A paper co-authored by Gihan, titled “DeepLight: Robust & Unobtrusive Real-time Screen-Camera Communication for Real-World Displays” was accepted for IPSN 2021 (ACM/IEEE International Conference of Information Processing in Sensor Networks) which was held during 18-21 May 2021 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. The conference had 105 submissions from all around the world and a 24% acceptance rate.

The team won the best artifact award at the conference. The award was introduced last year to encourage sharing of code/data and to promote the credibility of the community’s work. The evaluation criteria are (a) how well presented the code is and (2) the impact/potential of the contribution to the community/society.

Deeplight is a novel screen-to-camera communication (SCC) system developed to enable real-world situations. The generic idea of such systems is to encode messages in computer screens to be decoded by a camera system. The basic task is to make these encodings imperceptible (so a human using the screen would not be disturbed by the messages being transmitted for the camera). The task becomes non-trivial because the image processing algorithm has to be able to decode the imperceptible encoding. A wide range of algorithm and system design challenges are detailed in the publication.

This project was done by Vu Tran (when he was a PhD student/postdoc in Singapore Management University) and Gihan Jayatilaka (when he was an intern at SMU and a final year undergraduate in the University of Peradeniya) under the supervision of their advisers Prof. Ashwin Ashok (Georgia State University) and Prof. Archan Misra (Singapore Management University).

Related links:

DeepLight: Robust & Unobtrusive Real-time Screen-Camera Communication for Real-World Displays Vu Tran (Singapore Management University), Gihan Jayatilaka (University of Peradeniya), Ashwin Ashok (Georgia State University), Archan Misra (Singapore Management University)
https://doi.org/10.1145/3412382.3458269

https://larc-cmu-smu.github.io/deeplight/

https://ipsn.acm.org/2021/

https://ragelrg.medium.com/the-benefits-of-flipping-early-9ef2fbfd9a63

We Congratulate Keshara Weerasinghe and Viraj Dhanushka for the recognition they have achieved. We are indeed proud of the extra step they have taken in representing the Department of Computer Engineering University of Peradeniya on such a national platform.

Keshara Weerasinghe has presented the Real-time Remote Covid-19 Patient Monitoring System built by himself and Kasun Vithanage (also from the Department of Computer Engineering) for the contest. This project was initiated as a solution for the huge risk the Medical professionals take in examining the COVID19 patients under isolation. We are proud of the effort taken by the two students in contributing from the best of their capabilities to the country during the hour of need. The Monitoring System built is currently functioning in National Hospital Kandy and Teaching Hospital Peradeniya. 

Viraj Dhanushka has presented the project titled, Digital Signage Based User Targeted Advertising. Here, they have embedded a user detecting and identifying unit within the digital signage system so that when a user is in front of a digital screen, the items advertised on the screen are relevant to the particular user. They have also implemented a digital signage control unit and a smart power supply unit in making the system more affordable and effective. This was built by Viraj Dhanushka, Hans Thisanke, Sumudu Liyanage from the Department of Computer Engineering, Ashan Serasinghe from the department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and Akitha Madusanga from the Department of Civil Engineering. 

We once again congratulate Keshara Weerasinghe and Viraj Dhanushka for being innovative, going the extra mile in applying for national-level contests, and being an inspiration to other students.

Writeup by – Nithya Kularatne

For details go to https://cepdnaclk.github.io/department-website-2021/vacancies

The article is available at https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-020-01270-z?fbclid=IwAR0YKTsebwB_iAGoqoLbMKM8LOHMYNa-bseTYD2fpK3F8z7aZkwP6qJSdM8

QS WOW NEWS is a quarterly magazine showcasing higher education providers’ outstanding academic achievements, awards, experiences, partnerships, and developments. Copies are distributed to university presidents around the world as well as all QS events, online, and at selected global industry events.

The article on the department work can be read in the Issue 37 of the QS WoW News (May 2020).

The group of E/13 students involved in the work are Theekshana Dissanayake, Yasitha Rajapaksha and Heshan Sandeepa. The details of the final year project are available at https://cepdnaclk.github.io/department-website-2021/project/neuro-fuzzy-dynamic-difficulty-adjustment-for-computer-games/ . Further work on this project has lead to a publication in the globally recognised journal “MDPI Sensors ( Impact Factor 3.031 ) “. This work also lead to a bronze medal for best research undergraduate project in Sri Lanka by the Institute of Applied Statistics Sri Lanka (IASSL) .

This event was made a success by the organisers: Dr Damayanthi Herath, symposium chair of ESCaPe’2020; Dr Janaka Alawatugoda, Dr.Upul Jayasinghe, Dr Damayanthi Herath, the editors and the program committee: Prof. Roshan Ragel, Dr Kamalanath Samarakon, Dr Swarnalatha Radhakrishnan, Mr Sampath Deegalla, Mr Zriyan Maraikar, Dr.Isuru Nawinne, Dr Janaka Alawatugoda, Dr.Upul Jayasinghe and Dr Damayanthi Herath.

The symposium was commenced by the welcome speech of Dr Kamalanath Samarakon, Head of the Department of Computer Engineering, followed by speeches of Prof. Gemunu Herath, Dean of Faculty of Engineering and Prof. Upul B. Dissanayake, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya.

The presentations of students were pitched in three main sessions. The 1st session  comprised of presentations on four projects; A Retinex based GAN Pipeline to Utilize Paired and Unpaired Datasets for Enhancing Low Light Images, Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning in Sparsely Connected Cooperative Environments, SwarmLib- Programming Framework for Robot Swarms and Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment (DDA) in FPS games using Strategy Analysis. Followed by the 1st session, one of the highlighted segment of the event was presented, an interactive session on “What is Computer Science”, by Prof. C. Pandu Rangan, Professor at Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India.

