PhD Research Day

17th September 2004

Infolab

Research Groups
Informatics Research Group
Digital Signal Processing Research Group
Ionosphere and Radio Propagation group
 Programme

9:30 Introduction Martin Grill

9:35 Welcome by Head of Department Prof. Farideh Honary

Ionosphere and Radio Propagation Group

9:45 The Effects of a Large X-Class Solar Flare on the Mathew Beharrell
Lower Ionosphere
10:00 Artificial aurora: observations and modelling Mina Ashrafi
10:15 A study of high latitude absorption Amin Aminaei
10:30 Advanced Riometer Imaging Experiment in Martin Grill
Scandinavia

10:45 Tea break

Informatics Research Group

11:15 Managing Mobility Ural Mutlu
11:30 Multimedia Multiplexing Protocol for future Vasileios Zarimpas
wireless/wired communication networks
11:45 Error protection and security for data transmission Bassem Ammar

12:00 An improved watermarking technique for the Ioannis Katsaros

casting of digital signatures
12:15 -Two Dimensional Optical Storage -Abdi Moinian
-Ultra Wideband Radio Technology and -Behshad Memari
Applications

12:30 – 13:30 Lunch

Digital Signal Processing Research Group

13:30 Semantic-based Document Clustering Tony Evans
13:45 Dynamic Pattern Recognition - Modelling 3D George Shih-Yang
Air-patrol Competitive Environment Chiao
14:00 Channel equalization and time series prediction Sonal Ahuja
using eTS algorithm
14:15 Image segmentation and analysis using genetic Yuvaraj Kotipalli
algorithms Shiva
 The Ionospheric Effects of a Large X-Class Solar Flare

Mathew Beharrell - Ionosphere and Radio Propagation Group

The time of Halloween last year coincided with an intense period of solar activity.
On October 28 occurred the 4th largest solar flare since records began in 1976.

Solar flares emit huge amounts of high energy photons in the EUV and X-Ray
bands; in the case of this flare, increasing the soft X-Ray output of the sun by around
3000%. Such an output must have a significant effect on the ionosphere, which is largely
ionised by the solar photons. This study aims to better understand the changes in
ionospheric parameters during a solar flare using both data, from the EISCAT incoherent
scatter radar and the GOES satellites, and modelling.

The October 28, X17.2 Solar Flare in 195Å extreme ultra violet

The electron production rate and the effective recombination rate coefficient are
important parameters, not only do they give the electron density but they also offer clues
about the concentrations of different species in the ionosphere. The apparent reduction in
effective recombination rate in the D-region during the flare, seen in this study as well as
others, is thought to be due to an abundance of diatomic ions such as N2+ and O2+.
Given time, these would combine with other species and in doing so increasing their
recombination rate. In the quiet time D-region, the vast majority of ions are polyatomic,
with relatively high recombination rates.
 Artificial aurora: observations and modelling
Mina Ashrafi - Ionosphere and Radio Propagation Group

Historic and scientific background

Sun is the source of electromagnetic radiation over a wide spectral range, a continuous
stream of plasma and bursts of energetic particles. The ionosphere is produced primarily
by ionisation action of high energy range of solar radiation and auroral energetic particles
that strike the upper atmosphere and make the region partly ionised plasma. Ionisation
appears at a number of atmospheric levels producing different regions known as the D, E,
and F region which suffer from ionisation by different solar radiation energies. In
addition, in high latitudes earth magnetic filed lines extend and under circumstances can
connect to the interplanetary magnetic field lines. As a result, energetic charged particles
carried by the solar wind can enter high latitude ionosphere, they excite the atmospheric
constituents to higher energy levels which result in producing optical emissions or auroral
lights.

The highly conductive ionosphere due to the existence of the charged particles can carry
electrical currents as well as reflect, deflect and scatter radio waves. The scientific
establishment of the conducting layer in the upper atmosphere took place in early 1900
when Marconi was successful in transmitting the radio signals across the Atlantic. The
idea of radio waves propagating across the curvature of earth’s surface by reflecting from
the ionosphere was suggested first by Kennely and heaviside in 1902. In less than a
decade radio broadcasting techniques was rapidly developed. In 1933 the first signs of a
non-linear effect in the ionospheric radio propagation were observed after construction of
a high power transmitter in Luxemburg. The modulation of the Luxemburg station could
be heard on the background of a broadcasted signal from other radio stations. It was
suggested that high power radio waves transmitted by this station changed radio
propagation characteristics of the ionosphere. This was the first time that the interaction
of a radio wave with the ionosphere as a medium was suggested.

Objective

The ionosphere is an example of a natural plasma environment which acts as a medium

for the radio communication across the globe. Furthermore it is of interest both from
plasma physics as well as geophysical point of view. Artificial heating experiments of
the ionosphere with a well defined heat source can help to improve the understanding of
the natural occurring processes in the ionosphere. In such experiments the ionosphere is
used as a laboratory to examine the existing knowledge and theories which has been
established up to date in the field.
Artificial aurora experiments

High-power high-frequency radio waves cause plasma turbulence when beamed into the
ionosphere. This causes several phenomena, for example, artificial optical emissions due
to electron acceleration, ion-line backscatter enhancements in incoherent scatter radar
spectra due to Langmuir wave turbulence, and stimulated electromagnetic emissions
(SEE) due to wave coupling on plasma irregularities. On 12 November 2001, the
EISCAT Heating facility, pumping in O-mode transmissions at 5.423 MHz and 550 MW
effective isotropic radiated power with the pump beam dipped 9 degrees south, produced
novel artificial auroral rings.
The rings appeared immediately at pump-on and collapsed into blobs
after ~60 s whilst descending in altitude. Similar altitude descent effects were observed in
the EISCAT UHF radar ion-line enhancements. Likewise the SEE spectra changed as the
altitude approached the fourth electron gyro-harmonic frequency. Optical recordings
were made from Skibotn, Norway (69.35 N, 20.36 E) at 630 and 557.7 nm, and from
Ramfjord (69.59 N, 19.23 E) in white-light. The altitudes of the initial optical ring and
steady-state blob have been estimated.
The location and evolution in altitude and characteristics of the optical emissions has
been compared to the ion-line enhancements and the approach to the fourth gyro-
harmonic indicated by the SEE spectra. Initial results show that all three phenomena have
similar altitude morphology.
Ionospheric parameters such as electron density and temperature and ion temperature can
be derived from the incoherently backscattered ion–line spectra using conventional
methods, whereas heating in the ionospheric F-region with frequencies close to the
electron gyro-harmonics can give rise to the enhancements in the ion-line spectra, in
which case the spectra can not be analysed. In the above experiment the pump frequency
corresponds to the fourth electron gyro-harmonic frequency at 215 km altitude. The
EISCAT UHF radar observed a pump-induced overshoot in the ion-line data at the HF
reflection altitude.

The optical and radar signatures of HF pumping started at ~235 km and descended to
~215 km within ~60 s. This effect has been modelled using the solution to differential
equations describing pump-induced electron temperature and density perturbations. The
final temperature inside the heated volume has been calculated. The model results are
compared to EISCAT radar data.

