Initiatives & Trends

Big data has burst into public awareness over the past few years as people have become more and more aware of the massive amount of data being produced by social and scientific activities, and its potential utilization for good or harm. This special issue on "Big Data: Theoretical Aspects", published in Proceedings of the IEEE Jan. 2016, highlights a number of algorithmic approaches that are fundamental to data analysis, both in formulating and solving problems.

Researchers at MIT, New York University, and the University of Toronto have developed a computer system whose ability to produce a variation of a character in an unfamiliar writing system, on the first try, is indistinguishable from that of humans.

Researchers at Texas A&M University have developed a wearable device prototype that can translate American Sign Language into English in real-time. This technology provides a solution to communication problems between deaf and hearing people.

For our November 2015 issue, we cover recent patents granted in the area of source localization. The section below covers patents granted recently for various signal source localization, including audio source localization algorithms, and novel hardware configurations for source localization such as multiple microphone arrays, tight-pitched detector arrays and wireless communication systems.