Romanian Teams @ International Student Competitions

Welcome !

2009-03-27T12:44:00.000-07:00

The website is tracking the results of the Politehnica University of Bucharest (Romania) Teams at the International Student Competitions, and providing news and advices about the competitions.

Brief of awards in the world finals, until 2009:
2 x 1st place
3 x 2nd place
3 x 3rd place
several honorable mentions

Submitting to RSS you will receive the latest news about what competitions are currently available, team mentoring and advices.

The site is maintained by Nicolae Tapus (team mentor for several years) and Vlad Panait (contest participant 2002 and team mentor for several years). Please feel free to post questions or commentaries, we will reply in the shortest time possible.

Windows Embedded Student ChallengE

2009-03-27T09:21:00.005-07:00

Windows Embedded Student ChallengE used to be a separate student design contest based on the Microsoft embedded technologies. Starting with 2006, it is part of the Imagine Cup contest.

Romanian teams that participated in the contest:

2005 - 3 out of 5 Romanian teams in the world finals:

3rd place - Project Invisanet
Alpha Team: Anca Mihaela Hamuraru, Alin-Iulian Lazar, Florin Dinu si Cosmin Nicolae Stan
Team mentors: Nicolae Tapus, Vlad Panait

Honorable Mention - Project: Hello Teddy
Blue Arrow Team: Andrei Laurentiu Georgescu, Stefan-Valentin Guna, Gabriel Alexandru Ghiondea, Emil-Cristian Bîrsan
Team mentors: Nicolae Tapus, Vlad Panait

Mention - Project: IntelliTraffic
Newton Team: Maximilian Machedon, Iulian Moraru, Bogdan Marius Tudor, Andrei Eugen Lascarov Stamate
Team mentor: Nirvana Popescu

[more about 2005 contest..]

2006 - 3 Romanian teams in the world finals:

1st place - Project Forest Watcher
44Tech Team: Cristian Iuliu Pop, Ioana Romelia Bratie, Omar Salim Choudary, Mircea Dan Gheorghe
Team mentor: Nirvana Popescu

4th place - Project BirdSpot
The Release Candidates Team: Alin Iulian Lazar, Andrei Gheorghe, Mihai George Ciureanu, Radu Nedelcu
Team mentor: Nicolae Tapus

Mention - Project Pi-CoPS
Neptune Team: Stefan Bucur, Mihai-Alexandru Balan, Razvan Tataroiu, Vlad Ureche
Team mentors: Nicolae Tapus, Vlad Panait

[more about 2006 contest..]

Imagine Cup

2009-03-27T09:21:00.003-07:00

The Imagine Cup was founded in 2003. Worldwide Finals host countries have spanned the globe from Spain, to Brazil, to Japan, to India, to South Korea, and last year, to France. In 2009 the Worldwide Finals will take place in July in Cairo, Egypt.

Organizer: Microsoft
Size: More than 200,000 students from over 100 countries entered the 2008 competition.
The theme of Imagine Cup 2009 is "Imagine a world where technology helps solve the world's toughest problems.
(website)

Romanian teams that participated in the contest:

2004 - 1st place Romanian regional section
Project WebEdu - A Collaborative Online Learning Environment.
WebEdu Development Team: Tudor Ionescu, Alexandru Herisanu, Tereza Iofciu, Claudia Szabo
Team mentor: Nicolae Tapus

2006 - 2nd place Romanian regional section
Project Global Health System
Green.Point Team: Dan Badea, Catalin Criveteanu, Eduard Orsaanu, Dan Crisan
Team mentor: Nicolae Tapus, Vlad Panait

2007 - 4th place Romanian regional section
Project S.M.A.R.T.
TechOwls Team: Alexandru Calotoiu, Liviu Mihai Ciortea, Teodor Alexandru Stoenescu, Monica Mihaela Bugeanu
Team mentor: Decebal Popescu

ACM

2009-03-27T09:21:00.001-07:00

The ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) is a multitier, team-based, programming competition operating under the auspices of ACM and headquartered at Baylor University. The contest involves a global network of universities hosting regional competitions that advance teams to the ACM-ICPC World Finals. Participation has grown to several tens of thousands of the finest students and faculty in computing disciplines at almost 2,000 universities from over 80 countries on six continents. The contest fosters creativity, teamwork, and innovation in building new software programs, and enables students to test their ability to perform under pressure. Quite simply, it is the oldest, largest, and most prestigious programming contest in the world.

