Search

This paper presents a new direction of research in user experiences and cognitive science. The problem addressed is drawing on results from different disciplines: psychology, brain and cognitive sciences, physics, and interaction design. As main objective we plan the empirical validation of the claim: Cultural computing as enabling technology for social transformations. Cultural computing is based on a form of cultural translation that uses scientific methods to capture and represent essential aspects of a particular culture. Cultural computing will enable particular cognitive and emotional responses from users as reflections on and of their inner, subliminal consciousness. Cultural computing is not only integrating cultural aspects into the interaction but also allowing the user to experience an interaction that is closely related to the core aspects of his/her own culture. As such it is important to understand one’s cultural determinants and how to render them during the interaction. We will address individually and collectively the cultural determinants of the Western culture. Based on the given narrative ‘Alice Adventures in Wonderland’ we have already built the first demo version and plan to build an optimized version of a mixed reality installation to provide and investigate cultural user experiences. To address the research questions we propose three main research lines: (1) designing a mixed reality environment to provide certain unconscious user experiences; (2) inducing and measuring the changes in the individual’s unconscious knowledge structure; and (3) empirical validation of a fundamentally new synchronization mechanism for sharing individual changes collectively. We hypothesize that there eventually exists an interconnecting knowledge field at the foundation of reality that conserves and conveys information collectively. This knowledge field looks like a possible candidate for a required ‘supra-natural’ memory for cultural knowledge to tap into for social transformations.

This paper presents a framework for parallel tracking of human hands and faces in real time, and is a partial solution to a larger project on human-robot interaction which aims at training autistic children using a humanoid robot in a realistic non-restricted environment. In addition to the framework, the results of tracking different hand waving patterns are shown. These patterns provide an easy to understand profile of hand waving, and can serve as the input for a classification algorithm.

Although many different types of technologies for information systems have evolved over the last decades (such as databases, video systems, the Internet and mobile telecommunication), the integration of these technologies is just in its infancy and has the potential to introduce ”intelligent” systems. The CANDELA project, which is part of the European ITEA program, focuses on the integration of video content analysis in combination with networked delivery and storage technologies. To unleash the full potential of such integration, adaptive video-content analysis and retrieval techniques are being explored by developing several pilot applications.

No abstract.

In this paper, we reason that simulation and bisimulation are not adequate in the context of hybrid systems as they are only capable of comparing states that are reachable in a finite number of transitions. To solve this problem we extend labelled transition systems with a topology on the state space. We define topological versions of simulation and bisimulation that are also capable of comparing accumulation states of infinite sequences of transitions. We show that for transition systems with an indiscrete topology, topological (bi-)simulation and standard (bi-)simulation coincide. A similar result is obtained for finite transition systems with a discrete topology.

We focus on well-behaved Adaptive Hypermedia Systems, which means the adaptation engine that executes adaptation rules always terminates and produces predictable (confluent) adaptation results. Unfortunately termination and confluence are undecidable in general. In this paper we discuss sufficient conditions to help authors to write adaptation rules that satisfy termination and confluence.

Anthropomorphism is the tendency to attribute human characteristics to non–human entities. This paper presents exploratory work to evaluate how human responses during the ultimatum game vary according to the level of anthropomorphism of the opponent, which was either a human, a humanoid robot or a computer. Results from an online user study (N=138) show that rejection scores are higher in the case of a computer opponent than in the case of a human or robotic opponent. Participants also took significantly longer to reply to the offer of the computer rather than to the robot. This indicates that players might use similar ways to decide whether to accept or reject offers made by robotic or human opponents which are different in the case of a computer opponent.

Several empirical studies confirm the importance of time-awareness in learning disabilities. Designed tools and environments to interact with time are essential for the training and diagnosis of an impaired notion of time. Training which improves sense of time may improve learning, daily functioning and quality of life. This paper reviews perceptual and computational time models in literature and present briefly our first attempts in applying the knowledge in the design of playful tools for children to orient their time.

