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--- projects [2013/01/18 18:30] – bil
+++ projects [2014/08/26 12:54] – jarek
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-====== Currently offered Projects, Winter 2013 (updated January 9, 2013)  ======
+====== Proposed Projects for Fall 2014 ======
-(Listed in order received.)
+\\
+====== DDoS Attack using Google-bots ======
-====== 3D Drawing System with Leap Motion finger tracker ======
+**Supervisor**: Ntalija Vlajic
-**Supervisor**: Wolfgang Stuerzlinger
+**Recommended Background**: CSE 3213 or CSE 3214, CSE 3482
-**Required Background**: 3D computer graphics, C/C++ coding
+Not long ago, botnets - networks of compromised computers - were seen as
+the most effective (if not the only) means of conducting Distributed Denial
+of Service (DDoS) attacks. However, with the growing popularity and prevalence
+of application-layer over other types of DDoS attacks, the DDoS execution
+landscape is becoming increasingly more diverse. An especially interesting
+new trend is the execution of application-layer DDoS attacks by means of
+skillfully manipulated Web-crawlers, such as Google-bots.
+The goal of this project is to design, implement and test a real-world
+framework consisting of the following: a) the attacker's web-accessible
+domain specially designed to attract Google-bots and then manipulate them
+into generating attack traffic towards the target/victim site; b) the
+victim's Web site set up in Amazon S3 cloud. In addition to the hands-on
+component, the project will also look into the statistical/numerical
+estimation of the framework's anticipated 'attack potential' relative
+to an actual (real-world) target/victim site.
-The Leap Motion, leapmotion.com, is a new device that lets users control a computer with their fingers. This project creates a new 3D drawing system that enables users to quickly generate 3D solids.
-====== 3D Drawing System with 3Gear gesture tracker ======
-**Supervisor**: Wolfgang Stuerzlinger
-**Required Background**: 3D computer graphics, C/C++ coding
-The 3Gear system, threegear.com, lets users control a computer with their hands and fingers. This project creates a new 3D drawing system that enables users to quickly generate and modify 3D solids.
-====== Comparison of Finger Tracking systems ======
-**Supervisor**: Wolfgang Stuerzlinger
-**Required Background**: C/C++ coding
-This project compares the Leap Motion and the 3Gear System against each other in a comparative Fitts' law study
-====== Tilt Target Selection on Touchscreen Phones ======
-**Supervisor**: Scott MacKenzie
-**Required Background**: General 4080 prerequisites, CSE3461, and (preferably) CSE4441. Interest in user interfaces and human-computer interaction (HCI).  Students can use their own Android phone for the project or one supplied by the course supervisor.
-Touchscreen mobile devices commonly use a built-in accelerometer to sense movement or tilting actions of the device.  Tilt is commonly used the change the orientation of the display between portrait and landscape.  Gaming is another common use for tilting actions.  However, tilt may also be used for target selection, as a replacement for touch.  This research project will evaluate tilt as an input primitive for target selection on touchscreen mobile devices.
-**Readings**: MacKenzie, I. S., & Teather, R. J. (2012). FittsTilt: The application of Fitts’ law to tilt-based interaction. Proceedings of the Seventh Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction – NordiCHI 2012, pp. 568-577. New York: ACM.
+\\
 ====== Attentive Sensing for Better Two-Way Communication in Remote Learning Environments ======
@@ Line 52: / Line 43: @@
   - Implement algorithms for detecting hand-raises based upon this investigation
   - Evaluate these algorithms in a real-classroom setting, using proprietary attentive sensing technology
+====== Attentive Sensing for Sport Video Recording Markets ======
+**Supervisor**: James Elder
+**Required Background**: Good programming skills; Good math skills; Knowledge of C and MATLAB programming languages
+The goal of this project is to modify York University’s patented attentive sensor technology to the sport video recording market.  Specific application domains under investigation include skiing, indoor BMX parks, and horse tracks.
+The general problem is to use attentive sensing technology (www.elderlab.yorku.ca) to visually detect and track multiple moving agents (e.g., skiers, riders, horses) and to select specific agents for active high-resolution smooth pursuit.
