University of Patras Research Committee
Innovation and Technology Transfer Office
Directory of Mature
Research Results
[ Patras, July 2014 ]
University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Directory of Mature
Research Results
2014
Disclaimer
The content of this publication does not reflect the official view of the
University of Patras. Responsibility for the information and views expressed
herein lies entirely with the researchers who contributed the mature
research results descriptions.
v.0.10 July, 23th, 2014
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Forward
On July 2014, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs invited the Greek Universities to an event for
promotion of mature research results of technology readiness level 6 or high. This was
considered a good opportunity to mobilize the research community of the University of
Patras in order to create a Directory of mature research. The response to the call, despite
the end of academic year period was overwhelming, an indication of the readiness of our
community and the attention we pay to innovation and technology transfer issues. So we
decided to launch this directory as a focal point of mature research results. This open
publication is going to be supported by the new Unit of Innovation Technology Transfer
and Entrepreneurship, part of which is the ITT Office of the Research Committee that
administers and produces this publication. I hope this is just another step of our University to
play a more active role in technology trasnfer and innovation at the local and global level.
Nikolaos Avouris, Professor of School of Engineering
Head of Research Committee
CONTENTS
Introduction 4
School of Natural Sciences 7
School of Engineering 13
School of Health Sciences 67
School of Business Administration 69
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
The University of Patras: a brief introduction
In 2014 the University of Patras celebrates its 50th anniversary. It was November 1964 that the
University was established with the Decree 4425/1964, as the third Greek University. It was
created in order to deal with the many challenges that were then facing Greek society. It
continues until today to do so.
According to the original proposal to the Greek Parliament, the mission of the new University
was to promote teaching and research on subjects that would support the economic
development of Greece, with emphasis on science, technology, economic and social
sciences and business administration. The objective was also to train specialized scientists
and engineers, to reduce brain drain and attract high level scientists from worldwide.
Many of the original objectives were met and even extended. The University has now grown
into a two-city campus (in Rio and Agrinio); its subjects of teaching and research have been
extended from the original ones to the humanities, education, life and medical sciences; it
has attracted Greek and international scientists from all over the world; it has grown in
number of students (over 30,000 today), faculty, and staff; and has become the largest
educational and research institution of Western Greece and one of the most prominent in
Greece. While it maintains its regional and national engagement, it also has a strong
international orientation. The University in 2013-2014 went through external evaluation of all
its 24 departments: the results underlined its strengths and values as a centre of excellence
at the European level. Today, in a time of economic crisis for Greece and Europe, it is
evident, that our record demonstrates that public spending for Universities, such as the
University of Patras, is an investment for the generations to come and for the future of our
country and Europe as a whole.
The NMR Facility,
Pharmacy
Department
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
The University consists of five Schools: (i) School of Natural Sciences with departments of
Biology, Geology, Material Science, Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry. (ii) School of
Engineering with departments of Architecture, Environmental and Natural Resources
Management, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Engineering and
Informatics, Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, Civil Engineering, Chemical
Engineering. (iii) School of Health Sciences, with departments of Medicine and Pharmacy.
(iv) School of Humanities and Social Sciences, with departments of Primary Education,
Educational Sciences and Early Childhood Education, Theatre Studies, Philology, Philosophy.
(v) School of Business Administration with Departments of Business Administration, Business
Administration of Food and Agricultural Enterprises, Cultural Heritage Management and New
Technologies and the Department of Economics.
The University of Patras offers a vast variety of courses through the twenty-four (24)
Undergraduate Programs of Studies that lead to a Ptychio degree based on 4 years of
studies (6 years for the Faculty of Medicine) or to Diploma degrees of 5 years of study for the
School of Engineering. Furthermore the University of Patras offers over thirty (30) Programs of
Postgraduate Studies, some of which are inter-departmental and inter-university, operating
in collaboration with other universities in Greece and abroad. The postgraduate programs
of the University of Patras lead to Masters and Doctorate degrees.
Particular areas of excellence of
the University of Patras are
Engineering, Natural Sciences,
Life sciences, etc. According to
the recent 2013 edition of world
University
rankings
of
QS
http://www.topuniversities.com/
the University is ranked within the
top 650 Universities in the world,
and in specific disciplines scores
higher, like Engineering (225th
position) and Natural sciences
(381th position), reflecting the
focus of the University in science
and technology.
In recent years the University of Patras has intensified its efforts in playing a key role as
technology transfer institution at the regional and national level as well as promoting
innovation and of entrepreneurship. Fostering the engagement of our University in
Technology transfer, innovation activities and skills development is a major priority activity
for the Research Committee and the University in recent years. “Through the creation of the
new Unit of Innovation Technology Transfer and Entrepreneurship we expect to fully mobilize
the capacities of our university to contribute to economic and social development of our
region and the country” said Prof N. Avouris, head of the Research Committee in a recent
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
statement to the Senate. This Directory of Mature Research Results is one step towards this
direction with an international flavor.
This Directory is maintained and promoted by the Innovation & Technology Transfer Office
(ITTO) of the new Unit. ITTO strives to find the most efficient ways to support turning ideas
developed by researchers into products. The Office promotes, protects & manages the
intellectual property developed by faculty members, students, other researchers, evaluates
inventions, manages the patent portfolio, negotiates technology licenses & assists
entrepreneurs with the creation of startups and spinoffs. Areas of activity of ITTO include:
Internal Information Recording, Mapping of the productive sector (Industry and SMEs) of the
wider region, search for funding opportunities. Development of mechanisms for the
valorization of research results, management of intellectual property and technology
transfer. Dissemination actions for the promotion of technological services and valorization
of research results.
During June and July 2014 an open call was issued to the University research community for
cases of research results that have reached technology readiness level 6 or higher, i.e. they
have already been demonstrated in relevant environments. 18 cases of mature research
results were proposed to be included in this current first edition. The directory is going to be
regularly updated and maintained in electronic and printed form and linked to the mature
research results online resources.
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
School of Natural
Sciences
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Technology Opportunity
Organisation name:
Organisation contact details (eg address,
email, phone number, website):
Department:
Contact Person:
Position:
Email:
Mobile phone:
University of Patras
University city, www.upatras.gr
Chemistry
Koutinas Athanasios
Professor Emeritus
[email protected]
2610997104
Title: Producing a probiotic multi-purpose starter culture using whey as raw material
Summary
This is an innovative approach using cheese whey to produce a starter culture suitable for
feta cheese aging and hard-cheese ripening as well as for the mass industrial production of
kefir, bioethanol, dried yeast for bread-making in sachets, and protein animal feed. It is the
combined outcome of a 12-year-long research, 27 international scientific articles and
publications as well as three doctorate theses and it is ready and mature for industrial usage
and applications. The culture is resistant to changes and molding, appearance of holes, and
improves flavor and aroma. It is low-cost for a simple thermal drying method is used thus
making its potential investment cost highly appealing to investors and it entails commercial
benefits while increasing quality and competitiveness. According to estimates, the first stage
of the investment should require about 1 million euro in capital.