References

Gurevich , A. V., Nonlinear phenomena in the ionosphere, 1978

Kosch et. al., Geophysical Research Letters, 31, 2004
Leyser T. B., Space Science Reviews, 98, 2001
Robinson, T. R., Physics reports, 179, 1989
Rietveld et. al., Journal of Geophysical Research, 108, 1-16, 2003
Schunk and Nagy, Reviews of Geophysics and Space Physics, 16, 1978
Stubbe et. al., Journal of Geophysical Research, 89, 7523-7536, 1984
 A Study of High Latitude Absorption
Amin Aminaei - Ionosphere and Radio Propagation Group

Introduction

Two kinds of absorption are recognized in the ionosphere, deviative and nondeviative.
Deviative absorption occurs when wave spends a long time in the absorption layer and
wherever on the ray path where significant bending takes place. Nondeviative absorption
occurs in the regions where the magnetic permeability is around unit ( µ ≈ 1) and
Nν is large( N is electron density and ν is collision frequency) which fits with D
layer of ionosphere. This type of absorption is measured by riometers and has strong
dependency to the frequency. When data are obtained at different frequencies it is
converted to a reference frequency (usually 30 MHz) as an inverse square law:

A( 30 MHz ) = A( f ) (30 / f ) 2 dB
Riometer (Relative Ionospheric Opacity METER) is a ground-based receiver which
measures cosmic noise absorption(CNA) occurred at the 80-90 km altitude of ionosphere.
Riometers usually operate at frequencies of 20 to 50 MHz .Imaging Riometer for
Ionospheric Studies (IRIS) in Finland is of riometers being used for measuring high
latitude absorption. The Kilpisjärvi IRIS imaging riometer in northern Finland (69.05° N,
20.79° E) is supervised by Lancaster University (UK) and operated in conjunction with
Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory (SGO), Finland. It has been in operation since 2nd
September 1994.The system operates at 38.2 MHz and produces an array of 49 narrow
beams with widths between 13° and 16°. The basic scanning interval of the array is one
second. Figure 1 shows the IRIS array of antenna.

Figure1 IRIS antenna array located in Kilpisjärvi,Finland

High Latitude Absorption

High Latitude Absorption, Also is known as Auroral Absorption (AA), occurs in auroral
o o
zone (centered about 67 geomagnetic latitude and about 10 wide in latitude).
Appleton and colleagues discovered auroral absorption during international polar year
(1933). Auroral absorption normally has rapid changes during times of day but the events
happen about magnetic local midnight are intense and sharp. It is caused by electron
precipitation in the range from 10 to 100 keV at altitudes of 70-100 km generally
followed by the substorm onset in the midnight sector. These events happen during a
couple of minutes. Figure 2 illustrates a typical night time auroral absorption.
Auroral absorption may be accompanied with occurrence of aurora in the ionosphere.
Aurora is due to excitation of upper atmospheric gas particularly O2 and N2 by energetic
particles mostly electrons. Auroras are observable by eyes (Figure 3)

Figure2 A typical auroral absorption

Figure3 Aurora
Summary of works have been done so far

450 events have been studied. They occurred during 15-24 UT (MLT at 2115 UT)
in the period of 1994-2003. Events are analysed both in time and frequency domain
( Figure 4).Frequency analysis has been done using Morlet wavelet. Besides absorption
data, variations of components of magnetic field and AL index are considered for each
event. These statistics studies have been done:

- Distribution of the occurrence of events vs. time

- Distribution of events vs. intensity
- Dependency of events to the geomagnetic index of Kp
- Seasonal and yearly variations of events.
- Categorization of events vs. 3 phases of substorms

Figure4. Variations of a typical high absorption event in time and frequency

Future Work

- Study of high absorption events occurring in local morning –noon sector

 Advanced Riometer Imaging Experiment in Scandinavia – ARIES

Martin Grill - Ionosphere and Radio Propagation Group

Abstract

A new type of imaging riometer system based on a Mills Cross antenna array is currently
under construction by the Ionosphere and Radio Propagation Group, Department of
Communication Systems, Lancaster in collaboration with the Max-Planck-Institut für
Aeronomie, Germany. The system will have an unprecedented spatial resolution in a
viewing area of 300x300km.
The Mills Cross system considered in this paper provides at least 4 times the resolution
which can be achieved (with the same number of antennas) with a filled array antenna
system. However, the cross correlation technique employed for producing narrow pencil
beams adds a considerable amount of complexity to the system which requires the use of
state-of-the-art FPGA signal processing technology.
First measurements have indicated that antenna sidelobes introduce phase delays that
result in signal reduction/increase especially in the presence of a strong noise source
(radio star). Possible techniques to minimise the effects of the sidelobes will be
presented.

Introduction

The riometer (relative ionospheric opacity meter) determines the radio-wave absorption
in the ionosphere by measuring the received cosmic-noise power. The expected variation
of background noise over a sidereal day is usually referred to as the quiet-day curve
(QDC). The ionospheric opacity is deduced from the difference between the QDC and the
received noise power. Absorption images may be produced by utilising a number of
spatially-distributed narrow beams.
Existing riometers are either widebeam riometers consisting of a single antenna element
above a conducting ground plane with resulting beam widths of the order of 60°, or
imaging riometers made up of up to 256 equally spaced antenna elements that form a
square additive phased filled array. Lancaster University’s Imaging Riometer for
Ionospheric Studies (IRIS) is an example of such an imaging riometer as described in [2].
With its 8x8 antenna array IRIS achieves an angular resolution of 16° at the zenith which
translates to an area of about 25x25 kilometres at 90km height. IRIS utilises a two-stage
matrix of modified 8 port Butler matrices [3] to form a total of 49 simultaneous beams.
 Figure 1: Physical layout of several Mills Cross and filled array antenna
configurations

Plans for a new high-resolution riometer have been outlined in [4]. Advances in signal
processing technology will enable the Mills Cross technique to be employed for riometry
work for the first time. A cross of two perpendicular arms of 32 antennas each (totalling
63 antennas), see figure 1, will perform equally to a filled square antenna array of 16x16
antennas (totalling 256 antennas).

Experiment description
The Advanced Riometer Imaging Experiment in Scandinavia (ARIES) system consists of
a cross of two perpendicular arms of 32 antennas each (figure 1).
For the experiment results discussed in the following sections, a subset of only 16x16
antennas was used in an effort to reduce the complexity of the initial tests. The signals
from the two arms of 16 antennas each are fed into a lossless combiner to produce two
perpendicular fan-shaped beams pointing towards zenith. A set of phasing cables enabled
swinging the beams to an alternate, predetermined ‘worst-case’ direction. This is the
direction where strong signals are received by the sidelobes whereas the pencil beam
created by the cross correlation stage looks at a quiet part of the sky.
The signals from the combiners were fed into two receivers. The receivers employed an
in-phase/quadrature sampling technique. The receiver bandwidth was 1MHz,
considerably wider than the bandwidths that are used with existing filled array riometers
(IRIS: 250kHz). The resulting output was digitised using a high-speed A/D converter
board that plugs into a standard PC. The board is capable of continuously and
synchronously sampling 4 analogue channels at up to 10MHz sampling rate and 12 bit
resolution. All experiments described below were carried out with a sampling rate of
2.2MHz.
Cross correlation of the two resulting complex signals to find the signal from the area of
sky common to both fan beams was carried out digitally. The integrated results of the
cross correlation stage were stored for an initial integration time of 0.5s.
Experimental results
A sample dataset for October 30th, 2002 can be found in figure 2. The top panel shows
widebeam data. The middle two panels show data as recorded by the two fan beams. The
bottom panel is the result of cross correlating the signals from the two fan beams to
derive the signal common to both fan beams, referred to as pencil beam.

