While physics-based synthesis offers a wide range of benefits in the real-time generation of sound for interactive environments, it is difficult to incorporate nuanced and complex behaviour that enhances the sound in a narrative or aesthetic context. The work presented in this thesis explores real-time human performance as a means of stylistically augmenting computational sound models. Transdisciplinary in nature, this thesis builds upon previous work in sound synthesis, film sound theory and physical sound interaction. Two levels on which human performance can enhance the aesthetic value of computational models are investigated: first, in the real-time manipulation of an idiosyncratic parameter space to generate unique sound effects, and second, in the performance of physical source models in synchrony with moving images. In the former, various mapping techniques were evaluated to control a model of a creaking door based on a proposed extension of practical synthesis techniques. In the latter, audio post-production professionals with extensive experience in performing Foley were asked to perform the soundtrack to a physics-based animation using bespoke physical interfaces and synthesis engines. The generated dataset was used to gain insights into stylistic features afforded by performed sound synchronisation, and potential ways of integrating them into an interactive environment such as a game engine. Interacting with practical synthesis models that have extended to incorporate performability enables rapid generation of unique and expressive sound effects, while maintaining a believable source-sound relationship. Performatively authoring behaviours of sound models makes it possible to enhance the relationship between sound and image (both stylistically and perceptually) in ways precluded by one-to-one mappings between physics-based parameters. Mediation layers are required in order to facilitate performed behaviour: in the design of the model on one hand, and in the integration of such behaviours into interactive environments on the other. This thesis provides some examples of how such a system could be implemented. Furthermore, some interesting observations are made regarding the design of physical interfaces for performing environmental sound, and the creative exploitation of model constraints.

Latency in the live audio processing chain has become a concern for audio engineers and system designers because significant delays can be perceived and may affect synchronisation of signals, limit interactivity, degrade sound quality and cause acoustic feedback. In recent years, latency problems have become more severe since audio processing has become digitised, high-resolution ADCs and DACs are used, complex processing is performed, and data communication networks are used for audio signal transmission in conjunction with other traffic types. In many live audio applications, latency thresholds are bounded by human perceptions. The applications such as music ensembles and live monitoring require low delay and predictable latency. Current digital audio systems either have difficulties to achieve or have to trade-off latency with other important audio processing functionalities. This thesis investigated the fundamental causes of the latency in a modern digital audio processing system: group delay, buffering delay, and physical propagation delay and their associated system components. By studying the time-critical path of a general audio system, we focus on three main functional blocks that have the significant impact on overall latency; the high-resolution digital filters in sigma-delta based ADC/DAC, the operating system to process low latency audio streams, and the audio networking to transmit audio with flexibility and convergence. In this work, we formed new theory and methods to reduce latency and accurately predict latency for group delay. We proposed new scheduling algorithms for the operating system that is suitable for low latency audio processing. We designed a new system architecture and new protocols to produce deterministic networking components that can contribute the overall timing assurance and predictability of live audio processing. The results are validated by simulations and experimental tests. Also, this bottom-up approach is aligned with the methodology that could solve the timing problem of general cyber-physical systems that require the integration of communication, software and human interactions.

Esta pesquisa propõe uma análise do processo de apropriação de ferramentas audiovisuais entre os Manoki, povo indígena de tronco isolado que vive ao noroeste de Mato Grosso, e suas correlações com os discursos nativos sobre a história. A partir de uma etnografia mediada pelo vídeo utilizado pelos indígenas de forma proeminentemente prospectiva em estratégias de registro e autorrepresentação , chega-se a diversos temas próprios da etnologia indígena, como relações intergeracionais, concepções sobre tempo, ritual e escatologia. Ao conjugar as abordagens antropológicas sobre audiovisual e povos ameríndios, a análise pretende levar em consideração a perspectiva nativa a propósito das transformações em seu mundo e o papel que o registro audiovisual pode ter para os Manoki. / This research proposes an analysis of the appropriation process of audio-visual tools among the Manoki, indigenous people who live in northwest of Mato Grosso, and their correlations with native discourses about history. Through an ethnography mediated by video used by indigenous people in a prominently prospectively way in strategies for registration and selfrepresentation we arrive at several ethnological themes such as intergenerational relationships, conceptions of time, ritual and eschatology. By combining anthropological approaches in audio-visual and Amerindian peoples, the analysis aims to take into account the native perspective on the subject of changes in their world and the role that audio-visual records may have to Manoki people.

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Tese de mestrado. Multimédia. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 2009

Tese de mestrado. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 2005

Honeybees are one of the most important pollinating species in agriculture. Every three out of four crops have honeybee as their sole pollinator. Since 2006 there has been a drastic decrease in the bee population which is attributed to Colony Collapse Disorder(CCD). The bee colonies fail/ die without giving any traditional health symptoms which otherwise could help in alerting the Beekeepers in advance about their situation. Electronic Beehive Monitoring System has various sensors embedded in it to extract video, audio and temperature data that could provide critical information on colony behavior and health without invasive beehive inspections. Previously, significant patterns and information have been extracted by processing the video/image data, but no work has been done using audio data. This research inaugurates and takes the first step towards the use of audio data in the Electronic Beehive Monitoring System (BeePi) by enabling a path towards the automatic classification of audio samples in different classes and categories within it. The experimental results give an initial support to the claim that monitoring of bee buzzing signals from the hive is feasible, it can be a good indicator to estimate hive health and can help to differentiate normal behavior against any deviation for honeybees.

