FIRST SIX-MONTHLY PERIODIC REPORT

Front page
•	Full name of the Centre of Excellence  
Számítástechnikai és Automatizálási Kutató Intézet MTA SZTAKI
Computer and Automation Institute, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
(address: Budapest, Kende utca 13-17. Hungary H-1111,)
telephone:+36-1-2096143  fax:+36-1-4667503 email: haidegger@sztaki.hu 
•	Report title: The  first six-monthly periodic report
•	Reporting period:  from 01. March, 2001 to 31. August, 2001
•	Report issued on:  28. October, 2001 
•	Contract number:  ICA1-CT-2000-70025
•	Project start date and duration:   01. March, 2001    for 3 years
•	EU funding:  600 000 Euros
•	Project title: Technology and Science for the Information Society,  Institute SZTAKI as a Centre of Excellence 
•	Acronym:  HUN-TING
•	Keywords: Computer Science & Control, Information & Communication Technology,  Intelligent Automation
•	Name of the Co-ordinator: Géza  Haidegger

Activity progress report 

MTA SZTAKI was fulfilling its tasks basically as much as possible according to the submitted plans and to the accepted contract version. We invited, selected and hosted foreign research experts to work with our colleagues on various themes related to our activities. We had the chance to visit other institutions and deepen our co-operation with international scientific partners. 

Five visiting professors started their work during the first 6 months, out of whom, two professors had already concluded their stay before the end of August, 2001, and three professors continued to work overlapping the reporting periods. 

We have planned, organised, prepared and conducted a large number of workshops and conferences. They were successful both for us, organisers, and also for the participants. Our Institute’s national and international appreciation has been risen by these actions.

According to the plans, our laboratories purchased durable equipment hardware and software in order to meet the requirements of research co-operation envisaged.

Valuable research results, joint publications and promising research plans together with joint research project proposals are the direct outcome of the first six-month-period.  

Though there was a slow start at the beginning of the project, now we are operating at the speed desired. The reason of the slow start-up is  as follows:
The project-contract was signed after a rather long period, and we were told not to spend and not to invite visitors before the signed contract was received. Our invited scientists had to be rejected for later dates, and it became a major problem both for us, inviting Institute, and also for the guests who had to reorganise their schedules. As active university professors, those, who finally could accept our invitation and could afford spending months with us, had a great difficulty to re-arrange educational semester teaching schedules. 
•	The second reason was due to the unsettled national and international regulations regarding EU and other European citizens to complete research tasks at Hungarian institutions. 
•	Our project proposal had initially been submitted according to our interpretation of the call, and the reviewers found it worth for funding. During the long contract negotiation phase, many new requirements were introduced, and our workpackages had to be reshaped, reorganised, integrated and combined. Naturally, all those planned action dates for events, such as conferences and workshops, and visiting dates were already outdated and passed when we received the signature on the contract. Thus the achieved results are based on new actions and events.
•	Naturally, we, i.e. our staff had also to experience all the new features of managing this special project with special characteristics. 

Now, we are confident that from now on, we will not encounter any more serious obstacles or problems, and even if a new problem showed up, our Project Management  would be able to handle it smoothly.  

Workpackage progress report for Workpackage No.: A

Project Management and co-ordination 

•	Objectives and planned actions:
The objectives were to direct and co-ordinate all activities to successfully meet the goals of the Centre. From the beginning of the past year, all our actions have been influenced by the general and specific aims of the EU, through the Centre of Excellence programme.
•	Problems encountered:
The problems encountered were analysed and solved in due time, in order to not hinder other actions or activities.
•	Results: 
We have implemented a project management structure, and trained the relevant personals on the specific issues of the Centre of Excellence project. We have defined the specific financial processes and their handling mechanism for all foreseen CoE activities. 

•	Publications and papers:
We have participated in training courses and workshops for promoting EU5th Framework actions, on preparing proposals, furthermore, on running and managing them.

Workpackage progress report for Workpackage No.: B

Exploitation and dissemination, twinning and multimedia/videoconferencing system to support co-operation

•	Objectives and planned actions:
The objectives are to make the best use of the visiting scientists’ stay, and to gain a lot of benefit from their visits. By implementing video-conferencing and new equipment for multimedia, we planned to introduce the most up-to-date technology for assisting these activities. 
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•	Problems encountered:

•	Results: 
We have implemented a video-conferencing environment for accessing international channels with high bandwidth.
We organised and participated in a video-conferencing project together with an Austrian Technology Center for High-Speed Cutting  (metal-parts manufacturing).
We purchased a multimedia course-ware development software package to promote the development of multimedia educational materials. 
We have prepared posters and slide-shows for demonstrating our Centre of Excellence at numerous exhibitions, at universities when trying to attract young  undergraduates and postgraduates for research employment. 

•	Publications and papers:
The results are displayed on the web by each Laboratory and Department carrying out the tasks. We are developing a detailed information system on our web site to enable fast and direct access to the most recent results of each of our laboratories

Workpackage progress report for Workpackage No.: C

Foreign visitors at the SZTAKI, virtual laboratories

•	Objectives and planned actions:
The objectives are to invite foreign experts, and make their visits very useful both for them and for the hosting partners. Five professors started their work and two professors concluded their visits, but three professors have carried on overlapping the reporting periods. The first visiting professors have their reports annexed to this periodic report.
Prof. Ronald Tetzlaf visited us from Frankfurt University by joining the CNN Laboratory (ref.: WP3), and Prof. Serge Monchaud from INSA, Rennes, worked at the CIM Laboratory (ref. WP.8). Dr. H.Hjalmarsson visited us from Stockholm, Dr. D.Stokits from Bremen and R.A. Sheidl came from Vienna. 
Virtual laboratories have been developed by implementing new features to our labs, and by starting their integration with other partners’ laboratories.  
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•	Problems encountered: 
It was a problem to delay the visiting time of the invited professors, before the contract had been signed. Several professors could not re-schedule their visits, and had to abandon the plan to come and work with us. 
•	Results: 
We have opened the invitation and advertised it to many partner institutions. We identified the workplan with those we had selected for acceptance.
At the beginning and at the end of the visits we organised open seminars, inviting our academic and industrial partners as well, to take part in the meetings.
We have prepared posters and slide-shows for demonstrating our Centre of Excellence at several exhibitions, universities when trying to attract young undergraduates and postgraduates for research employment. 

The first two visiting professors have their reports at the annex of this periodic report.

•	Publications and papers:
Dr. R. Tetzlaf  had already finalised 2 papers, that were the outcome of his visit, the other scientists will produce their joint scientific papers  at a later date.
The results of their visits are in the form of joint research proposals, as well. There are already 2 proposals that result directly from the joint work at the SZTAKI.

l
Workpackage progress report for Workpackage No.: D

Organising Workshops, Conferences and Scientific Meetings

•	Objectives and planned actions:
The driving force for this workpackage is to enable the widespread dissemination of the ideas, theories, methods and technologies. We had planned a large number of activities like this in most technical workpackages. 
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•	Problems encountered:
The conferences and workshops we listed in the original proposal were already completed by the time we received the signed contract. 

During the first six-month-period we had other scientific events, workshops and conferences. Those are enumerated in the updated planning sheet, too.

•	Results: 
We had an international Scientific Workshop and Training Course on Control Science - and its future, on 1-2, March, DYCOMANS. 21 foreigners were present at the meeting.
On 2-3. May, we organised the 3rd Workshop on Distributed Education, 
On 1O. May, the CIM Laboratory organised a Training Seminar on BATCH Processing Technologies. 
On 24-25. May, Workshop on Operational Research was organised.
Between 4 and 7. June, we hosted a major international event the 14th International Conference on Industrial & Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence & Expert Systems IEA/AIE-2001. All the continents were represented, and there were 31 conference sessions to manage the presentation of the 100+ papers. Prof. L. Monostori and his colleagues, as planned in WP7 edited the preprints and the proceedings of this conference. 
June 7. was the date for hosting the Workshop for Software Quality Across Different Regions. WP-11.
From 1O to 14. June, we were co-organising the IB_JEP_-14192 Symposium on Euroconform Complex Retraining of Specialists in Road Transport.
Our international video-conferencing event was organised to tele-participate at the famous HSC, Conference in Steyr, Austria. On 2O-22. June, High-speed machining was the hot topic, and the Hungarian on-line participation was highly acknowledged by Austrian and German partners. WP B+D+2+8 are referenced.
WP8 was involved in the preparation and organisation of the IFAC MIM Conference, running between 2-4 August. The proceedings of this major conference was edited by Prof. G. Kovács from the CIM Research Laboratory.  

•	Publications and papers:
Books, preprints, proceedings, and other documents related to our scientific events are available. Most of the events are stored on videotapes as well, and there were many pictures taken for electronic, multimedia reuse. The presentations are done in Microsoft PowerPoint slides, and these files are stored for later re-use

Workpackage progress report for Workpackage No.: E

Visits to another research centre

•	Objectives and planned actions:
The objective was to share the ideas and research results with colleagues around Europe. For deeper and longer consultations, it is not enough to utilise video-conferencing, but personal visits are needed.
Visits in this period: The director and a deputy-director of the SZTAKI took part in the ERCIM top-level Conference and working meeting in Stockholm, May 29-June 1, attending alternate sessions.
•	Gábor Ivanyos spent a month visiting Eindhoven University from mid-June till mid-July.
•	Dr. József Váncza participated at an ERCIM working group meeting in Prague between 17-20. June.
•	Other colleagues, too, had chance to visit EU universities and research places for shorter or longer periods, but their financing was not based on Centre of Excellence funds.
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•	Problems encountered:
Several long-term visits were planned, but till now not all have been realised, due to changes in the starting time. Short visits are very often taken for most of the Laboratories, to widen the co-operation and run joint projects, but the needs for the trips come up very rapidly, and thus they cannot be planned long ahead. 

•	Results: 
Intense activity exists between our Institute and other institutes.

Some members of our Laboratories are often invited by foreign partners to join for preparing new project proposals.

Annexes

Final reports of visiting scientists,
Reports of visits to foreign sites. 
Reports of scientific/technical WPs –where appropriate 

Feature Extraction in Epilepsy by Cellular Nonlinear Networks (CNN)
Final Report
by PD Dr. Ronald Tetzlaff

My expectations concerning the working conditions in the Analogic and Neural Computing Laboratory, Computer and Automation Research Institute, of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest, have been significantly excelled. I found perfect working conditions and help in an excellently organized institute, which is a real “Center for Excellence“. Besides several fruitful and interesting discussions we have started research collaboration, published a paper, and sent a pre-proposal (see enclosure) to the “Future and Emerging Technologies“ programme of the European Commission. Especially, the below research results  described in short  show that a significant improvement has been achieved for the realization of an epilepsy warning and preventing system.

The analysis of invasive recorded brain electrical activity (BEA) for the realization of an epilepsy warning and preventing system for epileptic seizures has been treated between May and September 2001. As outlined in the enclosed working plan, the aim of these investigations is to analyze and verify recently introduced CNN algorithms for the extraction of BEA features. It is important to note that these features should reflect undergoing changes in the brain’s state of a patient, which could be regarded as precursors of an impending seizure occurring several minutes before the seizure onset. The considered CNN algorithms have been analyzed for several recordings on 4 patients. The obtained results are discussed in short in the following space. Intermediate results were presented at BIONICS Workshop  (June 19-21, 2001) in Brussels and were published in the proceedings of the workshop. A manuscript giving a detailed discussion of all results is under preparation and will be submitted to Physical Review Journal for a publication as a regular paper.

