USC - Viterbi School of Engineering

Apr
09

PhD Defense - Tung Sing Leung
Thu, Apr 09, 2015 @ 09:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar

Date: Thursday April 9th, 9.30am
Location: SAL 213
Title: Outdoor Visual Navigation Aid For The Blind In Dynamic Environments
PhD Candidate: Tung-Sing Leung

Committee:
Prof. Gerard G Medioni (Chair)
Prof. Laurent Itti
Prof. James D. Weiland (outside member)

Abstract:
This thesis proposes a visual navigation aid for the blind. Our goal is to develop a wearable system to help the visually impaired navigate in highly dynamic outdoor environments. The proposed solution uses both visual sensing and existing map available online. Our work focus on two parts : visual odometry (VO) and localization. We propose different methods to compute the visual odometry even in clutter environments using either wearable stereo camera or smartphone. For the case of stereo camera, instead of computing egomotion from 3D point correspondences in consecutive frames, we propose to find the ground plane, then decompose the 6-DoF egomotion into a motion of the ground plane, and a planar motion on the ground plane. The ground plane is estimated at each frame either by analysis of the disparity array or approximated from the Inertial measurement unit (IMU) reading. We have extended our visual odometry to monocular system so that the proposed framework is applicable to smartphone which is more accessible than the stereo camera. To further improve the accuracy of the visual odometry and correct the drift caused by dead reckoning during long navigation, we combine visual odometry with the semantic information available in map to estimate the global coordinates of the walking user. The motion estimation results are fed into a Monte Carlo Localization framework which localizes the user by matching the local motion trajectory with the shape of the street network found in the map. We validated our system on real scenario of hours of walking around in both open terrain and urban environment. Experimental results show that our method not only corrects the cumulative drifting error but also manages to recover from temporary loss.

Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 213
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Lizsl De Leon
Apr
09

CS Colloquium: Danai Koutra (Carnegie Mellon) - What’s in my data? Fast, principled algorithms for exploring large graphs
Thu, Apr 09, 2015 @ 09:45 AM - 10:50 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

Speaker: Danai Koutra, Carnegie Mellon

Talk Title: Whatâs in my data? Fast, principled algorithms for exploring large graphs

Series: CS Colloquium

Abstract: Networks naturally capture a host of real-world interactions, spanning from friendships to brain activity. But, given a massive graph, such as the Facebook social network, what can be learned about its structure? Are there any changes over time? Where should people's attention be directed? In this talk I will present my work on scalable algorithms that help us to explore and make sense of large, networked data when we want to know âwhatâs in the dataâ. I will present how summarization and similarity analysis can help answer this question, and I will focus on two of my approaches âVoGâ and âDeltaConâ. VoG disentangles the complex graph connectivity patterns, and efficiently summarizes large graphs with important and semantically meaningful structures by leveraging information theoretic methods. DeltaCon is a well-founded, fast method that detects and explains changes in time-evolving or aligned networks by assessing their similarity. Both works are being used by industry, and give interesting discoveries in large real-world graphs.

The lecture will be available to stream HERE.

Biography: Danai Koutra is a Ph.D. candidate in the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon. She earned her M.S. from CMU in 2013 and her diploma in ECE at the National Technical University of Athens in 2010. She works on large-scale graph mining and devises algorithms and methods for exploring, understanding, and learning from graph data when the nature of the problem is not known in advance. She holds one "rate-1" patent, and has six (pending) patents on bipartite graph alignment. She also has many papers (including 2 award-winning papers) and tutorials in top data mining conferences. Her work has been covered by media outlets, such as the MIT Technology Review, and is being taught in courses at top universities, including the Tepper School of Business at CMU and Rutgers University.

Host: Computer Science Department

Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Assistant to CS chair
Apr
09

Electrical Engineering Seminar
Thu, Apr 09, 2015 @ 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

Speaker: Pierluigi Nuzzo, UC Berkeley

Talk Title: When Logic Meets Physics: Compositional Design of Cyber-Physical Systems Using Contracts

Abstract: The realization of large and complex cyber-physical systems (such as âsmartâ transportation, energy, security, and health-care systems) is creating design and verification challenges, which will soon become insurmountable with the current engineering practices. In this talk, I introduce a design methodology that addresses the complexity and heterogeneity of these systems by using assume-guarantee contracts to formalize the design process and enable the realization of system architectures and control algorithms in a hierarchical and compositional way.
In the proposed methodology, the design is carried out as a sequence of refinement steps from a high-level specification to an implementation built out of a library of components at the lower level. Top-level system requirements are represented as contracts, by leveraging a set of formal languages, including mixed integer-linear constraints and temporal logic, to allow for requirement analysis and early detection of inconsistencies. Top-level contracts are then refined to achieve independent implementation of system architecture and control algorithm, by combining synthesis from requirements, optimization and simulation-based design space exploration methods. I show how key analysis tasks, such as refinement checking, can indeed be made more efficient when a system is described based on a pre-characterized library of components and contracts. Moreover, at the heart of the architecture design framework, I propose two optimization-based algorithms to tackle the exponential complexity of exact reliability computation, and enable scalable co-design of large, safety-critical systems for cost and fault tolerance.
I demonstrate, for the first time, the effectiveness of a contract-based approach on a real-life example of industrial relevance, namely the design of aircraft electric power distribution systems. I show that optimized selection of large, industrial-scale power system architectures can be performed in a few minutes, while design verification of controllers based on linear temporal logic contracts can achieve up to two orders of magnitude improvement in execution time with respect to conventional techniques. Finally, I conclude by presenting future research directions towards a full-fledged compositional framework for system design.

