Exciting PhD Opportunity in Distributed Edge AI at SAL!

We’re seeking a passionate researcher for a PhD role in “Efficient Algorithms and Accelerator Architectures for Distributed Edge AI Systems”. This unique position offers the chance to work under the esteemed supervision of Prof. Radu Prodan (AAU Klagenfurt) and Prof. Marcel Baunach (TU Graz), with my guidance at SAL.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7155106482257068032/

What You Will Do:
– Design & implement innovative distributed AI methods and algorithms.
– Customize these methods for the unique constraints of edge devices and networks.
– Investigate novel accelerator architectures for embedded AI applications.
– Explore quantization methods, with a focus on training and fine-tuning on edge devices.
– Publish research in high-impact journals and present at international conferences.

🎓 Candidate Profile:
– Master’s degree in a relevant field.
– Strong in programming and machine learning.
– Excellent communication skills in English.

🌍 Important Residency Note: Applicants should not have resided or carried out main activities in Austria for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the application deadline.

Apply Now! Ensure to follow the specific application process outlined at Crystalline Program Recruitment (link is in the job description). https://lnkd.in/dBCY2xfe

, ,

Paper accepted: E-WISH: An Energy-aware ABR Algorithm For Green HTTP Adaptive Video Streaming

ACM Mile High Video 2024 (mhv), Denver, Colorado, February 11-14, 2024

Authors: Daniele Lorenzi (Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, Austria), Minh Nguyen (Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, Austria), Farzad Tashtarian (Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, Austria), and Christian Timmerer (Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, Austria)

Abstract: HTTP Adaptive Streaming (HAS) is the de-facto solution for delivering video content over the Internet. The climate crisis has highlighted the environmental impact of information and communication technologies (ICT) solutions and the need for green solutions to reduce ICT’s carbon footprint. As video streaming dominates Internet traffic, research in this direction is vital now more than ever. HAS relies on Adaptive BitRate (ABR) algorithms, which dynamically choose suitable video representations to accommodate device characteristics and network conditions. ABR algorithms typically prioritize video quality, ignoring the energy impact of their decisions. Consequently, they often select the video representation with the highest bitrate under good network conditions, thereby increasing energy consumption. This is problematic, especially for energy-limited devices, because it affects the device’s battery life and the user experience. To address the aforementioned issues, we propose E-WISH, a novel energy-aware ABR algorithm, which extends the already-existing WISH algorithm to consider energy consumption while selecting the quality for the next video segment. According to the experimental findings, E-WISH shows the ability to improve Quality of Experience (QoE) by up to 52% according to the ITU-T P.1203 model (mode 0) while simultaneously reducing energy consumption by up to 12% with respect to state-of-the-art approaches.

Keywords: HTTP adaptive streaming, Energy, Adaptive Bitrate (ABR), DASH

 

Josef Hammer has successfully defended his PhD thesis

On Wednesday, December 20, 2023, Josef Hammer successfully defended his PhD thesis (“Transparent Access to 5G Edge Services”) under the supervision of  Univ.-Prof. DI Dr. Hermann Hellwagner and Univ.-Prof. DI Dr. Radu Prodan. The defense was chaired by Assoc.-Prof. DI Dr. Klaus Schöffmann and the examiners were Prof. Dr.-Ing. Amr Rizk (Universität Duisburg-Essen) and Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Christian Timmerer. We are pleased to congratulate Dr. Josef Hammer on passing his Ph.D. exam!

,

ITEC team participated at the the 16th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Utility and Cloud Computing

In a noteworthy presence at the 16th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Utility and Cloud Computing (UCC 2023), Dragi Kimovski and Narges Mehran presented three workshop papers:

  1. Marcus Reitzl and Dragi Kimovski, “Multi-Objective Optimisation of Container Orchestration Systems”,
  2. Narges Mehran, Dragi Kimovski, Hermann Hellwagner, Dumitru Roman, Ahmet Soylu, and Radu Prodan, “Scheduling on the Computing Continuum: A Survey “,
  3. Narges Mehran, Arman Haghighi, Pedram Aminharati, Nikolay Nikolov, Ahmet Soylu, Dimitru Roman and Radu Prodan, “Comparison of Microservice Call Rate Prediction for Replication in the Cloud”. 

 Additionally, Dragi Kimovski took on the role of a session chair, leading discussions on the intricacies of scheduling in the computing continuum. 

The 7th Klagenfurter Winter Game Jam has concluded

Ran from December 15 to 17, 2023
Website: https://klujam.at/

With 165 registered participants and 35 games submitted, this was the largest game jam hosted in Klagenfurt to date!
A warm thank you to everyone who participated and/or helped – this event was a big success.

Same as every semester, students, teachers, alumni, and externals all worked together, formed teams, and made various games within 48 hours. We also had many international online participants joining us, e.g. from the Netherlands or even from Brazil.
This time, the topic was “Caution Fragile”, which was interpreted in different ways – from detective stories, board games and, pen-and-paper games, VR games, to classical arcade video games, the results were more varied than ever!

