The Department
The Signal Processing Department conducts research and development mainly in the areas of signal processing and its applications. It deals with the movement of bits and data, and aims for high quality and efficiency in signal transmission and data delivery.

Current research efforts are focused on advanced coding of multimedia data for efficient storage and delivery in heterogeneous networks, post-processing of multimedia data, processing of signals as well as analysis of medical, sensory, and neural data from the healthcare industry to seamlessly integrate mobile healthcare solutions into the daily lives.

Aimed with the objective of revolutionizing the human multimedia experience, our teams also work on using human perceptual audio and video quality metrics to achieve the highest quality in audio and video processing, while actively conducting research and development in the areas of interactive sound synthesis and multimodal game engine in parallel.

This will result in technologies that will be relevant to the needs of digital media industries, such as having an enabling natural interface for computer game using human gesture, which will greatly enhance the whole gaming experience.

Key Competencies

• H.264 and SVC encoder, decoder and IP-based delivery; MPEG2-to-H.264 transcoding; video pre- and post-processing
• Audio signal processing, Lossless audio compression, Scalable audio coding
• Perceptual image and video quality measurements
• Natural interface for computer game using human gesture
• Scratched Sound Synthesis
• Cardiac signal processing, Multimodal sensor data processing

• Live and on-demand video coding, scalable video archival/retrieval; heterogeneous video delivery over diverse wireline and wireless networks targeting video surveillance and entertainment applications
• Online music store, Internet radio, personal CD archive
• Automatic and objective image and video quality measurements, perceptually-optimized image and video compression
• Computer game, Interactive advertisement, Interactive kiosk and information system
• Personalized mobile phone ringtones
• Mobile healthcare, Homecare for elderly, healthcare and medical devices

• Z. G. Li, X. K. Yang, K. P. Lim, X. Lin, S. Rahardja, and F. Pan, "Scalable Video Coding with Grid Motion Estimation and Compensation", I2R/P//1899/US, Filing Date: 23 June, 2004
• R. Yu, S. Rahardja, X. Li, "A method and a device for processing bit symbols generated by a data source; a computer readable medium; a computer program element", US 10/532,773, Filing Date: 24 Oct, 2002

• Z. G. Li, S. Rahardja and H. Sun, "Implicit Bit Allocation for Combined Coarse Granular Scalability and Spatial Scalability," IEEE Transactions On Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, Vol. 16, No. 12, pp. 1449-1459, Dec. 2006
• Z. G. Li, W. Gao, F. Pan, S. W. Ma, K. P. Lim, G. N. Feng, X. Lin, S. Rahardja, H. Q. Lu and Y. Lu, Adaptive Rate Control for H.264", Journal of Visual Communication and Image Representation, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 376-406, April, 2006
• S. Wun and A. Horner, "Scalable Wavetable Matching for Real-Time Polyphonic Synthesis," in Proc. 2006 Int. Computer Music Conf. (2006), pp. 347-351
• F. Farbiz , Z. H. Yu, C. Manders, W. Ahmad "An Electrical Muscle Stimulation Haptic Feedback for Mixed Reality Tennis Game", ACM SIGGRAPH 2007 Poster
• Z. K. Lu, W. S. Lin, X. K. Yang, E. P. Ong, S. Yao, "Modelling of Visual Attention's Modulatory Aftereffects on Visual Sensitivity and Quality Evaluation", IEEE transactions on Image Processing, Vol. 14, No. 11, pp. 1928-1942, November 2005

• H.264 Flagship Project (2006-2007)
  This project targets the commercial development and marketing of our patent-pending and proprietary technologies related to H.264 video compression and IP-based video delivery, with special focus on the video security surveillance market.  It has licensing-ready Software Development Kits (SDKs) for the TI DaVinci and ADI Blackfin DSPs, x86 and Windows Mobile platforms.  Among the significant milestones achieved include successful licensing to a surveillance company and several ongoing licensing/partnership discussions with local and overseas companies.
• SLS Flagship Project (2006-2007)
  This project focuses on the commercialization of the MPEG-4 SLS technology through the development of SDKs on various platforms, demonstration of technology in exhibitions and trade shows, and customization of the technology according to customer's requirements.  The success of these efforts has led to a VC-funded spin-off company, Encore, to further commercialize our scalable audio codec technologies.
• Digital Video Broadcasting Perceptual Quality Modeling
  The aim of this project is to develop software for automatic and objective measurement of video quality during playback of compressed video sequences at the user end.

Significant Achievements
Contributed technologies in the normative parts of two international standards:

• [1] ISO/IEC 14496-3:2005/Amd 3:2006 Scalable Lossless Coding (SLS), ISO Standards, June-2006
• [2] ISO/IEC 14496-3:2005/Amd 2:2006 Audio Lossless Coding (ALS), new audio profiles and BSAC extensions, March-2006

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