SATNAC 2007 Conference Papers
Innovation & Regulatory
Title: Enhancing
Telecommunications Business Operations by Implementing
Operational Risk Management in Service Level Management Operations
Authors:
Marco dos Santos (University of
Johannesburg),
Willem Clarke (University of Johannesburg), Andre Nel (University of
Johannesburg)
Abstract:
The need for integrating operational risk management into service level
management for telecommunication service providers is discussed, where
business operations such as described by TeleManagement
Forum’s eTOM are predominantly governed by a service level
agreement. Operational risks that could affect the organization and its
ability to comply with service level agreement requirements can then be
determined and appropriately managed. Further, service level agreement
management and compliance in terms of customer quality of service
definitions and metrics can be better defined and monitored, and
business operations more effectively aligned to the delivery of
customer required services. These needs and benefits also tie in with
the fact that enterprise risk management has become mandatory since the
introduction of regulatory requirements such as the Sarbanes-Oxley act
and Basel II.
Title: **
Asynchronous Video Telephony for the Deaf
Authors:
Zhenyu Ma
(University of the Western Cape),
William Tucker (University of the Western Cape)
Abstract:
The South African Deaf community has very limited telephony options.
They prefer to communicate in sign language, a visual medium. Realtime
video over Internet Protocol is a promising option, but in reality, the
quality is often not enough for the Deaf to be able to understand each
other’s sign language. Furthermore, these applications were
not design specifically for the Deaf. This paper introduces an
asynchronous video chat system to provide better quality video at the
expense of increased latency. It determined a codec/transmission
protocol combination in the laboratory environment and tested it out
with actual Deaf users. This paper will address the results based on
comparison between different codecs, transmission protocol on
asynchronous video communication for the Deaf.
Title: Feature
Normalization in SVM Speaker Verification Using Telephone Speech
Authors:
Thembisile Mazibuko (University of
Cape Town),
Daniel Mashao (University of Cape Town)
Abstract:
Histogram Equalization, traditionally an image processing technique, is
applied in a Support Vector Machine based text-independent speaker
verification system using telephone speech from the NIST 2000 Speaker
Recognition Evaluation. The performance achieved by applying HEQ is
compared to that of common linear feature normalization techniques
Cepstral Mean Subtraction and Mean Variance Normalization. The results
show an improvement in SVM classification performance with HEQ
achieving the best performance. Feature normalization also results in a
reduction of the average SVM training time and the required resources
for storing the SVM speaker models.
Title: Evaluating
compression as an enabler for centralised monitoring and
control of the network and services in a Next Generation Network
Authors:
Fred Otten (Rhodes University),
Barry Irwin (Rhodes University), Hannah Slay (Rhodes University)
Abstract:
With the emergence of Next Generation Networks and a large number of
next generation services, the volume and diversity of information is on
the rise. These networks are often large, distributed and consist of
heterogeneous devices. In order to provide effective centralised
monitoring and control we need to be able to assemble the relevant data
at a central point. This becomes difficult because of the large
quantity of data. We also would like to achieve this using the least
amount of bandwidth, and minimise the latency. This paper investigates
using compression to enable centralised monitoring and control. It
presents the results of experiments showing that compression is an
effective method of data reduction, resulting in up to 93.3 percent
reduction in bandwidth usage for point-to-point transmission. This
paper also describes an architecture that incorporates compression and
provides centralised monitoring and control.
Title: Privacy
Capability Maturity Models within Telecommunications
Organisations
Authors:
Kamil Reddy (University of Pretoria),
Hein Venter (University of Pretoria)
Abstract:
This paper discusses the problem of implementing information privacy
protection at large organisations, particularly telecommunication
service providers. It argues that implementation of organisation-wide
information privacy protection is not solely a technical challenge but
that, in order to be effective, organisational context also
needs to be considered. In order to address organisational context,
policies, processes and people must be taken into account. It is shown
that privacy capability maturity models (PCMMs) are particularly well
suited to doing this. This paper also addresses the absence of detail
with regard to PCMMs by providing a description of the
essential elements of PCMMs. Through a classification of privacy
enhancing technologies (PETs), it further shows that PCMMs, together
with what we term application-level organisational PETs, provide an
optimal solution to the problem.
Title: Reconfigurable
computing for TID Mitigation in Digital Satellite
Circuits
Authors:
Farouk Smith (University of Stellenbosch),
Sias Mostert (University of Stellenbosch)
Abstract:
We present a novel design technique for hardening digital electronic
circuits against Total Ionizing Dose (TID). There is increasing use of
commercial components in space technology and it is important to
recognize that the space radiation environment poses particular risks.
The integrated circuits used for spacecraft electronics must be
resistant to radiation. The amount of threshold voltage shift in MOS
devices caused by ionizing radiation is strongly dependant on the bias
voltage applied to the gate terminal during radiation. The threshold
voltage shift is much less severe under the influence of ionizing
radiation if the gate voltage is 0V with respect to the device
substrate. We have direct control of the bias voltage applied to the
gate terminal, and therefore can control the rate of threshold voltage
shift in the MOS device. Digital electronic circuits can be hardened
against TID effects by selectively ap-plying Modular Redundancy. Double
Modular redundancy is applied, activating one while the other is
inactivated, thereby allowing the modules to anneal during its
“off” cycle. The new design technique provides
greatly improved TID tolerance.