Lucent Technologies Alcatel Ericsson Intel NTT Fujitsu Motorola National Semiconductor MACRES

Nokia Altera Matsushita Penang State Government Endowment Chair AIC Microelectronics Global Tele-Education BHN JICA

 

LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES

Type of Collaboration:

• Academic and research collaboration in multimedia studies - Bell Laboratories Visiting Professor Programme at MMU.

• Joint R&D via the placement of MMU researchers at Bell Laboratories.

Objectives:

• To deliver university-level courses, focusing in Wireless Communications, Internet and Data Networking and Very Large Scale Integration Microelectronics
• To conduct supplementary specialised short courses or seminars on the latest data communications issues and state-of ?the-art multimedia technology for learning and research to students and general public.
• To promote and strengthen relationships between MMU and Lucent Technologies.
• To supervise postgraduate research projects and conduct research collaboration between MMU and Lucent Technologies
• To identify potential R&D areas for collaborative research between MMU and Lucent.

End-Products:

• Postgraduate Research Projects (MEng. Sc. and Ph.D.)
• Postgraduate Master Taught Courses (MEng.)
• Seminars

Detailed Description:

Lucent?s support to MMU fulfils a promise made to Prime Minister, academic co-operation called the "Bell Labs Visiting Professorship Programme". Lucent, the 100^th company to be awarded MSC status, will provide MMU with visiting professors from its world famous research and development arm, Bell Laboratories to deliver university-level courses to MMU students. Specialised short courses and seminars open to students and the general public will supplement these courses. All courses offered will be jointly developed with Lucent and approved by the MMU Dean of Engineering.

Lucent determines to help transform the MSC?s vision into a practical reality for Malaysia and looks forward to playing a prominent role in society by enhancing and expanding Malaysia?s pool of technical expertise talents and cultivate a new generation of world-class, multimedia engineers. This is an effective Industry-Academic Relationship to support human resource development. This programme encompasses the following areas:

MMU has benefited in the following aspects:

• Subject: ETM 7012 Transmission and Switching Systems

Teaching staff: Dr. N. D. Prabhakar

• Subject: ETM 7022 High Speed and Broadband Networks

Teaching staff: Dr. N. D. Prabhakar

• Subject: ETM 7032 Mobile and Personal Communication Networks

Teaching staff: Dr. Karim

• 29 July 2000: Wireless ATM. Dr. Muhammad Rez Karim, LucentTechnologies, U.S.A.
• 26 July 2000: Switched Multimedia Services. Dr. Muhammad Rez Karim, Lucent Technologies, U.S.A.
• 7 June 2000: A Sample of R&D on Communications Topics at Lucent Technologies. Dr. N. D. Prabhakar, Bell Labs Visiting Fellow, Lucent Technologies, U.S.A.
• 17 September 1999: What's Next for the Internet. Dr. Joann J. Ordille and Wireless Communication Evolution. Dr. Chris Nicol, scientists from Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, U.S.A.

• 24 February 1999: Patents and Intellectual Property Rights. Prof. Dr. Narayan Gehlot, Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies / Faculty of Engineering.
• 16 December 1998: Passive Optical Networks. Prof. Dr. Narayan Gehlot, Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies / Faculty of Engineering
• 10 December 1998: Research Activities at Lucent Technologies, Bell Labs ? An Overview. Prof. Dr. Narayan Gehlot, Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies / Faculty of Engineering.
• 21 - 23 October 1998: High Speed Internet: Issues & Solutions (Bell Labs Course Series). Dr. Zhensheng Zhang, Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, U.S.A.
• January 1998: Mobile IP. Dr. M. C. Chuah, Lucent Technologies, U.S. A.

• Tan Wee Lum

Regionalized Mobility Management for Mobile IP (Research collaboration with Dr. Chuah Mooi Choo, Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies Inc.)

• Yew Chang Ching

Scalable Video Multicast over Integrated Services Packet Network (Research collaboration with Dr. Chuah Mooi Choo, Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies Inc.)

• Hezerul Abdul Karim

Video Frame Rate Up-conversion using Frame Interpolation (Research collaboration with Kyeong Ho Yang, Member of Technical Staff, Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies Inc.)

• Tan Wee Lum

 

Title: (1) Aggregating RSVP-Based QoS Requests over IP Tunnels

 

(2) Wireless Link Emulator

(3) RTP/UDP/IP Header Compression

 

Period: 1 October 1999 - March 2000 (six months)

• Hezerul Abdul Karim

 

Title: Video Frame Rate Up-conversion using Frame Interpolation

1. Averaging algorithm
2. Motion adaptive algorithm
3. Full search algorithm
4. Full search + selective algorithm

Period: 1 October 1999 - March 2000 (six months)

• Hairul Azhar Abdul Rashid

 

Title: Peer-to-peer All-optical Network Signalling using Low Frequency Sub-carrier Multiplexing Technique

 

Period: June 2001-June 2002 (one year)

Status of Collaboration:

On-going

Products Achieved (publications/postgraduate candidates/funding/patent etc.):

• Publications

• Conference

• Degree Conferred

1999: MEngSc. degree conferred to Tan Wee Lum.

 

Type of Collaboration:

• Academic and research collaboration through Alcatel Visiting Staff Programme
• Setting up of Alcatel Multimedia Laboratory at MMU

Objectives:

• To provide visiting professors to deliver university level courses of instruction, concentrating in broad area of telecommunication and multimedia.
• To provide scholarships to undergraduates and postgraduate students.
• To promote and strengthen ties between MMU and Alcatel.
• To sponsor research collaborations between MMU and Alcatel.
• To sponsor the setting up of a laboratory for students and researchers to access the state-of-the-art facilities for learning and research, particularly in the area of multimedia and Network Technologies, such as ATM.
• To identify potential short courses, which can be scheduled by mutual agreement throughout the academic year.

End-Products:

• Setting up of an Alcatel Multimedia Laboratory.
• Sponsorship of Alcatel Visiting Staff to MMU for teaching and research activities.
• Sponsorship of Postgraduate and Undergraduate Programmes.
• Research collaboration in the areas of telecommunications and multimedia
• Seminars

Detailed Description:

Alcatel and MMU signed a Co-operation Agreement on 1 October 1998 and as such, Visiting Staff Members will be stationed at MMU for teaching and research activities. An Alcatel Multimedia Laboratory will also be set up to provide students and researchers with a state-of-the-art facilities, such as an ATM network for research in the area of telecommunications.

To date, MMU has benefited in the following aspects:

• Alcatel is involved in the following research projects:

• Project I: Analysis and Design of an Arrayed Waveguide Grating Multi-demultiplexer for DWDM Optical Networks.

• Research Funding : RM158,000
• Sponsored by IRPA (Intensification of Research in Priority Areas, Malaysia)

• Project II: Performance Analysis and Design of Optical WDM-OTDM Transmission System and Network

• Research Funding : RM200,000
• Sponsored by IRPA (Intensification of Research in Priority Areas, Malaysia)

• Short courses

• January 2002: Optical Transmissions. PSDC, Penang by Dr. Abbou Fouad Mohammed.

• February 2001: Introduction to Digital Data Communications & Telecom Networks. Flextronics, Malacca by Mr, Lionel Basso.

• March 2001: TCP/IP, ATM, PPP, PPP over ATM & PPP over SDH. Intel, Penang by Mr. Lionel Basso.

• January 2000: Interface Buses. National Semiconductor, Malacca by Mr. Nicholas Taillade.

