Aristodemos Pnevmatikakis

This book deals with the creation of the algorithmic backbone that enables a computer to perceive humans in a monitored space. This is performed using the same signals that humans process, i.e., audio and video. Computers reproduce the same type of perception using sensors and algorithms in order to detect and track multiple interacting humans, by way of multiple cues, like bodies, faces or speech. This application domain is challenging, because audio and visual signals are cluttered by both background and foreground objects. First, particle filtering is established as the framework for tracking. Then, audio, visual and also audio-visual tracking systems are separately explained. Each modality is analyzed, starting with sensor configuration, detection for tracker initialization and the trackers themselves. Techniques to fuse the modalities are then considered. Instead of offering a monolithic approach to the tracking problem, this book also focuses on implementation by providing MATLAB code for every presented component. This way, the reader can connect every concept with corresponding code. Finally, the applications of the various tracking systems in different domains are studied.

This important book deals with the modeling and design of higher-order single-stage delta-sigma modulators. It provides an overview of the architectures, the quantizer models, the design techniques and the implementation issues encountered in the study of the delta-sigma modulators. A number of applications are discussed, with emphasis on use in the design of analog-to-digital converters and in frequency synthesis. The book is education- rather than research-oriented, containing numerical examples and unsolved problems. It is aimed at introducing the final-year undergraduate, the graduate student or the electronic engineer to this field.