(website)

Romanian teams that participated in the contest:

2002 - 18th place
2001 - honorable mention
1999 - 11th place
1998 - 10th place
1996 - 16th place

Computer Society International Design Competition

2009-03-27T08:55:00.000-07:00

Computer Society International Design Competition (CSIDC) was the most prestigious student design competitions during 2000-2006. Under IEEE's - Computer Society wing, the contest was sponsored and judged by the most important companies in the IT world: AMD, Hewlett Packard, Intel, Motorola, Microsoft, Lucent, NSF, Sun, SAIC, Caldera, QNX, Pervasive Software, General Software, VersaLogic. In the judging team there were people from the sponsors, as well as academia (Carnegie Mellon, Virginia Tech) and USDoD.
The contest had several stages, and took aprox 6 months of development, at each stage the team was judged based on the progress of the work, and technical inovativity.
The world finals were held in Washington DC, and put face to face for 2 days, the best 10 teams from all over the world.

Romanian teams that participated in the contest:

2002 - 1st place - BE Secure: Building Surveillance Equipment ( PowerPoint Presentation) ( Project Report)(BE Secure: The Movie)
Team: Vlad Panait, Mihai Mircea, Tiberius Parcalabu
Mentor: Nicolae Tapus

2003 - 2nd place - Eyes Only ( PowerPoint Presentation) ( Project Report)
Team: Tiberius Parcalabu, Andrei Hagiescu
Mentor: Nicolae Tapus, Vlad Panait

2004 - 2nd place - eXpress! Help ( Project Report)
Team: Andrei Hagiescu, Marian Mihailescu, Cristina Toma
Mentor: Nicolae Tapus, Vlad Panait

2005 - 3rd place - NOMAD Positioning System (Presentation) (Project Report)
Team: Doru Arfire, Catalin Ioana, Bogdan Lucaciu, Marius Muresan
Mentor: Nicolae Tapus, Vlad Panait

2006 - 3rd place - Synairgy ( Project Report)
Team: Maximilian Machedon, Iulian Moraru, Bogdan Marius Tudor, Dan Ştefan Tudose
Mentor: Nicolae Tapus, Vlad Panait

For the official contest web-site, follow the link.

BirdSpot - 4th place @ WESC 2006

2006-08-22T06:55:00.000-07:00

Project name: BirdSpot
Contest: WESC 2006
Award: 4th place
Alpha Team: Alin-Iulian Lazar, Andrei Gheorghe, Mihai Ciureanu, Radu Nedelcut
Mentor: Nicolae Tapus
(raport)

In the news:

Abstract:

The Danube Delta located in Eastern Romania is one of the best preserved natural habitats in the world and is on the list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites and Biosphere Reserves [1]. Besides a wide variety of plants and fish, the Delta is also home to over 300 different bird species, some of them being very rare or unique such as the cormorant or the white pelican [2]. Studying these birds without too much anthropic interference is thus an important element in conserving their habitat and sustaining growth. Furthermore, as millions of birds come to the Delta every year to lay their eggs, several cases of avian influenza have been detected in autumn 2005, the virus being brought by some species coming from Asia [3][4]. Identifying these species as soon as they arrive and monitoring the high risk areas has become vital in order to prevent the virus from spreading and thus affecting the health of both wildlife and human beings or having harsh economic consequences.
The BirdSpot system automatically detects, identifies and classifies bird species based on visual information in order to determine the evolution of the population density of distinct species in a designated area. The system is built upon non-obtrusive, energy-efficient and affordable wireless devices that can be placed in remote natural habitats to gather visual data. BirdSpot then uses wireless long range communication equipment to aggregate data from these remote devices to a processing server. Bird detection and classification are accomplished by means of intelligent image processing and adaptive machine learning algorithms. As the images are analyzed, the output results consisting of the identified bird species and their locations are integrated into a database and are accessible via a user-friendly web interface. Furthermore, these results can be used in order to create specific reports. For instance, in case the arrival of a migrating virus-susceptible species is detected, a special alert will be issued to the interested authorities.
BirdSpot improves on existing imaging equipment used by bird-watchers or scientists: BirdSpot devices are designed to be autonomous and operate unattended in remote areas. Moreover, the key feature of the system is that it allows automatic, real-time classification of birds into species starting from relevant captured images. Tracking animals and birds in particular currently involves tagging individual specimens using rings or cumbersome electronic transmitters [5]. What BirdSpot focuses on however is not following the habits of individual birds but monitoring and synthesizing the general evolution of the density of species over a certain territory.
Thus, as it receives input from a number of remote devices deployed in an area, the BirdSpot system is able to compute and offer a general picture of the distribution of bird species. This can greatly facilitate and streamline the work of ornithologists. Current methods for assessing bird populations require the participation of hundreds of volunteers who must follow tedious procedures [6]. BirdSpot, on the other hand, can provide similar information with minimal supervision and is able to process statistical and geographic results automatically. The human contribution is reduced to collaborative assistance in training an automated species classifier.
The system is also designed with the numerous hobbyists and enthusiasts in mind as BirdSpot can be a fun way to take part in an exciting and educative birdwatching experience. However the main features of BirdSpot primarily qualify it as a powerful scientific tool and in the context of the recent birdflu threat as a potential means of protecting lives.

Synairgy - 3rd place @ CSIDC 2006

2006-06-30T11:49:00.000-07:00

Project name: Synairgy
Contest: CSIDC 2006
Award: 3rd
Team: Maximilian Machedon, Iulian Moraru, Bogdan Marius Tudor, Dan Ştefan Tudose
Mentor: Nicolae Tapus, Vlad Panait

In the news:

Abstract:

One of the major environmental concerns of our time is air pollution. Apart from severely degrading the natural environment, air pollution directly affects our health. Short term and long term effects range from light allergic reactions – irritation of the nose, throat and eyes – to serious conditions like bronchitis, pneumonia, aggravated asthma, lung and heart diseases. Air pollution is also the cause for many premature deaths (50,000 to 100,000 deaths per year in the U.S. alone, 300,000 in the EU and over 3,000,000 worldwide [1] and [2]).

Damage done to the environment by air pollution includes acid rain, climate change – shifting from a four temperate seasons to two seasons – and global warming. Economic losses from acid rain surpass 13 billion USD annually only for the eastern part of the United States [3], and 13.3 billion USD in China [4]. With the current trend holding, by 2060 predictions indicate costs up to 220 – 330 billion USD per year in the U.S. alone [5]. The cost of global warming was, as of 2001, 0.5% of the combined GNP of the entire world [6]. Synairgy is a solution for both the health and the environmental problems.

People suffering from heart diseases or chronic respiratory diseases like asthma and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) would benefit from being warned about high concentrations of car exhaust gasses like nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and the smog associated (as these could cause an aggravation of their condition). Joggers and bikers would want to know if the air they inhale is clean on their usual trails. Parents would want to be assured that their children breathe fresh air on their playgrounds. People moving to a new city would like to choose their new home based among other things on information about the air quality.

