements. The complexity ranges from testing small units to larger parts of the VHDL subsystems of the central unit and delegate units.

The work breaks down into the following parts:

1. Researching on general validation/verification strategies 2. Investigating existing tools for generating stimuli and comparing with results from golden

model 3. Implementation of the test bench, customized for the Televic Conference building blocks and

interfaces 4. Validation of the test bench



Nature of the work


Master Electronics Research: 25% Implem.: 50% Experim.: 25%

School + Televic Programming: VHDL and Scripting languages

1

Device

Under

Test

Reference

Model

Stimuli

.wav

.png

data

Equal?

5/03/2013 8

Digital dynamics processor for microphone conditioning Description:

Because of the high dynamic nature of speech, the signal coming from a microphone is conditioned. This conditioning allows an understandable audio signal to reach the target audience for a wide variation of the input signal. In addition some signal improvement operations such as de – popping and noise gating can also be performed. The purpose of this thesis is to improve and expand the capabilities of the existing dynamic processor by introducing prediction techniques, expanding the dynamic input range and using weighted level detection. As the target is an FGPA, the footprint shall be kept minimal. A possible expansion of this thesis is the implementation of an out – of – band signaling method on analog communication lines. In an Ethernet based audio communication system for railway applications it is important for reliability reasons that a safe fall back circuitry guarantees the essential functions. In the current systems, this fall back circuitry is based on DC – signaling. The implementation of an out – of – band signaling method (e.g. DTMF) expands the possibilities of communication between the different parts of the system. This can be implemented via an FPGA and/or addition of hardware components. The thesis shall be supported with a proof of concept.


Televic Rail is a leading supplier in Europe, China and India of passenger information

systems and control systems in trains and trams.

Nature of the work


Master electronics Research: 20% Implem.: 50% Experim.: 30%

Televic site VHDL, Hardware 1

5/03/2013 9

Development of a PoE daisy chained emergency panel for railway applications Description:

The purpose of this master thesis is to evaluate and introduce the use of PoE in a daisy

chained configuration. Typically the emergency panels in a train are daisy chained to reduce

the cable lengths and the number of ports needed on the control equipment. By using PoE,

the number of wires in the cable can be reduced further and the panels can be connected to a

standard port. Further, the panels need to be foreseen of a TCP/IP stack for communication.

Lightweight TCP/IP (LWIP) is an open source project, aimed for small embedded devices. In

this way a 8b micro-controller can still suffice for the application.

In addition, the audio communication needs to be implemented via the ethernet connection.

In current systems this is still analog distributed. A study will be performed for component

selection (FPGA, type of microcontroller) and the transmission protocol (RTP, …) .

The thesis will be supported by a practical HW implementation that proves the concept.




Nature of the work


Master electronics Research: 20% Implem.: 50% Experim.: 30%

Televic site embedded (with all aspects : HW, SW, VHDL)

1

5/03/2013 10

Video handling in passenger information screens – FPGA design Description: V-shaped passenger information screens on board trains consist out of four displays and four independent media processors. These processors are connected to one or more on board servers by means of an Ethernet backbone. These servers feed the screens with the proper content. This thesis has two main goals: - The design of an alternative setup, where the two screens are replaced by one larger, stretched display (per side). Therefore, the student will design the architecture and do the development of an FPGA which can mix the video output of two processors into one video stream to be forwarded towards this alternative display. For the development, VHDL (VHSIC Hardware Description Language) and simulation tooling will be used. In addition, the design will have to be tested properly. - The design of an architecture to increase the availability of basic functionality, which is the visualization of passenger information. By means of this architecture, functionality of one screen can be taken over automatically by the other in case of a defect. First, an FMEA (Failure mode and effects analysis) will be assembled and will be used as reference for the architecture to be developed. Secondly, the design of the architecture. This will then result in two main deliverables : The FPGA design and the process how and when to switch functionality. Again, proper execution of a test plan will be required.



