Speech/Audio/Image/Video Processing

Description:
This research area involves audio, image and video processing at different levels. It includes signal processing, data compression schemes, transmission and storage of specific media (speech, audio, image or video), as well as signal classification and the semantic analysis of such media information. It also includes the problems of combining these different media into multimedia applications.

Applications:
Audiovisual information constitutes the means for humans to interact with their environment. Reproduction and manipulation of such information forms the basis for huge industries in the fields of communications, robotics, entertainment, biomedical engineering and education among many others. Specific applications include speech processing for telephony and teleconferencing, noise and echo cancellation, image processing and enhancement, media analysis for classification, storage and retrieval, the creation of virtual environments and many others.

PROFESSORS:

• Aboulnasr, Tyseer
  adaptive signal processing, DSP for hearing aids, system identification, signal separation, echo cancellation, nonlinear modeling, speech enhancement.

• Bouchard, Martin
  signal processing for speech, audio, acoustics, and hearing aids

• Dajani, Hilmi R.
  human and machine speech processing, instrumentation for testing hearing, auditory-inspired signal processing, instrumentation and signal processing for testing cardio-respiratory function

• Dubois, Eric
  image processing and communication, stereoscopic and three-dimensional imaging, document processing, signal processing for digital cameras, image-based virtual environments

• Giguère
  signal processing and hearing aids, auditory modeling and psychoacoustics, speech production and perception in noise

• Laganière, Robert
  image and video analysis, visual surveillance, image-based modeling, view matching and 3D reconstruction

• Payeur, Pierre
  robot vision, stereo and range sensing and processing, computer vision for autonomous systems control

• Zhao, Jiying
  digital watermarking, image and video processing

Research groups involving several professors:

• Signal Processing Oriented Technologies Research Group (SPOT)
• Video, Image, Vision, Audio Lab (VIVA)

Leadership:

• Kris Woodbeck, a student with a Master's degree in Computer Science, received uOttawa's Innovator of the Year Award for developing a revolutionary image search technology. Kris did his Master's degree in The School of EECS's VIVA lab under the co-supervision of adjunct professor Gerhard Roth and professor Eric Dubois.
• Adaptive frequency-domain algorithm for color interpolation in digital cameras provides state-of-the-art performance
• State-of-the-art algorithm for anaglyph stereo rendering

Some recent projects:

• Environment sensitive hearing aids [Aboulnasr; NSERC CRD project – Partner: Siemens] show details
• Improved speech feature estimation for speech recognition under noisy conditions [Bouchard; NSERC]
• Intelligent Visual Surveillance: This project aims at the development of a 'Virtual Guard' system that will combine video analytics, telecommunication, web, and mobile messaging technologies to create a fully-integrated Smart Home/Enterprise Monitoring System [Laganière; Funding sources: Ontario Centres of Excellence (Market Readiness program), Ottawa Technology Transfer Network (NSERC-IPM, Ontario Research Commercialization Program)] show details Spinoff: Visual Cortek
• Markerless Motion Capture in Unconstrained Environments for Performers Evaluation and Training [Payeur; NSERC, Partners: Piano Pedagogy Laboratory (UofO), Yamaha Canada Music Ltd]
• NAVIRE: NAVigation in Image-based Representations of Real-World Environments [Dubois; NSERC Strategic project - Partners: NRC, CRC, Peeta, 3Vista] show details Speech enhancement algorithms for improved speech quality [Bouchard; NSERC] Modeling speech communication in noise from talker to listener [Giguère; NSERC Discovery Grant]