The design of buildings is complex and requires the support of multi-disciplinary design teams. Therefore a supportive design approach has been developed: Integral Design. Integral Design combines an engineering design method with an innovation strategy, to support innovative integrated design between engineering and architecture. The innovative Concept-Knowledge theory by Hatchuel and Weil is used in combination with the Integral Design method. This combination enables to illustrate different processes within the conceptual design phase of multi-disciplinary building design. It also makes it possible to see the effect of so called C-constructs to stimulate the generation of concepts. The approach is tested in workshops with students and professionals and the results indicate a positive effect on the number of generated sub solutions. Further research is needed to determine the qualitative effects of the design approach

We present an integrated optical serializer designed and fabricated in a multi-project wafer run on indium-phosphide(InP)-based materials. The circuit is designed for a frontend unit in a data readout system. The InP-based technology platform enables monolithic integration of passive and active components. The serialization is provided by means of on-chip optical delay lines. The circuit makes use of electro-optic phase shifters to build amplitude modulators, multimode interference couplers for signal distribution, semiconductor optical amplifiers for signal loss compensation and on-chip reflectors. In this work we present the design and first experimental results of the fabricated device.

This paper proposes a novel approach for identifying risks in executable business processes and detecting them at run-time. The approach considers risks in all phases of the business process management lifecycle, and is realized via a distributed, sensor-based architecture. At design-time, sensors are defined to specify risk conditions which when fulfilled, are a likely indicator of faults to occur. Both historical and current process execution data can be used to compose such conditions. At run-time, each sensor independently notifies a sensor manager when a risk is detected. In turn, the sensor manager interacts with the monitoring component of a process automation suite to prompt the results to the user who may take remedial actions. The proposed architecture has been implemented in the YAWL system and its performance has been evaluated in practice.

In a Generic Integration Technology many different functionalities can be supported by combining basic building blocks in different ways. Because the technology platform is well defined, and semi-fixed between releases, library based design methods are well suited for designing circuits in such a technology. Library based design reduces design time and allows for higher circuit complexities. In this paper we describe the progress being made on a library of passive components in the EU project PARADIGM. Furthermore, we discuss a method to achieve a significant speed-up in circuit level simulations.

The high vertical index contrast and the small thickness of thin InP-based membrane structures bonded with BCB on Silicon allow the realization of very small devices. In COBRA, we aim to make a direct electrically pumped photonic crystal laser in this platform. Together with submicron selective area re-growth and oxidation of AlInAs for the current confinement techniques that we developed previously, a "W1 like" photonic crystal cavity type is designed and simulations in FDTD show good performance in terms of quality factor and tolerance to the manufacturing imperfections. Simulations show that doping and oxidation of AlInAs does have a negative effect on the Q factor, yet it is acceptable. All in all, we expect to make electrically injected photonic crystal lasers with high pumping efficiency and small threshold current as well as low power consumption.

We report on design of a polarization converter for the InGaAsP-InP system. The polarization converter has a sloping sidewall made by wet chemical etching. Polarization conversion is higher than 95% and loss is lower than 0.5 dB for the following parameters of the converter: width of top, 1.24±0.06 µm; length, 275±32 µm; deviation of layer thicknesses of the converter stack, more than ±10%; wavelength range, 1.5-1.6 µm. This design of the converter is suitable for photonic integrated circuits based on layer stacks of low contrast of refractive index.

We present characterization results of monolithically integrated photonic transmitters fabricated in a multi-project wafer run. The devices were realized on an indiumphosphide (InP) platform and combine multiwavelength arrayed waveguide grating (AWG)-based lasers with electro-optical Mach-Zehnder modulators. The 4- and 8-channel sources were realized in two configurations using AWGs both as intra-cavity filter and multiplexers of optical signals. In this paper we present the design of the integrated circuits, the mounting on an aluminum-nitride submount, and the first optical measurements of the transmitters.