systems and control systems in trains and trams. Nature of the work


MSc. FPGA, electronics


Televic site FPGA (VHDL) / Electronics

1

5/03/2013 11

Virtual platform for embedded software Description: Televic Rail mechatronics department designs products in which embedded software is at the core of the functionality. As embedded software relies on the hardware build around the processor, we often have to wait for hardware to be ready to be able to start testing the embedded software. Platform virtualization enables to model a processor and its peripherals for early hardware-independent development and testing. This increases testability and reliability of the software. It also eases project planning as the dependency on the hardware prototyping disappears. For this matter, we would like to evaluate the use of the OVP Open Virtual Platform sources. OVP provides free open sources models for simulation on a PC. The student will have to study what are the possibilities offered by OVP and implement the virtual platform for one of our product. http://www.ovpworld.org




Nature of the work


MSc. Embedded software, electronics

Research: 50% Implem.: 50% Experim.: zz%

Televic Embedded software 1

5/03/2013 12

Porting of existing c application into an osgi framework Description:

Televic rail is a leading supplier in passenger information systems and control systems for the railway industry. High quality and safety are key in the development of our applications. Currently, some applications of our passenger information systems are developed in the c programming language on top of a real time operating system. Other applications are written in java, on top of an osgi framework. To have one common software architecture (in c and java), and to benefit from the features of osgi, a current c applications should be re-implemented on top of an osgi framework for the c programming language. This master thesis can be split up into three phases:

- First, an evaluation of an osgi framework for the c programming language should be done.

- Second, porting and partially re-implementing the current Televic application is needed to be able to work on this previously chosen framework.

- Last, a generic ‘osgi’ remote-service system need to be developed in order to be able to do (remote) service calls to other osgi frameworks (e.g. Apache Felix).




Nature of the work


MSc. IT, ICT, Research: 20% Implem.: 50% Experim.: 30%

Televic site Software/embedded software

1

5/03/2013 13

Development of an xml template rendering engine using C++ and OpenVG on an i.MX53 processor board Description: Televic rail is a leading supplier in passenger information systems and control systems for the railway

industry. For our current digital signage solution on trains, we are using tft screens to display passenger information, commercials, emergency messages, etc… The content that is shown on these tft screens is formalized by means of a proprietary xml protocol and contains images, videos, animation, drawings,… Every screen is controlled by an i.MX53 processor board. Our current render engine does not make use of any hardware acceleration; however the imx processor board has hardware acceleration for OpenGL (3D rendering) and OpenVG (2D rendering – vector graphics). The purpose of this master thesis is to do the implementation of a complete rendering engine that renders the proprietary xml templates via OpenVG on tft screens. This should be implemented in C++ using the OpenVG library, and making use of the hardware acceleration of the cpu board. Challenges like xml parsing, embedding video, scrolling text, animations, etc… need to be investigated and implemented on this specific hardware platform.




Nature of the work


MSc. IT, ICT, Research: 20% Implem.: 50% Experim.: 30%

Televic site Software/embedded software

1

5/03/2013 14

Evaluation of XMOS technology for passenger information systems Description:

In the current electronic board architectures, serial busses have an increasing importance. Where in the past CPLD ‘s were used to have a “low cost” solution for simple control of electronic circuits, we see now a shift towards the more expensive FPGA solution because of increasing complexity in control of electronic circuits (some vendors are even announcing the end of their CPLD parts). XMOS technology can be an alternative because of it’s flexibility, low cost and support of a wide range of standard interfaces :

The XMOS architecture enables systems to be constructed from multiple XCore processors connected by communication links. Every XMOS device includes one or more XCores and a high-speed low-latency switch. The switches are used to route messages between XCores on a chip, and messages between chips, via the links. The first purpose of this master thesis is to do a literature study of the XMOS technology and to position this to similar integrated circuits that are used in Televic (FPGA, CPLD, uController). The next step is to perform an evaluation of the tool chain on a demo board. Finally a proof of concept is made by replacing a combination of FPGA and uController on an existing application. The targeted application is a UART/CAN gateway with PWM outputs.