Prediction of BEA by Using CNN

A discrete-time CNN (DTCNN) with non linear delay-type templates has been considered for the prediction of BEA. Thereby, for each of the successive data segments autonomous networks with the nearest neighborhood interactions have been determined in a supervised optimization procedure. The DTCNN have the structure of the used electrodes and the elements of the feedback templates, which are nonlinear functions of the cell outputs, have been respresented by third order polynoms. The detection of distinct changes of a DTCNN predictor is the aim of these investigations. Therefore, the parameter of the DTCNN, which are the polynomial coefficients of the feedback functions, have been analyzed for successive signal segments. The first results obtained from the data of one patient have been presented in the above mentioned BIONICS workshop. Meanwhile, the analysis has been performed for the complete databasis leading to the following results: Distinct fluctuations of the coefficients of the second and third order terms can be observed only some minutes before the onset of an epileptic seizure for two patients. These fluctuations, which do not occur in any other recording without a seizure, could be regarded as precursors of an impending seizure and simply detected using a threshold function.
 
Considering the results obtained for the recordings of the other 2 patients, such fluctuations occur at the seizure onset for one patient, whereas hereby the recording of BEA has been started shortly before the onset. Therefore, it is an open question in this case whether such fluctuations occur some minutes before the seizure onset. Regarding the results obtained for another patient, it seems to be that these fluctuations are not relevant. It is planned to verify these new promising exciting results for recordings of other patients to be later used   under practical circumstances.

The Pattern Detection Algorithm

The aim of these investigation is the determination of an algorithm for the detection of certain binary BEA patterns occuring in successive signal segments. Thereby, distinct changes of the frequency of occurences of such patterns have been of particular interest. Firstly, binary BEA signal segments have been obtained for different threshold level values   l = {-1,....,1}, whereas one signal segment denotes the initial condition of a standard CNN having linear weight functions. Then, as outlined in [1], the frequency of occurence of all possible 512 patterns with 3 x 3 binary values have been determined for successive signal segments considering a certain electrode of a multichannel recording. While first results have been presented in [1] meanwhile the analysis has been performed for the complete data basis leading the following results. In all cases, distinct changes of the frequency of occurence which can be observed only some minutes before the onset of an epileptic have been detected. Certain patterns occur frequently not exceeding a maximum time distance between the occurence of two successive patterns. Only some minutes before the onset of an epileptic seizure, these binary pattern do not occur again, exceeding the maximum time distance which has been observed until then.  A CNN algorithm has been developed and tested for the detection of such distinct changes for the anticipation of epileptic seizures.

[1]	Tetzlaff, R., Weiß, D., and Kunz, R.:
Anticipation of Epileptic Seizures by Cellular Neural Networks (CNN) Algorithms?; Proc. of the Bionics workshop, Brussels 2001, in print

Report on the Visit of Expert Dr. Dragan Stokic
at the Computer and Automation Research Institute, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, MTA SZTAKI,  as a Centre of Excellence  titled by the EU according to the EU contract ICAI-CT-2000-70025

Period: 20.08.2001 - 02.10.2001

Report done by: Dr. Dragan Stokic 

October, 2001

1.	Introduction

1.1. Background
Dr. Stokic was invited to visit the Computer and Automation Research Institute, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, MTA SZTAKI, as a Centre of Excellence, by Dr. George L. KOVÁCS, Head of the CIM Research Laboratory at SZTAKI. During the last few years SZTAKI and ATB (Institute for Applied System Technology Bremen, Germany) have established a co-operation and information exchange. Currently they jointly run, together with other partners, the IST project REDEST, on requirements engineering for embedded software. 
The  visit was prepared by Prof. George Kovács and Mr. Géza Haidegger.
Mr. Stokic spent 6 weeks  at SZTAKI , from 20.08.2001up to 02.10.2001.
1.2. Goal of the report 
The goals of this report are:
-	to present the work done in the scope of Mr. Stokic’ visit 
-	to indicate  the main results of the visit
-	to present future plans for co-operation between SZTAKI and ATB
	to evaluate the visit and summarise the main lessons  learnt   

2. Objectives of the visits
The objectives of the visit were:
-	to learn and to understand the local/national solutions, requirements, specific needs,
-	to benefit the scientific progress of  SZTAKI, 
-	to implement prospective, new disciplines at SZTAKI
-	to influence the birth of joint research and development results,
-	to generate new research and development ideas and projects,
-	to prepare new research proposals, especially for submission to the EU under the 5th and the following Framework Programmes,
-	to help in the dissemination of the results,
-	to take part in the preparation of  referenced, cited  publications,
-	to deliver scientific, technical presentations.
In doing this Mr Stokic was obliged to act according to the rules of the EU, in specific to accept the terms of the EU’s Centre-of-Excellence Contract with SZTAKI.

3.Task Execution
The plan to achieve these objectives was defined in agreement between Dr. Stokic and representatives of SZTAKI Prof. Kovács and Mr. Haidegger (see Appendix).
The work was carried out to a large extent according to this plan: 
•	Dr Stokic got acquainted with the technical environment at SZTAKI and with the help of (junior) employees of CIM Research Laboratory has used it for his work 
•	Using written material (reports, publication, etc.) provided by the host and based on discussions with Dr. Peter Inzelt, Director of  SZTAKI, Prof. Kovács and Mr. Haidegger and other researchers at the Laboratory, Dr Stokic learnt  about the organisational structure, current research topics and the projects running at SZTAKI, specifically on themes   and projects addressed by the CIM Research Laboratory. 
•	He learnt about the local/national solutions, requirements, and specific needs based on discussions with  experts at SZTAKI,   as well as based on direct contacts and discussions with experts from several Hungarian companies: LANEX, RADAINT, INDUSTRIEPLAN etc. 
•	On 23. August, 2001 Dr Stokic made an initial presentation on the expertise and research themes, specifically on knowledge management, Internet based solutions for tele-working and on SW engineering themes.
•	Several discussions on common research subjects with  experts at  SZTAKI were carried out, and based on these discussions, a  set of common research themes and specific projects were defined.
•	The  common proposals to be prepared for submission to the EU under the 5th and the following, 6th    Framework Programme were elaborated where Dr. Stokic played an active role in contacting the Hungarian industrial partners and defining their interest and roles in the future projects.  
•	Dr Stokic particularly got acquainted with the SZTAKI’s current EU project XPERTS   by participating in  the general meeting and visit to the Hungarian industrial partner MECOF.
•	Discussions on possible common publications within the common RTD activities were carried out.
•	The ideas for future co-operation were discussed with several experts from SZTAKI.  
•	The strategy to help in the dissemination of the results of different projects was elaborated as well.
•	On 2. October, 2001 a short presentation of the results of common work during the visit and discussion on the plans for future co-operation was made.

4. Main results
The main results of the visits can be summarised as follows:
-	Mr. Stokic learnt the main Hungarian national approaches in the organisation of the research area, including the main funding schemes and rules. He got acquainted with the main technical subjects addressed by SZTAKI and specifically by CIM Research Laboratory.
-	Collaboration between SZTAKI (CIM Research Laboratory) and ATB on several RTD themes was agreed upon: knowledge management, BEP (Best Enterprise Practice) approaches, and software engineering. 
-	Based on discussions, the CIM Research Laboratory decided to enter  in the area of BEP approaches to support SMES (Small and Medium Enterprises) specifically in the area of new collaboration models among SMEs in the recycling domain and in the area of   knowledge based systems for after sales support.    
-	Two common proposals for the October IST call were prepared: one supporting introduction of new organisation forms and corresponding IST solutions at SMEs in the recycling domain and one on the supporting SMEs in introducing Internet knowledge based systems for solving customers and production problems.
-	Co-operation on the knowledge management RTD topics will be established specifically over collaboration between the XPERTS project in which SZTAKI is taking part and the PICK project in which ATB is acting as the RTD partner.  
-	Co-operation on the advanced approaches to support after sale services is agreed upon as well.
-	Further co-operation on SW engineering themes will be carried out in the scope of the common REDEST project, and common publications and dissemination activities are defined.  
-	Possibilities to establish Virtual Laboratory between ATB and SZTAKI are defined. The idea is to provide complementarity in expertise between two sides. They will be established in the first place in the scope of knowledge management issues where possibilities to introduce SZTAKI experts in the current ATB projects is likely to be realised in the near future.   
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5. Future Plans
The long-term activities on future collaboration include:
-	Further projects, especially common proposals in the frame of the next (last) Calls in the 5th Framework Programme, as well as preparation for the common proposal in the 6th Framework Programme. The collaboration within the Best Practice networks and the networks of expertise on knowledge management  will be established.
-	Further exchange of visits of experts between ATB and SZTAKI, specifically the visits of experts from SZTAKI to ATB-Bremen within the current and future joint projects are planned. 
-	Continuous exchange on the research results will be established by a regular exchange of publications, as well as by preparation of common publications.  
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6. Conclusions and Lessons Learnt 
It can be summarised as follows:
-	The visit was very useful for both Dr. Stokic and his Institute (ATB-Bremen) and SZTAKI to ensure their further co-operation.
-	The experts at SZTAKI have openly presented all their results and enabled the visitor to fully get acquainted with the current practice at the Institute and to learn about the main RTD results.
-	The conditions provided by SZTAKI (organisation of the visit, accommodation etc.,) were excellent.
-	The technical infrastructure  provided  at SZTAKI is optimal for   visits like this.     
Based on the experience gained during this visit and the results achieved,  it can be concluded as follows:
-	Visits like this appear to be very useful for establishing tight collaborations  among RTD organisations in Europe.
-	It would be useful to make visits in both directions possible within the CEO, i.e., to provide support for the experts from the Enlargement countries to visit organisations in the EU in order to further support co-operation between European organisations.    
-	A higher flexibility in planning the visits could be beneficial; since periods of 6 weeks are relatively long for any expert to be away from his offices,. Allowing breaking the visits  into two or more shorter periods would be useful. 

Appendix: 
Workplan for the Visiting Expert,   Dr. Dragan Stokic during his stay at the Computer and Automation Research Institute,  Hungarian Academy of Sciences, MTA SZTAKI,  as a Centre of Excellence   titled by the EU according to the EU contract ICAI-CT-2000-70025

Six-week-visit: August, 2001 – 3O, September, 2001

21-23. August 
•	Getting acquainted with the technical environment at SZTAKI
•	Learning about the current research themes and specific projects running at SZTAKI
•	Start learning and understanding the local/national solutions, requirements, specific needs
•	23. August Initial presentation of the expertise and research themes
•	Initial discussion on common research  themes with experts at SZTAKI

 24-31. August Preparation of the set of possible common research themes and specific projects
•	Discussion on possible research projects with experts at  SZTAKI 
•	Decision on the  common proposals to be prepared, especially for submission to the EU under the 5th and the following Framework Programmes
•	Discussion on possible common publications 
 
  31. August  – 14. September
•	Preparation of the initial version of the common proposal(s)
•	Discussion on the initial version of the common proposal(s) with experts at SZTAKI 

 14-30. September Preparation of the common proposal(s) and ideas for future co-operation  
•	Defining the strategy to help in the dissemination of the results
•	Preparation of  common publications

 27. September   - 2. October 2  

Presentation of the results of common work during the visit 
•	Presentation and discussion of the plans for future co-operation.
•	Development/preparation of the report/deliverable for the EU
•	Harmonisation of the report

Final report for the visit of  Serge MONCHAUD Visiting Professor 
hosted by  the Hungarian Centre of Excellence ( MTA SZTAKI Budapest ) 
12. July – 28. August 2001 (EU contract ICAI-CT-2000-70025)
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Introduction : It is an honour for me to be chosen among the first EU visiting experts in the frames of the HUN-TING  (Technology and Science for the Information Technology )  recently signed with the EU. It seems to me that my traditional and ancient links with SZTAKI explain and justify this choice. It could be an opportunity to place them in the frames of  ”confirming the international role of community research“.
According to the previously accepted workplan, the CIM Research Laboratory (Host) and me put our efforts on the following tasks:

1- Deep study of the scientific progress of the host:
With the help of the host institution library we selected more than 30 papers and references showing the recent direction of the research at the host institution. Especially according to the WP 7 on Intelligent Manufacturing processes and Systems of the HUN-TING contract, great attention was paid to the previous works of late Dr Joe Hatvany at MTA SZTAKI-- who was presented in the contract document as one of the world fathers of IMS concepts .
 