The 2nd session consists another five presentations of students; Nanopore DNA Sequencing Data Processing on Android Smartphones, miRNAFinder: An accurate plant pre-microRNA classifier with an analysis of feature impact, Data-driven discovery of nucleotide sequences belonging to species in a metagenome, BAT: Bock Analytics Tool Integrated With Blockchain-Based IoT Platform and House Price Prediction using Random Forest.

The start of the 3rd session was remarked by the speech delivered on “Startups, Entrepreneurship and the Ecosystem”, by Mr Mano Sekaram CEO and Co-Founder at 99X Technology. Then was the 3rd session of presentations which includes four presentations; Keystroke Dynamics Based Biometric for Remote User Authentication Schemes, Exploiting univariate and multivariate LSTM models for stock price forecast: The case of Colombo Stock Exchange, Stock Market Prediction using SVM, LSTM, and Linear Regression and Real-Time Dynamic Object Tracking with a Pan and Tilt Camera Setup.

The next phase of the symposium was a panel discussion with the industry professionals, where students get the opportunity to widen their industry awareness through guidance and advice given by industry professionals. After that, students were awarded for the Best Research Article and Best Presentation. The event was concluded by the vote of thanks delivered by the secretary of Association of Computer Engineering Students.

Shortlisted best research Articles

Data driven discovery of nucleotide sequences belonging to species in a metagenome

Kasun Vimukthi, Geeth Wimalasiri and Prabhath Bandara, Damayanthi Herath 

Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning in Sparsely Connected Cooperative Environments

Pankayaraj Pathmanathan, Chandima Samarasinghe, Yuvini Sumanasekera, Dhammika Elkaduwe, Upul Jayasinghe and D. H. S. Maithripala (Selected as the best research article)

miRNAFinder: An accurate plant pre-microRNA classifier with an analysis of feature impact

Sandali Lokuge, Shyaman Jayasundara, Puwasuru Ihalagedara and Damayanthi Herath 

A Retinex based GAN Pipeline to Utilize Paired and Unpaired Datasets for Enhancing Low Light Images

Harshana Weligampola, Gihan Jayatilaka, Suren Srithraran,Roshan Godaliyadda, Parakrama Ekanayaka, Roshan Ragel and Vijitha Herath 

Shortlisted Best Presentations

Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment (DDA) in FPS games using Strategy Analysis 

Rahal Medawatte, Mabeesha Wijekoon, Dinuka Hettiarachchi, Roshan Ragel and Isuru Nawinne (Selected as the best presentation)

BAT: Bock Analytics Tool Integrated With Blockchain-Based IoT Platform

 Chathurangi Edussuriya, Kasun Vithanage, Namila Bandara, Janaka Alawatugoda, Manjula Sandirigama and Upul Jayasinghe 

Real-Time Dynamic Object Tracking with a Pan and Tilt Camera Setup Harsha De Silva, Ruchira Kalhara Mahaliyana, Isuru Nawinne and Hiranya Jayakody

Nanopore DNA Sequencing Data Processing on Android Smartphones

Hiruna Samarakoon, Sanoj Punchihewa, Anjana Senanayake, Roshan Ragel, Hasindu Gamaarachchi

Article by : Thilini Deshika

In hospitals, doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers are fighting a prolonged battle against this deadly and highly contagious illness.

When  COVID-19 patients are isolated medical workers have to go around the isolation wards to check vital signs of patients from time to time. They have to put on protective gear for this task. Here they are putting themselves at a huge risk since the virus can be infected even from a very small mistake. 

Keshara Weerasinghe and Kasun Vithanage,  undergraduates from the Department of Computer Engineering, University of Peradeniya have designed and implemented a Real-time Remote COVID-19 Patient Vital Monitoring System for isolation wards. While the medical care front liners are putting their lives on danger every minute, Kasun and Keshara have paired up to bring their engineering knowledge into practice to make a product that is extremely useful in this time of crisis. Not only were they able to develop it as a complete product, but they also have installed it at Teaching Hospital Peradeniya. This method is effective and safer since it reduces unnecessary contact between patients and the staff.

Heart Rate, SpO2, ECG, Respiratory Rate, Body Temperature, Non-Invasive Blood Pressure of the patient are some of the readings that can be monitored by this system. It has a  priority-based alarm service that alarms the staff on any critical condition. They are hoping to develop this further by adding real-time analytics, AI to make it a fully featured patient vital monitoring system.

Under normal circumstances, these real-time patient monitoring systems are imported by foreign countries and they usually cost a heavy amount which is hard to be afforded by a developing country like Sri Lanka. With the system implemented by Keshara and Kasun, they believe the same functionalities can be implemented and tested within the hospitals of Sri Lanka at a minimal cost.

Hard work, dedication, and using their knowledge, skills, and building something that can make the world better and save people’s lives in the time of need is the highest one can expect from a university undergraduate.  Keshara and Kasun did their best to support our frontline in the battle against this virus.

Kasun and Keshara’s project has set up an example for all the undergraduates of the country to realize what they are capable of. They have shown that with good motive and proper commitment, they could help each other and help to provide solutions for any difficult solution without relying only on the facilities one could get.

They are especially thankful to the lecturers of the Department of Computer Engineering for their guidance, support, and encouragement. They are also grateful for the support given by   Doctor Sudarshana Wickramasinghe and others who helped them immensely with medical guidance and support.

For more info:  https://youtu.be/eKU_VtAaXtU

Article written by : Dasuni Pamoda

Further Details :https://www.optimizesolutions.lk/Event