Nature of the work


Master (4j) electronics Research: 20% Implem.: 50% Experim.: 30%

Televic site VHDL, HW 1

5/03/2013 15

Design and usage of a RS485 communication channel monitor and adapter Description:

In order to test the robustness of the software drivers and applications and evaluate the

dependency on signal integrity, new systems (DUT1 communication to DUT2 in two

directions) will be tested using a channel adapter and monitor.

The first goal of this master thesis is to research the features that should be implemented in

the channel adaptor and monitor to cover the different disturbances that can be present in the

design and the train environment and how this can be covered by specific tests (jitter/packet

loss/spikes/etc…).

The next phase is to implement the hardware, firmware and software. The test tool should be

configurable by means of a USB interface. The PC Software will enable the features and

select the protocol-ID, to be able to issue errors depending on protocol properties. Via the

USB interface, the test tool should also be able to log the data on the channel.

Finally, validation tests will be performed to verify the correct functioning of the test tool.

The test tool will be used to test if the software reacts correctly to errors that are introduced in

the channel and will be installed on board a train to log a complete journey for field

debugging purposes.




Nature of the work


Master (4j) electronics Research: 20% Implem.: 50% Experim.: 30%

Televic site embedded (with all aspects : HW, SW, VHDL)

1

5/03/2013 16

Design of a reliable acoustic call system Description: In a current care setting (hospital or resting home), not all patients or residents have the ability to make an alarm via pushing a button. For example disabled persons and persons suffering from dementia, but also an elder person that fell down on the ground, have no other means than calling or shouting for help. A reliable system is therefore key, not only for the resident, but also for the care personnel who has a heavy workflow and don’t want to be needlessly disturbed with false calls. Current systems in the market lack certain aspects for making this a 100% reliable system : false calls can be made via ambulances passing by or doors being shut, but also a sufficient sensitive system to capture calls in larger spaces is important. Finally, a certain method of personalisation of the acoustic call behavior needs to be evaluated & selected. We would like to you to make an overview of current challenges and investigate possible solutions. You will design a concrete solution, select the right components, incorporating the different techniques needed to optimize the acoustic calls. Finally, you will work out a prototype that can be demonstrated.


Televic Healthcare is leading healthcare company developing communication solutions using the latest technology evolutions.

Nature of the work


MSc. IT, ICT, electronics


School/ University -Televic site-field

(embedded) software Product design

1

5/03/2013 17

Virtual validation environment for the healthcare sector Description: Televic Healthcare product portfolio is extended and contains complex services handling a lot of information which needs to be processed within critical timings. To assist in the creation and validation of these services a virtual environment is needed that supports scalability, diversity in operating systems and development environments, relevant networking aspects, etc. This environment will not only enable more well-founded decisions in the development process, but is also at the core of the validation chain of new product development. You will build up knowledge about different embedded and non-embedded platforms and development environments. You will implement a validation environment for a generic simulation test environment enabling distributed software and hardware for healthcare applications. This will result in a demonstrator which supports on-the-fly creation of virtual machines simulating complete nurse call environments. More concrete, we would like you to

- Study the implementation of the current Linux based and RTOS based embedded devices - Create a simulated environment for our current Linux based and RTOS embedded devices - Set up a full tool chain to support on-the-fly creation of virtual machines - Compare the Embedded Windows CE operating system with Embedded Linux - Study the use of Mono and .Net CF on our devices with the current .net C# codebase


Televic Healthcare is leading healthcare company developing communication solutions using the latest technology evolutions.