The solution offered by Synairgy to all these people relies on a small portable device that will warn the person carrying it when it detects an abnormally high concentration of an air pollutant. If the user has a Bluetooth enabled smart-phone or PDA, he can connect to the device and obtain details. The device records the measured data along with location coordinates and can later transfer it to a computer running the Synairgy application. With the user’s acceptance, the application can share the data with the Synairgy Internet server. As a result, the system’s user – and the entire community – can benefit from a potentially wide information-gathering network. The Synairgy application displays maps with the data measured by the device and the statistics received from the server. The feedback loop completes with the device receiving information from the application about the polluted areas, so that it can caution the users as soon as they enter one.

Probably the best approach to solving the environmental problems caused by air pollution is to make people aware of it and of their actions that possibly favor it. Synairgy does just that by gathering and publishing meaningful and up-to-date information. This is the result of people using Synairgy devices and sharing the measured data. Synairgy is innovative in offering a customizable mobile device (the user can select which sensors to plug in) that helps protect the people with respiratory illnesses or people concerned about the air they breathe, relying not only on the data it gathers but also on the data measured by other Synairgy devices. Furthermore, the sharing of air pollution information between the users is original in its own.

Global Health System - 2nd place @ ImagineCup 2006

2006-05-02T00:55:00.000-07:00

Project name: Global Health System
Contest: Imagine Cup 2006 - Regional Phase
Award: 2nd place
Team: Dan Badea, Catalin Criveteanu, Eduard Orasanu, Dan Crisan
Mentor: Nicolae Tapus, Vlad Panait

(report)

In the news:

Abstract:

Our lives have never been more dynamic and the whole sprint for performance, breakthrough and achievement has brought us to the point where we neglect important aspects of our life, such as our health. Health has become a global challenge. It's a fact, that nobody can contest. From the appearance of new diseases, over 30 in the past 20 years, diseases that have no know cure or vaccine to the diseases inflicted by the very own technology that we created, we failed to keep a healthy perspective on our innovations. We have built cars to travel faster, but we manage to spend more time in traffic jams, we've built mobile devices to be more independent, but only manage to depend more on this way of communication, we've built software to be more productive, but only manage to set tougher goals that imply more time. Traveling back and forth from home to the office and to important meetings, we don’t really allow ourselves to have a balanced schedule and we don’t really recognize that a healthy body is crucial to being productive.
It's time to build software to depend on, software for life, software that doesn't help us achieve bigger goals, but enables us to live healthier lives.
We’ve named this application “Global Health System”, and it represents our approach to the challenge raised by the Imagine Cup competition. The (GHS) is directed at healthy people, at people suffering of different illnesses and at medical doctors all alike. It presents each of them with a reason to log on to the GHS and to employ it in their daily life.
Imagine doctors, situated anywhere on the globe, exchanging ideas and experience or imagine patients from all parts of the world sharing their experience to help each other through difficult times and to enable specialists to better understand their problems. It is all possible through the of the GHS, guided discussions, based on health related topics, that employ advanced communication technologies like text, audio and video conferencing to present the users with the best possible experience.
All the people of the world can stay in touch with the medical world through news, articles and tutorials, with rich interactive multimedia content, appealing to all users, independent of age, culture or background education. All this is possible through the of the GHS.
Imagine a very easy, fast and efficient way for doctors to do research by conducting surveys and tests over a large number of people, suffering from the same illness, but who are located anywhere on the globe. The of the GHS gives doctors the possibility to design user friendly surveys and tests and it gives the rest of the users the chance to complete them.
Let’s create an artificially intelligent application, perfected by the knowledge and experience of all the doctors in the system, which could diagnose you in a matter of questions and prescribe to you a treatment even when you are on the move, just by using a smart phone, PDA or Notebook. Imagine a patient from any country in the world receiving advice from one of the best doctors on Earth through a live diagnosing application, which employs advanced communication technologies. All this is included in the of the GHS.
Suppose that there is an application that would help all people of the planet to live healthier lives by giving them the chance to stay in touch with specialists through and (LMC). Imagine a software that can maintain and manage your complete medical history, that can schedule your LMCs, that can rearrange your daily tasks for a healthier and less stressful life and that can plan a daily routine to serve your personal health requirements. This is all done by the of the GHS.