• Masters courses

• Subject: ETM 7122 Optical Communications

Teaching staff: Dr. Abbou Fouad Mohammed (2001-2002)

• Subject: ETM 7062 Software and Database in Telecommunications

Teaching staff: Mr. Nicholas Taillade and Mr. Lionel Basso

• Subject: ETM 7042 Network Management

Teaching staff: Mr. Benoit Vaillant

• Subject: ETM 7022 High-speed and Broadband Networks

 

Teaching staff: Mr. Nicholas Taillade and Mr. Lionel Basso

• Undergraduate courses

• Subject: ETM 2016 Analog Communications

 

Teaching staff: Dr. Abbou Fouad Mohammed (September 2001)

• Subject: EMG 4066 Antenna and Propagation

 

Teaching staff: Dr. Abbou Fouad Mohammed (May 2002)

• Subject: ECP 2032 Algorithms and Data Structures

Teaching staff: Mr. Benoit Vaillant

• Subject: ECP 20622 Software Engineering

Teaching staff: Mr. Benoit Vaillant

• Subject: ECP 2182 Java Technology

Teaching staff: Mr. Lionel Basso

• Subject: ECP 1022 Program Design

Teaching staff: Mr. Lionel Basso

• Subject: ECP 2072 Data Communication & Computer Networking

Teaching staff: Mr. Lionel Basso

• Subject: ETM 2042 Communication 1

 

Teaching staff: Mr. Nicholas Taillade (September 1999)

Teaching staff: Dr. Abbou Fouad Mohammed & Mr. Nicholas Taillade (September 2000)

• Subject: EMM 2022 Digital Audio Signal Processing

 

Teaching staff: Mr. Nicholas Taillade

• Subject: ETM 3072 Communication 2

 

Teaching staff: Mr. Nicholas Taillade

• Subject: EMG 30422 Antenna and Propagation

 

Teaching staff: Dr. Abbou Fouad Mohammed (May 2001)

• Student supervisions by Dr. Abbou Fouad Mohammed

• Ph.D. students

• Kamran Ezdi

Title: Free Space Optical Communications (On-going research)

• Hakim Mellah

Title: Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) over Dense Wavelength Division

Multiplexing (DWDM) Optical Network. (Submitted his proposal)

• Master students

• Putri Mariah A. Zahidin

Title: Development of Analytical Approach to Evaluate Influence of Fiber Non-linear Effects on WDM systems (part of Design of an Advanced WDM Network (DAWN) project). (On-going research)

• Tan Su Wei

Title: Traffic Engineering in Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) (completed)

• Teo Boon Cheng

Title: TCP over ADSL. (completed)

• Chong Hooi Chia

Title: Video over Wireless Communication MPEG-4 over Web and Bluetooth. (completed)

• Deena Benjamin

Title: Access Methods for Multimedia Networking for Smart Homes. (completed)

• Wee Chin Mun

Title: Security Algorithm for Network Management. (completed)

• Seminar

• International symposiums

• M2USIC 2000 and M2USIC 2001, and M2USIC 2002

Sponsored and participated in the symposiums. Collaboration with NTT, Telekom Malaysia and MMU.

• Research collaborations with researchers and postgraduate students from MMU:

• Broadband Technology Group

Dr. Abbou Fouad Mohammed is the chairman of the group. It groups Masters and Ph.D. degrees students and federates the activities related to broadband technologies.

• Design of an Advanced WDM Network (DAWN)

The project has several researchers as well as Masters degree students.

• Optical Communications Group (OCG)

The mission of OGC is to conduct research related to optical communication, which includes research on optoelectronic devices, such as optical sources, optical switches, integrated optics, waveguide, routers, etc. It also includes research on new semiconductor materials to be used in optoelectronic devices. Lightwave system architecture scheme such as Wavelength Division Multiplexing, Time Division Multiplexing, Subcarrier Multiplexing, Soliton transmission and optical computing, and research on fibre non-linearity in optical fibre communication system are also of interest.

• Internships at Alcatel Penang or Kuala Lumpur.

• Scholarship

Undergraduate students:

• Mr Annuar Bin Sharhom, Telecommunication Engineering course, Faculty of Engineering.

• Ms Ler Lian Nah, Telecommunication Engineering course, Faculty of Engineering.

• Mr Mohan Dass Albert, Telecommunication Engineering course, Faculty of Engineering.

• Ms Salina Bt Sainudin @ Zainuddin, Faculty of Information Technology.

Masters students:

• Ms. Lim Poay Hoon

Masters degree in the area of Advanced Mathematics at ENSTB, France.

• Mr. Edmund Kueh Boon Kiang

Title: Effect of Four Wave Mixing on Massive WDM Soliton Transmission

Status of Collaboration

The Alcatel/MMU collaboration has been extended for a period of three years, from October 2001 to October 2004.

Alcatel Multimedia Laboratory status

One on the major achievements of the collaboration in 2000 was the establishment of the Alcatel Multimedia Laboratory, as planned in the agreement. The AML is now operational with the following equipment:

• 8 high-end workstations,
• 1 Windows 2000 server (+ printer, backup, etc.),
• 2 ATM switches.

 

The network configuration of the laboratory is given in Fig. 1 (Figure 1: Network Configuration)

Researchers, postgraduates and undergraduate students are using the Alcatel laboratory to carry out their projects and research related to telecommunications.

Figure 2: Alcatel Multimedia Laboratory in July 2003

Products Achieved (publications/postgraduate candidates/funding/patent etc):

• Journal

• Conference

Type of Collaboration:

• Research Funding Sponsorship
• Industrial Collaboration

Objectives:

• To promote and strengthen relationships between Ericsson and MMU.
• To sponsor postgraduate research projects, which constitutes solid research collaborations between Ericsson and MMU.
• To promote learning, research and development works in the area of Wireless Communication, such as Bluetooth.

End-Products:

Detailed Description:

1. Research Funding Sponsorship

In the Research Funding Sponsorship collaboration, MMU will undertake research in the area of Code Division Multiple Access. Ericsson will fund the research amounting to RM170,000.00 for a period of 3 years. Ericsson will also provide up-to-date information on the progress of 3G standards and possible proprietary company information. Initial literature survey is completed. Theoretical and simulation studies on various control algorithms are carried out. MMU has received the full research funding and it was used to purchase workstations and simulation software.

Status: in final stage of completion



In cellular communications, the received signals' powers would vary randomly from time to time, which is frequently referred as fading.

One of the researches focuses on investigating the control of the transmitted signal power, where the objective is to minimise the received signal power variation.

The figures above show a comparison between a power controlled received signal (lower graph) and a non-power controlled received signal (upper graph with red line). In the presents of power control mechanism, the received signal power variation is minimised. The corresponding (inverse) power controlled transmitted signal is shown in the upper graph.

2. Industrial Collaboration

As for the Industrial collaboration, Ericsson Business Consulting required a technically proficient person to work as the Project Manager / Designer in the development of this intelligent module. MMU provided the necessary technical expertise. Mr Elias Abbas acts as a consultant for a period of 8 months. All expenses were borne by Ericsson and all intellectual property rights belong to Ericsson. The prototype of the intelligent module has been successfully completed and is pending production planning. Collaboration has currently ended but there is a possibility for continuation of collaboration, if Ericsson decides to proceed with production.

Status: on going

3. Academic and research collaboration in Wireless Bluetooth Technology.

Ericsson is always keen to help Malaysia to develop local technical expertise talents and cultivate a new generation of world-class, wireless communication engineers. MMU has benefited from their Industry-Academic programme, which encompasses the following areas:

• Technical advice on Bluetooth projects conducted by MMU

 

Status: On going

Bluetooth, a cable replacement RF technology, has gained much attention recently. One of the reasons is that it operates at the license-free 2.4GHz ISM frequency band. In addition, it provides high bandwidth, secure and non-line of sight short distance communications. Figure below shows a typical Bluetooth module that is used for short distance wireless communication. The maximum length the module can be as short as the length of a matchstick.