This thesis contributes to the field of Game Studies by presenting the hypothesis that the player(s) and soundscape(s) in the first-person shooter (FPS) game, and the relationships between them, may be construed as an acoustic ecology. It explores the idea that the single-player FPS game acoustic ecology has the basic components of player and soundscape and that the relationships between these two lead to the creation and perception of a variety of spaces within the game world constituting a significant contributing factor to player immersion in that world. Additionally, in a multiplayer FPS game, these individual acoustic ecologies form part of a larger acoustic ecology which may be explained through autopoietic principles. There has been little written on digital game sound (much less on FPS game sound) and so the research contained within this thesis is an important contribution to the Game Studies field. Furthermore, the elaboration of the hypothesis provides insight into the role of sound in the perception of a variety of spaces in the FPS game, and player immersion in those spaces, and this has significance not only for Game Studies but also for other disciplines such as virtual environment design and the study of real-world acoustic ecologies. A text-based methodology is employed in which literature from a range of disciplines is researched for concepts relevant to the hypothesis but, where necessary, new concepts will be devised. The aim of the methodology is to construct a conceptual framework which is used to explicate the hypothesis and which may, with future refinement, be used for the study of sound in digital game genres other than FPS.

This exegesis explores the notions of production process paradigm shift through the analysis of digital technologies and their effect on the production of 'CruelUnusual'. Chapter one of this exegesis has introduced the research question with appropriate methodologies to explore the rhizomic possibilities of the use of new digital technology (DV, WWW & DVD) through the design of new structures and frameworks for audio-visual production. Chapter two will outline the traditional production process from the first steps of the pre-production phase, through to the shooting and editing of the film, to its final delivery on the screen. Chapter three will outline various new technologies to be explored and evaluated to assess their benefits to filmmakers in the creation of new production process paradigms. Chapter four of this exegesis presents an evaluation of the Rhizomic Production Process as a viable alternative to the traditional linear produc-tion process. The research data created during the production of the creative project is offered to sup-port arguments presented regarding the benefits of the Rhizomic Production Process. Chapter five will discuss the conclusions and implications discovered during the evalua-tion of the Rhizomic Production Process through the production of the creative project and suggest further possible directions.

One particular application domain of interest for sensor networks is in the real-time processing of audio information for ecological research questions such as species identification. Real-time audio processing generally involves sophisticated signal processing algorithms and requires substantial computational power. As FPGAs increase in capacity and speed but decrease in cost and power consumption, they are now able to provide low-cost, high performance, energy efficient, flexible, and convenient implementations for a wide range of digital systems. This thesis uses the computational power and single-chip solution capabilities of FPGAs to implement a typical audio processing application for sensor networks onto an FPGA using software / hardware co-design approach, and then evaluate the usefulness of this approach. Some background on sensor networks, audio recognition, FPGAs, MicroBlaze and hardware / software co-design is firstly introduced. A few widely adopted feature extraction and pattern matching algorithms are also presented and compared. Several digital signal processing applications based on FPGAs are then reviewed and analyzed. Software / hardware co-design method is then employed to implement an example system. A bird call recognition system based on linear predictive cepstral coefficients and dynamic time warping algorithm is developed and verified on a PC. Then, a software-only solution for this bird call recognition system is implemented on an FPGA with embedded MicroBlaze processor in a Xilinx development board. By means of code profiling, the performance bottlenecks of the software-only solution are identified. Taking the profiling results and the complexity of the recognition algorithm into account, the dynamic time warping algorithm was mapped into custom FPGA hardware. Fast Simplex Links, which are intended specially for high-speed uni-directional transfers to and from the processor, were used to attach the custom hardware to MicroBlaze and pre-defined driver functions supplied by EDK enabled the communications between software and the custom hardware. The software-hardware implementation was then built after substituting custom hardware for software counterparts. The influence of memory assignments for performance is also investigated. External memory access is identified as a major bottleneck. By moving all code from external DRAM into internal BRAM, the system performance is increased by a factor of about 10. From the analysis and comparison of execution time, logic area, and energy consumption of various implementations, it is shown that the software-hardware implementation can speed up a software-only FPGA implementation up to 528 times, and achieves of the order of 20 times “time-area efficiency” and 40 times energy efficiency. Compared with the PC-based C implementation running with a 40 times faster clock rate, the improved software-hardware system runs only about 7 times slower and its performance can meet the real-time requirement to complete a recognition in under one second. In addition, the software / hardware co-design also significantly reduces the energy consumption associated with individual computations.