Imagine just one system that would suit the health requirements of all the people in the world.
The Global Health System …for healthier people …with healthier lives.

Invisanet - 3rd place @ WESC 2005

2005-07-08T01:12:00.000-07:00

Project name: Invisanet
Contest: WESC 2005
Award: 3rd place
Alpha Team: Anca Mihaela Hamuraru, Alin-Iulian Lazar, Florin Dinu si Cosmin Nicolae Stan
Mentor: Nicolae Tapus, Vlad Panait
(raport)

In the news:

Abstract:

Aerial reconnaissance has long been a field of engineering research. However, even powerful and accurate systems such as those based on satellite photography are flawed by their latency, cost and availability. Common commercially-available satellite imaging products offer data that is usually several months old and has an acceptable level of detail only for some locations [1]. Real time satellite surveillance is expensive and normally available only to military personnel for national security purposes [2]. There are situations when people need a fast and convenient way to obtain real time aerial images of the surrounding territory, on a small or medium scale, for such purposes as helping people in danger in crisis situations or for industrial applications.
Invisanet (Intelligent Visualisation Aerial Network) is a system that gathers and intelligently interprets bird’s eye views of nearby terrains. It uses a network of aerial units flying at a relatively low altitude that are able to take pictures of the terrain and send them to a ground station for processing and dissemination. The images are automatically adjoined in a broader view based on their relative position and orientation. Users provided with mobile devices can send requests to the system to visualise the incoming images in real time or to indicate areas to be explored. The system elaborates plans and trajectories to cover those areas and instructs the airborne units to follow them accordingly using motion control commands and GPS-based positioning feedback. Advanced services such as pattern recognition inside the incoming images are also provided to the users.
Invisanet is lightweight and cost-effective. It is made up of easy to deploy components:
Airborne Units (AUs) – they are primarily floating helium blimps equipped with an embedded photo camera module, navigational and positioning mechanisms and wireless communication equipment; they are responsible for data gathering.
Communication, Information and Control Coordinator (CIC) – a highly portable unit located on the ground that is built using an eBox II device; it receives data from the AUs, processes it and sends it to system users or accepts requests from the users and envisions plans to accomplish them.
Portable Devices (PDs) – they are provided to system users and consist of mobile platforms; they are used to connect to the CIC and request data or provide control commands for the AUs.
Thus, Invisanet comes with a novel approach to aerial imaging, making it more responsive, accessible and flexible. Its fast response time is critical in certain applications such as search-rescue missions and crisis response in floods or in an otherwise inaccessible territory. As dynamic data is fed into the system users can focus their exploration on certain areas of interest in real time. The ability to use Invisanet to monitor ongoing events makes it suitable for dealing with environmental issues such as cleaning oil spills or for crowd control and security surveillance. Versatility is also an important issue in the design of Invisanet: the system not only gathers raw data but also processes it in order to be mapped alongside geographical positioning information. Furthermore, application-specific processing algorithms are applied in order to obtain pattern or area matching.
Invisanet introduces an innovative approach to aerial imaging that can bring many benefits to fields such as industry, agriculture or the protection of people and of the environment. Its users can thus transcend their field of view, gain a new perspective on the local situation and ultimately expand their horizon.

NOMAD Positioning System - 3rd place @ CSIDC 2005

2005-06-30T11:34:00.000-07:00

Project name: NOMAD Positioning System
Contest: CSIDC 2005
Award: 3rd
Team: Doru Arfire, Catalin Ioana, Bogdan Lucaciu, Marius Muresan
Mentor: Nicolae Tapus, Vlad Panait

(raport)

In the news:

9am

Curierul National

Abstract:

In the past few years we have entrusted our orientation needs to the Global Positioning System. Although the GPS is an effective method to determine a person's location, it has its limitations – it only works in open environments and it has limited accuracy.