Phasing issues, comparison to simulation

The actual recording from the 16x16 worst case beam shows strong alternations in the
recordings that do not show up in the simulation. Based on the power pattern simulations
we would expect these alternations to look quite differently. Using simulated data based
on the predicted influence of only the two strongest radio stars, Cassiopeia and Cygnus,
on the beam in question, we can see that we sometimes record minima when based on the
power pattern we would really expect maxima, i.e. at times when we expect to see a very
strong signal from Cassiopeia/Cygnus due to it being in the centre of some sidelobe, we
really observe a considerable reduction in received signal. In the given dataset in figure 4,
this is most prominent for 8:40, 15:10, 19:40 UT.
WIDEBEAM
−100
IRIS
−102 calibrated ARIES widebeam

−104
dbm

−106

−108

−110
00 04 08 12 16 20 00
E−W FAN BEAM (2502)
−100
calibrated measurement
−102 simulation

−104
dbm

−106

−108

−110
00 04 08 12 16 20 00
N−S FAN BEAM (2503)
−100
calibrated measurement
−102 simulation

−104
dbm

−106

−108

−110
00 04 08 12 16 20 00
offset corrected PENCIL BEAM (ABS)
−100
10s res
−102 200s res
simulation
−104
dbm

−106

−108

−110
00 04 08 12 16 20 00

Figure 2: Recorded data for 2002-10-30

The cause of this observation was found to be the sensitivity of the cross correlator to
phase differences in the input signals that are to be cross correlated.
It is the phase difference between the signals received from the two fan beams that is
responsible for the occurrence of minima where we would expect to find maxima. One
example is the minimum at around 15:10 UT. At that time we have Cygnus passing
through the main lobe of the NS fan beam, and through the second sidelobe of the EW
fan beam. The reading is much reduced due to the strong anticorrelation between the
signal received from Cygnus by the two fan beams.

Remedy
In order to attain high quality data, the sidelobes will have to be reduced to a level far
below the one that was used during the initial experiment and in fact far below the
sidelobe levels that are commonly achieved with today’s filled array riometers. Currently,
two techniques are primarily being investigated to accomplish this: tapering and adaptive
beam steering.

Tapering
Tapering, i.e. attenuating the signals from the individual antenna elements of the phased
array according to a given ‘windowing function’, prior to combining them in the
beamformer, can in theory reduce the level of the sidelobes to any extent. Tapering is
straightforward to implement, and the exact tapering function can even be modified on-
the-fly if a digital beamforming system is used. Apart from triangular tapering which
originally promised to enable the 32x32 Mills Cross array to achieve the same results in
terms of spatial resolution and sensitivity as a 16x16 filled array, other tapering functions
can be used. See figure 3 for some examples. The goal in this case is to find the optimum
solution that sufficiently suppresses the sidelobes while maintaining a main beam narrow
enough to achieve the wanted spatial resolution.

Adaptive beam steering

A digital beamforming system is no longer stuck to the beam directions that are produced
by a Butler matrix, instead the beam direction can be changed freely. This technique can
be used to steer the beams so that the positions of strong interfering noise sources (radio
stars) coincide with directions of minimum antenna sensitivity (nulls).

Summary
For the first time, meaningful pencil beams have been obtained from a Mills Cross type
riometer system. A Mills Cross antenna array connected to low-noise, high-gain receivers
with a wide dynamic range and a fully digital beamformer and cross correlator is capable
of achieving the same resolution as a filled phased array antenna whilst requiring a much
smaller number of antennas (factor 4 in the case of a 32x32 cross).
 0

signal strength [dB]

−10

−20

−30

−40

−50
−3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3
∆ angle between aerials [rad]

360
untapered
triangular

signal phase [°]

180 Chebyshev −35dB

−180

−360
−3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3
∆ angle between aerials [rad]

Figure 3: Amplitude and phase response for several tapered linear phased arrays

Bibliography

[1] M. Grill, F. Honary, E. Nielsen, T. Hagfors, G. Dekoulis, P. Chapman, and H.

Yamagishi. A New Imaging Riometer based on Mills Cross Technique. In 7th
International Symposium on Communication Theory and Applications. Ambleside,
UK. 13th-18th July 2003. pp. 26-31.

[2] D. L. Detrick and T. J. Rosenberg. A Phased-Array Radiowave Imager for Studies of

Cosmic Noise Absorption. Radio Science. ISSN 0048-6604. 25(4) pp. 325-338. July-
August 1990.

[3] J. Butler and R. Lowe. Beam-forming matrix simplifies design of electronically

scanned antennas. Electronic Design. 12 pp. 170-173. 1961.

[4] E. Nielsen and T. Hagfors. Plans for a new rio-imager experiment in Northern
Scandinavia. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 59(8):939-949,
1997.

** This presentation is based on a paper by Grill et al. [1] presented at the ISCTA’03.
 Managing Mobility

Ural Mutlu - Informatics Research Group

Introduction
As computer systems are being applied to higher number of aspects in personal and
professional life, the quantity and complexity of software systems is increasing rapidly.
At the same time, the diversity in hardware architectures remains large and is likely to
grow with the deployment of future mobile systems, embedded systems, PDAs, and
portable computing devices. To add to the complexity, the wide range of networks that
mobile systems operate on, through roaming or migration, poses challenges in the
management of resources. To manage such diversity of software and hardware,
middleware technologies that isolate the underlying platforms from the higher-level
applications have been developed.

Middleware is software designed to mask the complexity and heterogeneity inherent in

distributed systems. It is defined as a layer above the operating system but below the
application program that provides a common programming abstraction across a
distributed system, allowing the underlying system to present a standard "socket" for the
"plug" presented by the application object. Three of the most commonly used
middlewares are Java RMI, Microsoft’s DCOM, and OMG’s Common Object Request
Broker Architecture (CORBA). Java RMI is designed by Sun Systems especially for Java
users, DCOM is efficient but operates only on Microsoft’s Windows Operating Systems.
However, CORBA is efficient, platform and language independent middleware.

CORBA is a platform and language independent object oriented middleware. In this

architecture methods of remote objects are invoked transparently in a distributed and
heterogeneous environment through an ORB (Object Request Broker). The ORB is
responsible for all the mechanisms required to find the object implementation for the
request, to prepare the object implementation to receive the request, and to communicate
the date making up the request.

