Teach-Ware: DSP education resources

This paper describes a variety of TeachWare, i.e., digital signal processing (DSP) education resources that are useful for introducing DSP concepts, operations, and algorithms. The paper provides such information as the type of resource, its status, and format.     

A computation-distortion optimized framework for efficientDCT-based video coding

The rapidly expanding field of multimedia communications has fueled significant research and development work in the area of real-time video encoding. Dedicated hardware solutions have reached maturity and cost-efficient hardware encoders are being developed by several manufacturers. However, software solutions based on a general purpose processor or a programmable digital signal processor (DSP) have significant merits. Toward this objective, we have developed a flexible framework for video encoding that yields very good computation-performance tradeoffs. The proposed framework consists of a set of optimized core components: motion estimation (ME), the discrete cosine transform (DCT), quantization, and mode selection. Each of the components can be configured to achieve a desired computation-performance tradeoff. The components can be assembled to obtain encoders with varying degrees of computational complexity. Computation control has been implemented within the proposed framework to allow the resulting algorithms to adapt to the available computational resources. The proposed framework was applied to MPEG-2 and H.263 encoding using Intel's Pentium/MMX desktop processor. Excellent speed-performance tradeoffs were obtained     

The quantized DCT and its application to DCT-based video coding

The two-dimensional (2-D) discrete cosine transform (DCT) and the subsequent quantization of the transform coefficients are two computationally demanding steps of any DCT-based video encoder. In this paper, we propose an efficient joint implementation of these two steps, where the precision in computing the DCT can be exchanged for a reduction in the computational complexity. First, the quantization is embedded in the DCT, thus eliminating the need to explicitly quantize the transform coefficients. A multiplierless integer implementation of the quantized DCT (QDCT) is then proposed that performs shift and add operations instead of full multiplications. A sequence of multiplierless QDCT algorithms is obtained with increasing precision and number of computations. Finally, further savings in computations are obtained by terminating the DCT computations whenever intermediate results indicate that the transform and quantization steps will likely result in a block of zero values. The proposed algorithms are applied to, and results are presented for, high-quality MPEG-2 and low bit rate H.263 video encoding.     

Performance Analysis of the JPEG 2000 Image Coding Standard

Some of the major objectives of the JPEG 2000 still image coding standard were compression and memory efficiency, lossy to lossless coding, support for continuous-tone to bi-level images, error resilience, and random access to regions of interest. This paper will provide readers with some insight on various features and functionalities supported by a baseline JPEG 2000-compliant codec. Three JPEG 2000 software implementations (Kakadu, JasPer, JJ2000) are compared with several other codecs, including JPEG, JBIG, JPEG-LS, MPEG-4 VTC and H.264 intra coding. This study can serve as a guideline for users to estimate the effectiveness of JPEG 2000 for various applications, and to select optimal parameters according to specific application requirements.Hong Man received his Ph.D. degree from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1999, in Electrical Engineering. He joined Stevens Institute of Technology in 2000, and currently he is an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is serving as the director for Visual Information Environment Laboratory at Stevens, the director for Computer Engineering undergraduate program in the ECE department, and the coordinator for NSA Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance in the School of Engineering. He is a member of the IEEE and ACM. He served as member of organizing committee for IEEE International Workshop on Multimedia and Signal Processing (MMSP) 2002 and 2005, member of technical program committee for IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC) Fall 2003, and IEEE/ACM International Conference on E-Business and Telecommunication Networks (ICETE) 2004 and 2005. He is a committee member on IEEE SPS TC for Education. He was an active contributor to the ISO/ITU JPEG 2000 image coding standard.Alen Docef received his Diploma of Engineer from the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest, Romania, in 1991. He obtained an M.S.E.E degree in 1992 and a Ph.D. degree in 1998 from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, all in electrical engineering. From 1998 to 1999 he worked as a research engineer in the Signal Processing and Multimedia Group of the University of British Columbia. In 2000 he joined the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Engineering as an Assistant Professor. His research interests include multimedia signal compression, medical image processing, and real-time implementation of DSP algorithms. He has been a member of the IEEE since 1995.Faouzi Kossentini received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, in 1989, 1990, and 1994, respectively. He is presently the President and CEO of UB Video Inc., a company in Vancouver (Canada) that develops video communication products for the video conferencing and broadcast markets. Before the year 2004, he had been an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of British Columbia, where he was involved in research in the areas of signal processing, communications and multimedia. He has co-authored more than two hundred journal papers, conference papers and book chapters. Dr. Kossentini is a senior member of the IEEE. He has served as a Vice General Chair for ICIP-2000, and he has also served as an associate editor for the IEEE transactions on Image Processing and the IEEE transactions on Multimedia.