Course syllabus

Multimedia and Video Communications (SSY150)

Course-PM

SSY150 Multimedia and video communications lp4 VT21 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Electrical Engineering

All teaching activities will be conducted through distance learning /online via Zoom.

The first lecture is scheduled on Tuesday March 23, 2021 at 15:15, by zoom.

Please check course information page for any new updates.

 

Contact Detail

  • Lecturer and examiner:      Prof. Irene Yu-Hua Gu,     irenegu@chalmers.se  
  • Guest lecturers :                 Dr. Per Fröjdh (Ericsson research)
  •                                              Prof. Tommy Svensson (Chalmers)
  • Teaching assistant:             To be decided

 

Course Purpose

To understand the basic theories and methods on audio, image compression, packet loss modeling, and transportation of compressed multimedia data through error prone IP networks.

The course is also aimed at bridging the gap between theory and practice. Through hands-on Matlab programming in laboratory projects, students will be able to consolidate their understanding on the basic theories and methods in this course. 

The course consists of a set of lectures and laboratory projects. 

There is a set of quiz questions related to each lecture. You can download from the course webiste in the end of each lecture, and submit your quiz problem solution sheet from the course website.

Schedule 

All lectures and tutorials will be held through online. The scheduled dates for lectures, tutorials, project handin deadlines, and project presentations, are shown in the tables below. 

For schedule, please see the file "Schedule" in the course website.

 

Course Literature

Main reference book: 

Abdul H. Sadka, Compressed video communications, ISBN: 0470 843128 (E-book is available at Chalmers)

Course companions are also available in the course website.

Other reference books:

  •  W.Simpson, Video over IP (e-book available at Chalmers library);
  • Fan Zhai and Aggelos Katsaggelos, Joint source-channel video transmission;
  • Ming-Ting Sun and Amy R. Reibman, Compressed video over networks;
  • King N. Ngan, Chi W.Yap, Ken T.Tan, video coding for wireless communication systems;
  • M.van der Schaar, P.A.Chou, Multimedia over IP and wireless networks;
  • L.R. Babiner, R.W. Schafer, digital processing of speech signals.

 

Course Design

The course consists of a set of lectures and laboratory projects. 

Lectures are designed to provide the students with the basic theories and methods associated with audio/speech, image and video compression, packet error modeling, as well as transportation of compressed multimedia data through error prone IP networks. In the end of each lecture, there will be quiz questions which may help the students to check their understanding on the basic concepts. 

Laboratory projects are designed to give hands-on experience to learn these methods with fun.  We have several exercise sessions and weekly consulting hours that are designed to demonstrate and guide the students for their laboratory projects.

Course arrangement:

  • lectures: 9
  • exercises/tutorials:   3
  • laboratory projects:  3 
  • feedback:  regular
  • project presentation: 1
  • Written examination (optional): 1
  • Consulting hours:  during each study weeks

Course website: You can find course website from Chalmers link to Canvas, https://chalmers.instructure.com/courses/13344/assignments/syllabus

Learning Objectives

Learning objectives of the course are to understand the basic concepts on / to be able to apply basic methods to:

  • Audio/speech, image and video compression;
  • Main parameters in human auditory and visual systems that affect the perception of multimedia data quality;
  • Objective quality measures for audio/image/video data;
  • Basic protocol stack for transporting multimedia data;
  • Distortions, and Quality of Service (QoS) in multimedia data transportation;
  • Models for erasure channels and packet losses;
  • Packet error protection, correction and concealment;
  • End-to-end performance optimization of multimedia data.

 

Examination Form

The course examination consists of 3 parts: 

  •  From laboratory project-related work: A maximum of 70% of the final grade is determined by the 3 laboratory projects and reports, project presentation and individual oral questioning/ discussion. The maximum grade for the 3 lab. projects + reports is split into 20%, 22% and 28% respectively. All three Lab. projects are mandatory and should be done independently by each project group. Sharing or copying programs are NOT permitted, however, inter-group discussions are encouraged;  
  • From lectures and related quiz questions: 8% of the final grade is given from answering the quiz questions for each lecture;
  • From written examine: 22% of the final grade is given from the written exam, at the end of the course. For written exam conducted during corona time in 2021, you are only allowed to bring a simple calculator with you.

Grading standard: 3 ≥ 50%, 4 ≥ 70%, 5 ≥ 85% 

 

How these 3 parts of the examination are designed for assessing the learning outcomes ? 

Assessing the learning outcomes from different angles:

  • The laboratory projects in combination with presentation and oral questioning/discussion, are designed to bridge the gap between theories/basic methods and programs/implementation for each individual student, on the core topics of this course. 
  • Attending lectures (mandatory on 6 out of 8) is aimed at strengthening the understanding of basic theories and methods, where quiz questions may help to consolidate the basic concepts.
  • Written examination is another part that is designed to assess the learning outcome of students from understanding the basic concepts to the ability of problem solving.