Wireless CORBA

The basic design principles concentrate on the client-side ORB transparency and
simplicity, because, transparency of the mobility mechanism to non-mobile ORBs is one
of the primary design constraints. Wireless CORBA does not support solutions that
would require modifications to a non-mobile ORB in order for it to interoperate with
CORBA objects and clients running on a mobile terminal. In other words, a stationary
(non-mobile, or fixed network) ORB does not have to implement this specification in
order to interoperate with CORBA objects and clients running on mobile terminals.

Wireless CORBA architecture identifies three different domains: home domain, visited
domain, and terminal domain. The Home Domain for a given terminal is the domain that
hosts the Home Location Agent of the terminal. A Visited Domain is a domain that hosts
one or more Access Bridges through which it provides ORB access to some mobile
terminals. The Terminal Domain consists of a terminal device that hosts an ORB and a
Terminal Bridge through which the objects on the terminal can communicate with objects
in other networks.

Real-Time CORBA (RT CORBA)

RT CORBA aims at solving problems associated with the allocation of resources and the
end-to-end predictability of system execution. RT CORBA is an optional set of
extensions to CORBA. To ensure that real-time requirements of a system are met, all
parts of the system must behave deterministically and if they combine predictably. The
interfaces and mechanisms provided by RT CORBA specifications facilitate a predictable
combination of the ORB and the application. The application manages the resources by
using the RT CORBA interfaces and the ORB’s mechanisms coordinate the activities that
comprise the application.

The Real-Time ORB relies upon the RTOS to schedule threads that represent activities
being processed and to handle resource contention. In RT CORBA threads are given
priorities. When a remote call is sent, the thread priority will be passed from client to
server. If the priority scheme implemented in the server is not CORBA compatible, the
priority will be mapped on to the local OS.

RT CORBA specifications have been extanded to accommodate dynamic scheduling as

well as static scheduling. This specification generalises the Real-time CORBA
specification to meet the requirements of a much greater segment of the real-time
computing field. There are three major generalizations:

• Any scheduling discipline may be employed;

• The scheduling parameter elements associated with the chosen discipline may be
changed at any time during execution;

• The schedulable entity is a distributable thread that may span node boundaries, carrying
its scheduling context among scheduler instances on those nodes.

Outline of Presentation:

This presentation will initially introduce CORBA and explain how platform and language
independencies are achieved. Then it will be shown how CORBA can be used to manage
mobility issues and resources in mobile communication systems.
 Multimedia Multiplexing Protocol for future wireless/wired
communication networks
Vasileios Zarimpas - Informatics Research Group

Multiplexing is an essential part in a communication system where multiple data

streams are transmitted simultaneously through a single link. Multimedia data streams
have special requirements that are hard to be met, especially on wireless systems. High
bandwidth, small transmission delays and channel reliability are required for on-time data
stream delivery and real time playback. Limited communication resources of wireless
systems can be offset by the simultaneous use of multiple link layer technologies.
Multiplexing data over a virtual channel, compromises of several radio and other sub-
channels, can provide more bandwidth than each channel alone and improved Quality of
Service (QoS).
Currently, wireless systems allow the use of multiple network technologies, but
only one at the time. Packet oriented multiplexing protocols that are based on the ITU
H.223 recommendations are commonly used in various applications to transmit any
combination of multimedia data over a single communication link. Certainly, there is a
cost in the QoS of such systems, mainly due to bandwidth restriction, that would be
unacceptable for many applications. Also, the performance is limited because multiplexer
is not real-time configurable and sometimes is unable to give maximum efficiency when
channel fluctuations and variations occur.
The presentation will cover a novel multimedia multiplexing protocol that enables
the transmission of multimedia data over several wireless networks at the same time,
taking the advantage of accessing the full bandwidth available in an environment. The
multiplexer system has been designed to be adaptive, maximizing the performance.
Traffic control and congestion reactive techniques based on channel parameters
estimations are provided. Data error protection mechanisms are illustrated and
performance/efficiency issues are discussed using the simulation results. The frame
structure of the protocol, the advantages and the flexibility that can be provided to future
wireless systems are highlighted. Additionally, the performance of multimedia
multiplexing and transmission in noisy/fading environments is presented and
improvements compared with existing systems and the ITU H.223 standard are
highlighted.
The simultaneous use of multiple interfaces and the ability for real-time
multiplexer configuration brings many opportunities and challenges. Better quality
multimedia traffic, improved QoS, bandwidth expansion, anytime-anywhere mobility and
smooth handoffs are some crucial advantages that the proposed system can offer.
 Error Protection and Security for data transmission

Bassem AbuBakr Ammar - Informatics Research Group

In this new age of advanced communications, among several challenges facing

researchers are optimum usage of available bandwidth and security of communications.

In this thesis we investigate two applications for linear block codes; the first, the more
common one, is error protection in communication systems, the second deals with
security of communications, particularly public key cryptography.

First in error protection, we focus on a class of near Shannon-limit (theoretical limit)

codes, namely Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) Codes. In 1948, Shannon provided a
useful definition for information and several “channel coding theorems” which gave
explicit upper bounds, called the channel capacity, on the rate at which “information”
could be transmitted reliably on a given communication channel. Shannon proved the
possibility of transmitting reliable information over any channel provided the information
rate does not exceed the channel capacity. However, since this is an existence theorem, it
gives no guidance as to how to find appropriate coding schemes or how complex they
may be to implement. Many communication engineers and coding theorists have
developed numerous schemes for a variety of applications in an attempt to achieve
performance close to what was promised by Shannon with reasonable implementation
complexity. It was not before 1993 that the first of the classes of Shannon-limit-
approaching codes started to appear, namely Turbo Codes by Berrou, et al (1993). Before
1993, state-of-the-art codes operated at Eb/N0 nearly 4 dB above that corresponding to
channel capacity [Costello, et al(1998)]. Performance less than 1.0 dB away from
Capacity is achievable with short constraint length turbo codes, very long block lengths,
and soft decision iterative decoding of 10-20 iterations. For example for rate = 1/2 and
Information block length N = 216 = 65536, with 18 iterations the code can attain a BER of
10–5 at about 0.5dB. Low Density Parity check (LDPC) codes form another class of very
close to Shannon limit codes, besides Turbo codes. For example, a 0.0045 dB gap from
Shannon-limit has been shown by Chung et al (2001) using 1/2 rate code of block length
107 at BER 10–6.
LDPC are originally defined as the null space of a binary random matrix of low density
of ones called low density parity check matrix. This matrix enables the use of an iterative
soft decision decoding algorithm (Sum-Product algorithm), which gives a BER (bit error
probability) curve very close performance to Shannon limit with low implementation
complexity. In our work we look into ways of constructing structured low density
matrices that can have similar performance to the random ones but have the extra
advantage of being in structured form. These should be easier to implement and to
encode than random ones especially for longer codes.
We present and investigate methods for constructing LDPC Codes using Balanced
Incomplete Block Designs (BIBD). We propose different ways for constructing quasi-
cyclic regular and irregular1 LDPC-matrices. Regular BIBD-LDPC matrices without
cycles of length 4 in their Tanner graph (cycles of length 4 in the Tanner graph of the
parity check matrix worsen the performance of the Sum-product decoding algorithm) can
have column weight at most 5. We also introduce a new simple method for constructing
quasi-cyclic regular LDPC based on Vandermonde type matrices. This new method
offers much more possible values of parameters of the parity check matrices than BIBD-
based codes. We can construct an LDPC-matrix of effectively any column weight, while
preserving the quasi-cyclic structure and without short cycles of length 4 in the Tanner
graph. Codes of both methods, BIBD and Vandermonde, have similar performance to
that of MacKay (randomly generated by computer) codes.