2- Prospective implementation and birth of joint development ideas and projects:
After bilateral discussions with Prof. KOVÁCS - head of the CIM Research Laboratory and Mr. Géza Haidegger - chairman of the HUN-TING project, we have selected 5 possible themes of joint work: a-Embedded Software, b-Web business and Web Telepresence, c-Bidding and Selling, d- Designing of  new CNC Machine Tools and  e -Virtual Engineering .  

3- Preparation of new research proposals, especially for submission to the EU. 
The recent past of the contracts signed by the host Laboratory showed the weakness of the French partnership and /or the necessity to increase the number of Hungarian enterprises involved in contracts like this. We have used my stay to propose some initiatives to change these facts in a positive way. Especially, by some contacts with Hungarian firms with strong French implication, we selected two of them - one SME, specialised in the design and realisation of objects for show-rooms for multinational firms and one big size company, specialised in the production and distribution of energy (heating and electricity co-generation ).
We agreed to submit again, in the near future, a research and technology development project to “increase the safety and availability of electrical energy substations “ acronym “ISISS” with the participation of a consortium of French companies specialised in this field.

4- Dissemination of the results, learn and understand the local/national solutions, requirements and special needs. MTA SZTAKI decided to participate and support the project: UNESCO Regional Network Engineering for Development: acronym R.E.N.E.D. This network will work like a network of excellence with the objective of creating a virtual centre of excellence at the level of PECO-CEI institutions with a strong implication of EU institutions and firms. The main theme of activities will be “ Information Technology, Computer Science and Control “. The management of this network will be located at the UNESCO Chair at the Technical University of Sofia (Bg) under the project co-ordination of INSA - LATEA Rennes (France).
5- Development of educational material was on of the main goals of the co-operation between MTA SZTAKI - CIM Res. Lab (Hu) and INSA-LATEA (F). Especially by way of theses of French students made at the CIM Res. Lab on the themes of the present contract.
According to these past experiments, we have decided to enlarge this type of exchanges to Ph.D. students, financially supported from EU funding and also national funds (Hungarian and French). We will pay special attention to reach a joint recognition of the diploma level by fully using the existing regulations in France and Hungary for possibilities like this. In fact, France will accept to give automatically the French Ph.D. diploma even for a defence made abroad (in Hungary, for example ), if some legal pre-conditions are met . It seems that this will be possible with Hungary. We decided to pay special attention and to make special efforts in this direction.
INSA- LATEA is involved in a French national project of e-learning (acronym P.A.R.I.M.) on Robotics and Computer Integrated Manufacturing . It seems that its goals are similar to those of this project: concerning development, use of joint infrastructures, adaptation of existing pieces of equipment for shared use and join management of the knowledge produced. Thus, we decided to propose that MTA SZTAKI CIM Res. Lab. should become an associate member to the project PARIM .

6 - Delivery of scientific, technical presentations, lectures, courses, reports/deliverables both for the EU and other organisations, at the same time, take part in the preparation of referenced, cited publications.
During this stay we made all our best to fulfil these requirements. First, through a lot of individual scientific and technical discussions with each of the 7 members of the MTA SZTAKI CIM Res. Lab. , Dr. George Kovács (head), Dr. István Mezgár, Dr. Sándor Kopácsi, Mr.Géza Haidegger, Mr. János Nacsa, Mr.Silveszter Drozdik and Mr.Ferenc Sárközy, as well as through the exchange of many documents and drafts. We have selected two first targets:
-	joint publication on “ Using Virtual Reality Tools for Remote Control of Flexible Manufacturing Systems by Internet“
-	 -  joint CD (or book ) on “ Reality and Virtually =  The connections ?” 

As the conclusion of my stay, we summarised all these proposals during a working seminar  with colleagues from MTA SZTAKI CIM Res. Lab. 
My Power Point presentation will be accessible on the Web Site of MTA SZTAKI: http://www.sztaki.hu .
I hope that this stay will be a real beginning of CONTINUOUS and PERMANENT exchanges between MTA SZTAKI CIM Res. Lab. and INSA - LATEA . Preference should be given to long-stay-visits at the partner institutions.  
Our previous activity showed that this goal was fully accepted each occasion but it is very difficult to be  realised  on a long period.   
Especially the financing of this “ flow” and  “joint programme of activities“  remains the key and critical point. 
We accepted the challenge that the «Integration and Reinforcement of the European Space in Research », which is the main target of the EU  6th  Framework, will   ensure it .

Budapest, 28.  August, 2001
Serge MONCHAUD  French State Doctor in Sciences ( 1986)
Full Professor of Universities (1988) Chairholder UNESCO TU Sofia -Bg (1995)
France : email:serge.monchaud@insa-rennes.fr-Web site : http://www.insa-rennes.fr/l-latea
Bulgaria : e-mail address : smonch@vmei.acad.bg -Web site http://unesco.vmei.acad.bg                

Travel Report

Visit to
Center of Excellence MTA SZTAKI
Computer and Automation Institute of the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences

2001-08-20 --- 09-30

Hĺkan Hjalmarsson
Dept. of Signals, Sensors and Systems
Royal Institute of Technology
S-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
hakan.hjalmarsson@s3.kth.se

Introduction

This is a brief report of my visit to the Computer and Automation Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA SZTAKI) during the period 2001-08-20 --- 09-30. The initiative of this visit was taken by my host Dr Laszlo Gerencser, Head of the Stochastic Systems Group.  
 The visit was sponsored by MTA SZTAKI as part of their EU Center of Excellence activities. This support is gratefully acknowledged.  

Interaction at the Institute

During my visit I had the opportunity to present two seminars at the institute. In one seminar I presented my home department and in particular our activities in Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) which has bearings on the activities in the Analogical and Neural Computing Laboratory at the institute. In the other seminar I focused more on the activities in my own group, and in particular my own work on controller tuning.  
I also had some interesting discussions with Professor Josef Bokor which revealed that we have common research interests in the area of identification of nonlinear systems which deserves further exploration. 
Most of my time was spent with Dr Laszlo Gerencser, Head of the Stochastic Systems Group. For a number of years I have been working on a controller tuning method known as Iterative Feedback Tuning (IFT). In parallell, Professor Gerencser has been contributing to the development of a stochastic approximation method known as Simultaneous Perturbation Stochastic Approximation (SPSA), Recently he and his co-workers have shown that the randomization method on which SPSA is based has some very interesting convergence properties when applied to noise  free problems. One purpose of my visit was to explore if these ideas also could be adapted to IFT and what randomization in general has to offer for control problems. This visit also gave us the opportunity to explore what other research interests we have in common. A significant part of my visit was spent on discussions with Professor Gerencser on possible future joint projects.  

 Scientific work     

Although much of my time was devoted to discussions with Professor Gerencser on possible future research projects, we early on decided that it was important that the visit also resulted in some hard results. During the visit, we did joint work in three different areas: 
•	Randomization in Iterative Feedback Tuning. 
 As mentioned earlier, one purpose of my visit was to explore if randomization algorithms can be combined with IFT. This work resulted in the paper   ``Randomized Iterative Feedback Tuning'', L. Gerencser, Z. Vago and H.  Hjalmarsson which has been submitted to the 2002 IFAC World Congress.

•	Experiment Design.  
  Since a couple of years I have been active in experiment design for system identification by way of a PhD project. We have been able to develop an experiment design procedure which can be stated as a convex optimization problem. However, the problem remained that the cost function depends on the unknown system. During my visit at SZTAKI this obstacle was passed and a procedure was developed where the system is recursively identified and the experiment design successively adapted. The method is asymptotically optimal, i.e. it performs as well as if the true system was known. A manuscript to be submitted to Automatica is in preparation.  

•	Iterative Learning Control (ILC). 
ILC is a method which can be used to generate a suitable feedforward  control for systems where the same trajectory is taken over and over again. This input is generated by a series of experiments where the feedforward input is successively improved. Convergence and optimality of these iterations has previously been proved for noise free systems. During my visit we developed a Stochastic Approximation version of the algorithm which converges also under noisy conditions. A manuscript to be submitted to Automatica is in preparation.

Future collaboration 

The competencies of the Stochastic Systems Group at SZTAKI and the Automatic Control Group at KTH are to a large extent complementary. This lead to the contributions in the areas mentioned above, i.e. randomization in Iterative Feedback Tuning, experiment design and iterative learning control. It is thus very natural to continue and extend the collaboration on these subjects and other topics involving control and stochastics. There also seems to be a potential for a joint collaboration between the Stochastic Systems Group, the Systems and Control Laboratory and  the Automatic Control Group at KTH in the area of non-linear  (stochastic) systems.  

Possible frameworks for this is the ERCIM (The European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics) Working Group of Control and Systems where SZTAKI is participating and ERNSI (the European Research Network on System Identification) where KTH is participating.  
An interesting idea would be joint supervision of PhD students. However, presently there seems to be some practical problems, especially related to the funding system at KTH.

Concluding remarks

I would like to conclude this report with some personal remarks. I found the visit at SZTAKI very fruitful and most enjoyable and a number of people contributed to this. The resources and support at the institute were exemplary and in particular I am very grateful to Mr Geza Haidegger for all help regarding administrative matters. 
 Finally, very special thanks to Laszlo and Zsusanna for your hospitality and the enormous time you spent with me on  research problems and all extracurricular activities that you arranged (not to mention your effort spent on translating an uncountable number  of Hungarian menus for me).
Thanks guys!

Report

Sixth Annual Workshop of
the ERCIM Working Group on Constraints

Prague, The Czech Republic,
18-20. June, 18-20, 2001

By József Váncza 
(MTA SZTAKI)

The workshop was organised by the ERCIM Working Group on Constraints, as an annual meeting of the WG members. Its themes centred on constraint solving techniques, as well as modelling and solving real-life problems by using constraint programming technology. 

The workshop was open; the 25 or so participants represented European research institutes (one participant arrived from Chile).

The 3-day- program (see enclosure) consisted of  invited and technical talks. Invited talks were delivered by acknowledged experts representing both the theory and application-oriented aspects of constraint solving and programming. 
•	Integrating Operations Research Techniques in Constraint Programming by M. Milano (Bologna University) 
•	A Tale of Two Cities (Large-scale Constraint Applications) by H. Simonis (Parc Technologies) 

Key issues tackled by the technical papers were efficient constraint propagation techniques, dynamic CSP problems, the decomposition of constraint-based models, hybrid approaches integrating constraint and mathematical programming, and so-called soft constraints. The talks were followed by lively, informal discussions.

All save the invited papers have been published in a printed Proceedings. Most of the papers presented at the workshop are available at:
 http://www.cwi.nl/ERCIM/WG/Constraints/prag-papers.html,, as well as in the Computing Research Repository (CoRR).

Just before the workshop, our research group at MTA SZTAKI was elected a member of the ERCIM WG on Constraints. We have developed a generic model and solution techniques for manufacturing process planning by using constraint programming technology. Recently, we have turned our attention also to large-scale scheduling. Our problems are typically over-constrained, with complex systems of constraints and multiple optimization criteria. The WG provided a lot of  impetus, new scientific contacts and valuable ideas to continue our research.

Herewith, I would like to thank for the support that made my participation at the Sixth Workshop of the ERCIM Working Group on Constraints possible. 