Technology/Product/Service description
The proposed product is a dried starter culture for cheese ripening and industrial production
of bioethanol, baker’s yeast and animal feed. The innovation lays in the reduced production
cost compared to conventional methods and the improved characteristic of the products.
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Competitive advantages
Multiple use of starter culture
i) acceleration of cheese ripening
improvement of cheese quality and preservation
induce hard cheese hole formation
probiotic property
ii) baker’s yeast
improvement of bread quality
increase of shelf-life
Lower cost as compared to traditional production
iii) use as protein rich livestock feed
iv) fermentation of milk as starter culture for sour milk production
v) starter culture for whey treatment for alcohol and beverage production
vi) Product with reduced cost due to raw material negligible cost
It is an easy to use technology compared to existing ones. There is also a patent
application.
Market Analysis
Target markets are dairy production, baking and livestock feeds.
Competitors are companies producing propionate starter cultures and baker’s yeast
Sacharomyces cerevisiae. Our starter culture covers all the aforementioned uses. It is more
competitivedue to low cost and the advantages described in previous sections.
Companies producing starter cultures and baker’s yeast would be interested in the
proposed technology.
Development Roadmap & Investment
An one million investment is needed to develop the proposed technology. One year
development is needed for a competitive pilot plant and case study. In specific, 6 months
are required for the case study and six more for the installation. The proposed product can
be developed through a spin-off company which will be created.
Profile (team and backround)
The scientific team of Food Biotechnology Group in the University of Patras consists of
Koutinas Athanasios (Professor Emeritus), Kanellaki Maria (Professor) and Bekatorou Argyro
(Assistant Professor). The Food Biotechnolgoy Group specializes in fermentation sector
(food, biofuel), biotechnological valorization of agroindustrial waste for production of
added-value products, process design in industrial scale.
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Relevant Picture/drawing
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
The inclusion of probiotic
microorganisms in human diet has
numerous health benefits. Whey is
used for probiotic culture
production and culture
immobilization leads to increased
viability and stability of probiotic
microorganisms during processing
and storage of the dairy or meat
products
Target markets are dairy production
and meat products (sausages).
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
School of
Engineering
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Technology Opportunity
Organisation name:
ECRG-LEMEC-UP
(Energy Conversion Research Group - Laboratory of
Electromechanical Energy Conversion – University of Patras)
Organisation contact
details (eg address,
email, phone number,
website):
Laboratory of Electromechanical Energy Conversion
University of Patras
http://lemec.ece.upatras.gr
+30.2610.996412
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Department:
Emmanuel Tatakis
Contact Person:
Position:
Email:
Professor
[email protected]
Mobile phone:
Title: Optimal design and development of a micro-inverter for AC-PV modules
Summary
AC-PV modules are a new area on building integration of PV applications that has a high
penetration in the market. The ECRG-LEMEC-UP research team has focused, for over a
decade, on the subject of micro-inverters for AC-PV modules, during which 2 doctoral
dissertations, a PENED 2003 research program as well as many diploma theses have already
been concluded and another doctoral dissertation is currently ongoing. The research
objective is the optimal design and manufacture of the power converter that will be used,
in order to provide the maximum possible efficiency, for a wide power spectrum, with a high
power factor and high power density. A thorough literature study has been conducted and
the operation of different topologies has been analyzed, leading to the selection of the
Flyback current source inverter, as the most suitable topology for the specific application,
due to its high reliability and low cost. A special optimization algorithm has been developed
for this converter, based on the analytical equations of the electrical quantities, which
dictates the design and operational characteristics of the converter components,
according to the desired specifications (PV module power and voltage, volume, mass etc.),
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
leading to the estimation of the efficiency of the final converter. Depending on the
operating power, two different switching modulation methods are used (DCM and i-BCM).
Currently, new calculations are conducted, so as to consolidate those two pulsation
methods and consequently improve the system efficiency and increase the power density.
What is more, a parallel active filter topology has also been developed, to eliminate the
converter input current ripple, which is double the grid frequency. All of the above have
been validated using prototypes which have been tested in laboratory environment, the
results of which have been published in prestigious scientific journals and conferences.
Technology/Product/Service description
Traditionally in a solar power system, a relatively large number of solar panels is connected
to an inverter which produces an ac current and transfers the energy to the grid. That
inverter, together with producing the ac current from the dc current produced by the
modules, also has control over the efficiency of the modules. In order to achieve the
maximum power generation from the solar panels, an mppt algorithm is employed, but is
effective only if all the modules have exactly the same characteristics and are operating
under the same weather conditions. Micro Inverters are much smaller inverters designed to
match to a single panel or module.
A power inverter, necessary for the connection of the photovoltaic panel to the single phase
ac grid, has been developed. In order to maximize the power efficiency of the converter,
the quantification of the power losses of each system component is carried out through
analytical equations and an optimization algorithm is applied, which dictates the design
parameters (component values) of the system, so as to obtain maximum efficiency.
Therefore, the power losses are minimized, decreasing the weight, size and cost of the
converter, designed to be installed in the back of the photovoltaic panel, and most
importantly achieving the maximum possible energy generation from the solar panel to the
electrical grid. The main advantages of AC-PV modules are a power efficiency similar to
traditional systems and an effectiveness (production of energy per volume) much greater.
Competitive advantages
AC-PV modules are oriented to the user who wants to effortlessly and safely install a few solar
panels to any building’s rooftop. For this reason, every panel has an integrated single phase
power electronics inverter, which implements MPPT control and anti-islanding protection.
Thus, maximum power generation is achieved, even with partial shadows, and the system is
easily upgradable at any time and more reliable. The developed power inverter ensures that
the maximum power available is transferred to the electrical grid, rendering the investment
of the installation of the solar panels more worthy and increasing the profit margin.
Depending on the preference, the user can purchase the power inverter pre-connected to
the solar panel or can purchase the products separately. In any case, the only installation
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
requirement is the connection of the power inverter to the solar panel on one side and to
any ac plug on the other side.
Market Analysis
The technology of AC/PV modules is targeted to the users who do not want to invest on the
construction of larger scale PV plant, but prefer to install a small amount of PV panels to the
roofs of existing buildings (due to cost or area limitations). This modern approach has been
developed the last two decades, as originally only large scale PV systems were considered
profitable.