A photonic crystal L3 nanocavity, consisting of only three missing neighboring holes, is coupled to a large multimode 60 missing holes cavity, both made in an InGaAsP membrane. The coupling was studied in detail by the photothermal tuning of the small cavity over about three Free Spectral Ranges of the large cavity. A single mode from the L3 cavity is shown to couple simultaneously to at least three cavity modes of the large cavity as concluded from level anticrossing data when the small cavity was tuned. The observations are excellently reproduced by a model of coupled Fabry Perot resonators.

The wavelength select cross-connect is an enabling component for next generation high data rate dynamic photonic networks. Application range from high performance computing to the backbone and the core network. In this work, we design and fabricate an InP based monolithically integrated 4x4 wavelength selective cross-connect prototype. It uses space as well as wavelength selective switching to achieve connectivity for routing any wavelength from a given input port to any given output port. Power penalty for simultaneous multi-path routing of up to three 40 Gb/sec input signal is evaluated. Less than 0.2dB penalty is measured for multiple and simultaneously routed channels.

Planar photonic crystal nanocavities, made in a thin semiconductor membrane and suspended by breakable tethers, are released after fabrication. The cavity spectrum can be read out remotely by detecting the photoluminescence of embedded Quantum Dots. Both transfer printing and deterministic positioning of the cavities on foreign substrates by individual micromanipulation is demonstrated. The microscopic environment of the particles, including their bonding to the substrate, determines the cavities' resonance spectrum, which can be exploited in applications. As the first application, we demonstrate a novel fiber-optic sensor with a PhC cavity chiplet attached to the tip of a single-mode optical fiber.

In a mixed reality installation, a variety of technologies is integrated such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and animated virtual agents and robotic agents. One of the main challenges is how to design and implement a mixed reality installation that integrates a heterogeneous array of sensors and actuators, immersive interactive environments into aware system that will engage the user, providing a meaningful experience. In this paper we address the problems of building a CAVE environment in mixed reality installations, and share our experience in using a game engine as the driver for the CAVE, and in interfacing the game engine with sensors, actuators and input devices.

High Energy Physics experiments at CERN in the Large Hadron Collider for example, employ a plethora of mixed-signal integrated circuits to detect particles. Digital readout architectures of such particle detector circuits are complex and demand high speed serial links. Detector circuits demand data rates of multiple Gbps per chip and several Tbps for the whole detector and this demand is ever increasing as experiments progress to higher luminosities. Possible solution to tackle the problem of high data rates is to transport data optically by external modulation of a continuous wave laser. The detector circuits have to operate in a high radiation environment and particles passing through the circuits alter the properties of the circuits giving rise to performance issues. In this work, we investigate the radiation hardness performance of InP-based Mach-Zehnder modulators. The modulator circuit is mounted on a small PCB and irradiated with a 24 GeV/c proton beam at CERN up to various fluencies. The irradiated samples are then characterized and compared against measurements of non-irradiated devices.

The numerical modeling of combustion systems is a very challenging task. The interaction of turbulence, chemical reactions and thermodynamics in reacting flows is of exceptional complexity. Computing power is too limited to solve practical problems in detail. This problem asks for special treatments in the modeling of flames.

The increasing demand for faster broadband access requires the development of next-generation Passive Optical Networks (PONs) operating at very high bit rates (e.g. 40 Gb/s). On the same time, energy efficiency in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure has become a very important topic. In this paper, several proposed solutions for future high-speed PONs, such as coherent and incoherent multilevel signaling, wavelength-multiplexed On-Off Keying (OOK) and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), are examined with regards to the energy consumption of the system, with results indicating that the necessary bit rates can be provided without sacrificing energy efficiency.