Second in communication security, we look into Public Key Cryptosystems (PKC) which
are based on the problem of general decoding for linear codes, in particular McEliece
PKC. We focus on PKC based on Rank codes2. A new family of rank codes, called
reducible rank codes is presented. We present PKC based on Reducible Rank Codes. We
present different trade-offs for using a combined system for error protection and
cryptography.

The general decoding problem for linear codes is NP-complete3, as been shown by
Berlekamp, et al (1978). In fact, the difficulty of this problem has been made use of in
cryptography by McEliece (1978), when he introduced his public key cryptosystem

1
Regular LDPC-matrices have equal number of ones per column, column weight, and equal number of
ones per row, row weight. Irregular matrices may have different column weights or/and different row
weights.
2
Codes that are based on the rank metric rather than the Hamming metric
3
A problem is assigned to the NP (non-deterministic polynomial time) class if it is verifiable in polynomial
time by a non-deterministic Turing machine. (A non-deterministic Turing machine is a "parallel" Turing
machine which can take many computational paths simultaneously, with the restriction that the parallel
Turing machines cannot communicate.) A P-problem (whose solution time is bounded by a polynomial) is
always also NP. If a problem is known to be NP, and a solution to the problem is somehow known, then
demonstrating the correctness of the solution can always be reduced to a single P (polynomial time)
verification. If P and NP are not equivalent, then the solution of NP-problems requires (in the worst case)
an exhaustive search. Linear programming, long known to be NP and thought not to be P, was shown to be
P by L. Khachian in 1979. It is an important unsolved problem to determine if all apparently NP problems
are actually P. A problem is said to be NP-hard if an algorithm for solving it can be translated into one for
solving any other NP-problem. It is much easier to show that a problem is NP than to show that it is NP-
hard. A problem which is both NP and NP-hard is called an NP-complete problem.
(http://mathworld.wolfram.com/NP-Problem.html)
(PKC).
Public key cryptography is one relatively new branch of cryptography. Whereas LDPC,
turbo codes, etc are termed as channel coding schemes, whose objective is to correctly
deliver the information from the transmitter to the receiver, cryptography on the other
hand deals with the security of communication. The fundamental objective of
cryptography is to enable two people, usually referred to as Alice and Bob, to
communicate over an insecure channel in such a way that an opponent cannot understand
what is being said. Until the seventies known cryptosystems could be categorized as
conventional or secret key cryptosystems. These cryptosystems use one key for
encryption and decryption and have very efficient algorithms and are highly secure. Their
main problem lied in the need for distributing the key used over a secure channel before
the communication through the public or insecure channel can proceed.
In 1976, Diffie and Hellman tried to solve the problem of key management by
introducing the idea of public-key system, where the encryption (made public) key is
different from the decryption (kept private for each user) key. The algorithm should
enable any person to encrypt a message using the intended receiver’s encryption key,
while only the receiver (who has the corresponding decryption key) can decrypt the
message. The first realization of a public-key system came in 1977 by Rivest, Shamir,
and Adleman, who invented the well-known RSA Cryptosystem [Rivest et al (1977)].
Since then, numerous public-key cryptography algorithms have been proposed. Many of
these are insecure. Of those still considered secure, many are impractical. Either they
have too large a key or the ciphertext is much larger than the plaintext. Only a few
algorithms are both secure and practical.
In 1978 Robert McEliece proposed a public-key cryptosystem based on algebraic coding
theory, in particular the difficulty of the general decoding problem. The Algorithm makes
use of the existence of a class of error correcting codes, known as Goppa codes. Although
the algorithm was one of the first public-key algorithms, and there were no successful
cryptanalytic results against the algorithm, it has never gained wide acceptance in the
cryptographic community. The scheme is two or three orders of magnitude faster than
RSA, but has some problems. The public key is enormous: 219 bits long, compared to 210
bits in RSA. The data expansion is large: the ciphertext is twice as long as the plaintext,
whereas in RSA ciphertext equals the plaintext.
Following the idea of applying the problem of decoding a general linear error-correcting
code in public key cryptosystems, two other classes of codes were used; Reed-Solomon
codes by Niederreiter (1986), and Maximum Rank Distance (MRD) codes by Gabidulin
(1991). However, of the three systems, Rank codes-based cryptosystem offers a
significantly smaller possible key size. This is mainly due to its dependence on the rank
metric rather than the Hamming metric. The size of the public key for a secure
Niederreiter version of McEliece-cryptosystem is about 218 bits, whereas the size of the
public key for secure Rank-codes cryptosystem one is about 214 bits.
The first Rank-codes based-cryptosystem [Gabidulin et al (1991)] applies Maximum
Rank distance MRD codes [Gabidulin (1985)]. Gibson (1993)and(1995) attacked the
system for small parameters and proved that the key size needs to be at least about 55296
∼ 2 bits, in GF(2 ) in order to have a secure system.
16 48

Though this represents a considerable improvement on the McEliece original system

where the size of the key is about 500 kbits, the size is still too large compared to RSA (1
Kbit). Moreover, the information rate is 1 in RSA. On the other hand, it is possible to
have an added capability for error protection in McEliece type cryptosystems.
In our work we introduce with Gabidulin et al a special class of Rank codes, called
reducible rank codes that can be used in PKC and provide key sizes in the range of 16
Kbits over GF(220) .

Regarding the practical implementation of a Rank codes-based PKC, we first compare

two possible rank-codes decoding algorithms with respect to the number of arithmetic
operations in GF(2m) involved. We also implement the basic Galois field arithmetic
operations needed in building a Rank-code encoder and decoder for GF(220) using Very
High-level Design Language (VHDL) for Field Programmable Gate-Array (FPGA).
These are addition, multiplication, division, squaring, and square-rooting operations. We
use VHDL to measure the expected speed and area needed for implementing the named
operations on an FPGA-board. We use the results in estimating the area needed over
FPGA to implement a decoder for a (20, 12, 9) Maximum- Rank Distance Code over
GF(220). We also estimate the expected speed of such decoder. The information bit rate
can reach up to 2.9 Mbps. It should be mentioned that the this figure is approximately
estimated; yet a considerable amount of optimisation for speed can be expected up to
information bit rate of 19 Mbps.