+The student will work with senior graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and research scientists to help modify the attentive sensing technology to operate in these domains.   Specific tasks include:
+.     Ground-truth available datasets
+.     Evaluate current attentive algorithms on these datasets
+.     Modify these algorithms to improve performance on these datasets
+------------
-====== Continuation of a Path Diagram to Syntax Application ======
+\\
+====== Hunting for Bugs in Logging: applying JPF to log4j ======
-**Supervisor**: Jeff Edmonds
+**Supervisor:** Franck van Breugel
-**Required Background**: General CSE408x prerequisites
+Description:
+Java PathFinder (JPF) is a tool that can detect bugs in Java code.
+The Java library Apache log4j allows developers to control which log
+statements are output.  In the past, Dickey et al. [1] have attempted
+to detect bugs in log4j by means of JPF with very limited succes.
-**Recommended Background**: Java software development
+Recently, in collaboration with Shafiei (NASA) we have developed
+an extension of JPF called jpf-nhandler.  The aim of this project
+is to apply this extension to log4j.
-Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a statistical technique that is becoming increasingly popular in the educational and behavioral sciences. SEM allows researchers to test the validity of hypothesized models involving complex relationships among multiple variables. Collected data is used to estimate the parameters of the equations and assessing the fit of the model.
+[1] David A. Dickey, B. Sinem Dorter, J. Michael German, Benjamin D. Madore, Mark W. Piper, Gabriel L. Zenarosa. "Evaluating Java PathFinder on Log4J."  2011.
-The software required is an application that allows researchers to define their hypothesized models visually and will output the correct syntax for the analytical software of their choosing.
+**Required Background:** General CSE408x prerequisites
+\\
+------------
+\\
+======Hybrid 2D/3D User Interfaces for 3D Rotation ======
-To date a promising functional application has been developed in JAVA by a Computer Science student as a 4080 project. The existing software allows the user to draw a path diagram and outputs code for the R package sem.  There are a number of improvements to be made (refinements and additions to graphical user interface) and then the application needs to be extended to output syntax appropriate for additional software applications (openMX, MPlus and EQS).  Though this project may not begin at “the first stages” of the software lifecycle, this scenario is likely common in the software development market. In addition, the student will be working with a primary “client” who is far less technically advanced, which is also reflective of real-world situations.
+**Supervisor:** Wolfgang Stuerzlinger
-More details {{:continuation_of_a_path_diagram_to_syntax_application.pdf|here}}.
+**Required Background:** General 408X prerequisites, 3D Computer Graphics (3431) completed or equivalent, C/C++ coding experience or (if using Unity 4) Javascript C# coding experience
-====== YUsend Thermal Vacuum (TVAC) Test Manager ======
+This project implements and evaluates a new method for 3D Rotation where the user uses both a 2D and 3D user interface to complete the task. The fundamental idea is to use the 3D interface for large-scale manipulation, but the 2D interface for precise adjustments. The project will use a Leap Motion or similar technology for 3D tracking.
+\\
+------------
+\\
+====== Immersive Virtual Reality Kitchen Planner ======
-**Supervisor**: Rob Allison (co-supervised with Hugh Chesser, Space Engineering)
+**Supervisor:** Wolfgang Stuerzlinger
-**Required Background**: General CSE408x prerequisites, familiarity with C++ and Windows software tools
+**Required Background:** General 408X prerequisites, 3D Computer Graphics (3431) completed or equivalent, 4431 desired, Javascript or C# coding experience
-**Description** The YUsend (York University Space Engineering Nanosatellite Demonstration) Lab has procured a Windows XP-based industrial computer and temperature acquisition card (as well as other hardware) for performing TVAC testing of nanosatellites in the CSIL Lab (PSE 003). A “TVAC Test Manager” application written using LabView's G programming language will oversee the acquisition of temperatures (thermal test outputs) and control of IR lamps (thermal test inputs) during the rather long periods (4 or more days, 24 hours a day) of a TVAC test.
+This project implements a kitchen planner application for an immersive virtual reality system. The implementation will be based on Unity 4.
+\\
+------------
+\\
+======3D Interaction in Immersive Virtual Reality======
-Specific tasks include: 1. Writing temperature acquisition card (OMEGA Engineering CIO-DAS-Temp) drivers for LabView - should be written in Visual C++ or similar and compiled into SubVI format. 2. Write LabView VI's (“Virtual Instrument”) to perform (a) Test set-up activities - checkout of sensor and lamps, assigning neumonics to temperature sensors, setting of alarm conditions for sensors and lamps (b) Acquire and monitor temperature data and control lamp voltage during test, raise operator alarms for temperature or IR lamp anomalous conditions as required © Store temperature and control data for subsequent analysis and reporting. 3. (Optional) Interface the Test Manager with an orbital simulation tool which would be used to compute IR lamp inputs based on a simulation of the nanosatellite's orbital position and attitude (eg - in the sun, lamps on, in eclipse lamps off). The simulation tool is a package called Satellite Toolkit (STK) which has an TCP/IP-based API.