We report the post-processing of a passive polarisation converter (PC) in a photonic integrated circuit that is realized in a Multi_Project Wafer run at Oclaro. The chip contains structures for testing the PC in a polarization independent SOA configuration. Photo-resist is used to protect the existing devices, and a photo-lithography step defines the PC processing area. The device is made using wet etching to define the PC sloped sidewall, and EBL to define the PC waveguide. The measurement results show that the polarization dependence of the SOA reduced from 14 dB to 3 dB with the PC insertion.

Different power quality phenomena influence also the efficiency of the electricity usage. Harmonic currents and unbalance in the currents will directly have a negative influence on the efficiency. A low power factor (PF) also contributes to a lower efficiency and can be partly related to harmonic distortion. Furthermore, these distorted currents will influence the quality of the voltage which, indirectly, can decrease the efficiency further. In this paper is the relation between these phenomena and electrical efficiency described and placed in perspective. Also, some additional information is given about the relation between voltage level and energy saving.

Passive optical access networks have been adopted to solve bandwidth bottle-neck in the last mile. In this paper, we propose a solution to improve their power efficiency and reliability by dual-homing in GPON and XG-PON coexistence. The dual-homing ONU, which have both GPON and XG-PON functionality, is proposed in order to be able to communicate with both GPON and XG-PON OLT. During light-load hours, the ONU can switch from XG-PON mode to GPON mode to save the power consumption. Our analysis shows that the scheme can potentially save up to 31.8% for the overall network consumption.

We present design, fabrication and first characterization results of an InP-based integrated optical pulse-shaper. An AWG with 50GHz channel spacing is designed to split the input signal from a mode-locked laser. The AWG has 20 output channels and covers 8nm bandwidth. The phase and amplitude in each channel is controlled using electro-optic phase modulators and SOAs. The light reflects back on a facet end with an HR-coating, is recombined in the AWG and returns through the input waveguide. The double-pass design makes the chip size compact, i.e. 6x6mm2. Fabrication has been carried out in the framework of EuroPIC multi-project wafer run.

In this paper we evaluate the feasibility to realize low-complexity high capacity transmission in the 1310 nm wavelength domain. The all-semiconductor high capacity n*40 Gbit/s DWDM transmission experiments are presented and the results evaluated. The results of the conducted studies indicate that the 1310 nm wavelength domain has a high potential to support low-complexity and high capacity transmission for applications like the future 400G and 1T Ethernet standard.

We demonstrated for the first time a radio-over-MMF and PF GI-POF transmission of simultaneous full standard wireless signals for in-building networks. Four types of RF signals (WiFi, WiMAX, UMTS and UWB) covering 1.9 GHz-5.4 GHz frequency band are successfully distributed. All transmission performances in terms of error vector magnitude are compliant with the standard requirements. Up to 1 km transmission distance of MMF and 100 m of PF POF are achieved. This work validates the idea of using a single MMF/GI-POF link as a common infrastructure for in-home networks capable of transmitting both narrow and broad band wireless services.

We present an all-optical routing architecture for the radio-over-fibre (RoF) in-building network, in order to create an overlay of functional clusters over the physical infrastructure supporting multi-standard wireless services. We investigate a simple wavelength channel routing which employs an optical phase modulator to generate an optical frequency comb of higher harmonics, followed by selection of one of these harmonics. Simulation results have been obtained for a multi-standard signal (125Mbit/s OFDM at 2.5GHz plus 2Gbit/s 16-QAM at 5GHz) with satisfactory EVM performance. Additionally, experimental results for 150Mbit/s 64-QAM signal and IEEE 802.11a WLAN signal are also analysed.

Integrated photonic circuits are enabling an abrupt step change in networking systems providing massive bandwidth and record transmission. The increasing complexity of high connectivity photonic integrated switches requires sophisticated control planes and more intimate high speed electronics. Here the first demonstration of a fabricated twenty-electrode broadcast-and-select photonic integrated switch controlled by a field programmable gate array (FPGA) is presented. Multipath 10 Gb/s data routing with rotating and pseudorandom priority path arbitration is assessed. Dynamic routing for 2.4x106 packets per second through all the working paths of the photonic integrated switch is shown using only a single external clock signal input.