Products Achieved (publications/postgraduate candidates/funding/patent etc.):

• Journal

1. Sim, M.L. and Chuah, H.T. (in pres.). Received Signal Statistics in DS/CDMA Channels with Flat Rayleigh Fading and Fast Closed-loop Power Control. IEEE Transaction on Communications.
2. Sim, M.L. and Chuah, H.T. (2002). Performance Evaluation of Pilot Symbol Assisted Power Control in CDMA Systems, IEICE Trans. Communications, E85-B(7 ), 1257-1264.
3. Sim, M.L. and Chuah, H.T. (2000). Performance Analysis of Reverse Link Wideband CDMA Cellular System under Fast Closed-Loop Power. IEE 3G Mobile Communication Technologies, 51-55.

• Conference

1. Sim, M.L. and Chuah, H.T. (2002, May). Performance Evaluation of Received Power Estimation for Power Control in CDMA Systems. IEEE VTC Spring 2002 , Alabama, U.S.A.
2. Sim, M.L. and Chuah, H.T. (2001, October 16 -17). Performance Evaluation of Pilot Symbol Assisted Power Control in CDMA Systems. MMU International Symposium on Information and Communications Technologies (M2USIC2001) , Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.

 

Type of Collaboration:

MMU as Intel Focus University

Objectives:

• To promote and strengthen the relationships between INTEL and MMU.
• To sponsor research collaborations between INTEL and MMU.
• To sponsor an Intel Microelectronics Laboratory so that students and researchers have access to state-of-the-art facilities for learning and research, particularly in the area of Microelectronics.
• To provide research fellowships to selected MMU postgraduate students.

End-Product:

• Postgraduate Degree (3 MEngSc and 1 Ph.D.)

• Derivation of design rules for prevention of electromagnetic interference
• Setting up of a Microelectronics Laboratory
• Experiments for undergraduates using Microprocessor and Microcontroller Kits donated
• Implementation of IPv6 Routing Table Lookup, using the donated Intel IXP 1200 Network Processor Evaluation Board.

Detailed Description:

Intel Corporation has selected Multimedia University as their Focus University in Malaysia since 1998. This is an effective Industry-Academic Partnership to support human resource development. This programme encompasses the following areas:

1. Equipment Grant
2. Supply of Technical Literature
3. Graduate Fellowship
4. Research Grants
5. Guest Lectures

MMU has benefited in the following aspects:

•  Research Grants and Fellowships

• Grants

1. Research Project: Modelling of Ultra High Speed (1GHz-10GHz) Printed Circuit Board - RM172,000.00. Partially completed by Mr. CC Chai.
2. Research Project: IPv6 Table Look-Up Implementation Using IXP 1200 - RM45,200.00. Project leader ? Dr. HT Ewe.
3. Research Project: Future Network Technologies for Differentiated Services - RM124,100.00. Project leader - Dr. SW Lee. The grant is inclusive of student stipend for two master postgraduates, Mr. Chong Poh Kit and Lim Sing King and project hardware, software and other materials for one period from 1.9.2001 to 31.8.2002.

• Fellowships

1. Research Project: Performance Design of ATM Based Multicast Network - RM60,000.00. Completed by Mr. SC Lee.
2. Research Project: Cryptanalysis Methods in Determining the Security of Block Ciphers - RM60,000.00. Completed by Mr. Raphael Phang.
3. Research Project: Design & Performance Analysis of the Wireless Networking Protocols for 3G Mobile Communications System - RM30,000.00). Project was discontinued from the scheme by Mr. ML Chan.
4. Research ProjectATM to IP Conversion Chip Design - RM30,000.00. Project on-going by Mr. Yap Lee Feung.
5. Research Project: Video over Wireless Communication (VoW), MPEG-4 over Bluetooth - RM30,000.00. Project on- going by Mr. Chong Hooi Chia.
6. Research Project: Intelligent Signal Processing using Wavelet Networks - RM30,000.00. Project on-going by Mr. Ian Lee Wen Chun.

Status of Collaboration:

On-going

Products Achieved (publications/postgraduate candidates/funding/patent etc.):

• Journal

1. Kung, F.W.L. and Chuah, H.T. (2002). Modelling of Diode in FDTD Simulation of Printed Circuit Board. Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications (JEWA), 16, 99 -110.
2. Kung, F.W.L. and Chuah, H.T. (1998). System Modelling of High-speed Digital Printed Circuit Board using SPICE. Progress in Electromagnetics Research, 20, 179-212.

• Conference

1. Chai, C.C., Chung, B.K. and Chuah, H.T. (2001, December 3 - 6). Speed-up Crosstalk Simulation on Coupled Microstrip Lines using the FDTD Method by Scaling of Cross-section Size. 2001 Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference , Taiwan.
2. Kung, F.W.L. and Chuah, H.T. (1997, September 10-12). System Modelling of High-speed Digital Printed Circuit Board. Seventh International Symposium on IC Technology, Systems & Applications, Singapore.
3. Lee, I.W.C. and Dash, P.K. (2002, August 26 - 29). An S-Transform Based Neural Pattern Classifier for Non-Stationary Signals. To be published in 6^th International Conference on Signal Processing, Beijing, China.
4. Lee, S.C. and Takahashi, K. (2001, November 5 - 8). A New Multicasting Scheme in ATM Binary Tree Networks. Fourth Asia Pacific Symposium on Information and Telecommunication Technologies, Kathmandu, Nepal.
5. Lee, S.C. and Takahashi, K. (2001, August 12 - 17). A New Design of ATM Binary Trees Multicast Switch. IASTED International Conference on Internet and Multimedia Systems and Applications 2001, Hawaii, U.S.A.
6. Lee, S.C. and Takahashi, K. (2000, September). A Survey of Videoconferencing Teletraffic over ATM Networks. IASTED International Conference on Internet and Multimedia Systems and Applications, Las Vegas, U.S.A.
7. Takahashi, K., Lee, S.C. and Chuah, H.T. (2000, August). Networking Plan for Global Tele-education, TACIT2000, Bangkok, Thailand.

• Postgraduate candidates

Ph.D. student

 

Title: Modelling of Electromagnetic Wave Propagation in Printed Circuit Board and

Equivalent Structures. (on-going)

Masters students

Title: Ultra High-Speed Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Modelling. (completed)

Title: Performance Design of ATM Based Multicast Network. (completed)

Title: Cryptanalysis Methods in Determining the Security of Block Ciphers. (completed)

Title: Video over Wireless Communication (VoW), MPEG-4 over Bluetooth. (on-going)

Title: ATM to IP Conversion Chip Design. (on-going)

Title: Intelligent Signal Processing using Wavelet Networks. (on-going)

Title: Future Network Technologies for Differentiated Services. (on-going)

Title: IPv6 Table Look-Up Implementation Using IXP 1200. (on-going)

Active Funded Projects

1. Modelling of Ultra High-Speed (1GHz-10GHz) Printed Circuit Board. (1998)
2. IPv6 Table Look-Up Implementation Using IXP 1200. (2001)
3. Future Network Technologies for Differentiated Services. (2001)
4. Video over Wireless Communication (VoW), MPEG-4 over Bluetooth (2000)
5. ATM to IP Conversion Chip Design (2001).
6. Intelligent Signal Processing using Wavelet Networks (RM30,000.00), (2001).

Status of Active Projects

• Project on "Intelligent Signal Processing using Wavelet Network"

The basic algorithm of this project is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1.

1. Signal is preprocessed with the modified wavelet (S-transform).
2. Three feature vectors are taken from the S-transform unit
3. Simple pretest is done on the feature vectors to determine the need for further classification.
4. Neural network will classify the signals.
5. Post processing is done to change the neural network output to a form usable by the post-test unit.
6. Post-test will deal with signals having harmonic disturbances.

