Ivan Kastelan

E2LP: A Unified Embedded Engineering Learning Platform

The main idea behind this project is to provide a unified platform which will cover a complete process for embedded systems learning. A modular approach is considered for skills practice through supporting individualization in learning. This platform shall facilitate a novel development of universal approach in creative learning environment and knowledge management that encourage use of ICT. New learning model is challenging the education of engineers in embedded systems design through real-time experiments that stimulate curiosity with ultimate goal to support students to understand and construct their personal conceptual knowledge based on experiments. In addition to the technological approach, the use of cognitive theories on how people learn will help students to achieve a stronger and smarter adaptation of the subject. Applied methodology will be evaluated from the scientific point of view in parallel with the implementation in order to feedback results to the R&D.

Touch-Screen Stimulation for Automated Verification of Touchscreen-Based Devices

This paper presents an approach to stimulation of the touch-screen as part of the automated system for smart phone and tablet verification. Stimulation is performed in two ways: by touching the screen with the long conductor connected to the ground and by stimulating the screen with orthogonal conductive lines. The conductor is disconnected from the screen electrically, with the use of a transistor. Controlling the on/off state of the transistor controls whether the conductor touches the screen or not. The capacitance of the conductor is enough to change the structure of the electric field such that the touch-screen controller senses the touch when the conductor is connected to the screen, which happens when the transistor is turned on. The system was tested using different touch areas. It showed a clear increase in touch frequency detected by the controller when the transistor is turned on.

Stimulation board for automated verification of touchscreen-based devices

This paper presents preliminary results of the research with the goal of designing a system for automated verification of touchscreen-based devices. The proposed system is based on electrical stimulation of touch-screens, as opposed to the mechanical stimulation nowadays used in such systems. Stimulation is performed by the FPGA-based stimulation board which touches the screen with the long conductor connected to the ground. It simulates the electrical field distortion similar to the distortion induced by introducing the finger to the electrical field of the touch-screen. The long conductor is disconnected from the screen electrically, with the use of a transistor. Controlling the on/off state of the transistor controls whether the conductor touches the screen or not. Preliminary results show that such electrical stimulation of touch-screens is possible, but further research is needed to improve the reliability of the stimulation board.

Automatic Black Box Testing of television systems on the final production line

The current verification methodologies on the final production line in digital television industry require a significant amount of manual work in connecting and disconnecting the television set to and from signal sources and verifying the correctness and quality of image shown on the TV screen. This manual work slows down the production and increases the cost of a final production line. This paper proposes an automatic system which will perform all required verification steps on the final production line such that manual work will be minimized, speed of the production will significantly increase and the cost of the final production line will decrease. The proposed final production line uses the camera to capture the image shown on the TV screen which improves the earlier solution with the grabber to allow verification of the image quality as seen by the user. The proposed system consists of: (1) TV set being verified, (2) camera to capture the content on the TV screen, (3) signal generator, (4) test monitoring system and (5) PC which runs the algorithm for extraction of the TV screen content and comparison with the referent content. The proposed algorithm uses the block-based normalized cross-correlation to compare captured and referent content. The proposed testing methodology divides the verification on the final production line in three steps: (1) setup phase, during which the TV set is brought and connected to the signal sources and test monitoring system, (2) execution phase which captures the content on the TV screen and runs the PC algorithm and (3) test report phase which reports the pass/fail result of the test in the test monitoring system. The experimental results of the block-based comparison method show a better sensitivity to small differences than the non-block-based method. The time required for verification step increased by a factor of 5 when using the automatic approach on the final production line instead of a manual one.

E2LP: A unified embedded engineering learning platform

The main idea behind this project is to provide a unified platform which will cover a complete process for embedded systems learning. A modular approach is considered for skills practice through supporting individualization in learning. This platform shall facilitate a novel development of universal approach in creative learning environment and knowledge management that encourage use of ICT. New learning model is challenging the education of engineers in embedded systems design through real-time experiments that stimulate curiosity with ultimate goal to support students to understand and construct their personal conceptual knowledge based on experiments. In addition to the technological approach, the use of cognitive theories on how people learn will help students to achieve a stronger and smarter adaptation of the subject. Applied methodology will be evaluated from the scientific point of view in parallel with the implementation in order to feedback results to the R&D.

Automated optical inspection system for digital TV sets

This article proposes a real-time test and verification system for full-reference automatic image quality assessment and verification of digital TV sets. Digital camera is used for acquisition of the TV screen content in order to ensure quality assessment of the content as perceived by the user. Test has been executed in three steps: image acquisition by camera, TV screen content extraction and full-reference image quality assessment. The TV screen content is extracted from the captured image in two steps: detection of the TV screen edge and transformation of the TV screen content to dimensions of the reference image. Three image comparison methods are incorporated to perform full-reference image quality assessment. Reference image for quality assessment is obtained either by grabbing the image from TV set or by capturing the TV screen content on the golden sample. Digital camera was later replaced with DSP-based camera for image acquisition and algorithm execution which brought significant performance improvements. The comparison methods were tested under constant and variable illumination conditions. The proposed system is used to automate the verification step on the final production line of digital TV sets. The time required for verification step decreased by a factor of 5 when using the proposed system on the final production line instead of a manual one.

Protocol independent remote controller emulator for automated testing of multiple DTV/STB

This paper proposes a new scheme for DTV/STB remote controller emulator (RCE), which enables automatic control of the DTV/STB devices under test from independent test hardware/software platform. Specifically, the proposed RCE sets the DTV/STB device in particular state within the automatic functional verification system during the test procedure. Besides, it has the ability to record the remote controller (RC) commands sent to the device (history of commands sent by the user), which can be used for debugging the DTV/STB devices when their functionality failure is detected. The proposed RCE is neither dependant on the RC nor the DUT.

Embedded Engineering Education

This book focuses on the outcome of the European research project FP7-ICT-2011-8 / 317882: Embedded Engineering Learning Platform E2LP. Additionally, some experiences and researches outside this project have been included. This book provides information about the achieved results of the E2LP project as well as some broader views about the embedded engineering education. It captures project results and applications, methodologies, and evaluations. It leads to the history of computer architectures, brings a touch of the future in education tools and provides a valuable resource for anyone interested in embedded engineering education concepts, experiences and material. The book contents 12 original contributions and will open a broader discussion about the necessary knowledge and appropriate learning methods for the new profile of embedded engineers. As a result, the proposed Embedded Computer Engineering Learning Platform will help to educate a sufficient number of future engineers in Europe, capable of designing complex systems and maintaining a leadership in the area of embedded systems, thereby ensuring that our strongholds in automotive, avionics, industrial automation, mobile communications, telecoms and medical systems are able to develop.

Analog Circuitry for BLDC Motor Magnetic Saturation Diagnostic

A novel method for diagnostic of the BLDC motor magnetic saturation is proposed. It comprises of analog amplifier in the role of pure sinusoidal current source, measurement subsystem and proposed acquisition which reliably detects signal asymmetry which is directly correlated with coil saturation. Practical experimental results are presented as proof of concept with several different current excitation levels.

Generic processor for unified computer engineering learning platform

This paper presents a generic processor for unified computer engineering learning platform. The processor design is part of the first course in design of digital systems at the Department of Computer Engineering and Communications at University of Novi Sad. It is designed and synthesized for an FPGA-based board.