Budapest, 16. July, 2001 
							Dr. József Váncza

Enlc.: Programme of the Workshop

Workpackage progress report for Workpackage No.: 3

ANALOGIC CNN 

Prof. Tezlaf’s final report detailed some results. Beyond that, a lot of international conference papers were prepared and delivered. A major result is detailed in a report, titled: BIONICS, Bio-inspired Information Technologies – a transatlantic research program. This paper was prepared in Brussels, June, 2001 and compiled by Prof. T. Roska, under WP 3 activities.
The 19-page-long paper is annexed.

Workpackage progress report for Workpackage No.: 4
Supercomputing Centre

Regarding Workpackage D: Organising Workshops, Conferences and scientific meetings:

1. Members of MTA SZTAKI actively participated in the organisation of the first seminar day related to the SUN HPC 10000 supercomputer centre. They also gave several presentations at the seminar day. 

The programme of the seminar day:

  10:00
            Opening
  10:10
            Kim Jones (Vice-president of Sun Microsystems) 
  10:30
            Kacsuk Péter (MTA SZTAKI): Trends in supercomputing technology 
  11:00-11:20
            Break
  11:20
            Kari Laasonen (Scientific director of the Supercomputing Centre of  the Helsinki Academy)
  11:50
            Máray Tamás (NIIF): The supercomputing project of NIIF
  12:20
            Fischer Erik (Sun Hungary Ltd.): The Sun E10000 supercomputer
   
  13:00-14:00
            Lunch
   
  14:00
            Fischer Erik (Sun Hungary Ltd.): The software tools of the Sun E10000 supercomputer 
  14:30
            Dózsa Gábor (MTA SZTAKI): Introduction to the concepts of parallel programming 
  14:50
            Lovas Róbert (MTA SZTAKI): P-GRADE parallel program development system for parallel programming 
  15:10-15:30
            Break
  15:30
            Szeberényi Imre (Technical Univ. of Budapest): Computing border-value problems on supercomputers 
  15:50
            Szoboszlai Mihály (Technical Univ. of Budapest):  Building and visualising architectural-geometrical models
  16:10
            Horányi András (National Meteorology Service): Using supercomputers in meteorology 
  16:30-
            Panel discussion

 Date: 20. April,  2001
 Venue: Budapest, Victor Hugo. utca 18-22. (building of MTA SZTAKI)

2. Members of MTA SZTAKI together with Roy Williams (California Institute of Technology, USA) have organised the following workshop:

Workshop on Demonstrations of the Grid as part of the High Performance Computing and Networking Conference
(HPCN Europe 2001)  Amsterdam, 26. June, 2001

Aim of the workshop:
The Grid, also called P2P (peer-to-peer) computing in the business community, is very fashionable. Recently many events have been organised on Grid oriented research and activities but only very few provide real demonstration experience. By organising this workshop, our aim was to provide real experience based on operational grid systems and to show grid technology in action. The workshop was based on invited presentations and demos. Speakers first presented the main concepts of their grid system and then demonstrated it by using real-time high bandwidth connections. 

Programme: 

     09.00 - 09.50
     John Brooke, University of Manchester, UK, and Matthias Müller HLRS, University of Stuttgart
     Getting Maximum Performance from Transcontinental Networks

     09.50 - 10.40
     Ed Seidel, Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik, DE
     Dynamic Grid Computing using Cactus

     11.10 - 11.50
     Jack Dongarra and Michelle Miller, University of Tennessee, US
     Grid-based Problem Solving Environments

     11.50 - 12.30
     Miron Livny, University of Wisconsin, US
     Condor in a Grid Environment

     14.00 - 14.50
     Giovanni Aloisio and Massimo Cafaro, University of Lecce, IT
     The Grid Resource Broker, a Ubiquitous Grid Computing Framework

     14.50 - 15.40
     Koen Holtman, California Institute of Technology, US
     Particle Physics Analysis using the Grid

     16.10 - 16.50
     Peter Baumann, Active Knowledge, DE
     Grid Services for Fast Retrieval on Large Multidimensional Databases

3. Members of MTA SZTAKI  have been organising the following workshop:

EUROMICRO Parallel and Distributed Processing
Gran Canaria Island 9-11. January, 2002

Details of the workshop can be found in the following URL:
http://www.lpds.sztaki.hu/pdp2002/index.html

Programme Chairs of the conference are Prof. Ferenc Vajda and Mr. Norbert Podhorszki who are members of MTA SZTAKI. Besides, Prof. Kacsuk (MTA SZTAKI) organises, together with Wolfgang Schreiner (RISC Linz, Austria) and Dieter Kranzlmüller, Jens Volkert (GUP Linz, Austria), a special session on "Parallel and Distributed Tools for Grids" within the same workshop.

4. Besides the events described above, Prof. Kacsuk was involved in the organisation of several other European conferences related to supercomputing:
•	HPCN Europe, 25 – 27. June ,2001, Amsterdam, as Program Committee member
•	EuroPar, 28-31. August, 2001, Manchester, as Steering Committee member

Regarding Workpackage No. WP 4

We have successfully created a supercomputing centre based on a 29-node beowulf cluster at SZTAKI. This centre intensively supports research and high-performance computing training and education in Hungary. Many M.Sc. and Ph.D. students have been using the cluster to prepare their thesis. Under the supervision of Prof. Péter Kacsuk, head of the supercomputing centre, 2 Ph.D. students of Eötvös Loránd  University, 2 Ph.D. students of the Technical Univ. of Budapest, 3 Ph.D. students of the University of Miskolc have been conducting research on the cluster. Since September, 2001 one more Ph.D. student of Eötvös Loránd University, and another Ph.D. student of the Univ. of Szeged will start research on the cluster under the supervision of Prof. Péter Kacsuk. We have installed PVM, MPI, P-GRADE, Globus, Condor and Cactus softwares on the cluster. The intensive usage of the cluster is well demonstrated by the fact that since October, 2000 more than 1 million Condor jobs have been    running there.

MTA SZTAKI also played an important role in the establishment of the first Hungarian national supercomputing centre which has been operating since March, 2001 and is located in the building of MTA SZTAKI. The centre provides a SUN HPC E-10000 supercomputer with 96 processors and 60 GFlops for the whole Hungarian academic community. The Ministry of Education launched a 2-year Hungarian supercomputing project and promoted Prof. Kacsuk as co-leader of the project.

In accordance with our original plan, we would like to participate in European networks of excellence and to contribute to the creation of new networks. Accordingly, we are member in the APART-2 network that was launched on the 1st of August, 2000. MTA SZTAKI is the leader of the Automatic Performance Analysis and Grid Computing workpackage. The kick-off meeting took place in parallel with the EuroPar conference in  Manchester on the 28th of August.

MTA SZTAKI was a founder member of the European Grid Forum and Prof. Kacsuk was the leader of the Performance Monitoring Working Group until it was merged with the Grid Forum under the name of Global Grid Forum (GGF) in past November. Since that time MTA SZTAKI actively has been participating in the work of the GGF. Prof. Kacsuk served as a co-chair of the Performance Monitoring Working Group of GGF till July, 2001.

MTA SZTAKI actively works in several European Grid-oriented projects:
•	MTA SZTAKI is an associated member in the CERN lead DataGrid project 
•	MTA SZTAKI is a member in a COST 23 action project, called "SIMBEX: A metalaboratory for the a priori simulation of crossed molecular beams experiments". The project is aimed at constructing a simulator of molecular beam experiments operating through the Web. This will be achieved by assembling the expertise of several chemical laboratories competent in carrying out electronic structure and dynamics calculations and skilled in running molecular beam experiments. Computer science groups also collaborate to construct the simulation on the Web, develop related middle-ware and to manage the metacomputing back-end. The simulator will be used to reproduce reactive scattering properties of some gas phase chemical reactions, to rationalize their attack mechanisms and to pivot experimental measurements.

MTA SZTAKI also actively works in several national supercomputing and Grid-oriented projects:
Project title:	Graphical Supervising System for Geographically Distributed, Heterogeneous Metacomputing Environment
Hungarian National Science Foundation (OTKA)
Supervisor:	P. Kacsuk
Grant No.:	T-032226
Duration:	2000-2002

Project title:	Development of Virtual Supercomputing Service Using Academic Network
Ministry of Education - NI 2000
Supervisor: 	P. Kacsuk
Grant No.:	OMFB 02349/2000
Duration:	2000-2002

Project title:	Cluster Programming Technology and Its Application in Meteorology
Ministry of  Education - IKTA-3
Supervisor: 	P. Kacsuk
Grant No.:	OMFB 02307/2000
Duration:	2000-2002

List of submitted project proposals, national and international co-operation arrangements:

MTA SZTAKI, as member, submitted the following European 5th Framework project:
GridLab - A Grid Application Toolkit and Testbed
GridLab (Grid Application Toolkit and Testbed) is a combined research and development project to develop an innovative and flexible grid application toolkit which will provide core, easy to use functionality through a carefully constructed set of generic APIs for both simulation codes and Grid software. This toolkit will contain independent modules for handling many different aspects of Grid programming. Grid-enabled applications will be tested on real testbeds constructed by linking a heterogeneous collection of supercomputers and other resources spanning Europe and the US. The primary testbed environment for the project was created last year by the Applications Working Group of the European Grid Forum for demonstrations at SC2000.

The project was selected to be granted and it is currently in the negotiation phase.

MTA SZTAKI submitted two national project proposals in the field of supercomputing:
1. Parallelization of Chemical Applications for Clusters and SUN Supercomputer (co-ordinator: MTA SZTAKI)
2. Hungarian Supercomputing Grid (member: MTA SZTAKI)

Summary of the project "Parallelization of Chemical Applications for Clusters and SUN Supercomputer":

In the project we want to accomplish several important purposes as follows:

1. Parallelization of the following computing intensive chemical programs by the system P-GRADE:
  a. A classical trajectory calculation program which is able to simulate uni-molecule and bi-molecule reactions as well as collisions connoting energy transfer
  b. A program based on calculation of quantum-mechanical standard deviation of non-reactive collisions
  c. The program CWAVE, which is used to compute movement and interactions of chemical waves in excitable chemical systems
  d. The program PREMIX, which is a detailed chemical kinetic mechanism to simulate pre-mixed laminar flames according to thermodynamic and transport data.

2. We would like to test the parallelized programs in real parallel computing systems and to run them regularly. These systems are: Linux clusters as well as the Sun HPC 10000 supercomputer.  In order to achieve that we will install P-GRADE  on the Sun HPC 10000 supercomputer and in this way make P-GRADE accessible for the whole Hungarian research community. Since P-GRADE is a very high-level graphical parallel programming environment designed for end-users, the availability of P-GRADE on the Sun machine will promote the usability of the HPC 10000 supercomputer for non-professional programmers, too.

3. Three of the above four programs were written in FORTRAN, therefore,the third aim of the project is to elaborate the FORTRAN version of P-GRADE. Since an overwhelming majority of scientific codes was written in FORTRAN, the elaboration of the FORTRAN version of P-GRADE is extremely important. In order to do that, we will modify the code generator of P-GRADE and the so-called GRAPNEL library which realizes the parallel run-time system.

4. The fourth aim in this project is to expand the pre-defined communication templates (process farm, pipeline, ring, 2D mesh, tree) available in P-GRADE and to fully integrate them  into the P-GRADE system in a way that each tool in P-GRADE (macrostep debugger DIWIDE, monitor GRM and the visualization tool PROVE) should be able to support them.

5. Two members of the consortium are involved in the COST 23 project SYMBEX whose purpose is to create a metacomputing system, which enables the collaborative work among the chemist partners of the project via the Internet. Additionally, that system provides parallel execution of computing intensive chemical models on clusters and on the Internet. The SYMBEX consortium has nominated P-GRADE as the official parallel development and execution system of the project SYMBEX. The final aim of the current project is to connect P-GRADE to the metacomputing system of the project SYMBEX.

