CCIS Talk: Experience Continental: Driving with everything well within reach and view! by Bogdan Simonia

You are cordially invited to attend the following CCIS Talk:

Date: 29 March 2018 (Thursday)
Time: 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Venue:KAG01, KA Block, UTAR Sungai Long Campus, Bandar Sungai Long, Selangor.

Title: Experience Continental: Driving with everything well within reach and view!

Abstract:

Our vision “Always On” sees the vehicle of the future as a partner that supports its users with intelligent solutions. For us, tomorrow’s vehicle is seamlessly connected, user-friendly, comfortable and intelligent. The holistic human-machine interface also plays a key role. It structures and visualizes information quickly and clearly, while taking into account the driving situation and the driver’s condition. Users are continuously receiving reliable feedback on all their actions. This strengthens their trust in individual vehicle functions and is an important aspect on the road toward automated driving.

In our Instrumentation & Driver HMI business unit we work on the best ways of processing, prioritizing and presenting information. With holistic solutions to the human-machine interface, Continental ensures that drivers intuitively receive the exact information they need to know whilst driving. In order to avoid driver distraction the prioritization of information on different displays, depending on vehicle and driving situation, is one of the key focuses of Continental. Beyond that innovative user interfaces for intuitive control of different functions are developed; this includes components as well as fully integrated systems and complete cockpit modules for all vehicle types and use cases.

Speakers:
Bogdan Simonia,
Director & Head of Research & Development
Continental Automotive Components Malaysia Sdn Bhd

Biography:

Mr Bogdan Simonia is the Director & Head of Research & Development (R&D) of Continental Automotive Components Malaysia Sdn Bhd. He joined the company in March 2015 and is based in the city of Prai, Penang state, Malaysia, where he spearheads the R&D Department. With his impressive track record, he was quickly promoted to R&D Director position since beginning of 2017.

At the young age of 7, Mr Simonia had already shown an exceptional interest in computers. His interest has only escalated from thereon and this lead him to further advance his studies in computer programming in high school. Later on, he enrolled in the Polytechnic University of Timisoara, where he graduated, in 2006, with a Bachelor Degree in “Systems and Computer Science”.

In his three years’ at Continental Malaysia, Mr Simonia has successfully achieved several important milestones, e.g. doubling of the engineering center size, introduction of 2 new products as well as gaining the trust of internal and external stake holders in future growth opportunities for the Malaysian location. Further, he has focused on building up the capability to develop full products for the automotive market out of Penang, by developing, in parallel to the R&D competences, the project management team.

Mr Simonia began his automotive career with Continental Automotive in Romania, at Timisoara, in 2004, where he started as a Software Engineer for instrument clusters for commercial vehicles, specifically, truck applications. In 2008, he became the Team Leader for a telematics and tolling R&D team, which was for the first time being setup in Romania.

Two years later, the scope of the team was expanded to a hardware and software platform team, serving a wide range of applications, from the traditional analog-digital instrument cluster to telematics, tolling and full digital cluster products. During this, he became a Certified SCRUM master as well, deploying AGILE practices in the organization. When he left Timisoara, in 2015, the platform team was running successfully with multiple projects in several markets.

Outside the office, Mr Simonia is a husband and a father of two boys, one of which was born in Malaysia. He relaxes by spending time with his family, occasionally plays tennis or taking a fishing trip.

CCIS Talk: Entrepreneurship in the age of automation and artificial intelligence by Cheemun Foong

You are cordially invited to attend the following CCIS Talk:

Date: 12 Mar 2018 (Monday)
Time: 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Venue: KB210, KB Block, UTAR Sungai Long Campus, Bandar Sungai Long, Selangor.

Title: Entrepreneurship in the age of automation and artificial intelligence​

Speakers:
Cheemun Foong, CTO, Moneylion

Biography:

Chee Mun Foong is the Chief Technology Office at MoneyLion, Inc. Prior to that, he was a founding member of Simulex Inc, a boutique research firm specializing in artificial intelligence and advanced analytics for predicting human behavior. During his 12 years at Simulex, he consulted for various branches of the US Department of Defense and Fortune 500 companies. His work ranged from big-data distributed computation to social-sciences encoding into mathematical and algorithmic models.