The NOMAD positioning system was designed and developed to go beyond the boundaries imposed by conventional positioning systems, providing navigation and orientation facilities when and where they are needed. It is inexpensive, completely mobile, it doesn't depend on any external systems like satellites, and it works in almost any environment, including underground locations, large buildings or busy cities with skyscrapers.

NOMAD is an user-centric system that was designed to provide position information by tracking, recording and analyzing the human movement. This is accomplished by the use of a Motion Tracking Unit (MTU) - a small device carried by the user that collects data from high-accuracy sensors (digital accelerometers, compass and accelerometer), processes the information and sends it over a wireless connection to the NOMAD Guide software that runs on a mobile platform.

The NOMAD Guide computes the traveled path in real-time and instantly reports visual mapping information to the user. It can be used for creating dynamic maps of unknown locations, based solely on the paths traveled by the user, or for guided navigation on existing maps.

Mine engineers, military, speleologists are often doing their jobs in the underground, and are subjected to all the specific perils of such activities. Tourists often venture in caves or other underground locations without proper maps, equipment or experience. Almost all large cities have vast underground sewage systems, where technicians perform daily maintenance activities on the various systems running in the underground. Even with a map, these are confusing whereabouts where conventional positioning systems do not work.

NOMAD gives an enriched orientation experience, being not only a navigation guide for the users, but also a mean to include additional information to the map for future analysis. Users can create multimedia maps by adding images, voice or text notes to key points on the location, turning their experience into an expedition journal. Although the NOMAD system is designed to be completely mobile and independent to other systems, it can also be used in a distributed network, where collaborative users cover distinct areas of an underground system. The NOMAD Guide Software allows users exploring the same territory to periodically synchronize their NOMAD maps, sharing the team experience and observations.

Another aspect of the NOMAD System are the on-line communities, meeting grounds for possible underground explorers. This feature is accomplished by the Online Repository, a web-based application that allows users to publish, download and review maps directly from the NOMAD Guide, or from a normal web browser on their desktop computer.

Hello Teddy - Honorable Mention @ WESC 2005

2005-05-02T00:40:00.000-07:00

Project name: Hello Teddy
Contest: WESC 2005
Award: Honorable Mention
Team: Andrei Laurentiu Georgescu, Stefan-Valentin Guna, Gabriel Alexandru Ghiondea, Emil-Cristian Bîrsan
Mentor: Nicolae Tapus, Vlad Panait
(raport)

In the news:

Abstract:

Imagine you could be all day near your child, even while working or having to go on a business trip and your offspring has to stay home with its grandparents, your spouse or a baby-sitter. Think of being able to see it any minute of the day or talking to him any time you want to.
Statistics show that in most U.S. homes with two parents, both of them have a job. These parents have to ask for help from a relative, a neighbor or a day care provider. In the world, about 70% of parents place their young children in some type of daily care.
All the people would like to see and talk to their children when they are away from them. Hello TEDDY! is a system that goes beyond conventional boundaries in child care by providing support for these people; it is disguised as a toy (a teddy bear) and it allows parents to closely monitor their children while they are on a business trip and somebody else takes care of their children. Parents can use this system from a remote computer miles away from home and they are be able to watch, listen or speak to their children as if they were one foot away.
Stories are important elements in a child’s life as they develop the child’s imagination and the perception of the surrounding world. That is why Hello TEDDY! can tell such stories either by being programmed by parents or by playing when the child requests with a squeeze of one of teddy’s hands. Using sensors, one can monitor their children’s environment: if the baby-sitter forgets to close the window and the temperature drops, parents receive a notification. Scheduled memos can be stored and played at a proper time so the little ones know when it is bed time or time for dinner. If the children require their parents’ attention, they will be able to call them by squeezing another member of the teddy.
The system assures parents that baby-sitters have an adequate behavior in respect to their children. It has a psychological impact on parents, by making them feel close to their little ones; they will be relieved and they will be able to focus on their work.
It is important to know that Hello TEDDY! does not replace human guidance, but it is only a tool for persons who are taking care of children that can help organizing this activity in a more efficient way. Children will like this “toy” because it is funny and it tells bedtime stories. Just think what an impact advice coming from a toy that resembles the voice and warmness of a parent would have.