As such, not only several companies have been established in the last decade, which
specifically produce micro-inverters for AC-PV modules, but also existing large scale solar
inverter manufacturers have realised products for AC/PV modules (i.e. ReneSola-China,
Enphase-USA, Power One-USA, ExelTech-USA).
Development Roadmap & Investment
Collaboration with industry is proposed. Since this product is in a laboratory level, a full
industrialisation process is needed.
Profile (team and background)
Team:
Dr.-Ing. Emmanuel Tatakis, Professor, UP
Dr. Ing. Nikolaos Papanikolaou, Assistant Professor, DUTh
Dr. Ing. Anastasios Kyritsis, Researcher, CRES
Dr. Ing. Anastasios Nanakos, RDD Power Electronics Engineer, Dyson Ltd
El. Eng. Georgios Christidis, PhD Candidate, UP
Key publications
1. Kyritsis Anastasios: "Optimal design of a high frequency single phase converter for the
connection of low power photovoltaic systems to the low
voltage grid", University of Patras, ECE Dept., LEMEC, No. 211, January 2009.
2. Nanakos Anastasios: "Optimal design of the flyback current source inverter for use in acpv modules", University of Patras, ECE Dept, LEMEC,
No. 297, October 2012.
3. Kyritsis A.Ch., Tatakis E.C., Papanikolaou N.P., "Optimum Design of the Current-Source
Flyback Inverter for Decentralized Grid-Connected
Photovoltaic Systems", IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, March 2008, Vol. 23, No 1,
pp. 281-293.
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4. Nanakos A.C., Tatakis E.C., Papanikolaou N.P., "A Weighted-Efficiency-Oriented Design
Methodology of Flyback Inverter for AC Photovoltaic Modules", IEEE Transactions on
Power Electronics, July 2012, Vol. 27, No 7, pp. 3221 - 3233.
5. Kyritsis A.Ch., Papanikolaou N.P., Tatakis E.C., "Enhanced Current Pulsation Smoothing
Parallel Active Filter for Single Stage Grid-connected
AC-PV Module", 13th International Power Electronics and Motion Control Conference (EPEPEMC 2008), Poznan (Poland), September 1-3, 2008, paper on CD, No 0326.
Relevant Picture/drawing
Please include a relevant picture or drawing in high resolution including a short description
of the picture in one sentence.
Flyback inverter topology diagram
Measured efficiency of an 100W developed power inverter, compared to the calculated
one, after the application of the optimization algorithm
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Technology Opportunity
Organisation name:
Organisation contact
details (eg address,
email, phone number,
website):
VLSILAB
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department,
University of Patras, GREECE
www.vlsi.ece.upatras.gr
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department,
Department:
University of Patras
Vassilis PALIOURAS
Contact Person:
Position:
Email:
Mobile phone:
Associate Professor
[email protected]
+30 6945 890629
Title: A system for the design and verification of FEC hardware
Summary
A system that substantially accelerates the design of reliable telecom equipment is
introduced. Achieving spectacular acceleration of design time, the introduced system
facilitates efficient design-space exploration, allowing the development of high-quality
sophisticated products within short project schedules. Targeting Wi-Fi applications, point-topoint links and connectivity in Internet of Things, the introduced system targets design houses
active in such areas.
Technology/Product/Service description
Contemporary and next-generation wireless, wired and optical telecommunication systems
rely on sophisticated forward error-correction (FEC) schemes to facilitate operation at
particularly low Bit Error Rate (BER), below 1E-12. The ever increasing demand for high
information throughput rate, combined with requirements for moderate cost and low-power
operation, renders the design of FEC systems a challenging task.
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Several modern FEC schemes are based on iterative decoders due to the implementation
efficiency. Yet, due to the non-optimal behavior of such decoders, detailed
characterization is crucial especially in low-BER applications. However, the characterization
of FEC schemes at low BER is a computationally intensive task which is not practical using
only software simulation due to excessive simulation time. An even more complicated task
is error-correction code design itself.
In addition to code design, verification of operation at low BER requires the use of design
and verification strategies capable of proving correct operation of hardware, thus rendering
FPGA prototyping a necessity.
We have designed and implemented a complete hardware-software system that utilizes
special-purpose hardware and embedded software techniques to facilitate high-speed FEC
system characterization. The developed system relies heavily on custom hardware, such as
noise generators, to accelerate computations by several orders of magnitude. Furthermore,
embedded software applications executed on processors embedded in the system, allow
effective monitoring and profiling of rare events, which is the essence of characterization at
low BER. Detailed operation information becomes available for further study in wide-spread
tools such as matlab.
Notably the particular system has allowed our team to design and verify several FEC systems
in collaboration with the industry in the context of several research projects that have
successfully met industrial real-world specifications for wireless point-to-point communication
links and WiFi applications. Two related US patents were granted to us in 2014 for such
systems, two other US patent applications are pending.
Several versions and prototypes of the developed system have been implemented and
extensively tested on various platforms including Virtex-5, Virtex-6, and Virtex-7 family
devices.
Competitive advantages
A main issue in contemporary system design is the optimization and verification of complex
systems composed of diverse IP blocks developed in-house or coming from third parties. The
physical description available for each constituent IP may vary. Specific substantial effort is
required for the verification of commonly-used IP blocks which are implementation-efficient,
yet theoretically sub-optimal and may operate below expectation under circumstances too
rare to reliably simulate with software tools. Such is the case with iterative decoders based
on LDPC codes, which may exhibit a sharp degradation of corrective capabilities at low
noise exhibiting the so-called error floor. Furthermore operation of a telecom system at low
BER may be dominated by design discrepancies which may manifest themselves under very
rare conditions, too rare to identify under usual verification procedures, yet enough to fail
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
product specifications. The introduced system allows for prototyping and optimization since
it
◦ Accelerates the simulation of the FEC subsystems, or other IP of interest, by several orders
of magnitude
◦ Allows the exploration of BER performance of iterative decoders near the error floor,
◦ Allows for practically error-free hardware design,
◦ Essentially improves error-correction capability and product quality by facilitating design
space exploration.
The approach taken by the introduced system outperforms existing approaches based on
software-model simulation (Matlab), HDL simulation (ModelSim) and Hardware simulation
(FPGAs).
By relying on optimized hardware accelerators for processing and using embedded
software for monitoring and I/O, the described system outperforms conventional hardwarein-the-loop solutions.
The described system has been extensively used as in-house tool in several R&D projects
related to hardware design for telecom applications and has facilitated innovation by the
group, as consolidated by two US patents granted in 2014 to our team, while two US patent
applications are currently pending.