Figure 2 - Swell in the presence of harmonics and corresponding S-transform output.

Table. I. Classification accuracy

Table. II. Classification accuracy with the presence of 30dB noise.

• Project on "Future Network Technologies for Differentiated Services"

Standard Internet Protocol (IP) ? based network provides "best-effort" data delivery by default. However, the tremendous growth of the global Internet has given rise to a variety of applications that require quality-of-service (QoS). Therefore QoS routing algorithms have become the focus of recent research, due to their potential for increasing the utilisation of networks that handles requests with QoS requirement. This benefit, however, comes with a cost of additional consumption of computational and bandwidth resources. In this paper, we present an overview of the current researches on the evaluation of the performance and processing overhead of a QoS path computation.

Figure 1 - Goodput of individual flows versus the flow ID for different active queue management algorithms.

Figure 2 - The Percentage of packet losses versus the number of flows for different active queue management algorithms.

• Project on "Modelling of Ultra High-Speed (1GHz-10GHz) Printed Circuit Board"

This project is an exercise to investigate electromagnetic interference (EMI) problems, such as signal integrity, crosstalk and electromagnetic radiation problems on high-speed printed circuit boards. It is found that most of the simulation methods used to analyse these problems are mathematically complicated. The objective of this project to study the EMI problems with least mathematics details, but without sacrificing accuracy. Moreover, for fast-switching digital signal, the quasi-static approximation, which ignores dispersion and higher-order field modes is no longer adequate for accurate study of electromagnetic interference problems. A simple full wave numerical technique, the Finite-Difference Time-Domain method is found to be well suited to our needs. The theory of this method and the cautious steps associated with its application are discussed in details. Simulations of crosstalk on coupled microstrip lines have been carried out and have been found to be in good agreement with the measurement and literature results. A trick to expedite the simulation of crosstalk has been proposed. Also, simple equations to predict near-end and far-end crosstalk had been derived, which are based on curve-fitting method. The results of method also show good agreement of measurement and literature results.

Current CAD packages for designing of microwave and ultra high-speed circuits' fall into two categories. The first category utilises circuit theory to model the circuit in terms of lumped and distributed components, such as resistor, capacitor, inductor, diode, transistor, transmission line, transformer etc. A physical printed circuit board, including the layout can be modelled using these components. Since the circuit can contains non-linear components, prediction of the circuit performance is carried out using non-linear circuit simulators, such as SPICE like transient simulation, harmonic balance simulation and circuit envelope simulation. These simulation methods has one drawback, the actual EM field in the printed circuit board is approximated as equivalent voltages and currents for the methods to work. This approach is acceptable at RF and lower frequency; however, it is not accurate at frequencies beyond 10GHz, as the circuit must essentially be viewed as distributed. The second category models the physical structure of the printed circuit board, including its components. Numerical method is used to solve the EM fields of the system and equivalent current and voltage can be derived. The second category generally applies Finite Element Method or Method or Moment, which are numerical methods for approximating EM fields in frequency domain. In the case of non-linear components and medium, these methods will not be applicable and the time domain methods of first category have to be applied. This project aims to develop new software, based on Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) approach that can combine the ability to incorporate and solve non-linear systems and the ability to model the system in the field domain. The final output will be software capable of achieving this. FDTD is not new since attempts to solve partial differential equations by approximating the differential operator with finite difference was introduced in early 19th century. In the course of the project, various obstacles have to be solved, e.g. the syntax and method of modelling a 3 dimensional structure, and the development of the basic FDTD core of the software. The basic core treated non-dispersive and linear media. Subsequently non-linear component, dispersive and non-linear is added. The FDTD algorithm in terms of stability and accuracy has to be expanded and studied thoroughly. Finally verification of the software output and actual measurement will be performed.

Figure 1 - Simulation model and actual power amplifier constructed.

Figure 2 - Simulation and measured result.

• Project on "ATM to IP Conversion Chip Design"

Today, with the Internet providing global interconnectivity, a vast majority of computer applications communicate with each other via the Internet Protocol (IP). On the other hand, due to the fact that Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) offers various levels of Quality of Service (QoS), and high speed switching capacity, ATM networks have been deployed in most of the backbones. IP networks need to depend on other auxiliary protocols, such as IntServ and DiffServ in providing QoS capability.

This research will focus on the problem in maintaining the IP packets? QoS, i.e. when IP packets are to be transmitted over the ATM backbone. We propose to use the IPv6?s Flow Label filed to enhance the existing IP QoS over ATM Qos mapping. A network simulator will be developed, using C++ to test the proposed algorithm. The proposed simulator architecture has been defined and is shown in the figure below. The heterogonous IP networks represent IntServ, DiffServ or pure IPv6 networks. At the ATM edge switch, the IP QoS will be mapped to the equivalent ATM QoS before the packets are being segment into 53 bytes ATM cell. At the receiving end, the IP packet will be reassembled.

Figure 1. Network Simulator Topology and Protocol Stack

Based on the results gain from the simulation studies, the ATM Edge Switch will then be modelled, using VHDL. The basic architecture of the switch is as shown below. Basically, the ATM Edge Switch is responsible for QoS mapping and Segmentation.

Figure 2. ATM Edge Switch basic architecture

The expected delivery from this research is enhance IP QoS over ATM QoS mapping algorithm, a IPv6 over ATM simulator and the VHDL modeled ATM Edge Switch.

• Project on "Video over Wireless Communication (VoW), MPEG-4 over Bluetooth"

Video over wireless communication (VoW) has a lot of potential applications in homes and office environment. VoW provides access to streaming video and supports a wide range of applications, such as security and monitoring. The emergence of two new technologies, namely Bluetooth and MPEG-4, will prove useful in implementing VoW. However, in enabling VoW to the end user level, especially on mobile devices, such as cellular phones and PDAs, home appliances and office intercom, there are still no defined standards, protocols or profiles for VoW. Fundamental problems on how to successfully implement MPEG-4 over Bluetooth (MPEG4BT) still remain. In this paper, the implementation of transmitting MPEG-4 bit streams over wireless Bluetooth channels (MPEG4BT). This paper presents our investigation and implementation of HCI and L2CAP protocols in transmitting video over wireless Bluetooth link. We also implemented MPEG4BT via IP over Bluetooth. We have successfully implemented video transmissions, and have been able to receive and view the video at the receiver end.

Sample results

Figure 1: MPEG4BT via HCI

USB has been the medium of choice for interfacing video capture devices with the host PC. USB provides reliable, effective and generous bandwidth for video transport application. Bluetooth includes USB as one of the HCI. The implementation of MPEG4BT via HCI is a closer step in applying wireless video transfer with minor hardware design changes. USB used in video capture device can be replaced by Bluetooth HCI to provide wireless video transfer.

Figure 2 : MPEG4BT via L2CAP.

MPEG4BT via L2CAP is a different approach than MPEG4BT via HCI. The Logical Link and Control Adaptation Protocol, L2CAP mainly facilitates the segmentation and re-assembly of larger-size, higher-layer packets to and from the smaller Bluetooth baseband packets. In contrast to HCI, which exposes the internal operation of the lower transport protocols, L2CAP hides the peculiarities of the Bluetooth lower-layers. Many existing applications developed for higher-layer transport protocols can be made to run over Bluetooth link with little, if any, modifications.

Figure 3 : MPEG4BT via IP over Bluetooth

IP over Bluetooth is done by stacking TCP/IP over virtual serial connection via RFCOMM.