Finally, we propose a new idea to attempt breaking McEliece PKC based on Goppa
Codes, by applying LDPC-decoding algorithms. The idea is mainly to search for a parity
check matrix that defines the null space of the encryption code and which can perform
well with the sum-product iterative decoding algorithm. We first calculate the parity
check matrix in standard echelon form from the public key matrix. This matrix form does
not perform well with the sum-product algorithm. We then propose and discuss methods
to transform the matrix in the standard echelon form into another form that is more suited
to the sum-product algorithm.
 AN IMPROVED WATERMARKING TECHNIQUE FOR
THE CASTING OF DIGITAL SIGNATURES
I. Katsaros - Informatics Research Group

Abstract

“Patchwork” is a proven method of digital signature casting in images. This paper

introduces a new method that improves the security of existing robust watermark
encoding schemes. The proposed method provides protection to JPEG compression up to
a ratio of 1:5 whereas most existing methods are robust up to a ratio of 1:4. Images are
shown and simulation results are provided as examples of the robustness of the method.
The most important attribute of an embedding method is to resist to unauthorised
as well as both intentional and unintentional tampering. The level of security that is
required depends on the application and the expected attacks. In some applications the
highest security is required and in others the authentication of data is of greater
importance. To respond to these requirements, embedding methods must be combined
with established cryptographic tools.
The method of watermarking presented in this paper is based on the work
proposed initially by Bender et al. [1] a new approach to which was provided by Pitas
and Kaskalis [7,8]. In the method called “patchwork” proposed by Bender, pairs of pixels
(ai,bi) are randomly selected and are used to hide 1 bit by increasing the ai’s by one and
decreasing the bi’s by one. Provided that the image satisfies a number of statistical
hypotheses the estimated value of the sum of the differences between the ai’s and the bi’s
of N pixel pairs is given by 2N.
Based on the above idea, Pitas and Kaskalis proposed an alternative watermarking
method. The watermark is composed by a binary pattern S of the same size as the image
with an equal number of “ones” and “zeros”. Let smn denote the binary value of S at
position with coordinates m and n. The original image I, with pixel values xmn at position
with coordinates m and n, is divided into two subsets, A and B, according to the
corresponding watermark value at the particular position, where A = {xmn ∈ I, smn = 1}
and B = {xmn ∈ I, smn = 0}.
A positive integer factor k is then added to the elements of A, thus defining a set
C as: C= {xmn + k, xmn ∈ A}. The watermarked image is then given by C ∪ B. To verify
the existence of the watermark a test statistic q is applied. The value of q is defined as the
normalised difference between the mean c of the elements of the set C and the mean b
of the elements of the set B, i.e. q = b2 − c . Where σ C2 and σ B2 are the sample
σC +σ 2
B
variances of the elements of sets C and B respectively.
Based on this test statistic the method is using a probabilistic approach to detect
the digital signature. The results are satisfying however the method is not robust for
JPEG compression ratios of more than 1:4.
 Two Dimensional Optical Storage

A. Moinian - Informatics Research Group

Abstract
Two Dimensional Optical Storage (TwoDOS) discs are being developed in which channel discs
are arranged on a 2D hexagonal lattice. The aim is to increase capacity by a factor of two and data
rate by a factor of 10 over “Blu-Ray Disc” technology. A further increase in capacity and data can
be realized by adding another ‘dimension’ to writing data, such as using multiple levels instead of
the two levels (pit and land) used in the TwoDOS discs. In this presentation number of signal
processing issues are going to be discussed such as non-linear and linear channel models, concept
of the noise in optical medium, symbol detection, coding, etc.
TwoDOS optical technology is based on a so-called broad spiral along, which information is
written as a limited number of parallel data rows stacked upon each other and arranged in a
coherent 2D format, with no spacing in between the rows. A guard-band consisting of one row of
known land symbols is located between successive revolutions of the broad spiral. Multilevel
TwoDOS data can be written on the optical medium either as a land symbol, which is the flat
reflecting surface of the disc, or as M possible pit symbols of varying radii. 4-level TwoDOS
consists of one land and three pit symbols. The land-symbol is the flat reflecting surface within a
hexagonal cell. Pit-symbols can be mastered as pit holes with varying pit radii r and a fixed
phase-depth Φ centered within the hexagonal cell that is available for each symbol. The reflected
light traveling to the bottom of a pit and back out produces a phase-depth of Φ = 2π (2d / λ ′)

with respect to light reflected from the all-land area. λ ′ is the wavelength of the laser light inside
the cover-layer. For simplicity the phase-depth is chosen to be Φ = π , which results in d = λ ′ / 4 .
Data will be read-out in parallel from the spiral using an array of laser spots, which after being
diffracted from the data pattern on the disc, can be detected by an array of photo-detectors. The
sampled signal waveforms are the result of diffraction of the laser beam within each spot. Symbol
detection, based on the signal levels obtained from a channel model, is performed on these signal
waveforms to estimate the original data written to the disc. In order to determine the feasibility of
manufacturing multidimensional TwoDOS discs and determine how much more gain in capacity
this technology can provide, it is important to start with an accurate simulation of the signal
waveforms that would be obtained during read-out of these discs. The signal waveforms will
assist in developing bit detection and coding technologies. The most accurate model would be
based on vector diffraction, but due to its computational complexity, a model based on the
assumption of scalar diffraction is presented. The explicit dependence of the model on the
channel bits makes this model very suitable for signal processing purposes. The model is also
very convenient to assess the importance to the signal waveform of non-linear contributions,
which are significant in multidimensional TwoDOS due to the close packing of the bit cells.
Unlike the non-liner channel model, the linear channel model is simple from a signal processing
point of view because it is less complex in comparison with non-linear signal processing models
such as the vector diffraction model or the scalar diffraction model. However the linear model
does not take into account non-linear effects such as pit asymmetry. For multilevel TwoDOS, we
assume linear ISI has a relatively higher influence than non-linear contributions. We can also
assume that Pre-compensation Iteration Process can remove the non-linear ISI. Traditionally, in
one-dimensional optical storage (CD, DVD and BD), read-out channels are often simulated by a
linear model, which is characterized by its Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) as derived in the
Braat-Hopkin’s formula. For the purpose of TwoDOS, the formalism is extended to the 2D
character we would be shown in the presentation.
Media noise is caused by imperfections in the optical layer of the optical medium. In this paper
we categorize media noise into two predominant forms of imperfection: (i) variations in the pit
areas of the symbol cells with respect to the intended or nominal sizes this is described as pit-size
noise, (ii) while mastering data symbols on the optical disc, pits are exactly centered within the
symbol cell thus resulting in pit-position noise.
Viterbi based algorithms that simultaneously processes multiple rows of set of 2D data, have been
proposed in order to reduce the complexity of traditional full-fledged Viterbi. Multi-track Viterbi
Algorithm (MVA) defined as a demodulator that processes multiple tracks of a full-surface signal
and the complex problem of performing symbol detection over meta-spiral is broken down into a
number of bit-detectors each processing along set of adjacent tracks. We take Stripe-wise Symbol
Detector, which as MVA is based on concatenation scheme of interconnected Viterbi detectors
each performing on a subset of the rows of the meta-spiral and passing their outputs as side
information for subsequent stripes. It was shown that originally the Viterbi algorithm could be
used as Maximum Likelihood Sequence detector (MLSD) for ISI channels with Additive With
Gaussian Noise (AWGN). But in applications, which channel noise is correlated with correlation
statistics that are signal dependant, the Viterbi algorithm is not MLSD and we have extended the
branch matrix calculations in order to accommodate the effect of the media noise.
 Ultra Wideband Radio Technology and Applications

Behshad Memari - Informatics Research Group

Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology, useful for both communication and sensing
applications, has the potential to provide solutions for many of today’s problems in the
areas of spectrum management and radio system engineering.