Market Analysis
Embedded systems form a trillion dollar market. The growth rate in embedded systems is
more than 10% annually, while by year 2020 over 40 billion devices are expected to be
deployed worldwide. Connectivity is a highly required feature of an embedded system and
its importance is expected to grow in the advent of technologies such as the Internet of
Things. Most current embedded system designs include some form of connectivity,
commonly wifi-based. In addition the design of embedded system products is usually subject
to short time-to-market and requirement for conformance to several established and
emerging standards. Optimization and verification of embedded hardware for telecom and
for error correction in particular is a necessity for every company active in this market.
Our extensive design experience and our joint R&D projects with industrial partners have
evinced the importance of verification in the design cycle of the particular type of IP blocks.
The benefits achieved by adopting the introduced technology are very clear: better quality
of products available in a shorter time-to-market, which allows the companies that use this
technology to better place themselves in the market. The technology has proven its
usefulness in several joint R&D projects and two involved companies have already expressed
their interest in this technology.
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Development Roadmap & Investment
The described technology has well exceeded the maturity level of an in-house university tool
due to its active use in research projects under real-world specifications and schedules.
Hardware blocks already developed adhere to industrial quality standards and this is an
asset towards commercialization. We expect that the commercialization of this technology
can be more efficiently achieved by a spin-off company following an agreement with the
university. Commercialization is expected to include the extension of the functionality of the
system to cover additional already-identified verification scenarios. Furthermore extension
of the number of supported technology platforms is expected to be required. Finally the
integration of the technology to design flows existing in industrial sites is also required. An
effort of six person years by experienced engineers is expected to suffice for the
development of a commercial product.
Profile (team and background)
The team is composed of Vassilis Paliouras, Associate Professor, ECE Department, two postdoc researchers and five PhD students, as well as a number of master-level students and
undergraduates working on diploma theses. The team has extensive background on
hardware for telecom applications, low-power design, digital hardware architecture and
embedded software, areas where research is carried out by the team, funded by European
and national schemes, and contracts with the industry.
Vassilis PALIOURAS is an associate professor at the Electrical and Computer Engineering
Department, University of Patras, Greece. His research interests are in the areas of VLSI
architectures for signal processing and communications, low-power digital design and
computer arithmetic. He has published more than 110 research articles in international
journals, conferences, and book chapters and has edited three books. He is advisor to five
PhD students, and has supervised 23 masters’ and 18 diploma theses. Dr. Paliouras has
received the IEEE CASS Guillemin - Cauer best-paper award for the year 2000. Dr. Paliouras
has served as the general co-chair of International Workshop on Power and Timing
Modeling, Optimization and Simulation (PATMOS 2004). He has also served as technical
program chair of PATMOS 2005, the IEEE Workshop on Signal Processing Systems
Implementation (SiPS) 2005, and technical program co-chair of IEEE International
Conference on Electronics Circuits and Systems (ICECS) 2010 and a European liaison for IEEE
ISCAS 2012, Korea. He has served in editorial boards of journals and technical program
committees of numerous conferences in the areas of signal processing, circuits, systems, and
communications.
Relevant Picture/drawing
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LAN/Internet
DDR2
PowerPC or
MicroBlaze
Ethernet
PHY
Other
Peripherals
PLBv46
Hardware interface
ESPV-F
Custom IP
FPGA device
One possible instance of the described technology for the optimization and verification of
IP blocks for embedded communications hardware.
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Technology Opportunity
Organisation name:
Organisation contact
details (eg address,
email, phone number,
website):
Department:
Contact Person:
Position:
Email:
Mobile phone:
UNIVERSITY OF PATRAS
Assist. Prof. Christos Makris
Computer Engineering & Informatics dept.
+302610960482
Computer Engineering & Informatics dept.
Christos Makris
Assistant Professor
[email protected]
+30 6932878054
Title: Tools for efficient web information retrieval
Summary
Searching information is one of the most important tasks in modern societies. The last years
the people which seek information from search engines are raised and in the near future the
majority of the people will search their information using search engines. Now the most
search engines use complicated queries or more recently try to answer to user questions.
The next step for search engines is to communicate with people like the way that people
communicate each other.
Our set of tools pushes the search engines to this direction. Particularly we have created a
web site analyzing tool for the content and the structure of the websites. Also, a tool has
been developed for storing the user behaviour and for the creation of profiles for the users.
Additionally, semantic knowledge bases (like Wordnet and Wikipedia) have been utilized
for the annotation of the websites in order to classify them in different categories. In the field
of web search engines we have developed an add on tool for personalizing their results
according to the user behaviour. This tool is combined with the tool that analyzes the
behaviour of a user. Also, in order to address the problem of redundant information in search
results and generally to the web documents a tool was developed that remove redundant
information from search results combining the documents to new extended documents that
do not contain redundant information. Finally we constructed a tool that utilizes the results
of a search engine and answers efficiently natural language questions. A future combination
of our tools will replace the classic way of submitting queries with communication through
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natural language. The proposed tools could apply to a variety of applications of information
seeking. The tools also can work over all the modern search engines as add on in their
mechanism.
Moreover our set of tools considers the problem of web page usage prediction in a web site
by modeling users’ navigation history with Weighted Suffix Trees. The user’s navigation
prediction can be exploited either as an on-line recommendation system in a web-site or as
a web-page cache system. The methods proposed have the advantage that demands a
constant amount of computational effort per one user’s action and consumes a relatively
small amount of extra memory bytes. These features make our methods ideal for an on-line
working environment.
Technology/Product/Service description
Software for analyzing website content and structure (content mining).
Software for analyzing user behavior (profiles).
Software for semantic annotation of text documents(using Wikipedia, Wordnet knowledge
bases)
Software for personalization of search engine's results.
Software for removing redundant information from web pages.
Software for answering natural language questions.
Software for analyzing web page usage by users (usage mining).
Software for modeling and analyzing weighted sequences
Software for online web page recommendations.
Competitive advantages

Better Web search results

Personalized Web Search Experience

Integration with Social networks

Integration to existing platforms like MS Sharepoint, CMS platforms, CRM platforms,
Wiki platforms.
Market Analysis
The web tools are trying to transform the traditional way of retrieving information into modern
machines that communicate with people with a human manner. Consequently the
targeting market is the search engines and secondly companies with very large volume of
information which will use the tools in order to organize and search efficiently their data.
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Initially the proposed tools can be added to the mechanisms of existing systems in order to
improve their search process. Next out tools could create a new interactive system that
efficiently search data using semantic tools and knowledge bases like WordNet and
Wikipedia replacing the classical way of submitting queries with a system that interacts with
the users. There are other approaches that exist now and partially try to search data with a
smarter way like Siri of Apple and search engine Wolfram Alpha. Both approaches try to
answer questions of the users effectively.
