Akhan Almagambetov A Ph.D. Student at Syracuse University Wins Intelligent Transportation Society of NY Best ITS Student Essay Award
Syracuse University graduate student Akhan Almagambetov has won ITS-NY’s Best ITS Student Essay Award. He is pursuing his Ph.D. degree under the supervision of Dr. Senem Velipasalar in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Syracuse University. The award is given to the best paper with a topic which falls within the broadly defined category of Intelligent Transportation Systems, Services, or Programs in New York State, including ITS research that could positively impact New York State.
Mr. Almagambetov’s research focuses on the autonomous detection and tracking of vehicle taillights and detection of alert signals by vehicle-mounted embedded smart cameras. Most existing algorithms either address daytime or nighttime detection, whereas the proposed approach allows for detection and tracking of taillights, as well as classification of alert signals (turns and brakes) during daytime (which is inherently more challenging) and at night. No user intervention is required and sophisticated correction mechanisms are implemented to provide an extra level of robustness. This algorithm is implemented entirely on an embedded smart camera - a stand-alone embedded platform capable of performing video capture as well as onboard processing.
Jonathan Muckell At the University at Albany, SUNY was awarded the doctoral degree in Informatics
Jonathan Muckell successfully defended his dissertation entitled “Compression of GPS Trajectory Data: Benchmarking Framework and New Approach” and graduated with a PhD in Informatics from the University at Albany on May 18th. His dissertation was awarded the University at Albany Distinguished Dissertation Award, with committee members Catherine T. Lawson (chair), Jeong-Hyon Hwang and S.S. Ravi. In this research, the team investigated approaches for reducing the storage and computational demands required to analyze the huge volumes of data generated by Geographic Positioning Systems (GPS). Their work on compression of GPS trajectory data has been accepted for publication in the Springer GeoInformatica journal (modulo minor revisions) and the Conference for Geospatial Research and Applications (Com.Geo). The team plans to release source code for their benchmarking framework that evaluates the effectiveness of compression algorithms later this year.