Hala A. Mansour

Joint MCMA and DD blind equalization algorithm with variable-step size

A variable step size technique is applied to joint Modified Constant Modulus Algorithm (MCMA) and Decision- Directed (DD) equalization algorithm to speed up convergence with respect to the original algorithm. The same technique is used with joint CMA and DD algorithm and exhibits improved performance.

A secure face recognition system

In this paper, a secure face recognition system is presented, in which face detection is performed with skin color detection followed by light normalization and normalized cross correlation. Principal component analysis (PCA) is used for face verification. Due to the rising concern about the security and privacy of the biometric system, we offer a secure storage for user records by encrypting them using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). A different encryption/ decryption key is used for each user, and that key is not stored in the database, it is extracted by expanding the submitted user identification (ID). A simulation of AES algorithm using field programmable gate array (FPGA) and the very high speed integrated circuit hardware description language (VHDL) is performed.

A new approach for designing a smart glove for Arabic Sign Language Recognition system based on the statistical analysis of the Sign Language

In Arab countries, the hearing impaired people exceeds 10 million. In Egypt, the number of hearing-impaired people is around 4 million. So Sign language is important for facilitating communication between hearing impaired and the rest of society, but not all the rest of society know this language so, a new approach is suggested for designing a smart glove that can be used as a part of an electronic system to translate the sign language into a spoken or written language. This design covers all Arabic sign language signs (words level) by using a little number of sensors as possible. The design is driven by statistical analysis for all words of Arabic sign language in terms of single hand, double hands movement, single stage, multi-stage movement signs, fingers angle, and orientation. This paper covers the statistical analysis results and explains the proposed design using simulation model.

Utilizing the Internet of Things (IoT) Technologies in the Implementation of Industry 4.0

The first Industrial Revolution took place in the \(17^{th}\) and \(18^{th}\) centuries. Since then, the evolution of the industrial revolution has continued. At present, Industry 4.0 a new industrial paradigm is already creating euphoria among technology professionals. The implementation of Industry 4.0 will significantly rely on Internet of Things (IoT) technology. IoT is poised to become the next big thing in the IT arena. However, the use of IoT technology to implement Industry 4.0 will require a collaborative efforts. There are many aspects that all stake holders both in IT world and Industry 4.0 will need to consider; these multiple aspects can be defined (i) smooth integration of the newly developed IoT sensors (things) into existing industries. (ii) Transparent secure communication channel and software layer to link manufacturing data with cloud based SW platforms. (iii) Developing a standard IoT architecture; Open standard is vital to guarantee hundreds of millions of Internet-connected things are inter-operable and being able to communicate with each other. (iv) Big Data storage and management capability. (v) Development of energy efficient IoT sensors and devices. The objective of this study is to explore the role IoT and related technologies such as cyber-physical systems (CPS) will play in the implementation of Industry 4.0. The paper begins with an introduction that gives an overview of IoT and Industry 4.0. The rest of the paper is divided as follows; integration between Industry 4.0 and IoT, Cyber physical system and industry 4.0, prerequisites of IoT technology, challenges and a conclusion.

FPGA implementation of blind adaptive decision feedback equalizer

This paper considers field programmable gate array (FPGA) implementations for blind adaptive decision feedback equalizer (DFE) based on the IP core reported in [1]. The design can achieve channel equalization for 16-QAM and 64-QAM. Constant modulus algorithm (CMA) and multi-modulus algorithm (MMA) are considered for update the coefficients in the blind mode of operation which are followed by decision-directed (DD) mode. The system can work at a maximum clock frequency of 22 MHz. The design steps first consider fixed-point simulations using MATLAB fixed-point toolbox follows by FPGA implementations. The implementations are divided into complex weight update module, output computation module, error adjustment module, and decision device module. Finally, the DFE is implemented using Xilinx Virtex-II XC2VP100 FPGA.

Performance evaluation of EVS Coder against the change in the spoken language

The quality of speech is essential in communication systems. Enhanced Voice Services (EVS) is one of the speech Coders that standardized by the 3GPP for LTE. EVS supports audio bandwidth, offers high quality for mixed content (i.e. speech and music). Many coders that depend on the concept of ACELP may be affected by the change in the spoken language or accent. EVS Coder working with both ACELP and MDCT coding techniques. This paper focuses on EVS performance evaluation against the change in the spoken language. Extensive testing is done on EVS, AMR-NB and G.729 Coders with 3 groups of speech databases (Arabic, American English, and British English). The speech quality is measured using PESQ and MOSLQO evaluation methods. It has been proven that for Arabic: EVS coder is better than both G.729 and AMR-NB respectively in terms of average speech quality and performance stability. It is also shown that the EVS gives the best quality and performance stability with American English.

An efficient distributed approach for key management in microgrids

Smart grid (SG) is a new technology which allows the electrical power grid to be smart. Cyber security plays an essential role in the smart grid in order to secure the bidirectional communication between the utility and the consumer side. To pursue confidentiality and integrity, a key management scheme is considered a critical challenge in the SG. As a result, several key management protocols have been proposed in literature. However, many of those proposed protocols have a centralized feature that depends on a single server called Meter Data Management System (MDMS) to distribute keys and update them. In this paper, we propose a distributed key management scheme with authentication capability to avoid the single-point failure problem by removing the need for using an MDMS. Furthermore, we apply our scheme to the microgrid which can be considered a small-scale smart grid and can be isolated from the main grid. The security and performance analysis are conducted to show the effectiveness and scalability of our scheme by considering the communication and computation cost.

C6. Probability of error of TDMA relay protocols over Weibull and Weibull-lognormal channels

This paper focuses on the analysis of the probability of error for several time-division multiple-access (TDMA) cooperative wireless two-stage relay protocols using amplify-and-forward (AF) over independent non-identically distributed Weibull and Weibull-lognormal fading channels with maximal ratio combining (MRC) reception. A closed-form expression for the moment-generating function (MGF) of a lower bound on the total end-to-end signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) is derived in terms of the tabulated Meijers G-function. The MGF is then used to derive the probability of error for relaying with orthogonal channels. Simulation results are presented to show that the probability of error expression becomes tight at high SNR values thus verifying the lower bound approximation results.

A secure face verification system based on robust hashing and cryptography

Face verification has been widely studied during the past two decades. One of the challenges is the rising concern about the security and privacy of the template database. In this paper, we propose a secure face verification system which employs a user dependent one way transformation based on a two stage hashing algorithm. We first hash the face image using a two stages robust image hashing technique, then the result hash vector is encrypted using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Both the hashing and the encryption/decryption keys are generated from the user claimed ID, using a modified password-based key driven algorithm. The proposed system is tested on the ORL (AT&T) face database.