Figure 4: MPEG4BT via IP over Bluetooth, MPEG-4 bitstreams transfer over Bluetooth channel (in bytes per second)

As shown in Figure 4, the transfer rate is averaged at over 50KB/s or 400kbps (kilobit/s) The overhead of Bluetooth packet (18 bytes/packet) and IP packet (20 bytes/packet), the Bluetooth device configuration (antenna position, received/transmit buffer size), distance between two Bluetooth devices are among the reasons to limit the average transfer rate, i.e. well below the maximum transfer rate 723Kbt/s.

• Project on "IPv6 Table Look-Up Implementation Using IXP 1200".

IPv6 is designed to eventually replace Ipv4 as the Internet Protocol of the future. IPv6 can be described as a modified and enhanced version of IPv4; for example, it supports better security and network resource allocation. Therefore, as the new IP is being slowly implemented, there is a need for designing and implementing new and improved algorithm, especially for routing IPv6 packets.

Our purposed approach will be of a software solution, leveraging on algorithm based on a trie data structure. The literature review reveals that algorithms designed by other researchers tries to solve the Longest Prefix Match (LPM) problem, however, we find that the algorithms presented thus far tends to either perform well in most 2 out of the 3 criteria deemed important for a routing table lookup solutions. The three criteria are: 1) storage requirement, 2) update times and 3) lookup/query time. We plan to fully utilise the IXP 1200 Network Processor?s features of 6 microengine and the 1 Strong ARM core processor to speed up the table look-up time.

Type of Collaboration

• Assignment of Visiting Professors to support academic activities of MMU.
• On the Job Research Training for MMU staff at NTT?s Laboratories in Japan.
• Industrial training of MMU final year students.
• Collaborative Research on IP Networks, Ipv.6 Applications, Tele-education, Community Computing and WDM technologies, Virtual Reality Telecommunication Systems (VRTS), Virtual Education Environment.
• Collaborative research by staff/students with NTT?s laboratories in Japan and/or NTT-MSC
• Scholarship donation through Multimedia Scholarship Foundation (MSF).
• Seminars, short courses and workshops in selected areas.
• Sponsoring of MMU annual International Symposium on Information and Communication.
• Supporting MMU?s top management to foster international relations.

Objectives:

• To assist MMU in developing as a regional R&D and education hub.

• To "build" bridges with Japanese institutions
• To encourage students to study through scholarship donation

End-Products:

• Education activities: Final Year Project for Undergraduate students, Postgraduate students

• Contribution to MMU academic products including paper publications and patents
• Scholarship donation
• Financial and technical support of MMU academic events

Detailed Description

MMU students and faculty staff with excellent academic records are attached to NIT R&D Centres in Japan on-the-job training in each special area. NTT is still planning to have MMU students or staff for their OJRT after NTT was involved in the divestiture in July 2000. No staff used this system in 2001.

NTT provided 2 full-time Professors, Prof. Kenzo Takahashi and Prof. Ryoichi Komiya at the Faculty of Engineering, who specialise in the areas of Highspeed & Broadband Networks and Virtual Reality, respectively, to assist in both teaching and research at MMU.

NTT provided scholarships to 17 selected MMU students (8 from FOE, 3 from FIT, 5 from FCM and 1 from FOM) through Multimedia Scholarship Foundation in 2001, from various parts of the world to pursue their education at the MMU so that MMU would be recognised as an excellent centre of education for the Asia-Pacific region. One of the selected students was from Sri Lanka. NTT also sponsored 2 MMU graduate students from Sri Lanka in 2001.

NTT conducted R&D collaboration with 20 MMU students for their final year projects on multimedia related topics, particularly in the area of IP Network and Ipv.6 Applications, Tele-education and Community Computing.

A Joint NTT-MMU seminar was organised in October 2001 and an international conference M2USIC?2001. NTT donated RM20,000 to MMU to finance the conference. Prof. Takahashi collaborated with NTT for financial support as a part of his R&D activity. NTT assigned a guest speaker, Dr.Hiroshi Kotera to MMU?s annual International Conference M2USIC2001 on the topic "Broadband IP Network and Its Applications". Simultaneously, NTT financially supported MMU, i.e. donated RM10,000.

NTT supported Prof. Kenzo Takahashi for the TINA-C fellowship for 2002 joint international conference. TINA-C donated US$60,000.

NTT supported Prof. Kenzo Takahashi to join MDC?s Mission to Myanmar Government?s e-National Task Force as one of the delegates in April 2002.

NTT financially supported BHN Council to organise the Joint MMU-BHN International Training Program for 10 selected students from Asia Pacific countries for two months in 2001.

Teaching by the NTT Professors:

• EMM 3092 Computer Graphic and Virtual Reality, for Third Year students

Lectured by Prof. Ryoichi Komiya (35 hours, 1 Trimester)

• ETM 7052 Communications Policy and Standards, for Masters degree students

Lectured by Prof. Kenzo Takahashi (65 hours, 1 Trimester)

Research Project Co-ordination for Final Year Projects (Third Year)

MMU?s International Relations Development co-ordinated by Prof. Kenzo Takahashi

• Realisation of National Project of Networked Multimedia Education System through Multimedia Corporation Centre (MMCC) conducted by Prof. Kenzo Takahashi
• Research collaboration with the following organisations conducted by Prof. Kenzo Takahashi

• NASDA for Global Tele-education using Ultra High Rate Internet Satellite
• University of Chile for AccessNova Project Evolution
• KMITL Thailand for ReCCIT Project evolution
• Kyoto University for PARTHENON application
• Tokyo Institute of Technology for human exchange
• Waseda University for joining GITI Forum

• Seminar

Introduction of Center for Virtual Reality and Computer Graphics. Prof. Ryoichi Komiya.

3D Videophone Research Status. Mr. Nor Azhar Mohd Arif

Gesturephone Research Status. Mr. Mohd Nazri Ramly

Cameraless Mobile Videophone Research Status. Ms. Aishah Razak.

Virtual Learning Environment Research Status. Mr. Yeoh Eng Thiam.

Virtual Learning Environment Knowledge Base. Mr. Fairuz.

High Speed Access Lines for Future Services. Mr. Mahathir Said

VEE Knowledge Base Prototype. Ms. Munkhtuya

Multimedia textbook. Ms. Ng Kher Hui

• 5 June 2002

E-Learning, Prof Takahashi

• International symposiums and conferences

Sponsored and participated in the symposium. Collaboration with ALCATEL, Telekom Malaysia and MMU.

Status of Collaboration:

On-going. Continued since 1997.

Products Achieved (publications/postgraduate candidates/funding/patent etc.):

• Journal

• Conferences

• Book

1. Nor Azhar Mohd Arif, Mohd Nazri Ramliy and Ryoichi Komiya (to be published in 2002). Prototype Terminal Proposal for Virtual Reality Telecommunication Systems contributed into Virtual Reality Technologies for Future Telecommunications Systems. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

• Patents Applied

• Postgraduate students

Supervisor: Prof Kenzo Takahashi

(I) Faidz Abd. Rahman ? completed doctoral study and in the final process of PhD dissertation

(2) Sayoud Hameida ? completed doctoral study and in the final process of PhD dissertation

(3) Chien Su Fong ? completed doctoral study and received PhD degree

(4) Marinah Othman ? completed MEngSc study and received MEngSc degree

(5) Wong Kin Yew - MEngSc ? completed MEngSc study and received MEngSc degree

(6) Hairul Azhar Abd. Rashid ? completed MEngSc study and received MEngSc degree

(7) Lee Sheng Chyan ? completed MEngSc study and received MEngSc degree

(8) Foo Yee Loo ? still continuing MEngSc study

Supervisor: Prof Ryoichi Komiya

(I) Nor Azhar Mohd Arif ? completed MEngSc study and received MEngSc degree

(2) Mohd Nazri Ramliy ? completed MEngSc study and received MEngSc degree

(3) Mohd Ridzuan Mohktar ? still continuing MEngSc study, his advisor was changed to another staff

(4) Mohd Mahathir Said ? interrupted MEngSc study

• Fundings

• RM 10,000 for MMU?s International Conference M2USIC2001
• RM406,200 for Scholarship to the selected MMU students.
• RM150,000 for Scholarship to MMU-BHN International Training Program

• Multimedia Scholarship Foundation

• NTT MSC Sdn Bhd

Prof. Kenzo Takahashi, Board Director, from August 2000 to the present.