Biography: Pierluigi Nuzzo is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at University of California at Berkeley. He received the Laurea degree in Electrical Engineering (summa cum laude) from the University of Pisa and the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy. His research interests include: methodologies and tools for cyber-physical system and mixed-signal system design; contracts, interfaces and compositional methods for embedded system design; energy-efficient analog and mixed-signal circuit design. Before joining U.C. Berkeley, he held research positions at the University of Pisa and IMEC, Leuven, Belgium, working on the design of energy-efficient A/D converters, frequency synthesizers for reconfigurable radio, and design methodologies for mixed-signal integrated circuits.
Pierluigi received First Place in the operational category and Best Overall Submission in the 2006 DAC/ISSCC Design Competition, a Marie Curie Fellowship from the European Union in 2006, the University of California at Berkeley EECS departmental fellowship in 2008, the U.C. Berkeley Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award in 2013, and the IBM Ph.D. Fellowship in 2012 and 2014.

Host: Prof. Massoud Pedram

Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Annie Yu
Apr
09

Online Information Session: DEN@Viterb
Thu, Apr 09, 2015 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
DEN@Viterbi, Viterbi School of Engineering Graduate Admission
Workshops & Infosessions

USC Viterbi School of Engineering DEN@Viterbi (Distance Education Network) strives to meet the needs of engineering professionals, providing the opportunity to advance your education while maintaining your career and other commitments. By breaking down geographical and scheduling barriers, DEN allows you to take your classes anytime and anywhere.

Join this information session to learn more about the 40+ graduate level programs and continuing education offerings available completely online.

RSVP NOW
Audiences: RSVP Required

Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs
Apr
09

Lyman L. Handy Colloquium: Ahmad Ghassemi (Oklahoma)
Thu, Apr 09, 2015 @ 12:45 PM - 02:00 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

Speaker: Ahmad Ghassemi, University of Oklahoma, Dept. of Petroleum and Geological Engineering

Talk Title: TBA

Series: Lyman L. Handy Colloquia

Abstract: TBA

Host: Prof. Jarfarpour

Location: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 159
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Ryan Choi
Apr
09

Securing Cloud Databases
Thu, Apr 09, 2015 @ 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science, Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

Speaker: Ken Eguro, Embedded and Reconfigurable Computing Group, Microsoft Research

Talk Title: Securing Cloud Databases

Abstract: Despite the trend toward cloud services, many applications, such as very basic databases, are not yet in the cloud due to security concerns. This talk discusses how encryption requirements make cloud migration difficult and how fundamentally different cloud architectures are needed to support applications that handle sensitive data. The key challenge is to facilitate computation on encrypted data in an efficient manner. This talk provides an overview of MSR efforts working toward solving this problem, requiring a holistic approach combining crypto algorithms, secure hardware, distributed computation, and systems engineering.

Biography: Ken joined the Embedded and Reconfigurable Computing group at Microsoft Research in Redmond, Washington in 2008. He also holds an Affiliate Assistant Professor position in the Electrical Engineering Department at the University of Washington. Some of his past and present research interests include: applications of high-performance computing architectures, FPGA development and integration issues, and security concerns of hardware/security solutions using hardware. He is also an amateur enthusiast of cryptography & cryptanalysis.

Host: Viktor Prasanna

Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Kathy Kassar
Apr
09

Ankara Graduate Information Session
Thu, Apr 09, 2015 @ 06:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Graduate Admission
Workshops & Infosessions

Students who have earned or are in the process of earning a Bachelor's degree in engineering, math, or a hard science (such as physics, biology, or chemistry) are welcome to attend to learn more about applying to our graduate programs.

The session will include information on the following topics:

Master's & Ph.D. programs in engineering
How to Apply
Scholarships and funding
Student life at USC and in Los Angeles
There will also be sufficient time for questions. Refreshments will be provided.

Please contact us at viterbi.gradprograms@usc.edu if you have any inquiries about the event.

In order to guarantee seating availability, we request completion of the online registration form using the Eventbrite links on the event page
Audiences: Students with an undergraduate backrgound in engineering, math or science

Contact: William Schwerin
Apr
09

Microsoft Information Session
Thu, Apr 09, 2015 @ 06:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions

Join representatives of this company as they share general company information and available opportunities.
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: All Viterbi

Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Services

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