Research Projects

List of Research Projects

Click here for a list of funded research projects.

Description

My research interests are in multimedia computing and communications, in a variety of distributed and collaborative systems, including collaborative virtual environments, peer-to-peer and overlay networks, media adaptation, online gaming, and multimedia assisted rehabilitation engineering.

In particular, my research focus is on two fronts: Massively Multisuer Collaboration, and Multimedia Processing and Communications. In the former area, which is more at the networking and transport layers, I am interested in open problems in multi-source network overlays, peer-to-peer communication among participants, application-layer multicasting, and scalable and efficient concurrent supporting of thousands of simultaneous users collaborating synchronously. The applications of this research are in online gaming, training, distance engineering, command and control operations, emergency planning, virtual environments, tele-learning, and eCommerce. For massive environments, such as Massively Multiuser Virtual Environments (MMVE) and Massively Multiuser Online Gaming (MMOG), I also do research in area of interest management, zoning, geocasting, and optimum routing approaches based on physical and virtual location.

In the latter area (Multimedia Processing and Communications), I am interested to investigate problems and challenges in interactive media such as audio, video, and Haptics. This second area is more at the application layer and is a natural complement to my first area of research in overlay networking and multicasting. I am particularly interested in interaction among multiple users (as opposed to a single user interaction with multimedia): how to serve audio and video to multiple heterogeneous receivers efficiently, how to support tele-operation and tele-collaboration between 2 or more users, and how to enable a real-time synchronous tele-mentoring session between geographically distributed users. My work in Video/audio adaptation and streaming also falls under this category. Finally, I am interested in applying the above knowledge in multimedia processing and communications to rehabilitation engineering, such as usage of haptics, games, and audio/video to assist rehabilitation patients and help them with a more speedy and efficient recovery.

Click here for a list of funded research projects.