We propose and experimentally demonstrate an Impulse-Radio Ultra-wideband Radioover-Fiber (IR-UWB-RoF) indoor ranging systems with sub-cm level accuracy. To minimize the cost of the system, reduce power consumption of receiver architecture and simultaneously achieve a better FCC-mask compliance, we employ a novel pulse shaping technique of IR-UWB pulse and an energy detector receiver architecture with a sub-sampling frequency capability. The effect of different fiber types (SMF and MMF) and fiber lengths on the ranging accuracy are studied using ToA ranging techniques. The proposed system has a potential for low cost in-building networks application to provide indoor localization with excellent accuracy.

Micro-ring Resonators (MRRs) have been widely studied for their advantages of high quality factor and the convenience to be integrated. The optical phase manipulation based on MRR chains is usable for many important applications. In this paper, we investigate the phase response of lattice and cascaded MRR chains with different configurations. Based on the analysis results, a novel compact design of a MRR chain has been proposed.

We present a novel multi-wavelength laser based on on-chip filtered optical feedback. The monolithically integrated device consists of four Fabry-Perot (FP) lasers that are wavelength-locked by an on-chip filtered-feedback section. The FP mirrors are formed by two on-chip multimode interference (MMI) reflectors, and the feedback section contains four phase shifters and a reflective arrayed waveguide grating to provide the filtered-feedback. By controlling the current injection to the lasers, single mode operation in each channel can be achieved. In this paper the design, fabrication and the first measurement are presented.

Characterization of Photonic ICs is time consuming because the optical ports can only be accessed after dicing of the wafer, and optical alignment tolerances for accurate measurement are very tight. A major improvement in measurement speed and accuracy can be achieved by testing the major properties on-wafer using only electrical contacts. Electrical testing of optical properties needs integration of calibrated light sources and detectors. Here we describe an approach for electrical testing of the properties of the most important components in photonic ICs.

The implementation of a low-latency optical packet switch architecture that is controllable while scaling to over thousand ports is investigated in this paper. Optical packet switches with thousand of input/output ports are promising devices to improve the performance of short link applications in Data Centers (DCs) or High Performance Computers (HPCs) environments. We show that classical switch architectures with a centralized control would not meet latency requirements of such applications. We present a WDM optical packet switch modular architecture with highly distributed control that allows scaling to over thousand ports while providing sub-microsecond end-to-end latencies.

We demonstrate the successful transmission of five 448 Gb/s dual-carrier POLMUX 16QAM modulation (28 GBaud) on a 75-GHz wavelength grid. Using large Aeff pure-silica-core fibers we show a 984 km transmission distance with a spectral efficiency of 5.6 b/s/Hz, including three ROADM passes.

Improving widely applied techniques will only yield modest transmission capacity gain. Spatial division multiplexing (SDM) is seen as the next transmission capacity enhancement dimension by employing either multi-core or multi-mode fibers with advanced modulation formats, receivers, and digital signal processing. The effect of spatial division multiplexing on multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) digital signal processing (DSP) in coherent receivers is shown for three mode fibers (3MF) with large differential modal delay (DMD). The paper concludes with a discussion on preferred fiber characteristics for future spatial division multiplexing systems.

The high level of passivation of Si surfaces afforded by Al2O3 synthesized by atomic layer deposition (ALD) was the incentive to test.

We present two designs in the area of Internet of Things, utilizing an ontology-driven platform, namely Smart-M3, to connect domestic objects in the physical world to the information world, for coaching the behavior or raising the awareness in domestic energy consumption. The concept and architecture of Smart-M3 are introduced, in which the domestic objects are knowledge processors connected to the semantic information broker that contains the ontologies, using a blackboard design pattern and semantic web technologies, enabling the interoperability among both digital and physical entities. Two designs based on Smart-M3 are presented, as examples for coaching with and learning from the Internet of Things. Although both designs are in the area of domestic energy consumption, they can be seen as good starting points towards broader areas of ubiquitous learning with the Internet of Things.

