Sensors SI on Emotional AI Applications in Communications Networks

We are pleased to announce that we are now accepting submissions in an MDPI Sensors Special Issue entitled "Emotional AI and its Applications in Communications Networks"

Details on the SI can be found in the following link.

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/E_AI

Authors of distinguished articles in AffectiCom'21 will be invited to submit extended versions to the SI for consideration.

Keynote on Computational Human Sensing

The second keynote in AffectiCom'21 will be presented by Ajjen Joshi.

Title Computational Human Sensing: Applications of Face, Gesture and Affect Analysis and Synthesis

Abstract Computational analyses of human face and gesture signals encompass a myriad of challenging research problems involving computer vision, machine learning and human computer interaction. In this talk, I will present work on the following challenges: a) accurately estimating human eye-gaze signals for inferring visual attention, and developing fast, hands-free, eye-gaze-based text-entry methods; b) classifying hand and body gestures along with the temporal localization of their occurrence in a continuous stream, with a focus on personalization; c) recognizing emotional and cognitive states from faces, with applications ranging from detecting driver drowsiness and frustration to facial expressivity levels in people with Parkinson’s Disease; and d) synthesizing data in input as well as feature space in order to alleviate the challenges of data paucity and class imbalance. I will discuss contemporary research challenges in the field of affective computing and possible future directions in this exciting realm.

Bio Ajjen Joshi is a Senior Research Scientist at Affectiva, where he works on various problems in human perception and affective computing. He finished his PhD from Boston University in 2018, where he was a member of the Image and Video Computing research group. He graduated with a BA from Connecticut College in 2012, where he majored in Computer Science and Architectural Studies.

Webpage: http://bit.ly/2LD5sKR; Google Scholar: http://bit.ly/38sAEFx

Keynote on Designing Standards for Empathic Technology

The first keynote in AffectiCom'21 will be presented by Ben Bland.

Title How should we Design Standards for Ethics in Empathic Technology? An Introduction to IEEE P7014

Abstract As part of The IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems, a working group has been formed to write a global standard for the ethics of systems that aim to measure, simulate or respond to affective states. The group Chair, Ben Bland, will explain the proposed scope and objectives of the P7014 draft standard, and cover some of the key issues being considered by this group of global experts. Together we will explore some of the challenges of ensuring high ethical standards in affective systems, to feed into the ongoing conversation in this space.

Bio Ben Bland is Chair of the IEEE P7014 Standard for Ethical considerations in Emulated Empathy in Autonomous and Intelligent Systems. Ben has a broad background in digital media & technology, as a strategist, operational leader and creative communicator.

LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3owcn6R; Twitter: https://bit.ly/35pfWUU

Demo on Real-Time, Privacy-Preserving Motion Detection

The first demo in AffectiCom'21 will be presented by Qammer H. Abbasi. 

Abstract Substantial inferences about affect can be made by detecting human movements. This demo shows how real-time movement detection can be achieved through RF-sensing, which has shown great promise in detecting human movements in a privacy-preserving manner. USRP Software Defined Radios (SDRs) are used in this demo to extract the channel state information from a continuous stream of multiple subcarriers. The channel state information describes the signal propagation between the transmitter and receiver of wireless communication. The different amplitudes observed in the channel state information during communication can be used to infer human movements.

Bio Qammer H. Abbasi is with the James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Scotland. He received his Ph.D. degree in electronic and electrical engineering from the Queen Mary University of London. He is currently a senior lecturer (associate professor) with the School of Engineering, University of Glasgow. He has been mentoring several undergraduate, graduate students, and postdocs. Dr. Abbasi has a research portfolio of around £5 million and contributed to 10 books and more than 300 leading international technical journals and peer reviewed conference papers, and received several recognitions for his research. He is a Senior Member of IEEE. His research interests include antennas, Bio-Electromagnetics, nano communication,  Terahertz sensing, internet of things, biomedical applications of millimeter and terahertz communication, wearable and flexible sensors, antenna interaction with the human body, Implants, body-centric wireless communication issues, wireless body sensor networks, non-invasive health care solutions, physical layer security for wearable/implant communication.

Webpage: https://bit.ly/2JLhnFo; Google Scholar: https://bit.ly/2JFWnAf

AffectiCom'21: Call for Papers

The Workshop on Applications of Affective Sensing in Communication Networks (AffectiCom’21, https://www.affecticom.net/) will be co-located with the IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC, https://icc2021.ieee-icc.org/), taking place in Montreal during June 14-18, 2021. 

The aim of this workshop is to streamline research on affective sensing applications in communication networks. It further comes in response to a steadfastly growing trend in communication context both to facilitate cost-effective sensing, and to utilize the user’s affect to improve the network operation. These include the use of ISM-band equipment to contactlessly capture human movement, pose, breathing rate, etc., and infer affect whether in standalone or a multimodal manner, i.e., with or without video/audio feeds. Another example is the automating QoE capture to improve the networked service delivery.

Toward this aim, the workshop will span the following topics:

• Affect discretization and modeling
• Affect emulation
• Affect synthesis
• Affective sensing for crowds
• Applications of affective sensing in
• AR/VR communications
• Connected vehicles
• Crowd control and management
• Education
• eHealth
• Network management
• Smart cities
• AI/ML applications in affective sensing
• Architectures for affective sensing
• Fusion in multi-modal sensing techniques
• Generating affective sensing datasets
• Qualifying affective sensing solutions

Important Dates

Submission deadline:	January 20, 2021 February 19, 2021
Notifications:	February 20, 2021 March 22, 2021
Camera Ready:	March 1, 2021 March 31, 2021
Workshop:	June 18, 2021

Submissions and Proceedings

We seek original contributions that have neither been previously published nor are currently under review. Authors can submit a full paper (up to 6 pages) that describes complete works in a self-contained manner with the intent to give an oral presentation. For style and submission guidelines, kindly refer to the author on submission guidelines on the IEEE ICC'21 website: https://icc2021.ieee-icc.org/. Accepted works will be accessible through the IEEE Xplore portal.

Program Committee

Qammer Abbasi, University of Glasgow

Mervat Abulkheir, German University in Cairo

Mai Ali, Alfaisal University

Sarah Adel Bargal, Boston University

Mehrab Bin Morshed, Georgia Institute of Technology

Antonio Fernández Caballero, University of Castilla-La Mancha

M. Fatima Domingues, University of Aveiro

Tahir Emre Kalayci, Virtual Vehicle Research GmbH

‪Vojislav B Mišić, Ryerson University

Ayman Radwan, Instituto de Telecomunicações

Siddharth Siddharth, University of California San Diego

Alessandro Tonacci, National Research Council of Italy (CNR)

Areej Al-Wabil, Alfaisal University

Organizers

Abd-Elhamid M. Taha, Alfaisal University
Najah Abu Ali, United Arab Emirates University

Ajjen Joshi, Affectiva

Shuai Han, Harbin Institute of Technology

AffectiCom is part of ICC 2021 in Montreal!

We are pleased to announce that AffectiCom'21 will be held as part of ICC'21 in Montreal. The call for papers can be found here.