Nature of the work


MSc. IT, ICT Research: 40% Implem.: 40% Experim.: 20%

School/ University -Televic site-field

(embedded) software

2-3

5/03/2013 18

Improving audio speaker quality for elderly persons Description: Televic Healthcare offers market leading communication solutions for hospitals, elderly homes and service flats. These solutions consist in sending alarm calls by a patient/resident, but also by setting up an intercom conversation between nurse and resident via a terminal built-in in the wall. This conversation is important for the nurse/caregiver to estimate better the problem or needs of the resident. In order to improve the quality of this communication between caregivers and elderly, we are exploiting new audio enhancement techniques to perceive the elderly voice. We would foresee 3 steps : Step 1 : Evaluation of the existing audio techniques and typical limitations in perceiving the voice of the elderly. This also consists in measuring the influence of distance and position of the built-in terminal. Step 2 : Determine an improved target setting for audio quality for an elderly room and apply new techniques (knowledge available at Televic site) in order to achieve this target. Stage 3 : Select the best technique (= best cost/benefit) and work out validation test in real-life setting at existing care home setting of Televic.


Televic Healthcare is leading healthcare company developing communication solutions using the latest technology evolutions

Nature of the work


Master Electronics, Audio


Televic site Product design 1

5/03/2013 19

Improve nursing workflow via co-design & automation methods Description: Nursing activity in hospitals or resting homes should be mainly focused on… nursing and quality time with the patient or resident. In practice, a nurse is occupied with a lot of smaller to larger tasks ranging from registering her actions to updating patient files. Some studies claim that more than 30% of his/her time is spent on administrative tasks, however, results vary a lot. In light of this thesis, we would see following stages to approach this matter. Phase 1 : Make an overview of nursing tasks & actions in min. 2 care sites (hospital & resting home situation) that will participate to this study. Set up a plan for this, how to monitor & register activity etc. Mainly observe actions & time spent on the different responses to nurse call (normal calls, sanitary calls, wandering calls, assistance calls, etc.) but also on presence indication (how to indicate, what with wireless badges, what with double presence). Phase 2 : Interview care personnel in order to capture their ideas where workflow can improved, unnecessary actions can be avoided, which actions can be automated. Set up a formal process for this. Make it an iterative process where you can come up with several alternative proposals. Phase 3 : Combine input from stage 1 & 2 to capture current flow and visualize an ideal flow with focus on nurse call handling. Calculate possible gain in time. Make at least one short demonstrator movie that visualizes and simulates the new situation.


Televic Healthcare is leading healthcare company developing communication solutions using the latest technology evolutions

Nature of the work


Master Usability, interaction, industrial design


Televic site/field Product design 1

5/03/2013 20

Using classification to predict usage peaks of a e-learning platform Description: Edumatic Exam is an online assessment tool, developed by Televic Education. Edumatic currently runs on a single dedicated server. In the past, this was a logical choice, but over the years the number of users has increased considerably and the server load sometimes reaches alarming peaks, for instance in examination time. We are planning to change our server architecture to a more scalable solution. When needed, extra resources could then be added to cope with these peaks. One problem remains: adding extra resources when a peak occurs is actually too late. Unfortunately, based on information from the past and information given to us by our customers, we should be able to predict these peaks in advance. Our database registered each user action for the last 10 years, so there is a lot of information available. This is a perfect opportunity to apply Machine Learning techniques in order to build a model that predicts system usage. Using this model, we could anticipate an increase in the number of students and add extra CPU power, memory and bandwidth in advance. We already have an implementation of a decision tree classifier that could be used for this. Your job is to use this algorithm, decide on the features to use, test your implementation and finally, implement it into a background service that periodically re-trains and sends an email when it expects a peak in the near future.


Televic Education, located in Marke (Kortrijk), is part of the Televic group and develops e-learning applications, both online (Edumatic) and offline (AvidaNet). We are a small group, so as a thesis student you will get close guidance and support. Our connections to the universities are very broad, so academic support is not a problem.

Nature of the work


MSc. IT, ICT Research:20% Implem.: 30% Experim.: 50%

School/ Televic Software 1

Documents

Thesis subjects 2013 2014 - Industrieel ingenieur …masterproef.tiwi.ugent.be/onderwerp/voorstellen/Masterproefonderw... · simultaneous translation and electronic voting ... thesis