Weekly Projects, November 21

As in the last weeks, choose just one of the projects. You are also most welcome to come up with alternative project ideas yourself, as long as they are related to the issues we are currently discussing.

Project 1

Many tools (like xv) implements lossy jpeg with a possibility of controlling the quality/file size tradeoff. Run such a program with many settings of the trade-off for a fixed image, such as Lena. Plot the SNR as a function of the rate in bits/pixel. Can you verify the 6 db rule?

Project 2

Use uniform scalar quantization combined with entropy coding to encode images and sound. Plot the SNR as a function of the rate in bits/sample or bits/pixel. Can you verify the 6 dB rule?

Project 3

Implement differential coding to do lossy compression using model coefficinet minimizing sum-of-prediction-errors-squared. Combine with a quantizer and use it to compress benchmark sound (or image, if you use a two-dimensional model) files. Plot the SNR as a function of the rate (and comment on preceived quality). Does the performance improve if you split up the file into several smaller blocks and compute an optimal model for each block? Include the overhead of describing the model(s) in the estimate of the code word length. Note that the model parameters must also be quantized somehow!

Project 4

Present adaptive differentital coding (Sayood, pages 273-275). Perform experiments with adaptive differential coding similar to the ones of Project 3.

Project 5

Implement versions of Delta modulation. Plot the SNR as a function as a function of the rate. Comment on the perceived quality. Does it make a difference whether you apply a low pass filter or not to the reconstructed signal? Does your choice of adaptation scheme make a difference?