Mason NSF CAREER award looks at compressing and transmitting panoramic video for accurate analysis

Rena Malai — Mon, 07 Feb 2022 19:37:10 +0000

Mason NSF CAREER award looks at compressing and transmitting panoramic video for accurate analysis Rena Malai Mon, 02/07/2022 - 14:37

In This Story

Zhisheng Yan

Panoramic video footage is a useful tool to capture important information, like identifying suspects or monitoring a natural disaster response during an earthquake or wildfire.

��AV assistant professor Zhisheng Yan in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology will lead a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER research project called Machine-centered Cyberinfrastructure for Panoramic Video Analytics in Science and Engineering Monitoring to further develop and enhance machine centric video compression and transmission. This will look at developing a method for video footage captured by a 360 degree panoramic camera—which uses copious amounts of data—to get compressed and transmitted into a more usable, sizeable unit for data analysis in computing servers.

According to Yan, the benefit of 360 video footage is having a larger scope of footage available but transmission can be challenging without efficient compression.

“The use of 360 degree panoramic video is seen as an important tool for data collection in a variety of spaces, particularly when it comes to identifying wildlife, filming airport traffic, and suspect recognition,” says Yan. “All the views are available.”

The end consumer of 360 degree video footage is now not always a human eye, but a computer algorithm, says Yan. This is why redesigning video compression and transmission capabilities is necessary to make sure the algorithms are properly analyzing footage, and retaining the data that’s needed.

“The need to redesign compression and transmission is not necessarily for video quality, but to optimize analytic results and accuracy for the computer systems ‘viewing’ the video,” says Yan.

He adds that research done around traditional camera and video systems have shown that there are often issues when software programs are used to analyze panoramic videos that are too large for the systems to handle. This is where machine centric video compression and transmission can help these systems generate an accurate analysis.

Yan will be the single principal investigator for the project and anticipates working alongside student researchers throughout the duration. The Machine-centered Cyberinfrastructure for Panoramic Video Analytics in Science and Engineering Monitoring project will begin June 2022 and run for about five years.

Until June, Yan says he will focus on some literature reviews and preparation.

“Our first focus will be in compression technology, and then we will focus on the transmission aspect,” he says. “We’ll do testing on 360 degree panoramic video samples to see what works best.”

Topics

visual art

Information Sciences and Technology Department

College of Engineering and Computing

Media

data analytics

data

National Science Foundation

Research

CVPA's Young Alumni Commissioning Project Begins a Fourth Round

Emily Schneider — Tue, 07 Dec 2021 15:01:37 +0000

CVPA's Young Alumni Commissioning Project Begins a Fourth Round Emily Schneider Tue, 12/07/2021 - 10:01

��AV’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) released today a request for proposals for the Young Alumni Commissioning Project, which provides crucial support for the artistic development of recent alumni.

This is the fourth year of the program, which will award up to five grants to CVPA alumni for the creation of original work that will be presented by the College at a Mason venue during the 2022-23 season. The deadline to apply is 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, February 11, 2022. The recipients will be announced in May 2022.

“The Young Alumni Commissioning Project is bearing fruit so beautifully after our first three rounds, adding new work to the world's store of artistic creation and helping advance the careers of Mason’s outstanding arts alumni,” shares Rick Davis, Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts. “As we enter cycle four, I am excited to see what our community of artists brings forward for consideration. Each cycle represents and reflects a moment in time for both the artists and the world we work in, and I know that our alumni are busy doing what artists do: seeing, feeling, and thinking deeply about their world, and transforming those perceptions into significant work.”

All potential applicants are invited to participate in an online grant writing workshop designed and executed by CVPA staff, taking place on Wednesday, January 26 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Individual applicants can also reserve time to speak with CVPA staff about their project and the application process during scheduled office hours, offered during the week of January 31 and February 7.

Jada Salter, 2021 recipient of the Young Alumni Commissioning Project Award

During the 2020/2021 award cycle, Jada Salter (’20) received the Young Alumni Commissioning Project Award and $5,000 in support for Just the Two of Us, a documentary about multi-Grammy award-winning musician and her grandfather William “Bill” Salter. Nicole Daniell (Dance ‘17), Nicholas Horner (Theater ’18, MFA Candidate ‘21), Cristian Perez (Music ‘12), and Katherine Thompson (Visual Art ‘15) were awarded Young Alumni Creative Development Awards and each received $2,500 in commissioning support.

The Young Alumni Commissioning Project is made possible by a generous bequest from the estate of Linda E. Gramlich for the support of young artists, and by donors to Mason’s Giving Day, including Shugoll Research. Young Alumni Commissioning Project recipients may receive up to $5,000 in commissioning funds; as well as venue, production, and marketing support for a public showing of the work.

To be eligible, applicants must be a graduate of the College of Visual and Performing Arts from the class of 2011 and after. Proposals should be for original new work in any art form suitable for performance, exhibition, or screening in a Mason venue. The size, length, duration, magnitude, and content are at the artist’s discretion. Potential venues include Mason’s traditional theater spaces, galleries, and cinemas, but proposals for non-traditional venues will also be considered.

Topics

Young Alumni Commissioning Project. alumni support

College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA)

College of Visual and Performing Arts School of Dance

computer game design news

Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music

College of Visual and Performing Arts School of Theater

College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) Arts Management Program