Oxford University researchers have developed the Parallel Tracking and Mapping (PTAM) program, a camera-tracking system for fusing real and three-dimensional (3D) computer-generated visuals. PTAM enables users to project virtual objects or characters into a video stream that appears on real world surfaces. “The blending of real and virtual worlds is common enough in films and television, but is usually achieved by extensive processing of the recorded images or by filming in studios with known objects at fixed locations,” says Oxford professor David Murray. “The PTAM software allows developers to augment a camera’s video stream in real time and in everyday locations.” PTAM builds a map of thousands of features from objects and scenes, tracks accurately and at a standard frame rate, and calculates the camera viewpoint and angle. The technology also could improve global positioning systems and digital compasses, and provide support for satellite, 3G, and Wi-Fi signals.
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Purdue University researchers have developed a device that uses microring resonators to convert laser pulses into bursts of pulsating radio-frequency signals that avoid interference. The researchers say the technology could eliminate the need for wires when transferring data in homes, offices, and cars. The technology could enable all communications to be transmitted from a single base station, says Purdue professor Minghao Qi. Similar technology could eventually be developed to both transmit and receive signals. The key factor in making the breakthrough practical is that the pulses transmit radio frequencies of up to 60 gigahertz, which does not require a license in the United States. The unlicensed band also is permitted globally, which would allow the system to be implemented worldwide. The system’s tiny silicon microring resonators filter out certain frequencies and allow others to pass. The microring filter can be tuned by heating the rings, which causes them to change and filter out different frequencies.
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The Obama administration has declassified part of its plan to improve the security of cyberspace in an attempt to cultivate greater collaboration between government and civilian groups. More cooperation between the private sector and the U.S. National Security Agency is the centerpiece of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI). The declassified abstract of the plan reveals that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will operate a new security system, called Einstein 3, that analyzes email and other data traffic into and out of federal networks. CNCI also urges merged oversight of federal spending on research and development in cybersecurity, with a particular focus on “leap-ahead” technology. Although the initiative acknowledges that traditional security approaches “have not achieved the level of security needed,” it says the federal government is now outlining “grand challenges” for the research community to help solve the most difficult problems.
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Information technology (IT) needs to be taught a different way in schools if the industry is to deepen its talent pool, experts in the United Kingdom said during a recent e-Skills event. British Computer Society CEO David Clarke says that although young people are more connected than anyone else in society, they view IT as boring in school because it is taught in a secretarial manner. Students are trained to copy the teachers’ instructions, but they prefer to learn in groups and work on practical tasks, Clarke says. The Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI’s) Lizzie Holman says the same problem exists at the degree level. CBI statistics show that 64 percent of science, high technology, and IT employers believe students do not receive relevant content for the workforce. Europe faces a potential shortage of 384,000 information and communication technology practitioners by 2015, according to the European Commission.
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Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) scientists will demonstrate several research projects at the upcoming CeBIT conference. In KIT’s language-to-language translation device, automatic language recognition is combined with automatic translation and language synthesis technologies. The system serves as an automatic interpreter of lectures and parliamentary debates. It recognizes and translates language in real time and can be read as a continuously output text or heard over loudspeakers or smartphones. KIT researchers also have developed a system, based on the principle of electromyography, which enables people to speak soundlessly and still to be understood by a conversational partner. Meanwhile, the KIT Institute for Cryptography and Security developed a system that enables mobile users to generate a joint secret that can be used for encoding communications. The system creates a “joint key” for communication partners from the interferences of the radio transmission channel. KIT researchers also have developed Semantic Media Wiki, an extension of the Media Wiki software that enables users to typify cross references within a Wiki.
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Some researchers who study the architecture of global networks believe that peering is fundamentally transforming the Internet’s configuration, with far-reaching ramifications for the Web’s stability and security. Arbor Networks’ Internet Observatory Report found that the bulk of Internet traffic by volume flows directly between major content providers such as Google and consumer networks such as Comcast, while 30 percent of all traffic is produced and consumed by 30 “hyper giant” portals such as Microsoft, Facebook, and YouTube. The edge of the Internet is getting thicker due to the emergence of massive peering fabrics, which may be fortifying the network’s resilience. “The rise of these highly connected data centers around the world is changing our model of the Internet,” says Cornell University researcher Jon M. Kleinberg. However, he notes that the advent of giant distributed data centers as part of the development of cloud computing services is enlarging the dark Internet, compounding scientists’ difficulty in constructing a complete model. “The Internet as we know it is pretty much vanishing, in the sense that much of the traffic is being routed through lots of new layers and applications, much of it wireless,” says Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, director of Northeastern University’s Center for Network Science.
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University of Bath scientists have developed a biometric system for identifying people based on their nose shape. The researchers used a photographic system called PhotoFace to scan the three-dimensional shape of volunteers’ noses and used software to analyze them according to six main nose shapes. The researchers focused on the ridge profile, the nose tip, and the section between the eyes at the top of the nose. The researchers say their system offers a good recognition rate and a faster rate of image processing than whole face recognition techniques. “The technique is able to achieve a level of detail that is beyond current competing technologies and can be extended to a myriad of other applications, ranging from industrial surface inspection to cosmetics,” says University of West England professor Melvyn Smith. The researchers plan to build a larger database of noses to test the software to see if it can identify individuals from a bigger group of people or from blood relatives.
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Researchers working on the European Union-funded PERPLEXUS project have developed a computing platform inspired by biological systems in which a self-configuring wireless network connects several modules to enable them to operate as a coherent group. PERPLEXUS is based on the ubidule, a purpose-designed module that can take information from the environment, share data wirelessly, and adapt its behavior to different circumstances. In large networks, ubidules can evolve to specialize in a certain task, which other ubidules then delegate to them. The researchers say that ubidules can model grid-based problems in the physical sciences, as well as more challenging biological and social sciences problems. Another branch of the PERPLEXUS project involved a fleet of all-terrain robots equipped with ubichips. The researchers developed a strategy known as collective robotics, in which groups of robots communicate with one another to perform a task and are more effective than the same robots acting individually.
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