Multimedia Systems and Applications Laboratory

The Multimedia Systems and Applications Laboratory is a division of the Multimedia Technologies and Telecommunications Research Center, residing under the flagship of the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca - TUCN, Romania. Established in 1998, with the inauguration of the Centre for Multimedia Technologies and Distance Education (TEMPUS project “DIDAPRO”, PHARE Multicountry Project for Distance Education, EU projects COST 229, COST 254, COPERNICUS 1529, INCO-COPERNICUS “INTELLECT”), the laboratory continuously expands its area of expertise and collaborations in the field of applied multimedia technologies for education, healthcare, governance, smart cities and communities.

People

MSAL is a team where means, pedagogical and scientific expertise combine together and expand intra, inter and cross domain in search of new and innovative technologies and applications for an IT&C enhanced society. Looking forward to hearing from you and enable the multimedia world of possibilities – targeting the eFuture together!

Aurel VLAICU, PhD, Professor

is interested in digital image processing, television engineering, multimedia and eLearning solutions, at both education and research levels. He is the advisor of the MSAL group and was involved in key academic management position at the TUCN, such as: the Communication Department’s Director, Vice-dean and Dean of the Faculty of Electronics - ETTI, Telecommunications and Information Technology, Vice-rector for scientific research and University Rector.
Aurel VLAICU

Bogdan ORZA, PhD, Associate Professor

focuses both at education and research level on information management, video and television engineering, digital image processing, multimedia systems and applications, eLearning solutions, database design and programming. He acts as the coordinator of the MSAL group and the director of the TUCN’s Department of Continuing Education and Distance Learning, being actively involved in national and regional coordination of numerous educational projects.
Bogdan ORZA

Șerban Nicolae MEZA, PhD, Associate Professor

integrates his passion for video and multimedia systems and applications into developments and research endeavors for society in general. He has been actively involved in Romanian (national scale) educational projects like www.didatec.ro, www.e-start.ro, www.e-administratie.forhe.ro. As a researcher he is interested mainly in socially-interactive educational platforms, 3D reconstructions and 360° augmented reality videos and applications. He also thinks that polarized vision/imagery provides new opportunities in knowledge extraction.
Serban MEZA

Aurelia CIUPE, PhD, Assistant

is interested in integrated multimedia solutions focusing on immersive environments, digital content processes, learning designs and scheduling problems, at both education and research levels. She is a PhD. candidate in the MSAL group and has been involved as an IT expert and trainer in several Romanian educational projects.
Aurelia CIUPE

Education

Education and the training of students and young specialists plays a major role at MSAL. In order to develop the best curricula we are active partners in top industry lead educational programs like The Microsoft Academy, The Oracle Academy, The Samsung Tech Institute and foster other national and international collaborations with peers.

Bachelor and Master of Science courses

Training courses

Research

Research at MSAL builds on theoretical fundamental with the aim of devising and implementing practical, working solutions to real life problems and is the result of several converging areas, complementing each other in a pluridisciplinarity approach, to achieve full expertise in multimedia technologies and telecommunications engineering. This includes:

  • advanced computer systems for e-services, e-applications and the social web (educational platforms, medical applications, management and remote surveillance applications)
  • information and signal processing systems (data, video, images, multimedia)
  • advanced methods and techniques for image and video acquisition, analysis and processing
  • emerging vision techniques and rendering setups (3D, 360, virtual reality, augmented reality)
  • video engineering and x-TV (IPTV, DTV, etc.) systems.

The following specific long term actions contribute to our dedication concerning societal development through meaningful research:

  • to foster creativity, research abilities and practical skills amongst students and young people
  • to promote and implement in the market the results of the research activity
  • to cultivate and encourage collaboration with other research facilities and centers worldwide through partnerships, affiliations and networks of excellence
  • to identify opportunities in the surrounding environment (locally, regionally, internationally) that will mostly benefit from research and innovation in the field of communication technology and multimedia engineering
  • to encourage researchers to develop both scientific and management skills in order to implement complex projects, under various funding schemes
  • to implement new trainings and study programs according to the innovation in the field and the latest research outcomes
  • to offer consultancy in the field of communication and multimedia application to companies, public institutions, and others.