+**Supervisor:** Wolfgang Stuerzlinger
+**Required Background:** General 408X prerequisites, 3D Computer Graphics (3431) completed or equivalent, 4431 desired, Javascript or C# coding experience
+This project implements and tests various 3D Navigation and 3D Interaction methods in an immersive virtual reality system. The target is to enable the user to roam freely in a large environment while still being able to interact with the environment. The implementation will be based on Unity 4.
+\\
+------------
+\\
-====== Numerical Methods ======
+====== Mining Software Repositories Data======
-**Supervisor**: Mike McNamee
+**Supervisor:** Zhen Ming (Jack) Jiang (zmjiang at cse dot yorku dot ca)
-**Required Background**: Good grade in a Numerical Methods course and good knowledge
+**Required Background:** Good programming skills in Java; Good analytical and communication skills; Knowledge in AI and statistics; Interested in large scale software analysis
-of Fortran, C or similar language.
-**Description**: Write, debug and run several Fortran programs related to solving
+**Short Description:** Software engineering data (e.g., source code repositories and bug databases) contains a wealth of information about a project's status and history. The research on Mining Software Repositories (MSR) aims to transform the data from static record-keeping repositories into knowledge, which can guide the software development process. For example, one can derive correct API usage patterns and flag anomalous (and potentially buggy) API usages by mining the source code across many projects in GitHub and Google Code. In this project, the student(s) will research and develop an efficient infrastructure, where MSR researchers and practitioners can share and analyze such data.
-polynomial equations, with a view to comparing different known methods.
-====== Enabling SaaS access to an experimental AI planner ======
+\\
+------------------
+\\
-**Supervisor**: Sotirios Liaskos (liaskos at yorku dot ca)
+======Reliably tracking horizontal eye movements======
-**Required Background**: Good knowledge of Unix tools / Python, Perl or Awk. Comfort with algorithms and programming. Essential: 2031 -- Software Tools. Desired:
+**Supervisor:** Wolfgang Stuerzlinger
--- Functional & Logic Programming,
--- Design and Analysis of Algorithms,
--- Compilers and Interpreters.
-**Description**: This project involves enriching and integrating a set of fairly complex scripts, which are components of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) planner, and exporting them to the public in a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) fashion.
+**Required Background:** General 408X prerequisites, C++/C# coding experience. Ideally CSE3451, CSE4422 or CSE4452.
-The components are various Unix executables and LISP programs that need to interact in complex ways. The components may be residing in different servers in different universities. Currently integration is performed manually, at the expense of usability. Thus, we aim at constructing a module that: (a) integrates involved components to deliver output in one call, (b) exports a unique web interface (preferably following WSDL/SOAP) to be easily accessed by custom front-end tools by anyone, anywhere, (c ) offers a simple front-end for human users.
+**Description:** The Intel Perceptual Computing SDK includes support for head tracking and facial analysis. The project will use the Creative Interactive Gesture Camera, a depth camera designed to work with the SDK. Based on these technologies, the project implements an eye tracking system that detects the horizontal eye position and consequently, if the user is looking at the left, center, or right portion of the screen. Based on this, the project will implement a simple media browsing browsing system, e.g., for TV channels, music, or videos.
-Learning objectives:
+\\
-  * Understand the technologies and process involved in turning native code into a web-service ("servicizing").
+------------------
-  * Study a state-of-the-art AI planner and understand its workings.
+\\
-  * Exercise scripting skills.
+======Model-based Design and Development of Embedded Systems with Code Generation Tools======
-====== Predicting Angular Error in Rigid Registration ======
+**Supervisor:** Jia Xu
-**Supervisor**: Burton Ma
+**Required Background:** At least a B+ in Embedded Systems (CSE3215), MATLAB, C programming skills, solid experience in using a microcontroller
+such as Arduino.
-**Description**: Registration is a fundamental step in image-based surgical
+**Project Description:**
-navigation. Several (seemingly) different approaches for predicting
-distance errors in registration are known, but for some surgical
-procedures, the angular error in registration is more important.