Summary of the project "Hungarian Supercomputing Grid":

Recently, several supercomputers and PC clusters have been  installed in Hungary as major supercomputing resources. All are placed at different institutes and are used by a growing user community from academy. However, it turned out that there exist applications where the capacity of individual supercomputers and clusters are not sufficient to solve the problems in reasonable time. The solution for this problem is to connect these high-performance computing resources and to use them as a supercomputing Grid.

One of the main goals of the project is to establish this Hungarian Supercomputing Grid (HSG) based on the current Hungarian and international results of cluster and Grid computing. The project is strongly related with two already running Hungarian Grid projects (NI2000/08, DemoGrid) and several national projects from other countries (Condor, INFN Grid, UK e-science). The SuperGrid project is based on the experiencelearnt  in the NI2000/08, INFN Grid and DataGrid projects and will strongly collaborate with the DemoGrid, Condor, INFN Grid projects and the UK e-science programme.

Unlike the Grids to be developed in the previously mentioned Grid projects, the HSG will be used as a high-performance and high-throughput Grid. In order to achieve these two features Condor will be used as  the main Grid level job manager in the HSG and will be combined with P-GRADE, a Hungarian produced high-performance program development environment.

HSG will have a layered structure. The top layer is the application layer where currently a Monte-Carlo method based nuclear physics application is investigated. The user will access the HSG by the Grid portal to be developed in the project. The application will be developed in the P-GRADE parallel program development environment  which will be connected to Condor in the project. It means that the user can generate directly Condor jobs (containing parallel PVM or MPI program) from the P-GRADE environment. Condor will be used as the Grid level resource manager in the HSG. The basic middle-ware services will come from Globus. The fabric will contain the Hungarian supercomputers and clusters connected by the Hungarian academic network. On the supercomputers and clusters local job schedulers like LSF, PBS, Condor, Sun Grid Engine can be used. 

Besides developing a Grid portal, combining and extending Condor and P-GRADE, the other two main tasks of the project are to solve the security problems and to develop an accounting system. 

Results  achieved:

Operational version of the 29-node beowulf cluster. 
The cluster is located in Victor Hugo. Street, in the building of MTA SZTAKI. It is operated 24-hour/day. 

Workpackage progress report for Workpackage No.: 5
Formal language, agent based computing

Erzsebet Csuhaj-Varju, Ph. D.
senior researcher,  head, Research Group on Modelling Multi-Agent Systems

E-mail:csuhaj@sztaki.hu, csuhaj@luna.iik.sztaki.hu

http://www.sztaki.hu/~csuhaj/ 
http://www.sztaki.hu/mms/ 

Visitors at our lab:
1) Dr. Henning Bordihn, University of Potsdam, 17-24. April, 2001
Presentation: "Extending Regular Expressions with Homomorphic Replacament", 18. April, 2001 

2) Prof. Dr. Juergen Dassow, University of Magdeburg,  25. June – 2. July, 2001. 
Presentation: Evolution and Grammars,  28. June, 2001. 3) Dr. Sigrid Ewert, University of Witwatersrand, South-Africa,  1-16. July,  2001Presentation: The power and limitation of random context picture  grammars,  5. July, 2001. 
4) Prof. Dr. Grzegorz Rozenberg, University of Leiden,  27. July, 2001. 

Workpackage progress report for workpackage No.WP 6
High-performance scientific computing

 March 2001 - August 2001 

We have installed the hardware extension at the Informatics Laboratory as planned. It is a Pentium IV - based PC-workstation with Linux as an operating system.  We have installed a Mathematica 4.1 symbolic computational platform on the machine above.   We have installed a Magma 2.7 system on the machine above.   We had some simple test runs to experiment with the system.
We have made some preparatory processing steps to solve a large-scale problem coming from a data mining application.

REGARDING WORKPACKAGE B:

The members of group played active role in university education related to our field. We have related courses at Budapest Technical University, Central European University, Eotvos Lorand University.
  L. Ronyai has given seminar lectures a Renyi Institute of Math. and at the Technical University on related algorithmic/algebraic subjects:  

REGARDING WORKPACKAGE E:
Name: Dr. Gabor Ivanyos 
Dates: June 18 -July 14
Visited the Dept. of Math. of the Eindhoven University of  Technology (TUE). 
He worked with prof. A. Cohen there on research problems related to the geometry of long roots in Lie algebras.  

Name: Ms. Marta Pinter (Ph.D. student), Dr. Andras Antos, Dr. Laszlo Gyorfi  Dates: July 9 -July 13.
 Took part in a summer school on non-parametric statistics  and applications, hosted by the CISM, Udine, Italy.  Dr. Gyorfi was one of the principal organisers and lecturers.

Our plans: 
To WP6:  
We intend to develop solutions to subproblems related to data mining applications. We intend to use these to demonstrate (to students, industry partners) the  applicability of scientific computing results and paradigms.  We plan to maintain our strong presence in university  education of these subjects. 
To WP E: 
 Nov 12 - Dec 12, Dr. Ivanyos visited the CNRS, Paris Orsay. 
Jan 21, 2002- Feb 22, 2002, Dr. Ivanyos visited the CNRS, Paris Orsay. 
The purpose of the visits is to study quantum algorithms and quantum computation with the French partner.
February 1, 2002 - July 31, 2002, Dr. Katalin Friedl visited the  CNRS, Paris, Orsay.
The objective is joint work and exchange of knowledge  on quantum computing and proof checking.
 To WP C:
Dr. Ulrich Meyer (V3 visitor) from MPI, Saarbrucken, Germany intends to visit us for the period of January - April 2002. The objective is exchange of ideas on graph algorithms.

To WP D:  
It has been decided that the 17 World Congress of IMACS (International Association for Mathematics and Computers in Simulation, a prestigious world-wide organisation) will be held in Hungary in 2003. We shall take part in the  organisation of the event; Lajos Ronyai  is a member of the Local Organising Committee.  

Workpackage progress report for Workpackage No.: 7

Laboratory of Engineering and Management Intelligence

PLANET II

SZTAKI participated in a successful proposal of PLANET II. PLANET II is the continuation of PLANET – the European Network of Excellence in Artificial  Intelligence Planning sponsored by EC. It is the coordinating organisation for European research and development in the field of Artificial Intelligence Planning and Scheduling and in particular aims to promote the transfer of this leading-edge technology into European industry.  
PLANET II is sponsored by the Commission for a period of 2 years with an overall budget of 500.000 Euro. Its activity is closely related to Key Action 2 of the IST programme, which addresses new methods of work (including e-work) and e-commerce. Hence, members of PLANET II focus on the exploitation of planning and scheduling technology in this area.
Nodes of PLANET are European universities, research centres, and industrial companies working in the 
field of Artificial Intelligence Planning and Scheduling. Currently, PLANET has 47 nodes from 13 European countries. 

IMS NOE

SZTAKI took part in the successful Network of Excellence proposal on Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (IMS NOE). Moreover, SZTAKI is the leader of the subgroup on Manufacturing Scheduling and Control in the Extended Enterprise. 

The main medium-term goals of the NOE are: to strengthen the European involvement in the world-wide IMS community;  provide a stimulating and high-quality forum for discussion, exchange of ideas, planning for collaboration and debates about trends, research and further developments of IMS concepts; provide a Web-based Benchmarking Service for the research and industrial community;  provide a Technology Observatory to elaborate and update at regular intervals Technology Roadmaps and Expertise Maps within the Network's scope at European level; to anticipate the EU's scientific and technological needs in order to help the EU to react rapidly to new scientific and technological developments. 

VIMIMS

SZTAKI took part in the SOCRATES-MINERVA Program of the European Union with the successful proposal: VIVIMS: Virtual Institute for the Modelling of Industrial Manufacturing Systems. 

The main objective of the project is to establish a Virtual Institute specifically focused on knowledge sharing and integration of competencies in the educational and research area of Modelling and Design of Industrial Manufacturing Systems (MIMS). The adoption of ICT tools will be functional to a first reorganisation of the current learning process, by integrating conventional modes with the most innovative approaches based on ODL.

E-Factory DNA

SZTAKI - as the member of the Scientific Committee in the E-Factory DNA EUREKA Cluster Project on Products, Processes, Enterprises for competitiveness and sustainability of European Manufacturing Industry towards globalisation and new economy. 

ERCIM WORKING GROUP ON CONSTRAINTS

SZTAKI joined, as a full member of the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM), the so-named ERCIM Working Group on Constraints. 
Constraints have recently emerged as a research area that combines researchers from a number of fields, including Artificial Intelligence, Programming Languages, Symbolic Computing and Computational Logic. Current research in this area deals with various foundational issues, with implementation aspects and with new applications of constraint programming. Our main concern is in this area in the application of the constraint technology to large-scale combinatorial optimization problems with industrial background such as  process planning, production planning, scheduling. 
The WG brings ERCIM researchers together , involved in research on the subject of Constraints. Its aims are to promote research on this subject within the ERCIM institutions, facilitate the exchange of information, coordinate efforts in technology transfer, and facilitate the exchange of researchers for short and long visits.The ERCIM WG on Constraints has at the moment 15 member institutes. 

Regarding Workpackage D: Organising Workshops, Conferences and scientific meetings:

IEA/AIE-2001 Conference, Budapest, 4-7. June, 2001

IEA/AIE-2001 -- The Fourteenth International Conference on Industrial & Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence & Expert Systems was held during 4-7. June 2001, in Budapest, Hungary. The conference covered all main research areas and many application domains of Artifical Intelligence. General chair of IEA/AIE-2001 was Moonis Ali, program chair and co-chair were László Monostori (from SZTAKI) and Soundar Kumara, respectively. Local chair was József Váncza (from SZTAKI). The conference was organized by SZTAKI, in co-operation with a number of international scientific societies e.g. the International Society of Applied Intelligence (ISAI), AAAI, ACM/SIGART, ECCAI, ERCIM to name but a few. 

The Call for Papers announcement attracted many researchers and engineers from all over the world. A total of 104 papers -- representing 21 countries and all continents -- were selected for presentation. Accepted papers covered all main research areas of AI and many different application domains. The conference had 113 participants from 30 countries.

The plenary talk of the conference was given by Tibor Vámos (SZTAKI) on "Triple R: Representation, Retrieval, Reasoning". Technical presentations were held in 2-3 parallel tracks in sessions on search, knowledge representation, model-based reasoning, machine learning, data mining, soft computing, evolutionary algorithms, distributed problem solving, expert systems, pattern and speech recognition, vision, language processing, planning and scheduling, robotics, autonomous agents, design, control, manufacturing systems, finance and business, software engineering, and tutoring. 

Proceedings of IEA/AIE-2001 were released by Springer Verlag under the title "Engineering of Intelligent Systems" in the series of Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNAI 2070). Electronic access to the papers of the volume is possible at http://link.springer.de/link/service/series/0558/tocs/t2070.htm.
Extended versions of selected papers are considered for publication in the International Journal of Applied Intelligence. The conference’s home page is at  http://www.sztaki.hu/conferences/ieaaie2001/.

Regarding Workpackage E: Visits to another research centre:

Name: József Váncza
Dates: 18-20. June, 2001
Visited partner institution: Sixth Annual Workshop of the ERCIM Working Group on Constraints, Charles University, Prague
Report attached

Workpackage progress report for Workpackage No.: 8

Virtual Laboratory for EE, VE  
PLANET networking

WE had been working on the development of our CIM Research Laboratory to open co-operation means for exploiting the Extended Enterprise research theme, the Virtual Enterprise theme  and the related themes  for internationally accessible resources. Our visiting professors from Germany and from France were of a great help in launching this program. Their final reports are  attached.
 