Services

Professional services

  • indoor and outdoor spaces presentation through touring and immersive reality
    Concepts: panoramic hardware, panoramic photography and rendering, panoramic virtual tours, motion and gesture control, virtual walkthroughs, web-based visualization and access,
  • product presentation using studio set-ups
    Concepts: studio lighting setup, photographic and video shooting, photographic and video post-processing,
  • project portofolio presentation and branding
    Concept: transmedia concept and scenario mapping, graphic modeling, photographic and video capturing, graphic/ photographic/ video post-processing and editing,
  • events recording and presentation using conference and capturing equipments
    Concepts: video recording, web-based conference systems with panoramic cameras, video and photographic post-processing and editing,
  • process modeling for Government web-based platforms
    Concepts: document management, software modeling,
  • laboratory-built prototypes for product-oriented software applications in the areas: smart cities infrastructure visual representation, sustainable health management and caring
    Concepts: SMART-TV application development and testing.

Educational services

  • blended learning infrastructure for academic activities
    Concepts: e – learning platform access, access to cloud-based services that support learning activities (document storage, online text and word processing, online activity management, communication dashboard and instant messaging),
  • library resources in the field of multimedia technologies
    Concepts: content management systems, multimedia databases: development and configuration, graphics, video post-processing, photographic techniques,
  • learning and informing sessions in multimedia-related technologies: internship, workshops, presentations
    Concepts: fully equipped workstations with network access, co-working environment, industry invited speakers,
  • consultancy in course and instructional design using blended learning IT&C tools
    Concepts: e-learning culture development, gamified learning scenarios, digital tools mapping to support student collaborative activities, project-oriented scenarios for task accomplishment based on industry (software) practices.

Collaborations

Academic Partners

  • Babeș Bolyai University
  • Politehnica University of Timișoara
  • Technical University of Iasi
  • Transilvania University of Brașov

Technology Partners

  • Microsoft Romania
  • Oracle Romania
  • Samsung Romania

Projects

National projects

Title Period Budget Position
National eAdministration readiness in Romania 2012-2015 70k EUR Coordinator
DidaTec – Lifelong learning and training for higher education teachers in the technical sciences and engineering fields 2010-2013 4,5 million EUR Coordinator
eSTART – Multi-regional program of master studies in e-Activities domain 2010-2013 2,5 million EUR Coordinator
Development and support of multidisciplinary postdoctoral programmes in major technical areas of national strategy of Research - Development - Innovation - 4D-POSTDOC 2010-2013 4,5 million EUR Coordinator
Proiect PNII – 12119 Platformă Inteligentă Colaborativă pentru Dezvoltarea şi Susţinerea Mecanismelor Intreprinderilor Virtuale – INVITE 2008-2011 20K EUR Partner
Proiect PNII – 11019 - Sistem integrat de management a informaţiilor medicale utilizând standardul HL7 - SIMIMED 2007-2010 450K EUR Coordinator
Proiect CEEX – Modele și indicatori de evaluare a calității cercetării științifice în universități în contextul societății bazate pe cunoaștere - CEREX 2006-2008 120K EUR Partner
Proiect CEEX - Exploatarea proceselor cognitive relevante în designul şi evaluarea softurilor educaţionale 2006-2008 32K EUR Partner
Proiect CEEX – Sistem de Control şi Monitorizare la Distanţă a Clădirilor Inteligente – COMODICI 2006-2008 260K EUR Coordinator
TELEORALTUM - Sistem informatic integrat de diagnostic şi monitorizare a tumorilor ora-maxilor-faciale 2004-2006 15K EUR Partner
CNCSIS – Sistem integrat de management si comunicare pentru educatie la distanta - SIMCED 2004-2005 10K EUR Partner

International projects

Title Period Budget Position
FP6-2004-IST-2 „KALEIDOSCOPE – Network of Excellence”, Contract 507838/2004 2004-2007 - Partner
Minerva NETCAMPUS – Improving Open and Distance Learning in a Network 2000-2002 - Partner
COST 276 - Information and Knowledge Management for Integrated Media Communication 2001-2004 - Partner
COST 254 - Intelligent Processing and Facilities for Communication Terminals 1997-2000 - Partner
INCO-COPERNICUS “INTELLECT” – Intelligent Learning Environment for Course Telematics 1998-2001 - Partner
PHARE ETF/97/VET/0085 - Development of Distance education course modules in ECAD 1997-1999 - Partner
PHARE Multy-Country Programme for Distance Education - ROMANIA - “Development of Distance Education in Central and Eastern Europe” 1996-1999 - Partner
COST 229- Digital Signal Processing and Communications 1993-1996 - Partner

Contact

Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
Multimedia Systems and Applications Laboratory
15 Daicoviciu st, room 431
Phone: +40 264 401317, +40 264 401309 | Fax: +40 264 401399
http://msal.utcluj.ro