Type of Collaboration:

Objectives:

• To conduct teaching of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.
• To undertake research and supervision of projects.
• To conduct Fujitsu Short Course Series programs.

End-Products:

Detailed Description:

Multimedia Networks Core Lecture, including the communication network, mobile radio system and optical networks.

Status of Collaboration:

On-going

Products Achieved:

Fujitsu Visiting Fellows conducted the lectures for core course MMU3072 Multimedia Networks and series of short courses.

• 25 January 2002 : Software for Telecom, Dr. F. Maruyama
• 24 January 2002: 3G Mobile Technology. Mr. H Kurematsu, Mr. T Saito
• 28 February 2002(MMU) and 1 March 2002 (PSDC, Penang) : IP Network including IPV6, Mr. T Suzuki
• 27 March 2002 (MMU) and on 28 March 2002 (PSDC, Penang): Optical Transmission System including Optical SW. Mr. H Onaka

Type of Collaboration:

Objectives:

• To enhance R&D engineers? knowledge in DSP.

End-Products:

1. Relevant hardware/software
2. Short course for R&D, Motorola Penang: Digital Signal Processing

Detailed Description:

Collaborative research on Image and Video Compression Algorithm development for Mobile Communications is currently pursued.

Researchers:

Dr. M. Salim Beg, Salahuddin Ayub and Chang Yoong Choon from MMU and Mr. Tang Ting Fook from Motorola, Penang.

Plan and actions:

• Start of project: April 2000
• Literature survey almost completed.
• A literature survey report has been prepared.
• Mr. Tang visited MMU on 17 July 2000 to hold technical discussions on the project.
• Mr. Salahuddin Ayub underwent a two-week training programme (11-22 Dec. 2000) at Motorola, Penang on his Master's project and again in April 2001.
• Mr. Chang Yoong Choon presented his work at the Motorola Penang on 3 September 2001.

Status of Collaboration:

On-going. Two Masters candidates, namely Salahuddin Ayub and Chang Yoong Choon are in the process of finalising their results and writing up their Masters thesis.

Products Achieved (publications/postgraduate candidates/funding/patent etc.):

• Conferences

• MPEG-4 Video over TETRA Channels Simulation Result:

MPEG-4 encoded Claire video sequence received at 14.4 kbit/s, 5fps after transmitting through TETRA channel at 30dB signal to noise ratio (SNR) using MPEG-4 error resilient tools

MPEG-4 encoded Claire video sequence received at 14.4 kbit/s, 5fps after transmitting through TETRA channel at 15dB signal to noise ratio (SNR) using MPEG-4 error resilient tools

MPEG-4 encoded Claire video sequence received at 14.4 kbit/s, 5fps after transmitting through TETRA channel at 15dB signal to noise ratio (SNR) without MPEG-4 error resilient tools

Type of Collaboration:

Objectives:

1. To promote and strengthen relationships between MMU and National Semiconductor.
2. To provide scholarships to selected MMU students.
3. To sponsor an Annual Innovative Project Competition for MMU students.
4. To sponsor elective courses for MMU BEng (Electronics) programme.
5. To provide professional development courses for NS staff.
6. To provide industrial training for MMU students.
7. To provide Executive MBA courses for NS staff.

End-Products:

Detailed Description:

NS agrees to award three (3) scholarships to MMU undergraduate students annually. The scholarship is RM8,000 per student per year for the duration of the student's course of study. The students are required to serve NS thereafter for a period equivalent to the years of scholarship given, according to the availability for placement.

NS agrees to sponsor an Annual Innovative Project Competition for MMU students in the Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Information Technology and Faculty of Creative Multimedia. NS will provide cost of project implementation and cash prizes.

NS agrees to sponsor an elective course for MMU?s BEng (Electronics) programme. The details of this sponsorship are to be decided by both parties.

MMU agrees to conduct professional development courses for NS staff. The syllabuses of such courses are to be proposed by NS and agreed upon by MMU.

NS agrees to provide Industrial Training to the students of MMU who qualify and MMU will also provide the Executive MBA for candidates from NS who qualify to be admitted for the said course. MMU will provide a discount of 15% upon the normal fee payable for such a course in respect of all NS candidates who qualify.

Status of Collaboration:

On-going.

Products Achieved (publications/postgraduate candidates/funding/patent etc.):

• Annual Innovative Project Competition:

Winners of the 4^th NS-MMU Annual Innovative Project Competition (Year 2001)

No.	Group Members	Project Title, Prize and Certificate
1.	Chew Keen Ming Gan Show Peng Chong Zan Kai Ong Cheng Voon Yong Swee Keong	Home Guard Security System (Melaka Campus) First Prize: RM5,000.00 Certificate of Distinction
2.	Edmund Ooi Huat Lye Thangappan a/l Krisnamuthi Khoo Sez Kang Chan Paey-Lun Thomas Cheah Chin Siang	Automated Meter Reading System (Cyberjaya Campus) Second Prize: RM3,000.00 Certificate of Distinction
3.	Soh Lip Kai Beh Jiun Kai Lee Meng Chong Low Kian Seong Yang Ren Bin	Mapping Robot (Cyberjaya Campus) Third Prize: RM2,000.00 Certificate of Distinction
4.	Gan Hock Siong Pechin Lo Chien Pau/Lo Pe Chin Lee Chin Chew Simon Lau Boung Yew	Intelligent Parking System (Cyberjaya Campus) Consolation Prize: RM500.00 Certificate of Merit
5.	William Hii How Hsin	Dot Matrix LED Display System (Melaka Campus) Consolation Prize: RM500.00 Certificate of Merit
6.	Ong Kean Chai Wong Kok Hin Wong Chin Kiat Phang Chee Man Chiew Yaw Lin	Ultrasonic Detector System (Cyberjaya Campus) Consolation Prize: RM500.00 Certificate of Merit
7.	Lam Kuan Woei Loh Kwang Hooi Chan Kain Yong	Smart Gadget (Melaka Campus) Consolation Prize: RM500.00 Certificate of Merit
8.	Jennifer Yeoh Wai Sum Tan Sook Fun Too Jia Hing Ong Hui Yien Julian Chan Yew Sheng	Ezzy Mailbox (Cyberjaya Campus) Certificate of Completion
9.	Logendran Ramanidu Sam Paul David Tan Kheng Hui Vijay Anand	Smart Recycle Bin (Melaka Campus) Certificate of Completion
10.	Tan Huah Yuah Lim Thiam Ern Soh Chin Foo Ng Hai Heng Lim Soo Yong,	Intelli-Vcleaner (Cyberjaya Campus) Certificate of Participation (Partially completed)
11.	Nick Lim Jin Sean Liew San Boon Alan Tio Chooi Seng Beh Kian Chung	Smart Home System (Cyberjaya Campus) Certificate of Participation (Partially completed)

• Short Courses:

Type of Collaboration:

Objectives:

• To promote and strengthen relationships between the university and MACRES.
• To collaborate on research and development with MMU in the areas of microwave remote sensing, radar sensor development and satellite image processing and classification.
• To organise seminars, training courses and workshops, which will benefit remote sensing community in Malaysia.