The purchase of up-to-date  peripherals for the VE research was a great step forward..

We organized and prepared the MIM IFAC Workshop in early August. 
Many scientific papers were developed and submitted. 
Heavy preparatory work was devoted to the IFIP  PROLAMAT Conference to take part in November.
Proposals were prepared and submitted.
  
	PLANET II proposal prepared
	Joining ERCIM WG on Constraints Report attached
	Organisation of the IEA/AIE-2001 Conference, Budapest, 4-7. June, 2001

Workpackage progress report for Workpackage No.:9

Group Decision Support Systems

Laboratory of Operations Research and Decision Systems  Head: Tamas Rapcsak

1.)	The annual General Assembly meeting of the Hungarian Operational Research Society (HORS) held on the 25th of May, at the Conference Room of the Institute. The meeting was followed by a half-day-workshop to celebrate  the 10-year-long existence of the HORS. 10 lectures were held giving a general insight into the present situation of operations research in Hungary and abroad, then, some application summaries were 
provided.

2.)	Visiting professor: 

	31. August: lecture held by Prof. George Isac (Dept. of Mathematics, Royal Military College of Canada) with the title "Nuclearity for convex cones, Pareto efficiency and Ekeland type variational principle".  One of his outstanding books referred to is titled "Topological methods in complementarity theory" (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000). In this lecture the notions of nuclear cone, full nuclear cone and pseudo-nuclear cone were presented, furthermore, several results related to them were given. The main goal was to apply the nuclearity to the Pareto efficiency and to show some interesting relations with Ekeland's variational principle. By using the nuclearity, a geometrical aspect of Ekeland principle was shown.  Applying the nuclearity in product spaces, a new variant of Ekeland principle for vector valued mappings was obtained.

Workpackage progress report for Workpackage No.: 10
Distributed Digital Library
(Department of Distributed Systems)

Activities performed  at the  Department (www.sztaki.hu/dsd)  
 1 EU project” StreamOfTheFly”  contract negotiation and preparation 
accepted, possible start date the 1st of Dec 2001
   
2. EDEN (European Democracy Electronic Network) EU proposal   under preparation (NAS proposal) 
 
3. Managing the global Web page for the HUNG-TING  
 
4. EUTIST-AMI EU cluster contract negotiation   accepted, possible start date the 1st of Dec 2001

5. planning for infrastructure for videoconferencing 

6. PublicVoiceXML project proposal submission IST 2001 34546

7. VASP project proposal submission IST 

8. GENESYS project proposal submission IST

9. IT3 project proposal submission IST

10. PhD. thesis for Andras Micsik- on Web based collaborative working methods

11. WWW 2003 (World Wide Web World Congress) in Budapest 2003 kick-of meeting for IPC

Workpackage progress report for Workpackage No.: WP11
IS Technologies, BPR and SW quality improvements

Workshops on BPR and  SW Quality were organized, and program is appended. 

Workpackage progress report for Workpackage No.:WP12
 Laboratory for Intelligent Road Vehicle Systems, control with vision in the loop

Regarding  Workpackage B:

Euro-conform complex retraining of specialists in road transport, 14/06/01 (Presentations on Research on modelling and control of vehicle dynamics)

Regarding Workpackage C: Foreign visitors at SZTAKI, virtual laboratories:

Prof. Gary Balas, University of Minnesota, USA, 23-27/07/01 (Fault detection in LPV systems)
Prof. I.T. Cameron The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, 16-26/05/01 (Process Modelling and Model Analysis)
Prof. F. Szigeti , University of Merida, Venezuela, 01/04/01 – 08/09/01 (Fault detection, Mathematical systems theory)
Prof. C. E. Vera, University of Caracas, Venezuela, 27/06/01 – 08/09/01 (Mathematical systems theory)
Prof. Juan Cardillo, University of Merida, Venezuela, 01/07/01 – 31/07/01 (Theory and control of discrete event systems)
Prof Paul Van den Hof, Delft University of Technology , 21-23/05/01 (System identification)
Prof. G.L. Gissinger, Universite de haute Alsace, Mulhouse, 9-15/06/01 (Vehicle dynamics, Chassis comfort)
Prof. L. Dugard, Laboratoire d’Automatique de Grenoble, 9-15/06/01 (Vehicle dynamics, Control of suspensions)
Prof. R. Verschoore, Ghent University, Belgium, 9-15/06/01 (Comfort of land vehicles)

Regarding Workpackage D: Organising Workshops, Conferences and scientific meetings:

2nd Ph.D. Workshop on Systems and Control, Balatonfüred, Hungary, 17-19. September,  200l 

Regarding Workpackage E: Visits to another research centre:

Prof. J. Bokor, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA, 22. April 24 – 24. May, 200l    (Approximative identification)
B. Kulcsár, I. Szászi, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA, 25. April – 3. May, 200l (Detection filter design)
Edelmayer A., University of Tolouse, France, 25. April – 2. May, 200l – (Inversion based fault detection and isolation)
Prof. J. Bokor, P. Gáspár, Z. Szabó, University of Porto, European Control Conference, Porto, Portugal, 03/09/01 – 12/09/01 (Loop shaping design)
G. Stikkel, Montreal, Canada, 8-22/07/01 (Signal processing)
Prof. K. Hangos, Queensland University, Brisbane, Australia, 01/10/01 – 31/10/01 (Process modelling)
Prof. K. Hangos, G. Szederkényi, Jozef Stefan Institute, Slovenia, 25-30/06/01 (Diagnosis of non-linear process systems)

Appendix:  BIONICS      a transatlantic research program

Bionics 
Bio-inspired Information Technologies
-  a transatlantic research program

A proposal made by a Workshop of Scientists

Under the auspices of the Future and Emergent Technologies Unit of the Information Society Technologies of DG XII of the European Commission and the National Science Foundation of the United States of America

Scientific Coordinator: Tamás Roska
Organizational Coordinator: Jean-Eric Pin and Remi Ronchaud

Brussels
June, 2001

Table of Contents

1 Introduction, list of participants                                                                                   	3
2 Executive summary                                                                                                       	6
3 The program of the Workshop and the reports of the four sessions                            	9
3.1.	Sensing, interfaces and sensors                                                                     	11
3.2.	Human-machine interaction with autonomous sensors and various prostheses	12
3.3.	 Bionic systems and brain controlled automata                                             	13
3.4.	 Bionic and bio-inspired device technologies                                                 	16
4.	The proposed program                                                                                                	17
5.	Vision and Proposed actions                                                                                       	19

Appendices (in electronic form only)
Appendix A: The Reports of the four Sessions
Appendix B: Presentations
Appendix C: CV and Abstracts of the participating scientists

Compiled by Tamás Roska and Frank .S.Werblin
Edited by Pekka Karp, Jean-Eric Pin, and Remi Ronchaud

1 Introduction and list of participants

In June, 2001, in Brussels, about twenty scientists working in  thefields of bionics (biologists and IT researchers), as well as a few science policy managers, from both sides of the Atlantic, gathered to define a joint research agenda which could define a joint research program. This program, for discovering and implementing new ideas, methods, and devices, in the field of BIONICS will be beneficial for millions of people suffering of different handicaps and diseases, would ease the life for millions of families and workers, and would create a new industry in the 21st century. This has been a response to a former initiative of the government of the United States and the European Commission. 
BIONICS has been understood as a common notion for bio-inspired information technology, including, typically three types of systems, namely, 
•	bio-morphic (e.g. neuromorphic) and bio-inspired electronic/optic devices, 
•	autonomous artificial sensor-processor-activator prostheses and various devices built into the human body, and 
•	living-artificial interactive symbioses, e.g. brain-controlled devices or robots.
In spite of some restrictive use of the name of bionics in popular culture, as well as the unfulfilled promises in the fields of neural networks, artificial intelligence, soft computing and other “oversold” areas, it was agreed that the name bionics defined above is a right one for the emergent technology described also as bio-inspired information technology (some people suggesti info-bionics). There are many programs at several funding agencies that support some parts of this field under many other names.

There are several driving forces behind this technology, some of them are as follows:
•	Recent advances in technology
o	advanced micro sensor and MEMS technology (“the sensor revolution”, including micro sensors and actuators)
o	low power computing and communication devices
o	new computing paradigms
o	advanced neuro-interfacing, biocompatible materials
•	New discoveries in neurosciences 
o	functional understanding of critical brain functions (e.g.,retina, LGN, tactile sensing)
o	better understanding the plasticity of the brain
o	biocompatible interface mechanisms
•	Social needs and implications related to  
o	aging population, 
o	security risks at home and public places, as well as
o	 in industry and in the environment 

It is also recognized that the devices, goods, and services in bionics will soon lead to the emergence of a new multi-billion dollar/euro industry.
To promote the early success and leadership in this new industry, a pre-competitive transatlantic collaboration is planned. Some of the main reasons are:
•	There exist already many very active, pioneering, collaborative work, they need a boost in promotion to reach a critical mass.
•	A multitude of new ideas is emerging and the synergy of the different cultural backgrounds could be highly beneficial.
•	There is a need for some quasi-standards as soon as possible, and the easiest way is to set them in the research phase.
•	An organized exchange of doctoral students is needed with a mutually acknowledged credit system, they could benefit from a medium-term-stay (e.g., 2-3 semesters) and return to their home Laboratories acquiring credits.
•	The area is a genuine multi-disciplinary field where the lack of well -trained and innovative scientists and engineers is a major bottleneck.

The Workshop had been prepared before the meeting in Brussels. The four areas are selected and described. The participants prepared their short summaries and the Chair and the Reporter in each session had been selected. All participants attended all sessions with an active discussion. The summaries of each session discussions leading to a better definition of the related areas are summarized in this Report.
In addition to the presentations and discussions about the content of a later joint call for proposals, several key action items emerged from the discussions during the workshop. These are summarized, as well.

In the appendices we give the data and the summary of contributions, as well as the CVs of the participants.

We are indebted to the enthusiasm and foresight of the leading science policy managers at both institutions (NSF and IST/FET) as well as the administrative organizers of the Workshop at ERCIM.

