Computational and Information Infrastructure
in the Astronomical DataGrid
Please note: These pages are subject to changes. More information will be made available here over time.
This is the second workshop of
Computational and Information Infrastructure
in the Astronomical DataGrid
To be held at the University of Granada
Organized by the Department of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence
Sponsored by iAstro, the University of Granada,
and the Research Project "High resolution images and video from low resolution compressed video sequences"
This is the second workshop organized by the Cost Action 283: Computational and Information Infrastructure in the Astronomical DataGrid (iAstro) . The workshop will last for one and a half days starting on February, 21 (Friday) and finishing on February 22 (Saturday) at lunch time.
On Friday we will cover topics related to different aspects of images and video, in particular we expect to have presentations on image and video processing and classification, image decompositions, image and video retrieval from databases and inmersive videoconferencing.
Saturday morning will be devoted to the Grid Infrastructure that makes handling of data, and in particular image and video, possible.
The workshop will finish on Saturday morning-afternoon with a general discussion on possible FP6 NoE and/or IP proposals and an iAstro Management Committee meeting open to non-members
The invited speakers that, so far, have accepted to attend the workshop are:
Measuring Excitement in Video: From Highlights to Personalized Video Delivery
We present in this paper a methodology for measuring the level of excitement that is evoked in a viewer while watching a video. The proposed methodology is based on using cues from the visual and audio modality of video as well as on observing the way a video is directed (edited). Our methodology is generic and can be employed broadly in the process of video abstraction, like for instance, for generating movie trailers or extracting highlights from sport programs, but also for analyzing the affective content of a video that can be of use in the process of video delivery personalization.
Efficient Video Communication over Lossy Channels
Supporting video communication over lossy channels such as wireless networks and the Internet is a challenging task due to the stringent quality of service (QoS) required by video applications and the many channel impairments. Two important QoS characteristics for video are the degree of signal distortion and the transmission delay. Another important consideration is the cost associated with transmission, for example, the energy consumption in the wireless channel case and the cost for differentiated services in the Internet (with DiffServ) case.
Emphasis will be primarily given on video compression for transmission over wireless channels, but similar results can be obtained for transmission over networks with differentiated services. We consider the joint adaptation of the source coding parameters, such as the quantization step-size and prediction mode, along with the physical layer resources, such as the transmission rate and power. Our goal is to provide acceptable QoS while taking into account system constraints such as the energy utilization. We propose a general framework that allows a number of "resource/distortion" optimal formulations for balancing the requirements of different applications. In particular, we consider the problem of minimizing the end-to-end distortion for given delay and transmission energy constraints, as well as the dual problem of minimizing the transmission energy for given distortion and delay constraints. Efficient utilization of transmission energy is important for extending the lifetime of the battery when the user is mobile, for decreasing the level of interference between users, as well as for increasing the overall network capacity.
Image Processing by The Curvelet Transform
Wavelets have been very successful for many applications such filtering, deconvolution, detection or compression. They have however some limitations when the data present anisotropic features, and we present new methods, such the ridgelets and the curvelets, better adapted to this kind of data. Finally, we describe how to combine all these transforms in order to benefit of the advantages of each of them.
Towards immersive videoconferencing in virtual collaborative environments
Presence and immersiveness are the big challenges for future videoconferencing systems. This talk presents VIRTUE, a IST Framework V project aiming to build an innovative, 3-site, immersive teleconferencing prototype. The VIRTUE videoconferencing terminal includes four cameras placed around a 60'' plasma screen and organised in two real-time stereo systems, two dual-Pentium PCs with additional special-purpose boards, and a table (half of which is virtual). Key features of VIRTUE are the use of real, synthesised images of remote speakers (as opposed to texture-mapped models or avatars), viewpoint adaptation via passive head tracking, a specially designed hardware board based on four TriMedia processors, and a solid grounding in human factors analysis. The focus of the talk are the computer vision algorithms developed and implemented, especially for stereo and view synthesis. Results illustrating the performance of the VIRTUE algorithms, as well as up-to-date images of the VIRTUE demonstrator, will be shown and commented.
Contributions are expected from iAstro members and also from non iAstro members that are willing to participate. Please send titles and abstracts of presentations to Rafael Molina. Publication of the Proceedings is under consideration.
Information on the programme will be frequently updated (see contributions so far received).
A number of rooms have been booked at Granada Center Hotel .
Address:
Avda. Fuentenueva s/n.
18002.- GRANADA.
Tel: 34 958 205000
Fax: 34 958 289696
Please email granada@hotelescenter.es for booking using the reference iAstro and cc to Javier Abad (abad@decsai.ugr.es).
The room prices are: 90.02€ (single) and 108.02€ (double), breakfast included.
The workshop will be held in Granada (Spain), at the Granada Center Hotel (Avda. Fuentenueva s/n.)
Questions, comments about the Workshop to: Rafael Molina, rms@decsai.ugr.es
Questions, comments about this page to: Javier Abad, abad@decsai.ugr.es