Brief Introduction of Research

at Computer Science Department

Computer Science and Technology school takes on dozens of projects national wide and locally in recent years, including 56 projects supported by the Natural Science Foundation, the National 863 high-tech research and development program, the key technologies R&D programmes of the National tenth five-year plan, the National Information Industry Department, the National Post Bureau, Shaanxi Province government and Xi’an City government. 16 research and teaching materials, and more than 400 academic papers have been published, and many academic prized have been awarded by the government. Some of the key projects are: The Research of Testify Engine for System Circuit Validation, The Development of Interchange Core Chip for the Broadband, and The Development of 40G Optical Media Communication Equipment and System Key ASIC. Eight prizes have been awarded for these projects: Second Academic Prize from the National Information Industry Department, Second Academic Prize from the Shaanxi Province, two Third Academic Prizes from the Shaanxi Province, and many Academic Prizes from the Xi’an City government. More than 600 academic articles have been published in the recent years, including more than 120 articles published on the key periodical and 36 articles was published on SCI, EI, and ISTP. At the same time, 18 teaching materials, 7 research materials and 4 translation materials have been published as well.

The department has outstanding research accomplishments on the four fields below: SOC Design and Validation, Embedded System and Software Development, Computer Networks and Communication, and Graphical Data Processing and Pattern Recognition. The following are the summary of these four fields.

● Embedded System and Software Development
Embedded system is a specialized computer system that centered with application, based on the computer science, with sizeable hardware and software (programmable and deformable), and suitable for the system with high-standards on functionality, reliability, cost, volume, and power consuming. It’s also a highly integrated subject that includes technologies from micro-processor, VLSI, network communications, and embedded software etc. The following are our main research interests on this area.

1. Hardware of Embedded System with SoPC
In this area, we fulfilled the project The Design of IP Core for Video Digital Signal Processor supported by the National 863 high-tech research and development program in 2001. In 2002 and 2003, we took on the project 40G SDH (STM-256) Optical Fiber Communication Equipment and the Development of the Key ASIC for the System, which is supported by the key technologies R&D programmes of the National tenth five-year plan, and the project The Core Chip Development of the Broadband Circuit Interchanging, which is supported by the National 863 high-tech research and development program. Based on these two projects, we deeply researched the techniques of SoPC design and ASSP technology, established the SoPC design platform for SDH high-speed signal process, and provided a serial technique to design SDH chip set based on this platform.

2. Embedded Operating System and Application Software with the Core of Linux
This area focus on the Linux operating system, and open-source software based on the Linux. Four research materials have been published by associate Prof Chen Lijun, Analysis of Core in Linux, Inside the Core in Linux, Inside the Source Code of the Core in Linux, and Linux Techniques Reference, which are very popular and the first one has been selected as the reference for the postgraduate entry examination by the Institute of Software in the National Science Academy. A project Information Security Model Analysis and Research Based on the Linux Security Modules, supported by the Shaanxi Natural Science Foundation, is under the process at the moment. Dr Yang Hongli works on Web services and formalization of the software for many years, deeply studies the standard of XML language, and published numbers of academic papers with two of them indexed by SCI in 2004.

3. The Application of Communication Terminals and Intelligent Robot
Besides the research of hardware/software of embedded system, we also emphasize on the application area. We make strategic alliance with domestic fax machine enterprise, to research and develop the next generation fax machine, network (digital) fax machine. The digital fax machine is a typical embedded system: combine the CPU, DSP, embedded operating system, protocol processing software and application software. This work goes on very well at the moment. Intelligent robot is another application of combination of embedded systems. A research team, with the leader Dr Wang Zhongmin is working on the research and development of intelligent robot, especially the rescue robot for disasters of mine.
From the view of technique, the embedded system is the integration of software technology and IC, which is the direction that supported by the government. From the view of application, the embedded system has been the common trend of communication and consumable productions, widely used in the areas such as telecommunications, networks, finance, aeronautics, astronautics, consumable productions, military equipments, instruments, and manufacturing control, which is a very important field that related with national economics and country security. So the research and cultivating postgraduate students under this field is necessary. We are trying to cultivate students with multi-ability of embedded system, including collaborative design of hardware and software, embedded architecture, real-time operating system, embedded production design etc. The students should be able to design embedded hardware and software in the areas of communication terminals, home networks, and information appliances.