List of Participants

Bensasson, S (FET Head of Unit, European Commission)
Bessant, C (Cranfield University at Silsoe, Bedfordshire)
Dittmar, A (INSA de Lyon)
Dorfner, G (University of Vienna)
Eckmiller, R (University of Bonn)
Engel, A (Inst. of Medicine, Research Centre Juelich)
Fortuna, L (University of Catania)
Franceschini, N (Laboratory of Neurobiology, CNRS)
Gál, V (Neuromorphic Information Technology Postgraduate Center, Budapest)
Grattarola, M (University of Genoa)
Hámori, J (Neurobiology Research Unit Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest)
Indiveri, G (University of Zurich/ETH Zurich)
Karp, P (FET Unit, European Commission)
Kipke, D (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Lehnertz, K (Medical Center, University of Bonn)
Moschovakis, A (University of Crete and Inst. of Applied and Comp. Mathematics)
Norman, R (University of Utah)
Picaud, S (University of Strasbourg)
Pin, J-E (ERCIM)
Rodríguez-Vázquez, A (Inst. of Microelectronics CNM, Sevilla)
Ronchaud, R (ERCIM, EU/NSF co-ordinator)
Roska, T (Comp. and Automation Research Inst. and Pázmány University, Budapest)
Rousche, P (Arizona State University)
Scribner, D (Navy Research Laboratory, Washington DC)
Smith, C (EIA Division, NSF)
Tetzlaff, R (Goethe University)
Toumazou, Ch (Imperial College London)
Van Hulle, M / De Maziere, P (Catholic University Leuven)
Werblin, F (University of California at Berkeley)

 2 Executive summary

BIONICS
Bio- inspired information  technologies
-a transatlantic research program

In June 2001, in Brussels, about twenty scientists working on both fields of bionics (biologists and IT researchers), as well as the relevant science policy managers, from both sides of the Atlantic, gathered to define a joint research agenda which could lead to a joint research program. When implemented, this program aimed at discovering and implementing new ideas, methods, and devices will be beneficial for millions of people suffering from different handicaps and diseases, would ease the life for millions of families and workers, and would create a new industry of the 21st century. 
This innovative program would largely capitalize on novel opportunities
•	Recent advances in technology
o	advanced micro sensor and MEMS (MOEMS) technology
o	low power computing and communication devices
o	new computing paradigms (AnaLogic Cellular Computers, etc)
o	advanced bio/neuro-interfacing

•	New discoveries in Neurosciences, among others:
o	functional understanding of critical brain functions (e.g. retina, LGN, tactile sensing)
o	better understanding the plasticity of the brain
o	bio-compatible interface mechanisms
•	Social needs and implications related to  
o	an aging population in OECD countries, 
o	security risks at home and public places, as well as
o	 in industry and in the environment 
The Vision
A new industry will emerge serving unprecedented human needs, resulting in
•	Brain controlled robots and motor prostheses (human and industrial use)
•	Life-like Perception/action devices for household, industrial, transportation, medical use (home and community security, telemedicine, home-care, life-like robots/valets, etc.)
•	OEM bionic parts to be embedded in many other goods and services

Implementation of the transatlantic research network
•	Network of task specific testbed Laboratories 
o	d0 neural/bio interfaces for generating and sensing neural signals
o	Bio-morphic and bio-inspired sensors/activators/communicators
o	prototype analogic sensing/processing/action computers (analogic: a combination of analog spatial-temporal dynamics and logic)
•	Network for prototype brain controlled and neuromorphic  robots
•	Network for application specific methodologies for prosthetic devices 
It was agreed that unless we construct, support, organize laboratories or small laboratory networks which will house functional neuroanatomists, psychophysicists, modelers, neurophysiologists, information technologists, VLSI designers, and people familiar with the new analogic cellular (CNN) computing principles and software, working side by side, we     cannot make a real breakthrough.

The main areas of activities are summarized in the next chart. We have selected four core areas of activity and defined eight supporting subject areas.

3 The program of the Workshop and the reports of the four sessions

The program of the Workshop   was divided into four Sessions. Each SESSION, with a Chair and Reporter was introduced by presentations of the scientists assigned to this program, and all presentations were  discussed by all the participants of the Workshop. Finally, the major goals of the program were discussed and agreed upon.
The program of the Workshop is shown next:

Day 1:  19. June, 2001

9h00-9h45  	Opening session 
Welcome by Tamás Roska (SZTAKI), Chairman 
•	Simon Bensasson (FET head of Unit)
•	Carl Smith  (EIA division, NSF)
•	Remi Ronchaud  (ERCIM, EU/NSF co-ordinator)

9h45-12h15	Session A - Sensing, interfaces, and sensors 
Chair: R. Norman, Reporter: S.Picaud
Presenters: C.Bessant, A.Engel, M.Grattarola, S Picaud, P. De Maziere (M.Van Hulle), 
•	Bioelectronic, biomechanical and biochemical sensing, as well as brain imaging
•	Electronic, mechanical, thermal, chemical and other interfaces to living tissues
•	Content and context dependent sensing and sensors, Plasticity

12h15-12h45 	Session Conclusion Discussion
 
14h00-17h00 	Session B -Human-machine interaction with autonomous sensors - prostheses
Chair: R. Eckmiller, Reporter: R. Tetzlaff
Presenters: D.Kipke, K.Lehnertz, P.Rousche, R.Tetzlaff, G.Dorfner, A.Dittmar
•	Vision, hearing, tactile and other prostheses
•	Implanted alarm devices and acting mechanisms 
•	Human interactive command without keyboard
•	Human aspects

17h00-17h30 	Session conclusion discussion
17h30-18h00  	Day 1 Conclusion discussion

Day 2: 20. June, , 2001

9h00-12h00 	Session C - Bio Systems 
Chair: J. Hámori, Reporter: A.Moschovakis
Presenters: J.Hámori, A.Moschovakis, L.Fortuna, V.Gál, T. Roska
•	Motor Control
•	Sensor-motor integration
•	Integrated sensing-processing-acting and learning devices and technologies
•	Ethical issues

12h00-12h30 	Session conclusion discussion
 
14h00-17h00 	Session D - Bionic devices 
Chair: F. Werblin, Reporter: D. Scribner
Presenters: F.Werblin, N.Francescini, G.Indiveri, Á.Rodríguez-Vázquez, Ch.Toumazou, D.Scribner
•	Representation of real-world stimuli in biological systems  
•	Complex systems – Bio-inspired/ neuromorphic, spatial-temporal computing models with possible programmability
•	VLSI implementations and Bionic Eye, Ear, Nose, Skin and other bionic devices

 17h00-17h30	Session conclusion discussion
17h30-18h00  	Day 2 Conclusion discussion

Day 3 :21.  June, 2001    

9h00-12h00 	Session E  - Assessment of Near Future Directions 
Chair: T. Roska  and F. Werblin

The main conclusions of Sessions A-D were assessed and discussed to provide the final results of the workshop (final report), which are meant to serve as a basis for future programs and collaboration between the EU and the NSF. These results will also be circulated in the scientific community for discussion and comments

12h00-13h00	Round Table (T. Roska Chairman)
- Simon Bensasson (European Commission)
- Carl Smith (National Science foundation)
- Jean-Eric Pin (ERCIM)
- Pekka Karp (European Commission)

The summaries of the four sessions are as follows

3.1 Sensing, interfaces and sensors

Session’s major research questions:
	Sensory information processing and integration are currently investigated by invasive and non-invasive techniques  such asmulti-electrode recording and neuro-imaging. These studies indicate that brain functions rely on coherent activation of different neurones within a given neuronal structure and even among different brain areas. Analysing or modelling the massive amount of data (images or multi-recording) is a complex task because computers cannot process calculations in parallel like sensory neuronal networks. 
	Interfaces containing electrodes of different geometries have been developed to record or stimulate cortical neurones or nerve fibres. These interfaces need, however, to be improved especially regarding their long-term stability and bio-compatibility. For improvements like this, in vitro systems provide a powerful alternative approach to the use of animals. Cell culture of adult retinal neurones could, for instance, be used to screen bio-compatible compounds. These in vitro models could also be used to design stimulating protocols for the different neuronal populations found in the central nervous systems: spiking or graded potential neurones. Finally, in vitro neural networks like this  could also be designed to integrate complex tasks.
Animals display a great variety of sensory systems that easily outperform existing sensors generated by human beings.. Biosensors designed to follow principles of biological sensory physiology or using biological compound (enzyme, antibodies) have proved commercially successful for glucose test in diabetic people or for chemical discrimination. An artificial tongue and nose were, for example, created but these elements do not have the exquisite sensitivity of our senses nor do they have the same level of miniaturisation. New polymer structures are currently developed to enlarge the chemical sensitivity which can also be obtained from antibodies or enzymes. 

Session recommendation
	The result of the data analysis could provide basis for a therapeutic decision such as local surgery, pharmacological treatment or brain prostheses. Prostheses were validated in sensory systems by the development of cochlear implants for auditory deficits. Their development for other sensory systems requires the development of adapted model for sensory system integration in order to generate adequate pattern of stimulations. Therefore, to further understand sensory information processing, normal or pathologic brain functions and design sensory prostheses, it appears crucial to develop new tools for real-time data analysis and modelling.
	As discussed above, interfaces are required to connect biological neural cells to artificial systems to both read and write to the nervous systems. In prostheses, for instance, interfaces can transfer the adequate stimulation to the biological neural networks. Conversely, interfaces can also collect useful information from the biological neural networks. Experiments in vivo have demonstrated the great potential of these interfaces to stimulate motor responses or behavioural decisions. They showed, however, that specific designs of electrode arrays need to be generated depending on the tissue configuration. They also underlined problems regarding bio-compatibility and long-term stability. Since screening for bio-compatible products may be difficult to achieve in vivo, alternative strategies should be developed using in vitro neuronal models. As for tissue grafting, the interface should not trigger any rejection reaction or cell degeneration. Furthermore, cell stimulation should not induce any chemical or physical reactions. In addition, different stimulation protocols have to be designed specifically for the different types of neurones occurring in the central nervous system, spiking and graded potential neurones. Finally, strategies should be developed to significantly increase long-term contact between neurones and electrodes. Therefore, while interfaces are validated in vivo, in vitro models should be developed to improve their bio-compatibility and long-term stability.
	Recently, some bio-sensors have been designed as sensory systems with an array of sensors coupled to an artificial neural network for pattern recognition. Analysing and modelling sensory systems as described above should, therefore, allow a significant increase the complexity and efficiency of bio-sensors like this. Bio-sensors can match and even go beyond the diversity of animal senses. For instance, in chemical sense, the principal challenge is to develop new sensors with a wider range of sensitivity, a greater individual selectivity, a better stability and resilience to interference. Chemical bio-sensors like this can either rely on biological molecules or artificial structures provided they are coupled with an adequate transducer. Furthermore, to keep these bio-sensors adapted for industrial or medical applications, miniaturisation of existing and newly developed bio-sensors, their transducers and the corresponding neural network is required. Therefore, the challenges of bio-sensors technology is to significantly increase both their diversity and their miniaturisation.

3.2 Human-machine interaction with autonomous sensors and various prostheses

Scenario and recommendations
Neural prostheses, in general, and Retina implants, in particular are becoming a major challenge in the next decade. The architecture of systems like this realized by spatial-temporal filter/computer architectures is among the key questions and tasks. Thereby, adaptive neural networks can be considered for multidimensional signal processing problems, e. g., in the case of a learning retina encoder. An interdisciplinary collaboration is important for the system development and realization.

Possible themes are:
Learning Neural Prostheses
Learning Bio Sensors
Novel Human Sensory Systems
Some of the major challenges in this field are:

•	the development of permanent, two-way interfaces to selected neural circuits, adaptive communications systems and novel distributed system architectures.
•	the realization of 3-dimensional smart, stable long term brain interfaces
•	the optimization and development of a miniaturized analysis system is the aim of a interdisciplinary research collaboration.
•	prevention and forecasting of epileptic seizures, the design and the realization of electrodes and a programmable analogic CNN computer chip implementation, connected in real-time to the human brain in epilepsy. This sensing-computing-control system could also be useful in many other applications.
•	understanding and learning the principles and mechanisms of nature, in many species, for the realization of new biomedical devices.