eXpress! Help - 2nd place @ CSIDC 2004

2004-06-30T11:24:00.000-07:00

Project name: eXpress! Help
Contest: CSIDC 2004
Award: 2nd
Team: Andrei Hagiescu, Marian Mihailescu, Cristina Toma
Mentor: Nicolae Tapus, Vlad Panait

(raport)

In the news:

Euractiv

Abstract:

The reason people have organized themselves into communities is to help each other. Special services are in charge of providing safety and security but sometimes their effort is wasted on events handled more efficiently by the family or by the community itself. Unfortunately, it is difficult for some people to ask for help when they have a problem: you may think of children, elder relatives or people with disabilities (called DEARS in this report). A solution for them is provided by eXpress! Help (X!Help), a system that combines an improved method for demanding help with the de facto community membership.

In the past ten years, mobile technology has evolved and now provides enhanced services. Enforced with today’s achievements, mobile phones do more than sending your voice over the network. Transformed into powerful computers, they are suited to run X!Help. Its aim is to make the world a safer place by adding a more efficient and faster method for helping the weak members of the communities.

The whole system represents an enhancement for the emergency services and not a replacement. Using a 911 emergency call in a classical way, it may be a challenge for a DEAR to specify his exact location. It takes time to explain the nature of his problem and even more time until someone actually arrives to provide help. X!Help can notify the family and the emergency services and simultaneously ask for help from those around, being able to lead them to the DEAR in need. The process of locating/asking for help will become more intuitive and efficient.

X!Help adds to the users’ mobile phones localization capabilities (provided by the network or from an attached GPS) and a peer-to-peer low-range communication system (using a Bluetooth module). A packet of services is developed to be used with these new capabilities. It includes data transfer, route recording, pathfinder, watch area, vocal guidance and restricted remote access to position information.

By allowing a help message to be diffused to those around, an alternative is provided to the time-consuming stages in emergency call situations because it allows more people from the neighborhood to know about an incident and it provides means for a faster and more efficient intervention.

Whether assistance is offered by specialized services or by those around, the caller’s phone is able to provide the user’s coordinates and, with a differential representation of locations (on a map), guidance is provided for those offering help.

X!Help is a distributed modular system; it is scalable, inexpensive (as an add-on for existing mobile phones) and intended to be used for a large range of scenarios. Need for help is unpredictable, but think of people with memory problems1, a weakened old man in difficulty or a child lost on the streets2. In such cases X!Help proves to be a valuable asset.

Eyes Only - 2nd place @ CSIDC 2003

2003-06-28T11:17:00.000-07:00

Project name: Eyes Only
Contest: CSIDC 2003
Award: 2nd
Team: Tiberius Parcalabu, Andrei Hagiescu
Mentor: Nicolae Tapus, Vlad Panait
(raport)

In the news:
Adevarul

Abstract:

This paper describes a low cost, added value solution which transforms the computer into a safer system, able to prevent unauthorized access to confidential information. EyesOnly is a hardware device designed for personal computers to protect the keyboard input and the text information displayed on the screen. It is physically installed on the cables linking the computer with the keyboard and the monitor. This is a new approach to security, which makes impossible unauthorized access to user’s private information from software pests inside the computer. Pests are generally uninvited programs that take up residence by stealth, like parasites or viruses on an information system, avoiding different protection methods, by exploiting security leaks in operating systems or user’s actions. They can gain access to whatever happens into computer’s memory, including input of credit card information, email, instant messaging and other sensitive information. For example, even if we are connected to a web server through SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), which encrypts all the communication with the browser, when we type in our credit card information, each pressed key is first handled by the keyboard driver from the operating system. This is a software layer and may be compromised by undesired software, which can intercept all the keys or simply read them from the internal memory buffer and then transmit this data to unauthorized third parties on the web.

