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Syllabus

MAT 235 / CS 290I - Computer Imaging, Winter Quarter 2007

CS 290I / MAT 235: 4 Units

Meeting Times:  Tues/Thurs 9:00-10:50am

Location:  Trailer 932 (a.k.a. the Collaborative Technologies Laboratory)

Course web site: http://www.cs.ucsb.edu/~imaging 

This will be used extensively.  Check regularly for announcements, assignments, reading list, helpful web links, etc.

Course mailing list: http://lists.cs.ucsb.edu/mailman/listinfo/imaging

Email: imaging at cs.ucsb.edu forwards to the instructor and TA.  Please use this to turn in assignments and ask course-related questions.

CS Tracks: This course satisfies the Application track.

Instructor

Prof. Matthew Turk

Contact info

Office Hours: By appointment, or drop by any time and try your luck.

Teaching Assistant

Shane Cantrell (shanec at cs.ucsb.edu)
Office Hours: Monday 3-5pm, GSL (CS computer lab on first floor of Engineering I), and by appointment

What is this course about?

Digital images (and video): how they are created, stored, compressed, transmitted, displayed, processed, and used in various applications. This is not a course on computer vision, image processing, or computer graphics - rather, it is a course that is in many ways complementary to these other subjects. It is intended primarily for students without much background in these areas, although students who have some background in these subjects can also learn a good deal of valuable information in this course.

Overview and course objectives

Computer imaging, visual computing, digital imaging.... Whatever one calls it, imaging is becoming increasingly important in computer- and communication-related fields. As computational power and bandwidth increase, more and more use is being made of images, video, and 3D in all sorts of applications and environments. Imaging is central to communications, entertainment, human-computer interaction, medicine, meteorology, space exploration, etc.

There are many types of image sources, imaging technologies, imaging systems, and applications of imaging. It is beneficial for people involved in various aspects of imaging to have a solid foundation in the range of relevant areas. For example, people working in image compression should understand specifically how the images are formed in order to take advantage of inherent constraints or redundancies caused by the imaging process. Similarly, people who design cameras should understand how their engineering decisions will impact people using those cameras for medical imaging or videophones.

In this course, we will explore the digital imaging process, from light and image formation to image processing to display systems. Topics include:

• History and physics of light

• Optics and image formation

• Human vision

• Color

• CCD and CMOS camera technologies

• Image and video formats and standards

• Compression of image and video

• Image displays

• 3D imaging

• Image processing and computer vision

• Medical imaging

• Visualization

By the end of the course, students will understand how digital images are formed in detail, the implications of various imaging technologies and standards, the fundamentals of image processing and related areas, and how imaging systems are used in a variety of applications.

Prerequisites

There are no formal course prerequisites except for consent of instructor. Consent will be given to students who are reasonably familiar with computers, have done some non-trivial programming, know (or at least, used to know) calculus and linear algebra, and are willing to are motivated to learn about new topics. No experience with image or signal processing is assumed.

Note: students who already have extensive image processing or computer vision experience may prefer to sit in on part of this course (talk to the instructor if you're interested in this).

Note: If you're not sure whether or not you've had linear algebra, it is covered in Math 5A - systems of linear equations, vectors in n-dimensional Euclidean space, linear independence, eigenvalues and eigenvectors, etc.  If you're not fresh on this stuff, a brief review will be helpful. There are many useful review sites on the web, such as this one.

Required Text

The Science of Imaging: An Introduction
by Graham Saxby

This should be available at the UCSB bookstore. Also see Taylor & Francis / CRC Press and/or Amazon.com.

Extra readings will also be made available on the course web site.

Sources of Information

There are several sources of information that will be important:

• Lecture: It is important to attend the lectures. If you have to be absent, find out what you missed.

• Lecture notes: Usually available on the web site soon after the class.

• Reading: To be done before the relevant class meeting.

• Course web site: Announcements, extra information, readings, pointers to useful resources....

Grading

Grades will be based on class participation, homework assignments, a project, and a final exam.

The final grade will be based on a balance of homework assignments, two projects, a midterm, and the final exam. The tentative grading breakdown is as follows:

Homework assignments may involve using Matlab (a software package available on the CS department machines).

There will be two projects. The first will be an in-depth summary of a topic relevant to the course. The second will be a group project that implements an imaging application.

Final Exam

Wednesday, March 21st, 8-11am

Policy on Academic Integrity

The university, the department, and this instructor all take the issue of academic integrity very seriously. A university requires an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect. While collaboration is an integral part of many scholarly activities, it is not always appropriate in a course, and it is never appropriate unless due credit is given to all participants in the collaboration. This goes for both ideas and programming or other work.

Here are some examples:

• Allowed:  Discussion of lecture and textbook materials

• Allowed:  Discussion of how to approach assignments, what techniques to consider, what textbook or lecture material is relevant

• Not allowed:  Sharing ideas in the form of code, pseudocode, or solutions

• Not allowed:  Turning in someone else's work as your own, even with that person's permission.

• Not allowed:  Allowing someone else to turn in your work as his or her own.

• Not allowed:  Turning in work without proper acknowledgment of the sources of the content (including ideas) contained within the work.

For some views on academic integrity at UCSB see:

• Academic conduct
• General standards of conduct
• Cheating at UCSB

Summary: Academic integrity is absolutely required - dishonesty (cheating, plagiarism, etc.) benefits no one and will not be tolerated! If you are not sure whether or not something is appropriate, just ask the instructor.

Students with Disabilities

If you are a student with a disability and would like to discuss special academic accommodations, please contact the instructor. In addition, students with temporary or permanent disabilities are referred to the Disabled Students Program (DSP) at UCSB. DSP will arrange for special services when appropriate (e.g., facilitation of access, note takers, readers, sign language interpreters). Please note that it is the student's responsibility to communicate his or her special needs to the instructor, along with a letter of verification from DSP.  

Notes

• If you need a computer account for this course, see Julia Orr (orr at cs.ucsb.edu) in the Computer Science office (Engr I, Room 2106).

• Attendance is expected, since class participation is part of your grade.
• Academic integrity is absolutely required - dishonesty (cheating, plagiarism, etc.) benefits no one and will not be tolerated!
• Please feel welcome to give feedback to the instructor regarding the course material, pace, assignments... whatever you wish. Don't just stew about it - let me know!

Cell phone policy - If it rings, I get to answer it.

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