Development Roadmap & Investment
The combination of the searching tools will create a new interactive system that will help
users to search their information needs efficiently. The searching tools will be available as
services in 12-24 months together with a prototype of the total system. Next after 1,5-2 years
the whole system will be available in the market. The development of the proposed needs
2 or 3 full time engineers for developing initially the tools as services and then developing a
whole product that incorporates with the previous services.
The best way for developing the proposed idea is through the cooperation with a search
engine which will accelerate the whole process.
Profile (team and backround)





Christos Makris [email protected]
Athanasios Tsakalidis [email protected]
Evangelos Theodoridis [email protected]
Yannis Plegas [email protected]
Andreas Kanavos [email protected]
The Host Organization is the University of Patras, Department of Computer Engineering and
Informatics, and in particular the Graphics, Multimedia and GIS laboratory. The Graphics,
Multimedia and GIS laboratory was established in 1994. It involves 4 faculty members (one
of them Assistant Professor Christos Makris is the Principal Investigator of the proposal), 15
doctoral researchers and academics, a number of PhD candidates, graduate and post
graduate students.
The primary activities of the laboratory include the following:

the theoretical research conducting in areas such as Web 2.0, Semantic Web,
knowledge management, Web Engineering, Web Services, Information Retrieval,
Data Structures and Algorithms, Computational Geometry, Expert Systems, eLearning, e-Commerce, and Bioinformatics.

the development of related applications and tools within the frameworks of EU
research projects such as IST, INTERREG II, MARIE CURIE, ESPRIT, RACE, AIM, STRIDE,
Basic Research Actions in ESPRIT, ESPRIT special Actions, Telematics Applications,
ADAPT, HORIZON, INTERREG II, LEONARDO DA VINCI, SOCRATES, Telematics Transport,
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
as well as projects funded from the National General Secretariat for Research and
Technology of Ministry of Development.
(more than 50 completed and ongoing projects).

the support of the Computer Engineering & Informatics Department’s
undergraduate education in the areas of: Data Structures, Advanced Data
Structures and Graphics, Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems, Models and
Analysis of Computer Systems, Principles of Programming Languages and Compilers,
Internet Technologies, Simulation of Information Systems.

the support of the Computer Engineering & Informatics Department's postgraduate
education in the areas of: Theory of Basic Data Structures, Management of
Multimedia in Databases, Information Retrieval.
Relevant Picture/drawing
Please include a relevant picture or drawing in high resolution including a short description
of the picture in one sentence.
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Technology Opportunity
Organisation name:
Organisation contact
details (eg address,
email, phone number,
website):
University of Patras
Professor Nikolaos Avouris,
ITLAB HCI Group, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Department, University of Patras, Ypatias Str., GR-26500, Rio
Patras, Greece
Phone: 0030-2610-996898
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://hci.ece.upatras.gr
Department:
Contact Person:
Position:
Email:
Mobile phone:
ITLab Human Computer Interaction Group, Electrical and
Computer Engineering
Dr. Christos Katsanos
Post-doctoral researcher
[email protected]
0030-6944366955
Title: MEDIAMIS: Methodology for the Cost-Effective Design of Usable Website Information
Architectures
Summary
MEDIAMIS is a new methodological process that supports effective design/evaluation of
usable information-rich websites. It provides increased efficiency, increased scalability in
terms of website content and size, reduces required resources and is simple to learn and
apply. MEDIAMIS can be used to optimize and systemize the design/evaluation of a usable
website information architecture. The proposed process covers the market need of
providing usable websites in competitive prices.
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Technology/Product/Service description
A prime objective of websites’ practitioners is people to be able to access, find and use
the provided information and services easily. The great appeal of the web has led to rapid
development cycles of websites and the need for constant change and update of their
content. As a result, established user-centered design techniques, which are necessary to
ensure website usability and good overall user experience, are often not implemented
because of time and cost constraints, and the increased complexity in the analysis of data
collected [1-3]. Consequently, there is an urgent need to optimize and systematize the
process of website design.
This proposal describes MEDIAMIS (Methodology for the Efficient Design of Information
Architectures based on Models of Interactive Search), the result of a more than five years
research with more than 9 research publications [4-12], including publications in the top
venues of the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) field. MEDIAMIS addresses the problem of
cost-effective design of websites that enhance findability of information during users’ web
browsing. It is a tool-based approach to design or evaluate the information architecture of
a user-friendly website. Information architecture of a website greatly affects its usability and
overall quality of the user experience [13]. The central idea of the proposed approach is that
the content of a website must be structured and interlinked in a way that supports easy
navigation, while using the fewest possible resources in time and cost. It should be underlined
that research [14, 15] demonstrates that even a perfect search engine cannot compensate
for poor information architecture of a website.
MEDIAMIS aims at the systemization and optimization of the information architecture
design process. The method is inspired by established HCI techniques, such as card sorting
[16], and recent psychological cognitive models of user’s web navigation behavior [17]. The
latter suggest that following information scent is the fundamental process involved in
interactive search behavior. Information scent is defined as a user’s imperfect perception of
the value, cost, or access path of information sources obtained from proximal cues, such as
hyperlinks. The contribution of the proposed approach is that it supports the effective and
efficient design of an information architecture that facilitates this scent-following behavior.
MEDIAMIS is addressed to web practitioners and deals with the design or evaluation of a
website’s information structure and labeling system. In the context of the proposed
methodology, two original tools have been designed and developed to fully support the
application of the proposed process: a) AutoCardSorter (Automated Card Sorting Tool), and
b) ISEtool (InfoScent Evaluator Tool).
The applicability of the proposed methodology and the effectiveness and efficiency of
the associated tools were examined through six experimental studies [4-12]. These studies
compared both quantitatively and qualitatively the results of the proposed methodology
against the ones derived from established user-centered design approaches, such as card
sorting, and against observed and subjective user data. It was found that the proposed
methodology lead to a substantial efficiency gain, without expense in the quality of results.
MEDIAMIS Phase 1: Cost-effective structural design of websites with the AutoCardSorter tool
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
AutoCardSorter, addresses the problem of reasonable content structuring (structural
navigation) and helps in creating semantic relationships between related pieces of content
across levels of a hierarchy (associative navigation links). To this end, it uses a novel algorithm
that first calculates semantic similarity among webpages, then applies clustering algorithms
to form groups of webpages and finally employs mathematical heuristics to produce the
website structure, simulating an open Card Sorting study [16]. Card Sorting is the main HCI
method used to elicit conceptual structures from participants and organize the content
provided in a website in a way that increases findability. In a typical application of the
method, 15–20 participants are asked to sort a stack of index cards, each containing a small
description of the concepts to be grouped (e.g. webpages), into groups that make sense
to them. However, the method is demanding in terms of time and human resources and can
be daunting for both the participants and the designer when designing or evaluating large
sites [16]. AutoCardSorter is offered as an automated alternative to Card Sorting and can
achieve proper structuring of a website, even when there are strict time and cost constraints
or lack of the required expertise.
