Issue 1

Department of Electronic and Information Engineering (EIE)

Opening of PolyU - Innovation Technology (HK) Audio and Speech Signal Processing Joint Laboratory

A Ribbon-cutting Ceremony of the PolyU - Innovation Technology (HK) Audio and Speech Signal Processing Joint Laboratory was held on 16 October 2020 to celebrate the opening of the laboratory. The ceremony was officiated by Prof. H.C. Man, Dean of FENG; Prof. Din-Ping Tsai, Head of EIE; Dr Daniel Lun, Associate Head of EIE; Dr Joseph Yuen, CEO of Innovation Technology Co. Ltd. (INN); Mr Simon Ho, CFO of INN; and Dr Steve Mung, Adjunct Associate Professor of EIE and Wireless Specialist of INN. With a generous donation from INN, this joint laboratory between PolyU and INN is established to support and promote the research and education in the area of audio and speech signal processing. The laboratory is installed with the state-of-the-art audio and speech signal processing equipment such as an industrial graded acoustic room, head and torso simulator, audio analyzer, real-time system emulator, high frequency oscilloscopes and artificial intelligent servers. This laboratory will conduct pioneering research that leads to the development of new electro-acoustic products and services catering to the needs of society. It will also help students to acquire up-to-date professional knowledge and start their career in related industries.

2020 IEEE International Conference on Visual Communications and Image Processing

The Department has successfully organized the 2020 IEEE International Conference on Visual Communications and Image Processing (VCIP 2020) from 1 to 4 December 2020. The conference was sponsored by the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society and was co-sponsored by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Tencent Media Lab and many other professional organizations. More than 300 scholars and industrialists in the area of visual communications and image processing from 31 countries and regions joined this conference in online mode. Fruitful discussions around the conference’s theme “Visual Communications and Image Processing in the AI Era” were made via the 30 technical sessions of the event.

EIE Microcontroller Application Design Contest (2020-21)

The Department organized the EIE Microcontroller Application Design Contest (2020-21) between December 2020 and February 2021. The contest aims to promote EIE students’ interest in microcontroller-based electronic product design and to provide a platform for EIE students to exercise their creativity and innovation through teamwork. With the technical and financial support from EIE and the sponsor, RS Components Limited, the contestants had eight weeks to produce their products based on their proposals. Two workshops on 3D and DesignSpark PCB software were also held for the students to design and implement their products this year. Seven teams of participants presented their final products in different areas such as Internet of Things (IoT), sensor network and system control on the final contest on 8 February 2021. The following winners were selected by the panel judges!

Service-learning Project

With the support and funding from the Hong Kong Sports Association of the Deaf and The Hong Kong Jockey Club, one of the service-learning projects “Lighting and Visual Signaling System for the Deaf” in the subject “EIE3S01 - Serving People with Special Needs through Assistive Technologies", was selected for further development. This project which developed by Wong Man Chung (ISE student) and Lai Ho Wang Howard (EE student) was supervised by Mr Richard Pang and co-supervised by Dr Pauli Lai of EIE. The system is designed for deaf athletes to use in taekwondo trainings and competitions such as the Asia Pacific Deaf Games. It includes a wireless and portable control panel with multiple LED light boxes allowing judges to give immediate visual alert to all athletes within a 12m by 12m contest area. As the rental cost of an equivalent equipment solely provided by a company in Japan is expensive, it is believed that this newly developed system can help to promote and support local and international taekwondo events for hearing impaired persons.