3.3 Bionic systems and brain controlled automata

	The major tasks and challenges in this field are as follows
•	to understand the structural complexity and the processing mechanisms of the brain
The shear enormity of constituents and possible states of the brain is emphasized as well as its ability to adapt with use and in response to novelty with particular emphasis to the somatosensory system. The lack of detailed knowledge about sensorimotor integration, i.e., the transfer of information from the sensorial to motor controllers is highlighted. The detailed understanding of the mechanisms by which the cerebellum as a learning machine is capable of making predictions necessary for movement is a major challenge to uncover and to understand the details
•	the isomorphism between the structure of the brain and the structure of its output (be it thinking or behavior)
A brain can be described as a composite of dedicated processors each one of which deals with a problem of some biological importance to the animal it belongs to. The distinction is important between the simple ones connecting sensorial to motoneurons, also called reflex arcs, and the more complex ones operating on signals internal to the brain which are called association areas. The fact that the job they do usually employs some biological innovation trick (often a structural or functional trick) is emphasized. A key structural and functional direction is described as an aggregate of locally smart, simple processors from which emerges a more complex processor. A list of the methodological approaches necessary to ensure that these and the additional circuits which comprise the brain are fully understood, is as follows:
1)	Psychophysics, i.e, the quantitative treatment of brain output and the formulation of laws that apply to it. An example was provided regarding the position sensitivity of saccades evoked in response to the electrical stimulation of the superior colliculus. Although driven by concerns about the functioning of the superior colliculus this research has important implications for the debate raging about the relationship between amplitude versus position control theories. A major challenge for the future will be to extend this work to brain outputs that do not lead to overt behavior.
2)	Functional Anatomy, necessary to understand structural principles of the brain. An example was provided regarding the spatial extent of activation in the deeper layers of the superior colliculus of a monkey executing saccades of particular metrics. Although driven by concerns about the existence of moving waves coding dynamic movement variables this research has important implications for the representation of the world in neural space. A major challenge for the future will be to extend this work to arbitrary neural maps covering brain areas with complex geometries.
3)	Neurophysiology, necessary to understand the signals processed in the brain. An example was provided regarding the discharge pattern of a single cells intracellularly recorded in the alert animal to emphasize the effort that must be invested to understand the neural codes used to represent external physical variables. A major challenge for the future will be to go beyond extracellular recording. It is important to record behaviorally relevant brain signals intracellularly so that we can read excitation, inhibition and there no ambiguity as to who talks to whom inside the brain.
4)	Computational Neuroscience, including models from Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Spatial-temporal computing, etc., which provide the theoretical framework within which experimental questions are asked, highlight the mechanical, geometric and control issues that the brain must come to grips with, generate models which help test the adequacy of scientific explanations and engineering applications.
•	application areas where the cellular nonlinear/neural network (CNN) paradigm has played and will play a crucial role,  two special areas are as follows:
1)	The use of CNN Technology to implement biologically inspired central pattern generators giving rise to forward propulsion. Reaction-Diffusion CNNs generating Turing patterns are of key importance as well as their  stored programmable hardware/software implementation in analogic topographic microprocessors including microcontrollers, allowing the real time control of the forward propulsion of some bio-robots. Examples as walking hexapods and swimming lamprey-like robots are already operational, their more advanced versions are to be developed. The possibility to use these applications in industrial automation, as well as in making household appliances are foreseen.
2)	Initial successful experiments using analogic CNN microprocessors for DNA Chip evaluation forecast the proliferation of the use of real-time automatic analysis of DNA-chips based on the analogue and parallel processing of the information they contain.
•	to understand the mechanisms and their implementation of a synapse with intrinsic plasticity
Analogic CNN microprocessors might make it in a programmable way. The major challenges: How to make intrinsic, autonomously regulated plasticity? Should any sort of plasticity be implemented in silicon devices?  If so, what sort of plasticity should we need? How to implement the wide ranges of dynamics in signal value and time constants (e.g. 20 ms - hours, days and years)? 
•	A core problem is the architecture and implementation of spatial-temporal stored programmable microprocessors which can directly handle analog signal arrays and adapt to the changing needs
We also want to include sensory arrays and controlling-acting mechanisms. These new types of sensor-computers are to be endowed with the following features.
1) Operation on 2-D analog signal flow.
2) Ability to combine analog spatial-temporal dynamics and logical operations   
3) Learning and plasticity
4) Wide dynamic range and time-scale range of operation. 
5) The ability to form long-term hybrids with biological systems.
6) Low power consumption.
The structure and properties of analogic cellular CNN computers seem to be a major candidate in this endeavor, its further development, as well as other directions will also be researched. 

Summary of  Major research challenges:

 1) Understanding the processes underlying decision making in brains and machines.
 2) Understanding how the brain represents the world.
 3) Engineering autonomous machines (including their endowment with biologically inspired means of forward propulsion).
 4) Understanding sensory-motor integration.
 5) Understanding the adaptability and plasticity of brains and machines.
 6) Engineering a new breed of computer architecture processing directly an array of analog signals and a signal flow; such as AnaLogic CNN computers, for use in various applications, research in additional capabilities and other directions and applications, including decision making.
Session recommendations:
 1) There is a need to support traditional disciplines such as psychophysics, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology and comparative biology to study the various biological solutions to a given processing item. Unless a knowledge-base like this  is cultivated, technology won't have much of an archetype to emulate.
 2) There is a need to establish interdisciplinary groups of scientists trained in robotics, neuroanatomy, electrical and biomedical engineering, neurophysiology, mathematics, comparative biology, etc. The scientists should be located in a way as to interact on an everyday basis and the teams should have a critical mass such as to be productive both within and across disciplinary boundaries. Encouraging the collaboration of American and European scientists could contribute in this regard.

3.4 Bionic and bio-inspired device technologies
Scenario and recommendations
Biological models of the vertebrate, insect and mammalian visual systems have lead to bio-inspired algorithms. A device that can implement these algorithms in real-time is based on the CNN paradigm. More work is needed to describe the full language of the retina.
Many man-made electro-optical materials and devices have been inspired by biological systems. The motion detection system of the fly is a good example of a useful optoelectronic system for robot piloting and navigation. The rest of the insect world represents a huge data -base for future bio-inspired micro sensor-processor-actuator units.
Many limitations are understood to VLSI’s future growth. For one problem, the fault tolerancy, biology has learnt how to overcome this using loosely coupled, faulty elements. Additional challenges will be sensory fusion, learning systems, and system integration.
Mimicking biology with silicon is very hard. The real niche for bio-inspired systems is at the interface between the digital and analog world, particularly in the areas of wireless tele-communication and PDA’s where power dissipation is critical for implementing powerful signal processing applications like speech recognition.
Current digital trends are toward full integration on a single chip. However, many systems with high dimensional input data need the massive processing of analog signal arrays. The AnaLogic CNN Computers could handle this problem, as an interesting vehicle for integration all the various signal processing and decision making tasks. System level demonstrations are the imminent challenges. The inclusion of the complete system on a single chip, as well as the creation of a standard software base and languages are some major other challenges.
New nano-scale electronic interfaces will offer great improvements in ultra-low-power bionic devices for prosthesis and scientific studies of neural tissue. Future advances in microelectronics and analog processing will allow dramatic reductions in cost and size. Advanced imaging sensors can benefit greatly from new bio-inspired algorithms.

	The CVs and Abstracts, as well as the Presentations of the participating scientists are in the Appendices
4 The proposed program
The proposed program is shown schematically on page 8. It contains a core program of enabling technologies and prototype applications in human beings, as well as a few component programs to carry out research in selected mission critical areas.
The core of the program with four focus areas:
•	1) Biological Computing and Communication Models
Bio-morphic functional models are to be developed to understand specific sensing/processing/motor mechanisms. The goal is to find system level solutions. Out of the many existing models the candidates are to be selected and/or understood which have a chance to be implemented via some programmable prototype devices. 
•	2) Bio/Neural interface testbeds
For various typical functional settings, interface testbeds are to be developed for testing the living – artificial interfaces. One testbed interface like this has been identified during the Workshop, a neural-electronic interface, mainly devoted to visual applications. Prototype testbeds like this could make the comparison and classification of future bionics devices possible.. In this way, different research groups and companies could test their future devices on the same testbed, allowing them to meet soon emerging international standards. These testbeds would also be used to test bio compatibility of different materials using different packaging technologies.
•	3) Programmable AnaLogic spatial-temporal computing and signal processing devices 
Practically, all the bionic devices are operating on analog signals. Many special purpose electronic signal processing devices, mainly CMOS VLSI chips, have been developed during the recent years. There is, however, a pressing need to use a fairly standard, programmable computing device with spatial-temporal interfaces to analog sensory and/or activating arrays. The AnaLogic Cellular (CNN) Computer architecture, including analogic software, has been identified as one important candidate, it is the result of a genuine transatlantic research collaboration. Communication interfaces and protocols, implemented also by analog circuits on the chips, have been identified as key aspects to be developed. New efficient methods are required to analyze and processing multidimensional signals (including thousands of signals).
•	4) Prototype prosthetic devices in humans
To test system level issues, some typical devices built into human being are to be selected and studied in every details. Cochlear implants could be an existing candidate, future retinal implants, as well as real-time epilepsy forecasting devices and built in medication devices are considered as typical case- studies. These case-studies are to be tested and studied at selected testbed laboratories on both sides of the Atlantic to develop a common reproducible standard at various areas of applications.
As soon as the Bionics Technology is matured and products hit the market, major ethical issues will emerge. Therefore, the ethical issue should be carefully studied during the program.
Eight Component programs (a non-exhausting list):
•	A) Understanding neural processing – learning and plasticity
In this program specific details of different functionalities, as well as of different species will be studied to develop prototype techniques. These results will also serve as components in the system level models of the first focus area in the core program.
•	B) Developing biomorphic sensors/actuators
Various technologies are foreseen, including living/artificial hybrid components. Real-time monitoring and forecasting is also included.
•	C) Neural-silicon communication systems
Means, methods and implementation details, wired and wireless, signal and power transmission are all included. These results will also serve as components in the system level models of the third focus area in the core program
•	D) Analogic hardware/software components 
These components are developed for typical computing and signal processing tasks. These components could also serve in the system level of the third focus area in the core program.
•	E) Developing special neural prostheses
These tasks are ranging from simpler devices up to the most complex prostheses like the retinal implant. These results, once experimentally verified, would serve as components in the fourth focus area of the core program.
•	F) Bio-inspired and brain controlled robots
One of the most fascinating areas with promising initial results. Both self -contained robots with a highlevel of fault tolerance and the brain –controlled robots are included.
•	G) Bio inspired perception systems
Among other things, various sensor fusion devices, multi-modal surveillance systems, security systems are included
•	H) Novel educational efforts
In this emerging discipline supported also by the sensor revolution, as a third wave in electronics industry after the PC and the internet technologies, novel educational efforts are needed on the graduate, as well as on the undergraduate level. In particular, we are proposing two programs. 
One is the support of transatlantic studies of doctoral students working in this field. Among other things , the credit transfer for a 1-3 –semester- long work at a partner participating laboratory is a crucial issue. 
The second area is the support of multidisciplinary studies in the undergraduate curriculum. Electronic and computer engineering students are to be “infected” by bio courses at their earlier semesters and special courses are needed in the upper division. Likewise, Bio students would learn the emerging novel signal processing and computing principles and techniques.

5 Vision and Proposed actions
The Vision
We envision within a decade, in a continuously developing fashionthat a new industry will emerge serving unprecedented human needs, resulting in
•	Sensory and other prostheses (visual, auditory, tactile, smell, taste, motion, etc.), as well as self-contained medication, forecasting and therapeutic devices built into the human body
•	Brain controlled robots and motor prostheses (human and industrial use)
•	Life-like Perception/action devices for household, industrial, and medical use (home and community security, telemedicine, home-care, life-like robots/valets, etc.)
•	OEM bionic parts to be embedded in many other goods and services
Most probably, in addition to human needs, the new innovations in micro sensing and acting devices, MEMS technologies and other related new concepts will accelerate the development of the new products envisioned. Our proposed transatlantic research program could serve to accelerate this development in a pre-competitive phase, as well as to lead to international standards and maintain the leadership of the participating parties.

We strongly urge the governmental level decision makers to act as quickly as possible in implementing this program. As early actions we propose as follows:
Implementation of the transatlantic research network
•	To establish a Transatlantic Research Network of task-specific testbed Laboratories 
o	neural/bio interfaces
o	Bio-morphic and bio-inspired prototype sensors/activators/communicators
o	prototype AnaLogic sensing/processing/action computers
•	A Network for prototype brain controlled, neuromorphic or bio-inspired robots
•	A Network for application specific methodologies for prosthetic devices