In a typical usage scenario of AutoCardSorter, the designer provides descriptions of the
content items to be grouped (e.g. webpages of a site) (Fig. 1a), and specifies the
parameters of the algorithm employed by the tool; that is which semantic similarity and data
clustering algorithm is going to be used (Fig. 1b). Next, AutoCardSorter runs an algorithm that
first creates a matrix of the semantic similarities of each content–item’s textual description
to another, and then applies the selected clustering algorithm to produce groupings of
semantically close items. The tool also implements mathematical techniques, such as
Eigenvalue analysis, to determine the statistically-optimal number of categories. The output
of the tool is an interactive dendrogram, in which the horizontal axis measures the semantic
distance between groups of content–items; the more left a group is produced the more
semantically closer its member are (Fig. 1c). The designer can cut off the dendrogram at
various levels to produce different groupings by either dragging a vertical, red line or by
specifying explicitly the desired number of categories (Fig. 1d). In both cases, the tool
reorganizes the results in real–time to present the groupings produced in different colors
Four independent research studies [5, 7, 10] provided support for the validity and
efficiency of AutoCardSorter. The studies compared the widely used open Card Sorting
method and AutoCardSorter in the design or redesign of the information structure of
websites for various domains and sizes. For each website, the tool-based method was first
applied, followed by a Card Sorting experiment with 18 to 34 participants. The quality of the
results produced by AutoCardSorter was compared against the results of the Card Sorting
studies. In all cases, it was found that AutoCardSorter produced groupings of webpages that
were significantly similar (p<0.01) to the ones produced by human participants, and website
structures that were from 87% to 100% similar to the ones produced by designers after
analyzing card sorting data. In addition, the total time required to design the website
structure using each approach was also compared. It was found that the tool-based
approach was on average 17 times faster compared to a typical Card Sorting study,
providing at the same time highly similar results.
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Fig. 1. Using AutoCardSorter to identify the information architecture of a web site dealing
with traveling and tourism issues.
MEDIAMIS Phase 2: Cost-effective production of semantically appropriate hyperlink labels
using ISEtool
ISEtool, facilitates the production of semantically appropriate hyperlink labels for the
typical goals of a website. The overall aim is to produce a website that supports the scentfollowing user behavior that is common in all recent models of goal-directed web
navigation. The tool supports an iterative evaluation process and offers a number of options
to the designer which can be easily parameterized. A study [18], involving web designers,
supported the flexibility, ease of use and overall usability of ISEtool.
In a typical usage scenario, the designer provides a textual description of a user goal,
specifies the URL of a webpage, and selects a semantic similarity algorithm as the
computational model of information scent (Fig. 2a). Next, ISEtool runs an automated analysis
that combines a Web data extraction algorithm with the selected semantic similarity
algorithm to compute the information scent for all the links of the page. The Web data
extraction algorithm collects the labels of all textual hyperlinks and the alternative texts (i.e.
ALT tags) of all graphical hyperlinks. If text equivalents are unavailable in the source code of
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
the webpage, ISEtool asks from the designer to optionally provide such a textual description
for the graphical hyperlinks. Next, the tool computes the semantic similarity between each
available textual description for a link in the currently evaluated webpage and the provided
textual description of a typical user goal.
Fig. 2. Using ISEtool to simulate user’s scent-following web navigation behavior and resolve
navigability problems
The output of the tool is presented as a tabular report, including all the collected and
calculated attributes of the links in the currently evaluated webpage (Fig. 2c). The evaluator
can sort the results for any of these attributes. The default color coding in this tabular report
visually groups the links into five scent–levels (weak, low, moderate, adequate, high), but it
can be easily adjusted by the designer to serve different purposes. In addition, the tool
displays an embedded browser (Fig. 2b), which combined with the possibility to exclude any
link from the output (Fig. 2d), can allow the designer to take also into account the visual
layout of the webpage while interpreting the results. This embedded browser is synchronized
with the tool’s tabular report; that is when a link is selected in the tabular report it is autofocused and highlighted in the browser. The evaluation process is iterative and the user of
the tool can choose any of the available links as the next step (Fig. 2e). Finally, it is worth
mentioning that the tool offers a number of additional options to the evaluator, such as
exporting the results in various formats and visualizing the simulated user trail.
Two validation studies [6, 8, 9] comparing the results of ISEtool with data derived from
human participants were conducted. In the first study, the scent–ratings collected in the
context of a study investigating the minimum number of raters required to reliably evaluate
information scent were compared to the scent values produced by ISEtool. The dataset
used was derived by 101 participants, who were asked to rate the semantic relevance of all
the links in eight experimental webpages for eight associated goal descriptions on a 1–5
scale (1=poor relevance, 5=high relevance). The webpages presented navigation menus of
actual websites related to specific tasks (e.g. buy a specific object). A high degree of
correlation (r = 0.58, averaged across the tasks) was found between ISEtool scent values and
scent–ratings of participants. In the second study, 54 University students were asked to
perform the same tasks on the same websites and their behavior was monitored. Correlation
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
analysis indicated a very high degree of correlation between the ISEtool identified scent
level of the correct link and the observed participants’ success ratio (r=0.922, p=.001),
average time to select the first link (r=−0.777, p=.023), average self-rated confidence in the
selection of the first link (r=0.923, p=.001), and number (r=−0.853, p=.007) and duration
(r=−0.798, p=.017) of eye–observations on the links. The attention distribution and focusing
patterns recorded using a 17’’ Tobii T60 eye tracker provided further support for the validity
of ISEtool (Fig. 3). In webpages that ISEtool classified as having higher scent levels, attention
was mainly focused in the area containing the correct link, indicating a focused and
efficient search. As ISEtool identified lower scent levels, attention was distributed across the
rest of the available links, thus indicating an increasing level of uncertainty. This uncertainty
was also depicted in other measures of participants’ behavior. For instance, for the last three
weaker scent tasks, the success ratio was on average 25%, whereas in the rest five higher
scent tasks it was 70%.
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Fig. 3. (a) Heatmaps of participants’ total duration of fixations for each webpage. (b)
Representative gaze–plots of participants’ sequence of fixations in each webpage.
References
[1] Brajnik, G. (2000). Automatic web usability evaluation: Where is the limit? In Proc. of
Sixth Conference on Human Factors & the Web. Austin, TX. Available at:
http://www.tri.sbc.com/hfweb/brajnik/hfwebbrajnik.html.
