Max. Project partners: You can work in groups of two for the final project.

Selection of Topic: 20HRS

Based on your field of interest such as Networking, Image processing, DSP, AI, Computer Vision etc, I would suggest a few topics or if you have a specific topic we can discuss that too. I would ask you to read about the topic that I think would motivate you and is a current active research topic. I will be setting up a web page or providing more information on the available project topics. Informative links would also be provided on “How to read research papers?”

Proposal & Literature Survey: 20 HRS

If you find a particular topic interesting, I would ask you to find the companies involved in the same type of research. This will motivate you further and help you in job opportunities as well. You would be asked to do a literature search of what research has been done so far related with the topic of interest. We shall not duplicate work, which has already been done. However we may advance a particular research idea, which has already been implemented but has certain limitations. Minimum guidance would be provided at this stage since I want the student to take the lead in the project. I would ask the student to finally give a brief literature survey and a proposal of what the student can do related with the project. At this stage the student is not expected to have details of the algorithm but just an idea of what new and innovative could be done. If you are not able to come up with an idea I would help you with that and only if you are comfortable with the idea we will proceed ahead. However it is a must that you meet most of the research goals outlined by you in the proposal. If the research problem is extremely difficult, implementation of a prototype model would also be acceptable.

Algorithm Design & Development: 20+ HRS

If source code is available on the Internet I would strongly encourage you to use it to enhance the code. In some projects I would be providing well-documented code for you to understand a particular theory and re-use the code in your project and giving more time on experiments rather than algorithm design. All the projects will follow a coding standard. Reusing code will be a good experience for those who intend to join a big company. However, reusing the code does not mean that you will not have to write any of your own code! Your coding skills will be required since in most cases you will be designing the model. I would strongly encourage using object-oriented language like C++ but this is not a must. UML diagrams will be required for the object oriented model and software design will be given careful attention. The students must have a desire of learning as much as possible.

Experiments: 40+ HRS

Testing data would have to be collected by students to perform research. In many cases, image databases or other type of data is already available on the Internet. The students will be asked to give a list of experiments, which they intend to perform. We will then discuss the experiments, which should be performed. Analysis of results with graphs and suggestions for future work will be the end of project.

Students will be asked to send a bi-weekly report outlining their progress. They should document in the report all the work, which they have done. A brief summary of the research papers read, attachment of code, problems encountered along with their plans for the next 2 weeks will be expected. I would prefer discussing the research progress and solving their problems using video conferencing. Microsoft Netmeeting/ Yahoo could be used for that. I would prefer students having an Internet connection. However if the student has no Internet connection we can find a solution to that.

A chapter on each stage of the project is expected as we pass through the various stages of the project instead of a garbage report at the end! A project report of around 40 double spaced would be expected. Alternatively, a research paper of 4 pages would be used to submit to a conference.

Total Estimated Time Required= 100+ HRS

Working 8hrs/day, on average 15 days are at least required for completion of project in good standing. The earlier you start the better it is.