We present the design of a novel quasi-continuously tunable laser based on the filtered-feedback principle. This laser was specifically designed for use in Fiber Bragg Grating optical sensing applications. It can sweep rapidly over 10 discrete wavelength bands in the 1520-1580 nm wavelength range. The aim is to provide simultaneous wavelength scanning rates of up to 1 MHz. The laser was designed using generic building blocks and is therefore compatible with the future generic foundry infrastructure that is being set-up in Europe.

35.4Gbit/s discrete multitone (DMT) transmission over 4.4km graded-index multimode fiber by center launching is demonstrated. Feasibility of a 62.9Gbit/s 3 × 3 DMT Mode Group Division Multiplexing system with center and offset launching is discussed.

As organizations reach higher levels of Business Process Management maturity, they tend to accumulate large collections of processmodels. These repositories may contain thousands of activities and be managed by different stakeholders with varying skills and responsibilities. However, while being of great value, these repositories induce high management costs. Thus, it becomes essential to keep track of the various model versions as they may mutually overlap, supersede one another and evolve over time. We propose an innovative versioning model, and associated storage structure, specifically designed to maximize sharing across process models and process model versions, reduce conflicts in concurrent edits and automatically handle controlled change propagation. The focal point of this technique is to version single process model fragments, rather than entire process models. Indeed empirical evidence shows that real-life process model repositories have numerous duplicate fragments. Experiments on two industrial datasets confirm the usefulness of our technique.

The conventional optical detectors operate in a linear mode, but their sensitivity is limited due to the noise in the readout electronics. Single photon detectors, on the other hand, have the highest sensitivity, but are strongly nonlinear. Photon number resolving detectors, which can precisely determine the number of photons in weak optical pulses, are potential candidates to fill the gap between these two detection modes. We present the design of photon number resolving detectors with large dynamic range, based on spatial multiplexing of superconducting single photon detectors, with excellent timing resolution and very high sensitivity at the telecommunication wavelength range.

In this paper game scenarios that aim to establish elements of cooperative play such as imitation and turn taking between children with autism and a caregiver are investigated. Multiagent system of interactive blocks is used to facilitate the games. The training elements include verbal description followed by imitation of video-modeled play episodes. By combining this method with the tangible multiagent platform of interactive blocks (i-blocks) children with autism could imitate play episodes that involved turn taking with a caregiver. The experiment showed that most of the children managed to imitate the play scenarios after video modeling, and repeat the behaviors with the tangible and appealing block platform. When all the actions were well understood by the autistic children, they performed willingly turn taking cooperative behaviors, which they normally do not do.

Using simulators for training is an accepted practice in medical education and in advanced medical training. Creating simulators that perform the functionality required and respond to interventions in a realistic way is key. The first iteration in the design cycle of creating a hard- and software platform that will support the development of these kind of simulators is the topic of this paper. The design approach, the hard- and software choices, the hard- and software architectures and the first results of creating a baby simulator prototype will be discussed.

This paper presents a method for monitoring mental state of small isolated crews during long-term missions (such as space mission, polar expeditions, submarine crews, meteorological stations, and etc). It combines the records of negotiation game with monitoring of the nonverbal behavior of the players. We analyze the records of negotiation game that has taken place between the crew members who were placed in isolated environment for 105 days during the Mars-500 experiment. The outcomes of the analysis, differently from the previously made conclusions, show that there was not a significant deviation of the rational choice of the players. We propose an extension of the method that includes monitoring of the nonverbal behavior of the players next to recording the game records. The method is focused on those aspects of psychological and sociological states that are crucial for the performance of the crew. In particular, we focus on measuring of emotional stress, initial signs of conflicts, trust, and ability to collaborate.