End-Products:

• Postgraduate Research Projects (MEng.Sc. and Ph.D.)
• Research collaboration and grant on remote sensing and radar development projects
• Setting up of a Mobile Scatterometer System
• Setting up of the Scatterometer System for field measurement
• Setting up of a Multipurpose Anechoic Chamber.

Detailed Description:

MACRES and MMU have been collaborating since 1997 and signed a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) in 1999. MMU research team in the area of microwave remote sensing and radar development has worked with MACRES researchers in various projects, involving international participation. The project "Radar Measurement of Paddy Fields, Rubber Plantations, Oil Palm Plantations and High Relief Forests using AIRSAR" was a project carried out by both MMU and MACRES researchers with the collaboration from NASA JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory). Two hardware development projects, i.e. Design and Development of a Scatterometer for Environmental Monitoring and Modelling, Design and Construction of a Multipurpose Anechoic Chamber are actively in progress. Various seminars, training courses and workshops on research progress, scatterometer system, measurement techniques, SAR processing techniques have been conducted to benefit the Malaysian remote sensing community.

To-date, MMU has benefited in the following aspects:

Status of Collaboration:

On-going

Products Achieved (publications/postgraduate candidates/funding/patent etc.):

• Journal

• Conferences

• Postgraduate candidates

• Ph.D. students

• Chung Boon Kuan

Title: Modelling, Design and Construction of a Multipurpose Anechoic Chamber

• Teng Tse Hzia

Title: Development of Fractal Geometry Based Method for Image Processing Applications

• Koo Voon Chet

Title: Motion Compensation in an Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar

• Masters students

• Chan Yee Kit

Title: Transmitter and Receiver Design of an Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar

• Gobi Vetharatnam

Title: Antenna Design of an Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar

• Azlindawaty Mohd Khuzi

Title: Digital Signal Processing of an Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar

• Yap Wen Jiun

Title: Design of an Airborne Platform for an Imaging Radar System.

• Degree Conferred

1999: MEngSc. degrees conferred to Saiful Bahari and Koo Voon Chet.

2001: MEngSc. degree conferred to Tay Lea Tien.

• Other Activities

Type of Collaboration:

Objectives:

• To provide training to undergraduates and postgraduates on mobile GSM system.
• To provide a platform for R&D activities in wireless and telecommunication.
• To provide a platform for the development of Mobile Internet applications.
• To become a training facility in mobile communication systems for working engineers.

End-Products:

• Final year projects

Detailed Description:

The GSM testbed is located in the Nokia Wireless Communication Laboratory, 3^rd floor, FOE building, MMU. A complete GSM system, with subsystems listed below will be installed at the Lab.

1. Network and Switching Subsystem (NSS) which includes Mobile Services Switching Centre (MSC), Gateway Services Switching Centre (GMSC), Home Location Register (HLR), Visitor Location Register (VLR), Authentication Centre (AUC), and Equipment Identity Register (EIR).
2. Mobile Stations.

Status of Collaboration:

On-going.

Products Achieved (publications/postgraduate candidates/funding/patent etc.):

• An introductory session of the facility has been conducted to the academic staff of university on 24 April 2002.

• Trainings conducted:

Type of Collaboration:

• Hardware/software support
• Industrial trainings
• Staff trainings

Objectives:

End-Products:

• R&D output of academic and commercial value.

Detailed Description:

Since May 2000, MMU and Altera have been collaborating in various aspects. Altera has donated 10 permanent licenses of its state-of-the-art EDA tool and 45 development boards. In addition, MMU has received a research grant from Altera to sponsor graduates and undergraduate research projects. Also, Altera is providing industrial training opportunities for MMU final year students. MMU will conduct training to Altera staff. Proposal of scholarships for the undergraduate students is under consideration.

Status of Collaboration:

On-going

Products Achieved (publications/postgraduate candidates/funding/patent etc.):

One Master's student from Altera has applied for his project "Design and Implementation of User Adaptive Neural-Fuzzy Controller".

Type of Collaboration:

Research and Development

Objectives:

• To sponsor postgraduate research projects and constitute solid research collaborations that can be used further for Matsushita R&D.

End-Products:

• News On Demand Kiosk Network (NODKN)
• Seminars

Detailed Description:

The basis for News-On-Demand Kiosk Network (NODKN) is the ability to listen to news that is on the demand to the listeners. Basically, NODKN has two core functions, i.e. to

The researcher involved in this project is Mr Azhar Kassim Mustapha.

MMU has benefited in the following aspects:

Research Project: News-On-Demand Kiosk Network (NODKN) - RM200,000.00

Status of Collaboration:

On-going.

Products Achieved (publications/postgraduate candidates/funding/patent etc.):

1 July 2001

Research for NODKN started

1 August 2001

Research equipment identified for further work. For the time being, the following components were proposed

1. Dell Server
2. Oracle Database with video input/update of video content
3. Notebook with TV/out
4. Panasonic Television
5. A Compaq desktop with a TV out

A few other items will be bought during the research. Purchasing processes for these equipment have started.

15 September 2001

Another researcher included in the research team. His name is Cheong Soon Nyean. He has a strong background in programming.

20 October 2001

Another professor included in the team. His name is Professor Madasu. He is an expert in artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic and neural network. He will be helping on the agent technology.

22 October 2201

A detail proposal of the whole system is completed. We identified that the research core technology is object identification from MPEG 4 video. Therefore the research team will like to request Matsushita R&D to:

1. Provide an expert in MPEG-4 for Object Identification Techniques
2. Make available software that is being used by Matsushita to encode and decode MPEG-4 video. It will be helpful if the software is able to give some kind of object identification functionality.
3. Provide some software simulation that incorporates BML authoring tools

1 November 2001

Mpeg-4 fundamental research started.

15 November 2001

Obtained an evaluation copy of MPEG-4 encoder kit and successfully encoded some mpeg-4 clip.

28 November 2001

Started with Arsdigita Installation on Linux server.

Receive local order from Finance to purchase desktop and laptop with TV output.

7 December 2001

Finalised master research proposal by Cheong Soon Nyean

31 March 2002

Progress report submitted to Matsushita.

15 April 2002

Three papers sent to international conferences and two were accepted.

30 May 2002

Matshushita R&D indicated that they will give funding of RM200,000 on a new research titled "Building Hardware Community Through Distributed Hardware Services". Please see file attached on the details of the topic. However, no black and white agreement has been signed yet.

1 July 2002 : Project start

30 September 2002 : Intermediate progress report (The Hardware and PC connection specification and the operation test plan)

31 March 2003 : Annual report (The operation test report and the Hardware and PC connection software)

Mid April 2003 : Demonstration of the operation test

Some Results for News On Demand Kiosk Network (NODKN)

System View for Content Management

To provide an efficient management of company resources, a task flow management is needed. Manager in a news publication company can use the Web Multimedia Content Management System (WMCMS) to create a workflow for a specific news case. This news workflow can simply be deciding who are the right journalists, editors, designer and so on in the process for producing a digital news article.

After creating a news workflow, manager needs to define the role or job scope for a particular employee.

Once the roles are assigned in a news workflow, the manager can start applying the workflow in the WMCMS.

News video clip will start playing once the user logs in to the news server, as shown in the figure above. In order to give more information to the client about specific news, a set of news link related to the current news video will be provided at the left site of the video. By clicking on the links, a new window will pop out and display the information requested. At the bottom of the client?s web browser, a basic control panel for playback of news video clips is provided. User can arbitrary chose to play, pause, stop or seek to a particular time frame of the video clip. For better viewing, user can choose to view the video in the full screen mode.

