Valeriy I. Didenko, Aleksandr V. Ivanov
DISTRIBUTION LAWS OF QUANTIZATION NOISE FOR SIGMA-DELTA MODULATOR

The very fast development of sigma-delta analog-to-digital converters is evidently. Therefore analytical methods of their description become more and more important. If the found equations are precise enough, they can be used for verification and validation of modelling and simulation. Analytical equations are also important from the viewpoint of education. As is known, the sigma-delta ADC consists of sigma-delta modulator (SDM) and digital filter. In this paper the quantization noise of modulator is investigated for different forms of input signal. The world known (classical) theory of quantization noise is not accurate nough. A new approach was supposed by the authors. The most important point of the approach is to use the discrete two-value distribution law at the modulator output. According to classical theory, for any forms of input signal the quantization noise at the output of the modulator has uniform distribution law. In accordance with new approach, the distribution law of quantization noise depends significantly on the form of input signal. The simulation results are found in agreement with new theory.

A. Psyllos, C. N. Anagnostopoulos, E. Kayafas
VEHICLE AUTHENTICATION FROM DIGITAL IMAGE MEASUREMENTS

In this work, it is demonstrated that relatively simple image processing functions based on symmetry measurements can be used to obtain high performance vehicle authentication, creating an “image signature” for every vehicle. On that basis, distinctive parts of the vehicle frontal view such as the headlights and the logo area can be segmented. A novel neural network application, properly trained, provides adequate vehicle manufacturer recognition when used in conjunction with a previously developed license plate recognition module. It is also shown that image processing functions based on Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) measurements can be used to obtain high performance object features location, creating a keypoint fingerprint for every feature. A grid of SIFT keypoints was drawn and a neural network was used also for vehicle model recognition.

Vladimír Haasz
EXPERIENCE OF IMPLEMENTATION OF BOLOGNA DECLARATION IN ENGINEERING BRANCH IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC (ESPECIALLY IN TEACHING MEASUREMENT)

New study programmes corresponding to Bologna declaration started in the Czech Republic in 2002 (bachelor study stage), but in electrical engineering generally in 2003. Therefore the first run of master study stage has finished this year. 41 % of bachelor programmes in engineering are oriented more practically, 25 % prefer theoretical background for master stage, about 15 % were prepared as universal and the rest arose by dividing of the first part of long master programme to 2 bachelor programmes – one practically oriented and the other as preparing for master stage. Actual experience indicates that the main aims of Bologna declaration (to improve quality of bachelors regarding assertion in practice; to increase the number of successful students and to preserve the existing good level of master degree) were not satisfied in education of engineering in the Czech Republic. There are three areas where Czech technical universities indicate problems by application of new bachelors curricula: Assertion in practice, Continuing in master stage and Mobility. The second part of the paper go into teaching measurement and instrumentation in the Czech Republic after implementation of Bologna Declaration and problems pertinent to it.

David Sarrià, Joaquín Del Río, Antoni Mànuel, Jacopo Aguzzi, José Antonio García, Francesc Sardà
ACTOGRAPHIC DETECTION SYSTEM BASED ON INFRARED AND COMPUTER VISION TECHNOLOGIES TO MEASURE THE BEHAVIOUR OF SPECIES

An automated acquisition system has been developed to measure the behavioral activity rhythms of marine species. The system has been developed using infrared and computer vision technologies by a distributed topology, different experimentations can be done at the same time if the units are repeated and connected to the main computer. The developed system consists primarily in custom low cost acquisition and illumination units with USB interface that allows the acquisition from different photodiodes sensors and to illuminate with a programmable photoperiod. The main computer controls all the connected units and processes the incoming information of behaviour from the sensors to show the activity rhythm of the species under study in association with artificially generated light cycles. The system is complemented with low cost cameras, with different vision algorithms the behaviour of the animals can be extracted.

Giulia Rabottino, Arianna Mencattini, Marcello Salmeri, Federica Caselli, Roberto Lojacono
MASS CONTOUR EXTRACTION IN MAMMOGRAPHIC IMAGES FOR BREAST CANCER IDENTIFICATION

Mammography is the most effective tool now available for an early diagnosis of breast cancer. However, the detection of cancer signs in mammograms is a difficult task owing to the great number of non pathological structures which are also present in the image. It has been shown that in current breast cancer screenings 10%–25% of the tumors are missed by the radiologists. For this reason, a lot of research is currently being done to develop systems for Computer Aided Detection (CADe). Probably, some causes of the false–negative screening examinations are that tumoral masses have varying dimension and irregular shape, their borders are often ill–defined and their contrast is very low, thus making difficult the discrimination from parenchymal structures. Therefore, in a CADe system a preliminary segmentation procedure has to be implemented in order to separate the mass from background tissue. In this way, various characteristics of the segmented mass can be evaluated, which may be used in a classification step to discriminate pathological and negative cases. In this paper we describe an effective algorithm for massive lesions segmentation based on region–growing technique and we provide full details of the performance evaluation procedure used in this specific context.