Chee subsequently co-founded MoneyLion Inc. with the goal being to bring the most advanced artificial intelligence technology into retail finance. At MoneyLion, he oversees a multi-geographical engineering and analytics team to create an industry-leading platform that encompasses underwriting, marketing, user-experience, and user-acquisition.

Chee graduated from Purdue University with a degree from electrical engineering.

CCIS Talk: The Future Outlook and the Path to be a Data Scientist​

You are cordially invited to attend the following CCIS Talk:

Date: 14 Mar 2018 (Wednesday)
Time: 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Venue: KB301, KB Block, UTAR Sungai Long Campus, Bandar Sungai Long, Selangor.

Title: The Future Outlook and the Path to be a Data Scientist​

Abstract:
Malaysia is one of the few countries with a structured Big Data Analytics (BDA) roadmap to untap the value of big data. At the turning point of digital revolution, the powers of big data can be used to describe a problem, assess a situation, forecast results, and prepare solutions that can be applied to across all sectors in Malaysia. The demand for data scientists in Malaysia is expected to increase by 33% to 2,000 in 2020 from 1,500 experts in 2014 as more companies turn to Big Data Analytics (BDA) to build their competitive edge.

Speakers:
Dr Poo Kuan Hoong, Principle Data Scientist, Coqnitics & Senior Data Scientist, ASEAN Data Analytics Exchange (ADAX)

Biography:
Backed with 15 years of academic and research background, Dr Poo is a passionate practitioner in the area of Data Science, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. A graduate of Nagoya Institute of Technology (Japan), Dr. Poo holds a Doctorate degree (Ph.D.) in Computer Science, a Master of Information Technology (UKM), and a Bachelor of Science (UKM).
Dr. Poo applies his combination of research and industrial experience in big data analytics, data mining, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to provide consultancy on data strategy for companies in various sectors including finance. telecommunication and technology startups.

CCIS Talk: Data Science in Practice by Fabian Chan, SEEK Asia

You are cordially invited to attend the following CCIS Talk:

Date: 28 Feb 2018 (Wednesday)
Time: 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Venue: KB301, KB Block, UTAR Sungai Long Campus, Bandar Sungai Long, Selangor.

Title: Data Science in Practice

Abstract:
What is it like to work in data science for companies? What are the career prospects? What skills are expected? How much money do data scientists make?
In this talk let's explore some of the realities of working life in a data science team from the perspective of SEEK Asia's internal team and also from the learning we've gathered from the data science community at large.

Speakers:
Fabian Chan, Research Manager, SEEK Asia

Biography:
Fabian started his career as an software engineer, and later a lecturer, before joining SEEK Asia. In SEEK Asia, Fabian leads a team of data scientists that focuses on figuring out how best to leverage data, AI and machine learning techniques to help people get better jobs. The team focuses on aspects of search, recommendations, personalisation and other aspects of seeking a better match between a candidate and employer.

MyWood-ID soft launched on 2 Feb 2018 in conjunction with FRIM Inc launching

After more than two years of joint collaboration between FRIM's wood anatomy lab and UTAR Centre for Computing and Intelligence Systems (CCIS), MyWood-ID, the mobile wood identification system that identifies Malaysian timbers is finally soft-launched on 2 Feb 2018 at Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Kepong.
The soft launch of MyWood-ID was held in conjunction with the launching of FRIM Inc., the commercialization arm of Forest Research Institute Malaysia, by the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

 

With just an iPhone with Internet connection and an off-the-shelf Olloclip macro-lens to capture the 21x magnified cross-section of a piece of wood, MyWood-ID will be able to imitate the capability of a human wood anatomist, to identify which type of timber the piece of wood belongs to, thanks to the latest artificial intelligence technology.

