Prof. Dr.-Ing. Walter Kellermann
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Lehrstuhl für Multimediakommunikation und Signalverarbeitung
Cauerstraße 7
91058 Erlangen
Lecture title: “Audio processing for Autonomous systems”.
Abstract: Autonomous systems (ASs) operating in real-world environments are exposed to a plurality and diversity of sounds that carry a wealth of information for perception in cognitive dynamic systems. While the importance of the acoustic modality for humans as autonomous systems is obvious, we investigate here to what extent current technical autonomous systems (ASs) operating in scenarios filled with airborne sound exploit their potential to analyze such acoustic scenarios.
First, we review the state of the art of relevant generic techniques for acoustic scene analysis, i.e., source localization and the various concepts for signal enhancement, including spatial filtering, source separation, noise suppression, dereverberation and echo cancellation. For these methods, we will consider to which extent the state of the art in other domains is already and can potentially be applied in our application area.
In the second part, we present an overview on current techniques for ego-noise suppression, as a specific additional challenge for ASs. Generic methods for robust source localization and signal extraction in the presence of ego-noise, notably for drones, but also specific models and estimation methods for ego-noise based on various learning techniques will be discussed.
Finally, we will consider active sensing with its unique potential for acoustic scene analysis. Thereby, recent techniques for binaural listening exploiting head motion, for active localization and exploration and for active signal enhancement are discussed, with humanoıd robots as typical platforms.
Throughout the course and underlining the multimodal nature of self-awareness, links to other modalities and nonacoustic reference information are pointed out where appropriate.
Short Biography
Walter Kellermann is a professor for communications at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, since 1999. He received the Dipl.-Ing. (univ.) degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, in 1983, and the Dr.-Ing. degree from the Technical University Darmstadt, Germany, in 1988. From 1989 to 1990, he was a postdoc at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ. In 1990, he joined Philips Kommunikations Industrie, Nuremberg, Germany. From 1993 to 1999, he was a Professor at the Fachhochschule Regensburg. In 1999, he joined the University Erlangen-Nuremberg as a Professor and Head of the Audio Research Laboratory. He authored or coauthored 21 book chapters, 300+ refereed papers in journals and conference proceedings, as well as 70+ patents, and is a co-recipient of ten best paper awards. Dr. Kellermann served as an Associate Editor and Guest Editor to various IEEE and EURASIP journals, and presently serves as Associate Editor to the EURASIP Journal on Applied Signal Processing. He was the General Chair of seven mostly IEEE-sponsored workshops and conferences. Service to the IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS) also includes: Distinguished Lecturer from 2007 to 2008, Member (2002-2007) and Chair (2008-2010) of the Technical Committee for Audio and Acoustic Signal Processing, Member of the Technical Committee for Sensor Array and Multichannel Signal Processing, Member of IEEE James L. Flanagan Award Committee from 2011 to 2014, Member at Large of the SPS Board of Governors (2013-2015), Vice President Technical Directions (2016-2018), Member Nominations and Appointments Committee (2019-2021). Service to the European Association for Signal Processing (EURASIP) includes memberships in the Special Area Teams (SATs) for Acoustic, Speech and Music Signal Processing (2016-2021) and Signal Processing for Multisensor Systems (2016-2021). He was awarded the Julius von Haast Fellowship by the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2012 and the Group Technical Achievement Award by EURASIP in 2015. In 2016, he was a Visiting Fellow at Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. He is an IEEE Fellow.
