Supervisor: Mark Schulz
| 1. | Text-to-speech converter | Convert text to Australian speech. Involves collecting speech samples, extracting the diphones, and editing them to work with the MBROLA speech engine. This involves international cooperation. http://tcts.fpms.ac.be/synthesis |
| 2. | Toaster on the Internet | Using a small microcontroller and a single chip Ethernet interface, add some TCP/IP networking software (which you write), and add a toaster (coffee machine, hot water system, bath, washing machine, ...) to the Internet. Partner to develop a front end to control the device and display its status. Equipment can email fault reports to the service organisation requesting repairs. |
| 3. | Refridgerator on the Internet | As for the above, but using a refridgerator. There is only one other in the world! |
| 4. | A smart, compact video camera | Hook a CCD camera directly to a DSP chip, without converting the CCD output to analog video with sync pulses and framing pulses. This means that the DSP has complete control on where it scans an image, and how much data it needs to collect. Can you think of the uses for such a compact device? |
| 5. | A Hand-held Web Browser | Continue the work started by Ben Williamson and Craig Newell on the NetSlate project. The original system used an ARM 7500 CPU and an LCD display to display WWW info without the need for a complete PC. Web browser for the masses - the NC (network computer) much vaunted in the trade press. Ben and Craig have got jobs in Silicon Valley because of the work done on this project! |
| 6. | Active Badge network | Complete and expand the work done in 1996 and 1997 on this project. Know where staff are at any time. Direct phone calls to the nearest phone, open doors, grant access to terminals, login automatically without needing passwords - all because your badge says who you are. Also implement a real badge network and get it working in the Axon building. Get a WWW page going to display the results for all the world to see. |
| 7. | ATM network projects | Get an ATM switch, a video camera. a video display on a PCI bus, and an audio board all working together to implement a Desk Area Network (DAN). Based on 3 projects from 1996. We have now been donated two ATM switches by Cisco to make this project more attractive. |
| 8. | Inferno Operating System | Inferno is the latest operating system from Lucent. It is in the flavour of UNIX, but three generations on - developed to support smart phones, set-top boxes, PDAs, etc. Extend the work of Len Scuderi in 1997 and get a smart telephone system operating within the department. Or suggest one yourself! Maybe port it to a new piece of hardware! |
| 9. | Electronic Book | Develop a standard for an electronic book. You don't want people to be able to save the book, or if they can then it must be encrypted. Liaise with the digital cash project to charge people for reading the book. The same technology can apply to distributing video or music or any other media. You could use Inferno running on a PC (on top of Windows 95) to prototype the system and wait for the hardware in project 5 to be completed to complete the project in coming years. |
| 10. | A Digital Cash System | Implement a digital cash system, ie, where funds are transferred between accounts in an electronic bank. Need for encryption and privacy must be preserved. Use the system to pay for page printing charges within the department. May be extended to paying for other services within the department. |
| 11. | RF ID and equipment tracking | Using RF ID chips from TEMIC, develop a system to monitor the location and movement of equipment within the department. Make every bench "smart" enough to know the equipment sitting on it, and be able to report when it moves and which bench it moves to. save that big equipment audit every year. Put every bench on the Internet? |
| 13. | Universal Serial Bus and the PC | Put standard peripherals on the USB, a recently proposed serial bus developed to reduce cable clutter on the back of the PC. |
| 15. | A Microphone Array for Multimedia Workstations and Conferences | Use beam-forming principles to achieve accurate control of the directivity of a microphone. Use for enhanced speech reconition by eliminating noisy backgrounds, allow for free roaming of the user, track the talker location, and track multiple talkers. |
| 16. | Diffuse Infrared Communications Link | Design and implement a diffuse (non line of sight) infrared communications links for use in the Computer Engineering Thesis Laboratory. It is intended as a group project. One of the group would be required to create an Ethernet-to-IR connection to the undergraduate computer network. |
| 17. | Power Line Communications Link | Design and implement a reliable communications link to operate over standard 240 volt AC power links around a residential dwelling. This link to be used for communications between devices used in home automation. It is assumed that the link will be slow speed (ie, not greater than 9600 baud). Project may have more than one person working on it, as there are many devices that can be automated in the average home. There are a number of new powerline communications chips avaliable out now which make this a viable project. |
| 18. | Computerized Local PABX | Design and implement a microcomputer controlled telephone excange. 8 subscriber lines and up to 3 central office lines. 12 speech paths to support non-blocked operation and support multiple conference calls in progress at the same time. Look at Internet phone access as well. Entire project needs more than one Honours student. Have a look at this news item. |
| 19. | Smart Objects | I am interested in building (physical) objects which have the ability to learn. This makes it easy for users to adapt them than systems which require programming. Imagine the little old grandma trying to program the VCR! Let's look at systems which learn our pattern of use, our preferences, and which try to predict what we will require next. For example, we can start with a smart light bulb that knows when it gets turned on and off, what the light levels were, who was in the room, what other appliances were turned on or off at the time. Or we can look at a TV, radio, or stereo which knows the programs we usually watch, given who is in the room, the time of day, our mood(how do you determine this?). Telephones that know who is using them and then adapt to that person - remind you to call your mum on her birthday, provide access to your personal address book, etc. There is a vast range of activity here. This involves both harware construction and software and research into user modelling and machine learning. |
| 20. | BodyNet | A Body Area Network used to transmit messages over a human body, between two or more human bodies when they touch, and between a human body and an inanimate object with which one comes into contact. Build a system to do this based on the work done at MIT Media Lab. This involves using a very small microprocessor and a small RF near field data link. Check on Altavista for a paper by Zimmerman on the topic of Personal Area Networks. |
| 21. | YOUR-OWN-TOPIC | Suggest a topic to me and I'll see if it is doable at the Pass or Honours level. |
Electrical and Computer Engineering / marks@elec.uq.edu.au
Last Modified October 25, 1996