“Signal Processing in the AI era” was the tagline of this year’s IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, taking place in Rhodes, Greece.
In this context, Brent de Weerdt, Xiangyu Yang, Boris Joukovsky, Alex Stergiou and Nikos Deligiannis presented ETRO’s research during poster sessions and oral presentations, with novel ways to process and understand graph, video, and audio data. Nikos Deligiannis chaired a session on Graph Deep Learning, attended the IEEE T-IP Editorial Board Meeting, and had the opportunity to meet with collaborators from the VUB-Duke-Ugent-UCL joint lab.
Featured articles:
- De Weerdt, B. et al., “Designing Transformer Networks for Sparse Recovery of Sequential Data Using Deep Unfolding” (https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/10094712)
- Yang X. et al., “Relevance Propagation through Deep Conditional Random Fields” (https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/10095075)
- Stergiou A. et al., “Play it back: Iterative attention for audio recognition” (https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/10096532, developed at the University of Bristol)
Since you are required to follow preparatory courses, you will need to make two applications:
– One for the preparatory program (VRB Biomedical Engineering – 00404)
– One for the master program (MA Biomedical Engineering – 00399)
VUB, ULB and the Brussels Capital Region government announce the launch of a new Artificial Intelligence for the Common Good Institute during the Belgian AI Week of AI4Belgium.
Today, Annemie Schaus and Caroline Pauwels, respectively rectors of ULB and VUB, were proud to announce the launch of FARI the Artificial Intelligence institute for the Common Good. It was also endorsed by the Brussels Capital Region ministers Barbara Trachte and Bernard Clerfayt.
FARI is a unique structure that aims at gathering over 300 researchers in AI (amongst others the ETRO dept) and associated disciplines, around projects that could benefit the general interest. The institute will promote research on trustworthy, transparent and explainable artificial intelligence. It will also aim at helping the Brussels Region and its inhabitants address some of the challenges they face in various domains. FARI researchers will provide ideas and contribute to projects on transportation, sustainable development, healthcare services, civic consultations on AI and algorithms. Its projects will actively involve citizens and reinforce education on AI and its impacts in the region.
The institute aims at creating a bridge between AI experts, citizens, companies and local organizations. It will have three hubs: an Research & Innovation Hub, a Think Tank on AI, Data and Society, and an AI Test and Experience Hub.
https://today.vub.be/en/article/fari-a-new-artificial-intelligence-institute-in-brussels
On May 30th 2024 at 15:00, Taylor Frantz will defend their PhD entitled “AUGMENTED REALITY IN SURGERY ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF REAL-TIME INTERVENTIONAL PLANNING AND NAVIGATION FOR NEUROSURGICAL AND ORTHOPEDIC USE CASES: BENCH-TOP TO CLINICAL EVALUATION”.
Everybody is invited to attend the presentation in room D.2.01, or digitally via this link.
Computer aided navigation (CAN) is a surgical technology which allows a surgeon to use patient medical image data as map to guide the procedure. It comprises several interconnected processes: visualization of 3D medical image data, tracking of surgical instrumentation, definition of a virtual coordinate system around the patient, and the alignment of the image data to the patient.
Despite quantitative benefits, the technology is often not used due to size, cost, and unintuitive visualization of 3D patient data as 2D black and white image. Augmented reality (AR) devices often integrate requisite hardware for CAN into a compact and mobile head mounted device (HMD) and allow the surgeon to view complex 3D data as a hologram overlying the patient. This work addresses technical limitations of such low-cost AR hardware with respect to tracking performance and presents evidence supporting their use in both neurosurgical and orthopedic domains.
Building on early work in videometric tracking as a proof-of-concept, the development of monocular infrared (IR) tracking of existing surgical instrumentation provided a method to establish a room-stable coordinate system and a mechanism for precise user input; both required for CAN. This tracking solution was validated in a VICON motion capture lab and demonstrated a mean pose estimation error of 0.78 mm ± 0.74 mm and 0.84° ± 0.64°.
Following this, phantom trials in navigated external ventricular drain (EVD) placement, and total shoulder and hip arthroplasty were performed. The results demonstrated a reduction in technique learning curve of the former, and improved outcomes of the latter when compared to traditional non-navigated techniques. Moreover, AR data registration was found to be comparable to modern CAN systems.
Clinical trials in both tumor resection planning and EVD were then performed to assess efficacy of AR-CAN compared to current surgical practice. In the former, AR-CAN demonstrated a reduction in preoperative planning time with superior lesion delineation when compared to neuronavigation. Preliminary results in AR navigated EVD placement outcomes demonstrate 82% optimal (grade I), 18% sub optimal (grade II), and 0% (grade III). This currently outperforms literature, given single attempt insertion.
The objective of the Surv-AI-llance consortium was to build a reliable, privacy-friendly video analytics pipeline that accurately interprets surveillance scenes and rapidly alerts officials. During the closing event, the researchers present their findings, while the industry partners present their valorization plans and how to enable A.I. in the police-force workspaces.
Register here for the closing event: Â https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bwli-pAjs0tYCzTkO6Up-pd7zWfe9SvI/view?usp=drive_link
More info on the project: www.surv-ai-llance.com
23 February 2024
Corda Campus, building 1, floor 1
Kempische Steenweg 293/16, 3500 Hasselt
First VUB building (Transitorium) on brand new VUB Campus (old exercise field for the gendarmerie).
Start of the ETRO – Electronics Lab. Founder Prof. Oscar Steenhaut (two tracks: electronic circuits and systems and semiconductor technology and devices); lots of empty cupboards, two transistor testers and 1 oscilloscope.
In anticipation of International Women’s Rights Day (March 8), Lesley De Cruz, as one of the 22 researchers gave an interview. Researchers share their daily lives and work as female researchers and scientists, and as women in the field as if you were standing beside them. Discover Lesley’s story, and remember that, more than ever, science is female.
https://www.belspo.be/belspo/scienceconnection/20240308/Lesley_De_Cruz_nl.stm