Radio spectrum is very scarce, finite and its lower band is considered to be fully utilised.
UWB has the potential to address this problem and revolutionise radio communications,
radar and positioning. It allows co-existence with the already licensed operators in the
lower band of the radio spectrum and can also be used in the higher band as well.

Their inherent potentials have attracted rowing interest as a viable candidate for short-
range high speed indoor radio communication services. UWB radio technology could
play an important role in the realization of future pervasive and heterogeneous
networking.
 Semantic-based Document Clustering
Tony Evans - Digital Signal Processing Research Group

Introduction:
The World Wide Web is a vast repository of information in which webpages are searched
for using search engine applications that return results based on keyword frequency.
Since no semantic information is attached to webpages, a typical search query would
return a large number of results containing links to webpages of differing context in
regard to the keyword. As a result a user may have to search through a large number of
results before finding a webpage that contains the keyword in the correct context.

An improvement to current search engine results would be to group search results into
semantically similar clusters that are based on the context in which the keyword that is
found in the webpage appears. This is done by not simply counting the frequency of
keyword occurrences, but also by analysing words surrounding the keyword, and their
appearance in other webpages. The result would be a set of clusters of webpages that are
semantically similar. For example, a search for a word with several meanings, such as
“cold” would return results that are grouped in terms of weather, illness, the cold war,
and emotions.

The aim of my current project is to develop a server side search application that utilizes
the google API beta release, to retrieve a set of links to webpages based on a keyword
query and to improve on the search results by regrouping the search results into
semantically similar clusters. This would be done by pulling webpage data of each search
result from the google cache and performing comparisons on the sentences that the
keyword occurs in so that similar webpages are grouped together. Clustering search
results according to their semantic meaning is a topic associated with the “Semantic
Web”.

How the application works:

The application that is currently under development is a server side application written in
PHP that runs on top of the Apache HTTP server. The application has a browser based
interface that allows client users to use the search application in their browser in the same
way that they would use a normal search engine. PHP (Hypertext Pre-processor) is a
programming language similar to C which is gaining popularity over Perl as the server
side language of choice.

Search results must be fetched in a timely manner in order for the application to be
feasible. In order to achieve this I use the latest beta release of the google API, which
allows programmers to write applications that communicate with the google servers
directly using SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) which is set of conventions for
invoking code using XML over HTTP, similar to RPC calls. The google API provides
methods for search queries and fetching copies of webpages via google’s cache.
Classification of web documents:
Fuzzy set theory (Zadeh 1965) is the representation of classes whose boundaries are not
sharp and is therefore ideal for the ambiguous nature of keyword semantics that forms the
described problem with current search engines. Fuzzy logic uses values between the
interval [0,1]. In a fuzzy set, transition between membership and non membership is a
degree of truth so that the result of applying fuzzy set theory in document clustering
would be a degree of truth that the document belongs to a particular set.

The closeness of a webpage to another webpage is found by grouping similar keywords

together so that semantic elements with membership 1 are viewed as the elements of the
fuzzy set, while the other membership values estimate the closeness of elements to it.
Where results are judged to be sufficiently similar, they are gathered in the same fuzzy
class. The grouping of similar webpage would be based on a “semantic distance measure”
between those webpages, and a formula would evaluate the score of the distances
between the documents which increases as the distance decreases…

• Score of 1: if the keyword occurs anywhere between the web webpages

• Score of 2: if the keyword occurs within the same paragraph between the two
webpages
• Score of 3: if the keyword occurs in exactly the same sentence between the two
webpages

The result of the semantic distance measure is a value that classes a pair of documents as
either…

• Exactly the same: Where the distance is 0

• Infinite: Where the documents completely different
• Monotonic: Somewhere in between 0 and infinity

Summary:
Given a search phrase of one or several words, the application presents a list of clustered
results of similar webpages ordered by weighting of keywords. The application would
improve the result of the search query of existing search engines by

• Grouping results into organised clusters

• Taking into account the semantic meaning of the keyword occurrences instead of
basing results on keyword occurrences alone.
• The query result would be able to provide a degree of truth about the results

An application that categorises documents can be extended to classify images based on

their RGB values, or to classify user profiles for use in web marketing purposes. The
application under development can be accessed and used from the following address:
http://194.80.35.35/index.php.
 Dynamic Pattern Recognition - Modelling 3D Air-patrol
Competitive Environment

George Shih-Yang Chiao - Digital Signal Processing Research Group

Description:

Dynamic Pattern Recognition (DPR) is one interesting research area in the Classification
Research Field (CRF). It addresses several issues in practical applications such as 2D/3D
animation modelling, pattern tracking, behaviour learning, decision making and etc.

The main difference, also difficulty, of DPR to Still Pattern Recognition (STR) is that the
patterns in DPR are time-varied. A dynamic pattern will change its shape, location,
colour or any possible attribute according to its own specific formula when time passes.
Therefore, the knowledge of a specific dynamic environment where the patterns exist is
of course one important fundamental that DPR researchers have to be familiar with. Since
the behaviours of dynamic patterns link with the time domain, several learning
mechanisms have been proposed to contribute to the solutions of DPR. For example,
Artificial Neural Network, Bayesian Network, Hidden Markov Model, Kalman Filter,
etc. In some modelling schemes, several efficient algorithms had been introduced to
improve system’s global performances. Fuzzy Theorems, Probability Theorems, Generic
Algorithms are perhaps the most popular methodologies in helping making decisions.

In the presentation a practical application in 3D air-craft environment will be introduced,

analyzed, modelled, and evaluated. It will be controlled insofar 10 minutes. The main
purpose of this application is to recognize and predict the behaviours of the crafts flying
in the competitive environment. There will be a roughly 3-minute’s feedback/inquiry
time in the end of the presentation.
 Channel equalization and time series prediction using eTS
algorithm

Sonal Ahuja - Digital Signal Processing Research Group

Objective:

To study the efficiency of novel adaptive eTS (evolving Takagi Sugeno Model) on
Channel Equalization and Time Series Prediction
The flow chart of eTS algorithm can be represented as:
The different steps of the algorithm are as follows:
Step1: Initialization of the rule base structure (antecedent part of the rule)
Step2: Reading the next data sample
Step3: Recursive calculation of potential of each new data sample
Step4: Recursive update of the potential of old centers taking into account thr influence
of new data sample.
Step5: Possible modification or upgrade of the rule base structure based on the potential
of the new data sample in comparison of the existing rule centers
Step6: Recursive calculation of the consequent parameters.
Step7: Prediction of output of next the step

Results of Channel Equalization:

The block diagram of channel equalization used in this project is shown below:

The effect of the different SNR on the value of bits in error out of 800 is given below

SNR NDEI(Training) NDEI(Validation) BER

1 0.34565 0.35421 98
2 0.34124 0.34989 67
3 0.32468 0.31458 50
4 0.27909 0.2933 41
5 0.24071 0.27098 28
6 0.2232 0.24171 15
7 0.20945 0.21866 9
8 0.20445 0.22917 3
9 0.20622 0.22069 1
The graph of the SNR vs bits in error is shown below:

