InfoLab21

Wireless Video Transmission Based On Distributed Source Coding Principles

Vladimir Stankovic - Communication Systems - EPSRC - £185,294

Due to its great practical potentials, distributed source coding (DSC) has recently become a very active research area. However, most obtained results have remained at the theoretical level, and thus there is a huge gap between research achievements and the employment of DSC in practice. Consequently, today's communication systems cannot exploit useful information about the topological structure or statistical dependence between signals in the network, and thus cannot realize significant performance gains promised by theory.

The goal of the project is to bridge the gap between theory and practice, to solve key problems at the very heart of DSC, and in this way set the stage for its application in emerging systems and services. In particular, the project will focus on video transmission over wireless multiterminal networks targeting at applications such as video surveillance networks, deep-space communications, and commercial real-time video multicast over heterogeneous wireless-wireline networks.

DEPtH: Designing for Physicality

Alan Dix - Computing - AHRC/EPSRC - £274,984

When designing purely physical products we do not necessarily have to understand what it is about their physicality that makes them work - they simply have it. However, as we design hybrid physical/digital products we now have to understand what we lose or confuse by the added digitality - and so need to understand physicality more clearly than before.

In this project we aim to collate and construct fundamental understanding of the nature of physicality: how humans experience, manipulate, react and reason about 'real' physical things. Through this clear understanding we will be in the position to offer constructive guidance and guidelines to inform future design of innovative products.

Wed 20 December 2006