[2] Brinck, T., Hofer, E. (2002). Automatically evaluating the usability of web sites. CHI '02
extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems (pp. 906-907).
Minneapolis, Minnesota: ACM
[3] Chi, E.H., Rosien, A., Supattanasiri, G., Williams, A., Royer, C., Chow, C., Robles, E.,
Dalal, B., Chen, J. & Cousins, S., (2003). The bloodhound project: automating
discovery of web usability issues using the InfoScent simulator. In Proceedings of CHI
2013. Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA: ACM, pp. 505-512.
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
[4] Katsanos C., Tselios N., Goncalves J., Juntunen T., Kostakos V. (2014). Multipurpose
public displays: Can automated grouping of applications and services enhance user
experience?, International Journal of Human Computer Interaction, 30, 1-13.
[5] Katsanos C., Tselios N., Avouris N. (2010). A survey of tools supporting design and
evaluation of websites based on models of human information interaction.
International Journal on Artificial Intelligence Tools, 19(6), 755-781.
[6] Katsanos C., Tselios N., Avouris N. (2010). Evaluating website navigability: validation
of a tool-based approach through two eye-tracking user studies. New Review of
Hypermedia and Multimedia, 16(1&2), p.p. 195-214.
[7] Katsanos C., Tselios N., Avouris N. (2008). Automated semantic elaboration of web
site information architecture. Interacting with computers, 20(6), 535-544.
[8] Katsanos C., Tselios N., Avouris N. (2009). Are ten participants enough for evaluating
information scent of web page hyperlinks?. In Proceedings of Interact 2009, LNCS
5726, Part I (pp. 419-422), Uppsala, Sweden: Springer Verlag.
[9] Tselios N., Katsanos C., Avouris N. (2009). Investigating the effect of hyperlink
information scent on users’ interaction with a web site. In Proceedings of Interact
2009, LNCS 5727, Part II (pp. 138-142), Uppsala, Sweden: Springer Verlag.
[10] Katsanos C., Tselios N., Avouris N. (2008). AutoCardSorter: Designing the information
architecture of a web site using latent semantic analysis. In Proceedings of CHI 2008
(pp. 875-878), Florence, Italy: ACM Press, April 5-10, 2008
[11] Tselios N., Katsanos C., Avouris N. (2007) Beyond user centered design: A web design
approach based on information foraging theory. In Proceedings of INTERACT 2007
workshop, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 10-14 September 2007
[12] Katsanos C., Tselios N., Avouris N., (2006). InfoScent Evaluator: A semi-automated tool
to evaluate hyperlinks’ semantic appropriateness of a web site. In Proceedings of
OZCHI 2006 (pp. 373 – 376). Sydney: ACM Press.
[13] Morville, P., 2005. Ambient findability: What we find changes who we become 1st
ed., O'Reilly Media.
[14] Wu, S. & Miller, C.S. (2007). Preliminary evidence for top-down and bottom-up
processes in web search navigation. In CHI 2007 extended abstracts. San Jose, CA,
USA: ACM, pp. 2765-2770.
[15] Teevan, J., Alvarado, C., Ackerman, M.S. & Karger, D.R. (2004). The perfect search
engine is not enough: a study of orienteering behavior in directed search. In Proc of
CHI 2004, Austria: ACM, pp. 415-422.
[16] Spencer, D. (2009). Card sorting: designing usable categories. Brooklyn, N.Y.:
Rosenfeld Media.
[17] Pirolli, P. (2007). Information Foraging theory: Adaptive interaction with information
(1st ed.). Oxford University Press, USA.
[18] Dickinson, M. (2007). A real world evaluation of two LSA-based usability tools for
website navigation. MsC Thesis. University of Teesside.
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Competitive advantages
Information architecture is a critical aspect of user experience with a website. MEDIAMIS
optimizes and systemizes the design and evaluation of a usable website information
architecture. To this end, it combines rigorous research findings on modeling of users’ web
navigation behavior with innovative algorithms implemented in the form of two software
tools, entitled AutoCardSorter and ISEtool, that support the application of the proposed
process.
Research studies [1-3] have demonstrated a substantial efficiency gain in the use of
MEDIAMIS, without expense in the quality of obtained results. In specific, it was found that
MEDIAMIS requires on average 17 times less time to produce the information structure of a
website and 9.5 times less time to produce semantically-appropriate hyperlink labels,
compared to established used-based techniques. This increased efficiency offered by
MEDIAMIS is even more important when designing or evaluating large sites, where existing
approaches are not able to tackle the complexity of the information spaces. Thus, MEDIAMIS
is a scalable approach. It is also cost-effective in terms of human resources required, given
that it does not require participants for user testing studies, as the competitive approaches
require. MEDIAMIS is also easy to learn and use, and does not require specific know-how or
expertise.
Currently, there are no related patents or patent applications.
References
[1] Katsanos C., Tselios N., Goncalves J., Juntunen T., Kostakos V. (2014). Multipurpose public
displays: Can automated grouping of applications and services enhance user
experience?, International Journal of Human Computer Interaction, 30, 1-13.
[2] Katsanos C., Tselios N., Avouris N. (2010). Evaluating website navigability: validation of a
tool-based approach through two eye-tracking user studies. New Review of
Hypermedia and Multimedia, 16(1&2), p.p. 195-214.
[3] Katsanos C., Tselios N., Avouris N. (2008). Automated semantic elaboration of web site
information architecture. Interacting with computers, 20(6), 535-544.
Market Analysis
The proposed process targets the web development industry, ranging from web
freelancers to large web development companies. Today, many web development
companies have well-trained and skilled professionals and offer excellent services. However,
with competition getting fiercer by the day and there being a proliferation of websites,
effective practices for providing usable websites are also becoming necessary. MEDIAMIS is
such a cost-effective and efficient approach, and can provide a competitive advantage
for a web development company.
The web development industry is a "$20.1B market in the US alone, and more than 16M
new websites are added every month” [1]. Web development has been a growing industry,
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
and its growth is being continuously pushed by both demand (more business go online, more
people use online services) and technology. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics
[2] “employment of web developers is projected to grow 20 percent from 2012 to 2022, faster
than the average for all occupations. Demand will be driven by the growing popularity of
mobile devices and ecommerce”.
Currently, there are no known existing products, services or technologies that are directly
competitive. Existing user-based techniques to achieve usable information architectures of
websites, such as card sorting and user testing studies, are indirectly competitive. Compared
to user-based approaches, the proposed process is substantially more cost-effective, easier
to apply, more flexible and does not require specific know-how or expertise.
Both web freelancers and companies that are active in the web development industry
sector are expected to be interested in the proposed process.