To avoid this problem, EyesOnly has an innovative design that makes sure confidential data involved never travels unencrypted through the computer, which becomes a simple dispatcher for secured information. On one hand information sent from the keyboard is encrypted before entering the computer and on the other hand text information meant to be displayed on the screen is decrypted after exit from the computer and then superimposed over the image on the monitor. When the user enters data from the keyboard, the device provides visual feedback on the screen, so that he is able see what is typing, without actually sending keys to the computer. Security of the encrypted information is ensured by the AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) algorithm used in combination with 128-bit keys, kept on a smartcard. The exchange of all encrypted information between the computer and the device is done through a separate USB connection. The entire process is transparent to the user, who can concentrate on his work, instead of worrying about security, even if the computer cannot be fully trusted.

The services that can be secured using EyesOnly include any operations that need to input from the keyboard or to display on the monitor text-based, confidential information, like credit card information (e-shopping), banking account details (e-banking) or private discussions (instant messaging, email). It was designed with simplicity in mind, being very easy to install and use by average computer user, without need of special skills. The device can be attached to any IBM compatible computer with a free USB port, so you can use this system from your friends’ computers or even at work. It has a single switch, with three states for keyboard input protection mode: On (all keyboard input is encrypted), Off (no encryption at all) and Auto (the software application decides when encryption is activated). The rest of the settings are accessible through a simple menu activated from the application that is using the device.

By using EyesOnly, any parasite applications are made inoffensive, because they never have access to clear data. Even if someone takes physical control over the computer, he cannot access any confidential information, without the keys from user’s personal smartcard. It is easier to keep safe the smartcard than trying to keep continuously up to date the operating system or software antivirus applications.

BE Secure - 1st place @ CSIDC 2002

2002-06-22T13:04:00.000-07:00

Project name: BE Secure - Building Surveillance Equipment
Contest: CSIDC 2002
Award: 1st place
Team: Vlad Panait, Mihai Mircea, Tiberius Parcalabu
Mentor: Nicolae TapusLinks: (PowerPoint Presentation) ( Project Report)(BE Secure: The Movie)

In the news:
IEEE Xplore article
Chip.ro article

Abstract:

After the September 11th attack in New York City, people started considering whether there are ways to help and inform people in case of disasters, such that quick intervention at the affected area is possible with maximum effects. The proposed system is intended to operate for structures visited by a large number of people. We developed a low-priced wireless distributed system that collects data from different sensors and informs both the people inside (they are directed on the shortest safest exit paths) and the outside parties (police or firemen service that can use the information for better rescue operations). In case of a catastrophe (fire, earthquake, terrorist attack, etc.), even if a part of the proposed system is destroyed, the rest uses existing information to guide rescue operations. Moreover, lack of information (possibly together with other information like “temperature was very high before communication was interrupted”) may be interpreted as “seriously damaged area”, leading to calculating safe-exit paths around it.

The system consists of a distributed LAPE (Local Acquisition and Processing Element) network that has as main function the monitoring of the parameters in a large building. The data collected by one of the LAPEs is shared in the whole system via Bluetooth devices. Each individual LAPE calculates the best exit path based on the status of the building. The system also communicates the state of the whole building to the outside parties for surveillance tasks.

The intervention teams can create good and realistic emergency plans based on the information collected by the system. They can also direct people to a new evacuation mean available (an intervention helicopter, for example). In case of emergency, it is feasible to envision that human experts override the directions by new ones, in case they have other information not available to the system. The system is designed as an Open Interface, implying it easily supports the addition of sensors and functionality to the structure.