Future Plan

As mentioned earlier, we are in the middle of the coding process for full integration of the server end and the client end. We will use the excess money to further complete the system. The first working prototype is expected to complete in 3 months, and the advanced featured prototype is expected to complete in 6 months. The following needs to be looked into.

1. Integrating important SMIL features into WBCMS such layout, linking, media objects etc
2. Adding client agents for better client personalization
1. Download agent
2. Search agent
3. User Knowledge Capital
1. Manipulating users transaction such as downloading for broadcasting analysis.

We believe the research results would be very promising.

• Building Hardware Community Through Distributed Web Services

Introduction:

Internet revolution has turned into an evolution. The next revolution is expected to be in the hardware technology and as such MMU/Matsushita can be the leading pioneers in the hardware revolution. Hence, I would like to propose "Building Hardware Community through Distributed Web Services". The research will enable a car to communicate with a petrol gas station, a canned product to communicate with a bacteria sensor, a DVD player to communicate with DVD store etc.

This research takes into account of human behaviour surfing the Net. If humans can benefit from the Net, why can?t the hardware reap the benefits too? Eventually, humans would enjoy all the benefits directly from the hardware surfing the Net. Hardware can be thought of general purpose digital electronic machine, such as radar, sensor, camera, barcode, handphones etc. The main objective of this research is to enable hardware to provide services. Therefore, the objectives of the research are:

1. Hardware getting information from the Net.
2. Hardware giving information to the Net.
3. Hardware getting services from the Net.
4. Hardware giving services from the Net.

For instance, bacteria sensors are placed in different locations of the world. We might use the bacteria sensors to detect bacteria at different locations of the world. Other parties might be interested to use the bacteria sensors too.

The bacteria sensors need to publish its services such as concentration of X bacteria at the current moment, humidity level of the ambience around the bacteria sensors and so on.

To use the services, the bacteria sensors will publish certain XML protocols be followed. Therefore, if there are two services provided by the bacteria sensors, there would be two XML protocols that will be published by the bacteria sensors. Another advantage is the manufacturer of the bacteria sensors is free to design the bacteria sensors the way they want. What they need to tell the world is how the rest of the world can use the services provided.

Type of Collaboration:

Objectives:

• To provide funds to the Faculty to employ a full Professor
• To conduct research and development in the field of Information and Communication Technology
• To provide services and carry out other academic activities.

End Products:

Detailed Description:

• Received Penang State Government Professorship Chair for amount of RM200, 000.00 for the first year.
• Subcommittees in Penang for Industry ?University Collaboration:

• Electronics and Electrical: Dr Lee Sze Wei/Assoc Prof. Dr Teo Bee San
• Mechanical: Dr Peter Brevern/Dr KK Teng

Status of Collaboration:

On going

Products Achieved (publications/postgraduate candidates/funding/patent etc.):

Nil.

Type of Collaboration:

Objectives:

• To promote and strengthen the relationships between MMU and AIC Microelectronics
• To supervise postgraduate research projects and conduct research collaborations between MMU and AIC Microelectronics
• To identify potential R&D areas for collaborative research between MMU and AIC Microelectronics

End-Products:

• Postgraduate Master Taught Courses (MEng.)
• Seminars
• Joint development of electronics product

Detailed Description:

Status of Collaboration:

On-going. From 17/06/2002 to 19/06/2002, AIC Microelectronics brought together UiTM, University of Nottingham, MMU and Dr. Shiv from US for project discussion.

Global Distance Training System Project

Introduction

The Global Distance Training System is a collaboration project between Multimedia University (MMU) and Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications of Japan (MPHPT), linking MMU to Tokai University (Japan) via Satellite and International Frame Relay, and utilising the Live Spiral system. The Japanese government has donated 22 personal computers, a plasma display, uninterrupted power supplies (UPSs), a laser printer, a satellite router, network router and a satellite dish.

The laboratory is open to staff and postgraduate students, whereby they can view Video on Demand lectures and also presentation materials (PowerPoint slides) on certain interesting topics. Besides the VoD and presentation materials, Tokai University will deliver some live lectures.

System configuration

The distance training system provides remote lectures through communications between the instructor terminal installed at the transmitting studio (Tokai University) and trainee terminals (Multimedia University) installed at remote classrooms. Broadcast function is used to transmit data from the instructor terminal to all trainee terminals. Video signal from the instructor is displayed on a large-screen TV and all trainee terminals.

Status of Collaboration:

• Conducted two lecture series entitled:

• Now and Future of Information Technology (October-December 2002)

• Robotics and Mechtronics (July-August 2002)

•  Project stalled as of March 2003 and awaiting discussion between MMU and MPHPT representative.

Products Achieved (publications/postgraduate candidates/funding/patent etc.):

Equipment donation worth RM400,000.00

Type of Collaboration:

• Joint-training programme for developing countries

Objectives:

• To disseminate latest technical knowledge, industrial trends and issues in telecommunication technologies to the technical personnel of developing countries.

End-Products:

Detailed Description:

MMU and BHN have jointly organised a 3-month training program (August ? Oct 2001) for engineers and technical personnel of telecommunication industry in developing countries. The topics covered are: Highspeed and Broadband Networking, Mobile and Personal Communications, Multimedia Management and Presentation, Legal Environment of International Business, Management for K-Economy, Technical Communications.

Status of Collaboration:

Ongoing. Training program will be conducted annually.

Products Achieved (publications/postgraduate candidates/funding/patent etc.):

Trained personnel for telecommunication industry in developing countries.

10 participants were divided into 2 groups, i.e. 5 in each group attended one common subject (Multimedia Management & Presentation), and 2 specialised subjects for each group.

1. Group 1 - Engineering: Mobile and Personal Communication Networks, High-speed Broadband Networks

2. Group 2 - Non-engineering: Legal Environment of International Business, Management for K- Economy.

List of participant:

 

Type of Collaboration:

• Technical assistance from Japan to set up a satellite-based education system called Networked Multimedia Education System (NMES) in Malaysia.

Objectives:

• To provide and set up necessary communication and audio-visual system equipment (ground side) at the participating sites of the NMES project.
• To provide technical assistance through the dispatch of experts over a period of 4 years beginning July 2001.
• To ensure that the pilot project is sustainable and therefore extendable to other sites in Malaysia in future.
• To promote the widespread dissemination of ICT knowledge among the students in tertiary education institutions located at different parts of the country through sharing of lectures and training sessions over NMES.

End-Products:

• A tele-education infrastructure together with the technical and managerial know-how and experience to run an effective satellite-based distant education system.

Detailed Description:

A team of 5 core members comprising of the project leader, co-ordinator and technical experts has been assigned from Japan since July 2001. System planning, design and installation have been carried between July 2001 and August 2002. Technical assistance that will be obtained from Japan are:

1. Highspeed broadband network
2. Network management
3. Content development and instructional design
4. Cyberlaw.

The team members:

Project Leader: Mr Yoshitao Watanabe, JICA Chief Advisor

Project Co-ordinator: Mr Izumi Yamamoto

Long Term Experts:

1. Mr. Yamamoto Izumi (Project Co-ordinator)
2. Dr. Goto Nobuo (Satellite Communication Expert)
3. Dr. Matsuo Hiroshi (Content Development Expert)
4. Mr. Uchida Toshizo (Network Management Expert)

Short term Experts:

1. Prof. Miyazaki Yasumitsu (Satellite Communication Expert)
2. Prof. Sowa Masahiro (Content Development Expert)
3. Mr. Udaka Mamoru (Cyber Law Expert)
4. Mr. Ichinohe Shinya (Cyber Law Expert)

Status of Collaboration:

On-going.

Products Achieved (publications/postgraduate candidates/funding/patent etc.):

The NMES system fully installed and tested by August 2002.