-This project will validate an approach for predicting angular
-error in registration; the student will use a combination of
-simulated and actual registration data for testing purposes.
-====== Calibration of a Tracked Pointer ======
+Model-based design with code generation tools can be used for simulation, rapid prototyping, and hardware-in-the-loop testing of embedded systems. This project explores model-based design and development of embedded systems on various hardware platforms with code generation tools. The selected student will develop and test embedded systems using model-based design and code generation tools such as MathWorks MATLAB /Simulink Coder.
-**Supervisor**: Burton Ma
+\\
+------------------
+\\
-**Description**: Tracked pointers are the most common tools used in surgical
+======C2000 Concerto Microcontrollers======
-navigation systems. A typical pointer has a tracked target on one
-end and a sharp or ball tip on the other end. Finding the location
-of the tip relative to the target is a calibration problem. One
-solution to the calibration problem involves pivoting the pointer
-about the tip while tracking the target; if the tip is kept
-stationary, then the target moves on the surface of a sphere.
-Fitting the tracking data to the surface of a sphere yields the
-location of the tip as the sphere center. Unfortunately, the
-calibrated tip position obtained using such a spherical calibration
-has high variance. This project will investigate how much variance
-there is in the calibrated tip position, and methods for reducing
-the variance of the calibrated tip position.
+**Supervisor:** Jia Xu
-====== A privacy safeguard framework for sharing photos on Facebook ======
+**Required Background:** At least a B+ in Embedded Systems (CSE3215),
+strong C programming skills, solid knowledge of microcontrollers
-**Supervisor**: Uyen Trang Nguyen
+**Description:** The C2000 Concerto family of microcontrollers combines
+two cores on a single-chip with on-chip low latency interprocessor communication between the two cores: a C28x 32-bit control core for
+real-time control with faster/more loops and small sampling window;
+and an ARM 32-bit Cortex-M3 host core for communications and general purpose. The selected student will evaluate the capabilities of the
+C2000 Concerto family of microcontrollers through testing and investigating open source software for real-time control applications
+that runs on C2000 Concerto Microcontrollers.
+\\
+------------------
+\\
+======Real-Time Bidding Platform======
+**Supervisor:** Jia Xu
+**Required Background:** At least a B+ in Operating System Fundamentals
+(CSE3221), strong Ubuntu/Linux, C++ programming, GCC, TCP/IP skills
+**Description:** Real-time bidding (RTB) is a new method of selling and buying online display advertising in real-time one ad impression at a time. Once a bid request has been sent out, all bids must be received within a strict deadline - generally under 100 milliseconds, including network latency. This project explores RTBkit, an open source SDK allowing developers to create customized real time ad bidding systems (for Media Buyers/Bidders).
+\\
+------------------
+\\
+======Circuit and Board Design for a Pulsed Ground Penetrating Radar======
+**Supervisor:**Sebastian Magierowski
-**Description**:
+**Description:** The project requires the construction of components for a ground penetrating radar.  The students would have to design microwave boards for the high-frequency components of this unit, on both the transmitter and the receiver.  On the transmitter side the board would take a 5-MHz input clock, run it through a series of off-the-shelf amplifiers and then through a shaping circuit that would convert the input into an outgoing series of pulses (still at 5-MHz repetition rate) less than 400-ps in duration each.  The bandwidth of the signal is roughly 2-8 GHz and hence requires very careful board layout.  The receiver would be a time-shifted sampler, used to sample the returning pulses in progressive periods.  This radar circuit is ultimately intended to be positioned on a rover doing ground analysis.
-One of the major privacy concerns in Online Social Networks is photo sharing.  A user may post his/her friends’ photos without their consent.  The friends have no control over the user’s Facebook activities, namely photo sharing.  In this project, we design and implement a third-party Facebook application that allows people to protect their identities in photos uploaded by another user without their consent.
-**Required prerequisite background**:  Proficiency in programming, especially in Java and Web application programming.
+**Required Background** A background in undergraduate-level electronics is very important.  Experience with board level implementations and knowledge of microstrip lines would be helpful, otherwise the basics would have to be picked up during the project.
-**Desired prerequisite**: Knowledge of image processing, Facebook API, JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)
+\\
+------------------
+\\
+More project proposals may be added here in the first week of the winter term.
+\\
+------------------
+\\
+\\