This technology is very cost-effective and is expected to be useful to:

• timber industries
• timber graders
• timber inspectors
• quality control inspectors
• forest department
• log checking stations
• enforcement officers
• etc.

The free trial version of MyWood-ID can identify 20 types of Malaysian wood:

1. Balau
2. Bintangor
3. Chengal
4. Dark Red Meranti (DRM)
5. Light Red Meranti (LRM)
6. Jelutong
7. Karas
8. Kempas
9. Keranji
10. Keruing
11. Merbau
12. Mengkulang
13. Nyatoh
14. Ramin
15. Red Balau
16. Rubberwood
17. Teak
18. Tualang
19. White Meranti
20. Yellow Meranti

The full version of MyWood-ID, which is able to identify 100 types of common Malaysian timbers will be released in a few months time.

MyWood-ID Main Page: http://bit.ly/MyWood-ID
MyWood-ID @ Apple AppStore: http://bit.ly/MyWood-IDAppStore
MyWood-ID paper on PRWAC 2017: http://bit.ly/MyWood-ID_PRWAC2017


Dr. Nordahlia explained and demonstrated MyWood-ID to the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi


From left: Mr. Tang Xin Jie, Dr Nordahlia, Mr Lim Seng Choon, Dr. Tay Yong Haur


Present and past CCIS members who have contributed to this project:

• Dr. Tay Yong Haur
• Mr. Tang Xin Jie
• Mr. Cheang Teik Koon
• Mr. Cheang Eu Koon
• Ms. Chong Yong Shean
• Mr. Siew Kar Fai
• Mr. Liew Jia Hau
• Mr. Lee Jing Yong
• Mr. Ching Yaw Hao
• Mr. Wong Jhy Haur
• Dr. Victor Tan Hock Kim
• Dr. Madhavan Nair
• Dr. Sugumaran Nallusamy
• Prof. Dr. Junichi Kishigami
• Mr. Lau Kean Hong
• Mr. Ng Choon Boon
• Mr. Ooi Ean Huat
• Mr. Wong Chim Chwee

Relevant news:

• FRIM: DPM launches FRIM Inc.
• Malaysia Gazette: MyWood ID sasaran FRIM Inc
• FRIM Facebook: TPM RASMIKAN FRIM INC
• Harian Metro: Mudah cam spesies kayu
• NRE media statement
• Global Timber Tracking Network: Wood Identification via the App Store
   

Feel free to write to Tay Yong Haur at tayyh@utar.edu.my or  YongHaur.Tay@gmail.com for any inquiries about MyWood-ID. 

CCIS Talk: Learning-based Image Compression by Hsueh-Ming Hang

You are cordially invited to attend the following CCIS event:

Title: Learning-based Image Compression
Date: 12 December 2017 (Tuesday)
Time: 9:00 am
Venue: N108, UTAR Kampar Campus, Perak
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Hsueh-Ming Hang, NCTU
Admission: Free
Contact: Dr Lau Phooi Yee (laupy@utar.edu.my)

Abstract:
The DCT-based transform coding technique was adopted by the international standards (ISO JPEG, ITU H.261/264/265, ISO MPEG-2/4/H, and many others) for 30 years. Although researchers are still trying to improve its efficiency by fine-tuning its components and parameters, the basic structure has not changed in the past 20 years. Researchers tried other methods such as wavelet coding and compressive sensing but they cannot show significant improvement over the existing DCT-coding system.
The deep learning schemes recently developed may provide a new direction for constructing a high-compression image/video coding system. The basic ideas are the Generative Model and Autoencoder in the deep learning neural network. Up to now, only a dozen or so papers have been published on this subject in the past two years and the recent results indicate that the potential of compression efficiency offered by this new methodology could be very significant. In this talk, we summarize the basic designs and the progress of this topic so far, and our on-going activity along this direction.