● Computer Networks and Communication
Along with the high-speed development of the Internet, Intranet, and LAN, the demand of the multimedia communication through the IP net increases accordingly. Based the fact that IP net technology has been the mainstream worldwide, this research field focus on the multimedia communication through broadband and the main research area include the coding, transferring, controlling, and management of the audio/video data. As we have seen that the audio/video communication is the leading technology of the multimedia communication, multimedia communication is the core of the application of the broadband, and broadband is the basis of the National Information Infrastructure, which indicates the important position and functionality of the IP net multimedia communication in the future’s information society. The widely use of the IP video conference technology, such as government conference, industry conference, business management, remote control, remote education, remote medical treatment, and video on demand, will force the development of the information highway, and becomes one of the most potential industries in the future.

The main three research areas of this field are: voice communication through broadband IP net (VOIP), video communication through broadband IP net, and embedded networks research, which focus on the coding/decoding of the audio/video data, and protocol of the multimedia communication. This will set up an R/D base for broadband multimedia communication, including software development and hardware design, and finally transform the research result to the practical production.

The R/D of the IP multimedia communication starts from 1997, with the base of the Institute of Communication Technology, which is one of the earliest institutes to work on the IP video conference, the member of the National Standard Committee of IP and Multimedia Communication, and involve the process of establish several standards for IP telephone and video conference. The DDN multi-spot video conference system (H.320) was successfully developed in 1998, and been applied in the Shanxi Province Telecommunication Networks, which is the second public used video conference equipment that made in China. In 1999, this system was authorized to OEM in Xi’an Datang Telecom. In 2000, a remote Xi’an-Xianyang education system has been set up by using this system, which is the first used remote education system in Shaanxi Province. IP based multi-pot video conference system, IP telephone system, and relative embedded multi-pot control, network gateway were also developed since 1999. In 2000, this system was applied in SDH network of Shaanxi Telecom. The same year, Changxin Net Co. was founded with the cooperation of Chang’an Information Group, and the system accounted 3 million RMB in the new company. At the end of the year 2000, this system was applied in the remote training and competition system for China Military. In 2001, the system was selected to join the Information Industry Extend Plan. Since 2002 there are 6 projects have been taken on, including the project from the National Innovation Fun for middle/small size company, the key project of the National Education Department, the project from the National Information Industry Department, and the key project of Xi’an government. This makes us the leading position of the IP telephone equipment and IP video conference technology in China.

● Graphical Data Processing and Pattern Recognition
The main research areas of this field are:
1. Fuzzy Theory and Fuzzy System
Fuzzy set theory has been the hotpot in many research fields and their applications word wide from 1960s, since it can deal with information intelligent. We research this field systemically, and focus on the fuzzy entropy in the engineering industry. The research articles were published on the famous international magazines Fuzzy Set and Systems, Pattern Recognition Letters, Multiple Valued Logic, Fuzzy Mathematics, and also the magazines in China, such as System Engineering Theory and Practice, Fuzzy System and Mathematics. The research achievement Fuzzy Entropy Theory was awarded the Third High Education Academic Prize in Shaanxi. We took on projects funded by the National Education Department and local government. The fuzzy set theory was used in the project Management System of the Electricity Transferring. The article Some New Fuzzy Entropy Formulas that published on the Fuzzy Set and Systems was awarded the Second Prize of Excellent Academic Articles in Shaanxi.

2. Fuzzy Clustering Analysis
As one of the important area of the fuzzy set theory, the fuzzy clustering analysis is always the focus in the engineering industry. There are two aspects of the fuzzy clustering analysis: fuzzy clustering arithmetic, and clustering validation. Our researches are based on those two aspects since 1990s. We focus on the research of validation of the clustering, and make new validation principles. We took on the projects funded by the National Natural Science Fund, and many articles were published on the magazines, such as Fuzzy Set and Systems, Pattern Recognition Letters, Electronic Transaction, Electronic and Information Transaction, and Pattern Recognition and Artificial Intelligence.

3. Fuzzy Graphical Data Processing Methodology
The graphical data processing methodology based on the fuzzy technology has been always the hotpot. As the connatural fuzzy character, we tried to use the fuzzy technology to help to do the work such as image boost, image restore, edge test, and image partition. Serial articles have been published on the magazines such as Patten Recognition Letters, Electronic Transaction, Electronic and Information Transaction, China Image and Graphics Transaction, System Engineering and Electronic Technology. We also have strength of applying the fuzzy set theory and fuzzy entropy analysis into the image partition work.

4. Image Encryption and Digital Watermark
Along with the development and wide use of Internet, the security and copyright of images are more and more important. In the area of image encryption, we focus on the chaos theory and its application in digital encryption. The projects we took on are funded by the Key Laboratory of Computer Networks and Information Security from the National Education Department, and Shaanxi local government. In the area of digital watermark, we focus on the copyright protection of CAD graphics, with the projects funded by the National Information Industry. The research articles were published on the Software Transaction, Electronics and Information Transaction, and some conferences as well.