Please feel free to check out all the games here:
https://itch.io/jam/7th-winter-game-jam/entries

A final shoutout to Dynatrace, Plincs, Sensolligent, Fire Totem Games, Dirty Paws Studio, the FTF and the University for making this possible!

Energy-aware Resolution Selection for Per-title Encoding

Our paper has been accepted at ICASSP 2024:

Mohammad Ghasempour (AAU, Austria), Hadi Amirpour (AAU, Austria), Mohammad Ghanbari (University of Essex, UK), and Christian Timmerer (AAU, Austria)

Abstract: With the ubiquity of video streaming, optimizing the delivery of video content while reducing energy consumption has become increasingly critical. Traditional adaptive streaming relies on a fixed set of bitrate-resolution pairs, known as bitrate ladders, for encoding. However, this one-size-fits-all approach is suboptimal for diverse video content. As a result, per-title encoding approaches dynamically select the bitrate ladder for each content. In this paper, we address the pressing issue of increasing energy consumption in video streaming by introducing GreenRes, a novel approach that goes beyond traditional quality-centric resolution selection. Instead, GreenRes considers both video quality and energy consumption to construct an optimal bitrate ladder tailored to the unique characteristics of each video content.
To achieve this, GreenRes, similar to per-title encoding, encodes each video content at various resolutions, each with a set of bitrates. It then establishes a maximum acceptable quality drop threshold and selects resolutions that not only maintain video quality above this threshold, but also minimize energy consumption. Our experimental results demonstrate a 30.82% reduction in energy consumption on average, while ensuring a maximum quality drop of 0.53 Video Multimethod Assessment Fusion (VMAF) points.

,

COST Action Training School in summer 2024 @ ITEC

Radu Prodan/ITEC will organise the CERCIRAS Training School (on behalf of COST Action CA19135) from August 26 – 30, 2024 at the University of Klagenfurt. Details and programs will be available soon.

,

A Webbing Journey @ Game City 2023

Sebastian Uitz and Michael Steinkellner presented their highly anticipated game, “A Webbing Journey,” at the biggest gaming event in Austria, the Game City in Vienna, from October 13th to 15th, 2023. This event was a bustling hub of innovation, bringing together game developers and enthusiasts from near and far. It offered a remarkable opportunity to connect with fellow developers and immerse themselves in a world of fantastic games from other indie developers and big publishers. 
Nestled within the heart of Game City, our booth provided a gateway into the captivating universe of “A Webbing Journey.” Attendees of all ages were invited to step into the eight-legged shoes of our adventurous spider, experiencing the game’s enchanting storyline and unique gameplay mechanics. Our setup, equipped with a laptop, a Steam Deck, and a Nintendo Switch, allowed players to traverse the spider’s wondrous journey, leaving no web unspun. 
One of the event’s highlights was our engaging interview with the FM4 radio channel. This platform provided an excellent opportunity to share the inspiration behind “A Webbing Journey,” explore the game’s captivating features, and show off the newest level in our game. We were thrilled to offer a glimpse into the game’s development process and reveal the magic that makes our project so unique.
,

Hackathon – The Future of Education

 

 

 

 

 

 

From September 19-21, professors and students from the University of Klagenfurt met with FH Villach, FH St. Pölten, and HTL Villach students for the Future of Education Hackathon. During this event, they were split into three groups to work on concepts and solutions in AI, digital platform ecosystems, and gamification to solve various problems and improve the future of education. The gamification group consisted of Samuele and Elias from the master’s program Game Studies and Engineering and Noah and David from the HTL Villach for Informatics. Their supervisors during this event were Mathias Lux, Sebastian Uitz, and Wolfgang Hoi, with expert support from Fabian Schober on the event’s second day.

Throughout the 3 day event, they worked on a solution to utilize gamification to foster the development of skills, knowledge, and competencies and generate a motivating, clear, and exciting journey. Their solution consisted of a gamified study tracker, which tracks the student’s progress, recommends additional courses, and keeps the student motivated via quests and competition. This tracker is combined with the Study Buddy, an AI chatbot to interact with the student more naturally and ask them about their study, presents quests, and helps if the motivation drops. The final step of their solution was the “Job Tinder” which can be used to look for possible jobs in a fun way and which will recommend jobs based on the information gathered via the student tracker.

On the event’s last day, all solutions were pitched to a Jury, and after a lengthy discussion, the gamification team was elected as the winning team.

A video summary of this event is available via the following link. German only.

HACKATHON | The Future Of Education

 

,

VGC conference 2023 successfully concluded!

From September 7-9, nearly 40 participants joined us at AAU Klagenfurt to discuss and theorise about the theme of “Video Game Cultures: Exploring New Horizons.” VGC is a recurring conference reinstated after the lockdowns, coordinated between universities and scholars from the US, UK, Czech Republic, Austria, and Germany. This year’s conference was an organisational collaboration between ITEC and the Department of English at AAU; Felix Schniz and René Schallegger were the local organising chairs. We had the pleasure to not only listen to a wonderful variety of perspectives and approaches from our participants in and around the field of Game Studies but also to cultivate a kind and constructive atmosphere. Many thanks to everyone who helped set up this year’s VGC, especially our sponsors!