Number of Bits in error vs

SNR for channel equalisation
100

90

80

70

60
B
E 50 SNR

40

30

20

10

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
SN

Results of Time Series:

The given time series consists of 980 points. The given time series can be represented as:
The parameter evolution can be represented as:

Parameter Evolution 1 Parameter Evolution 2

Parameter Evolution 3
Parameter Evolution 4

The effect on radii on the number of rules on error measure can be represented in
the table:

Radii New Modif ied RMSE RMSE NDEI NDEI VAF

Rules Rules (Traini ng) (Validation (Traini ng) (Validation
) )

0.2 5 36 0.032396 0.034254 0.13943 0.1731 97.01

0.4 3 38 0.032549 0.034901 0.14009 0.17637 96.887

0.6 3 38 0.034953 0.034953 0.17663 0.17663 96.88

0.8 2 70 0.032424 0.03493 0.13956 0.17683 96.867

As the radii increases number of rules decreases

Smaller radii leads to over fitting
Large value of radii leads to under fitting
The proposed value of radii is 0.3-0.5
Conclusion:

1) eTS has been tested on one communication Problem and other time series benchmark

2) In this a deeper understanding of clustering , filtration , fuzzy model and system

identification has been made

3) Rule base structure evolves simultaneously by replacing or upgrading rules and

estimating the parameters

4) The value of radii plays an important role in controlling the number of rules

5) The computational efficiency of eTS model is based on non iterative and recursive
procedure which combines the Kalman filter with proper intialization and online
unsupervised clustering
Clustering of a segmented Image using Genetic Algorithm.
Presented by Kotipalli Shiva Yuvaraj
Supervised by Dr Plamen Angelov, Prof Costas Xydeas.
Introduction
The study in image compression has lead to many algorithms in order to achieve best
possible compression. Compression can be achieved by classification of elements
based on their properties. In this topic, regions of a segmented image are clustered
based on its shape properties using Genetic Algorithm. Regions of the segmented
image are clustered using directed random approximation, for many numbers of
generations to optimise clustering. For every generation, the fitness of the result is
calculated to produce new offsprings. These offspring chromosomes are then
analysed based on their shape properties to further improve the clustering and these
offspring chromosomes then become the parent chromosomes to produce new
generation chromosomes. It becomes more and more evident, for every generation
that the algorithm converges to improved clustering of the segmented regions.

An Overview of Genetic Algorithm

The GA is a stochastic global search method that mimics the metaphor of
natural biological evolution. GAs operates on a population of potential solutions
applying the principle of survival of the fittest to produce the better and better
approximation to the solutions. At each generation a new set of approximation is
created by the process of selection individuals according to their level of fitness in the
problem domain and breeding them together using operators using natural Genetics.
This process leads to the evolution of individuals that are better suited to their
environment than the individuals that they were created from just as in natural
adaptation.
Individuals, or current approximations, are encoded strings, chromosomes, composed
over some alphabet(s), so that the genotypes (chromosomes values) are uniquely
mapped onto the decision variable (phenotypic) domain. .
An objective function characterises an individuals’ performance in the problem
domain. In the natural world this would be an individual’s ability to survive in its
present environment. Thus, the objective function establishes the basis for selection
of pairs of individual that will be mated together during reproduction.
During the reproduction phase, each individual is assigned a fitness value derived
from its raw performance measure given by the objective function. This value is used
in the selection to bias more forward individuals. Highly fit individuals, relative to
the whole population, have a high probability of being selected for mating whereas
less fit individuals have a corresponding low probability of being selected and would
be discarded in a eventual process.
Once the individuals have been assigned a fitness value, they can be chosen from the
population, with the probability according to their relative fitness, and recombined to
produce the next generation. Genetic operators manipulate the characters of the
chromosomes directly, using the assumption that certain individual’s chromosome
codes, on average, produce fitter individuals. The recombination operator is used to
exchange Genetic information between pairs, or larger groups, of individuals. The
simplest recombination operator is that of single point crossover.
Consider the two parent integer strings:
P1= 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4
P2= 1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8
If an integer position r is selected uniformly at random between 1 and the string
length l, minus one and the Genetic information exchanged between the individuals
about this point, then two new offspring’s are produced. The two offspring’s below
are produced when the crossover point r = 3 is selected.
O1= 5 6 7 7 2 4 6 8
O2= 1 3 5 8 1 2 3 4
This crossover operation is not necessarily performed on all strings in the population.
Instead, it is applied with a probability Pc when the pairs are chosen for breeding when
the pairs are chosen for breeding. A further Genetic operator, called mutation, is then
applied to the new chromosomes, again with a set probability, Pm. Mutation causes
the individual Genetic representation to be changed according to some probabilistic
rule. In the integer string representation, mutation will causes a single variable in the
string to change its state, form 1 => 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 or 8. So for example,
mutating the fourth bit in O1 leads to the new chromosome.
O1m= 5 6 7 1 2 4 6 8
Mutation is generally considered to be a background operator that ensures that the
probability of searching a particular subspace of the problem space is never zero.
This has the effect of tending to inhibit the possibility of converging to a local
optimum, rather than the global optimum.
After recombination and mutation, the individual strings are then, if necessary
decoded, then objective function evaluated, a fitness value assigned to each
individuals selected for mating according to their fitness and so the process continues
to the subsequent generations. In this way, the average performance of individuals in
a population is expected to increase, as good individuals are preserved, bred with the
other one and less fit individuals’ dies out. The GA is terminated when some criteria
is satisfied. E.g. when a certain number of generations, or when a particular point in
the search space is encountered. A record of fitter chromosome is kept for every
generation and when the final criterion is met, the fitter chromosome would be
considered as the optimum chromosome.

Methodology
Every region of the segmented image are labelled, if the image is segmented with 500
regions, a chromosome is build with 500 variables, each variable indicating to a
respective region.

Chromosome 1:
Region Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 …………………………… 499 500
Cluster Number 3 5 12 1 5 5 2 3 …………………………….. 3 5
Figure 1
A diagrammatic representation idea of a chromosome.
The regions are randomly allocated a cluster number by Uniform distribution
function. With respect to this the regions are clustered. 50 such chromosomes are
generated, the number of cluster are predefined. The aim is to cluster the regions
based on their shape properties, shape properties are defined by area, perimeter and
roundness of a region. So regions with similar shape properties are to be clustered
together.
Fitness are calculated for every chromosome based on a Objective function, Objective
function can used here is

OBJ = (1+ Average Distance between cluster)/ (1+Average Distance within cluster)
Considering the shape properties as three coordinates in space, regions place in the
space with respect clusters, if the regions in the cluster are to be similar they are to be
with minimal distance and if the region in different clusters need to be dissimilar then
the regions are need to with maximum distance.
So based on this objective function, every chromosome would give a fitness value, the
chromosome with the higher fitness are said to healthier in this case. So the healthy
set of chromosome are considered for generation of new generation of chromosomes
by crossover and mutation and next set of 50 chromosomes are created.
The same is continued for many generations and the chromosome with the highest
fitness is considered for the best clustering.