Biography:

Hsueh-Ming Hang received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, in 1978 and 1980, respectively, and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, in 1984.
From 1984 to 1991, he was with AT&T Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ, and then he joined the Electronics Engineering Department of National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), Hsinchu, Taiwan, in December 1991.
From 2006 to 2009, he was appointed as Dean of the EECS College at National Taipei University of Technology (NTUT). From 2014 to 2017, he served as the Dean of the ECE College at NCTU.
He has been actively involved in the international MPEG standards since 1984 and his current research interests include multimedia compression, multiview image/video processing, and deep-learning based image/video processing.
Dr. Hang holds 13 patents (Taiwan, US and Japan) and has published over 190 technical papers related to image compression, signal processing, and video codec architecture. He was an associate editor (AE) of the IEEE Transactions on Image Processing (1992-1994, 2008-2012) and the IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology (1997-1999). He is a co-editor and contributor of the Handbook of Visual Communications published by Academic Press in 1995. He was an IEEE Circuits and Systems Society Distinguished Lecturer (2014-2015) and is a Board Member of the Asia-Pacific Signal and Information Processing Association (APSIPA) (2013-2018). He is a recipient of the IEEE Third Millennium Medal and is a Fellow of IEEE and IET and a member of Sigma Xi.

CCIS Talk: RGB-D Video Acquisition and Synthesis by Hsueh-Ming Hang

You are cordially invited to attend the following CCIS event:

Title: RGB-D Video Acquisition and Synthesis
Date: 11 December 2017 (Monday)
Time: 2:00 pm
Venue: N108, UTAR Kampar Campus, Perak
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Hsueh-Ming Hang, NCTU
Admission: Free
Contact: Dr Lau Phooi Yee (laupy@utar.edu.my)

Abstract:
The focus of next-generation 3D research is on the so-called virtual-viewpoint (or free-viewpoint) video system. It is also an on-going standardization item in the international ITU/MPEG Standards. Typically, a densely arranged camera array is used to acquire input images and a number of virtual view pictures are synthesized at the receiver using the depth-image based rendering (DIBR) technique.
In this talk, we will focus on two essential components in a virtual-view system: RGB-D video acquisition and view synthesis. Recent devices such as Microsoft Kinect offer an inexpensive hardware solution to the RGB-D video acquisition. However, its depth map quality needs to be improved.
We use four (2 by 2) Kinects to capture video and synthesize a virtual-view video in-between. In addition to depth map improvement, we develop a multiple view blending algorithm, which decides the best view(s) used to generate the synthesized image pixel by pixel. Another challenge is the complexity of view-synthesis procedure. In the second part of this talk, we describe a few techniques to reduce computational complexity and use a parallel processing structure, NVIDIA CUDA, to implement the view synthesis task. With the aid of GPU, we can speed up in the view synthesis process significantly.

Biography:

Hsueh-Ming Hang received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, in 1978 and 1980, respectively, and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, in 1984.
From 1984 to 1991, he was with AT&T Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ, and then he joined the Electronics Engineering Department of National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), Hsinchu, Taiwan, in December 1991.
From 2006 to 2009, he was appointed as Dean of the EECS College at National Taipei University of Technology (NTUT). From 2014 to 2017, he served as the Dean of the ECE College at NCTU.
He has been actively involved in the international MPEG standards since 1984 and his current research interests include multimedia compression, multiview image/video processing, and deep-learning based image/video processing.
Dr. Hang holds 13 patents (Taiwan, US and Japan) and has published over 190 technical papers related to image compression, signal processing, and video codec architecture. He was an associate editor (AE) of the IEEE Transactions on Image Processing (1992-1994, 2008-2012) and the IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology (1997-1999). He is a co-editor and contributor of the Handbook of Visual Communications published by Academic Press in 1995. He was an IEEE Circuits and Systems Society Distinguished Lecturer (2014-2015) and is a Board Member of the Asia-Pacific Signal and Information Processing Association (APSIPA) (2013-2018). He is a recipient of the IEEE Third Millennium Medal and is a Fellow of IEEE and IET and a member of Sigma Xi.