References
[1] Market Analysis of the Web Design Industry (2013). Retrieved from
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/market-analysis-design-industry-180000355.html
[2] Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook
Handbook (2014-15 Edition). Web Developers, on the Internet. Retrieved from
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/webdevelopers.htm
Development Roadmap & Investment
The development roadmap for the new product includes three stages: 1) Develop a web
service that implements MEDIAMIS, 3) Develop MEDIAMIS plugins/add-ons for popular web
development tools, and 3) Develop new, added-value MEDIAMIS functionalities. The
milestones for these stages are briefly sketched in the following. The new product requires
mostly investment in terms of personnel (2 software developers, 1 software usability engineer
1 business/market analyst, 1 manager), and some investment in terms of infrastructure (web
server, internet domain, internet bandwidth). The new product is expected to be available
in 6-8 months, given a budget of 120000-150000 euros.
The envisaged milestones for the stages of the product development are the following:
 Stage 1: Develop a web service that implements MEDIAMIS
o Milestone 1: Produce the business plan
o Milestone 2: Implement module for user accounts management
o Milestone 3: Implement module for financial/pricing management
o Milestone 4: Implement service for cost-effective design/evaluation of
website structure
o Milestone 5: Implement service for cost-effective design/evaluation of
website labeling system
o Milestone 6: Implement service for cost-effective design/evaluation of
website structure and labeling system
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Stage 2: Develop MEDIAMIS plugins/add-ons for popular web development tools
o Milestone 1: Produce the business plan
o Milestone 2: Establish agreements with companies producing web
development tools
o Milestone 3: Implement MEDIAMIS plugins/add-ons for each established
agreement
 Stage 3: Develop new, added-value MEDIAMIS functionalities
o Milestone 1: Functionality to construct user profiles from user-defined text
corpora
o Milestone 2: Functionality to simulate human attention allocation during web
browsing
The proposed product can be developed either as a spin-off company or a joint
development collaboration project with industry/investors.

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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Profile (team and background)
Dr. Nikolaos Avouris, Professor, University of Patras, Greece
He holds a PhD (1983) and an MSc (1980) from the University of Manchester, UK and a
Diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering (1979) from the National Technical
University of Athens, Greece. He is a Professor of Software Technology and HumanComputer Interaction in the Electrical and Computer Engineering and a founder and
Leader of the ITLAB HCI Group, University of Patras, Greece. Currently, he is also serving as
Deputy Rector for Research & Development for the University of Patras. His research interests
include Software Technology for Interactive Systems Design, Human-machine interaction in
industrial, educational, cultural and environmental fields. He has special interest and
experience in Distributed Intelligent Systems, collaborative systems, usability and accessibility
of interactive systems, mobile systems, web applications and services. Professor Avouris has
research and teaching experience in industry and academia for over 25 years; Leader or
principal investigator in many national and international funded research projects;
Coordinator of research networks; National Representative in IFIP TC13 (Human-Computer
Interaction); Author or editor of six books and of over 200 scientific journal and conference
papers. His research has attracted more than 2490 citations and he has an h-index of 27
(July 2014).
Dr. Christos Katsanos, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Patras, Greece
He holds a PhD (2010) in Human-Computer Interaction and Web Usability Engineering and
a Diploma (2004) from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of
Patras, Greece. Currently, he is a post-doctoral researcher of the University of Patras, an
adjunct Assistant Professor at the Technological Education Institute of Western Greece, and
a Senior Usability and Software Engineer at the Hellenic Open University. His main research
interests include Human-Computer Interaction, Human-Robot Interaction, information
architecture, Web usability and accessibility, and distance learning and education using
ICT. He has more than 25 publications in international and Greek journals and conferences,
including publications in influential journals and conferences of the HCI field, such as the CHI
conference (top publication venue in his research field). His research has attracted more
than 100 citations and he has an h-index of 7 (July 2014). He has participated as a research
engineer in more than 8 national and international funded research projects. He is a
reviewer in a number of academic journals and conferences. He has also accumulated
teaching experience by lecturing in both undergraduate and postgraduate courses, and
giving invited talks. He has distinctions in national innovation competitions, such as the
“Otenet Innovation 2006” and “Greece Innovates 2010”. He has received an award by the
Technical Chamber of Greece for graduating as the top of his class, and two awards from
the Greek National Institute of Scholarships (IKY) for his academic performance during his
undergraduate studies. He is a founding member of the ACM Greek SIGCHI, and a member
of the Technical Chamber of Greece since 1997.
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Dr. Nikolaos Tselios, Assistant Professor, University of Patras, Greece
He holds a PhD in Usability Engineering (2002) and a Diploma (1997) from the Electrical and
Computer Engineering Department, University of Patras, Greece. Currently, he is an Assistant
Professor in the Educational Sciences and Early Childhood Education Department at the
University of Patras and a Consulting Professor at the Hellenic Open University. Also, since
2009 he teaches Human Computer Interaction in the joint postgraduate program offered
by the Athens Technological Educational Institute and the University of Limoges. His main
research interests are Educational Technology, Human Computer Interaction, user interface
design and evaluation of educational software, usability evaluation methodologies, elearning, user/student modelling and intelligent user interfaces. He teaches four courses
related to usage of computers in education: ‘Introduction to computers’, ‘Advances topics
and uses of Informatics in education’, ‘Basic services and pedagogical usages of the
Internet’, ‘Design and evaluation of educational software’. He has over 80 publications in
international and greek journals and conferences with more than 730 citations and hirsch
index 13/i-10 index=18 (July 2014). He is a member of the HCI team of the Electrical and
Computer Engineering Department of University of Patras, the Technical Chamber of
Greece, ACM, Greek Artificial Intelligence Organization and Greek society of ICT in
Education.
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Relevant Picture/drawing
Figure Caption: Overview of the proposed methodological process for the cost-effective
design of usable website information architectures
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Technology Opportunity
Organisation
name:
Organisation
contact
details
(eg
address,
email, phone
number,
website):
University of Patras
Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics
University of Patras
Patras 26500
www.upatras.gr
http://xanthippi.ceid.upatras.gr/
http://xanthippi.ceid.upatras.gr/people/berberidis/index.php/Home
Department:
Dept. Of Computer Engineering and Informatics
Signal Processing and Communications Lab
Contact
Person:
Position:
Email:
Mobile
phone:
Kostas Berberidis
Professor
[email protected]
0030-6977-003510
Title: A handheld thermal imaging device for energy inspection of buildings
Summary
The developed prototype device is an innovative, low-cost, portable system, which
incorporates an infrared camera able to acquire thermal images, and state of the art image
processing algorithms for the detection of energy losses in buildings. The system offers a
robust and very fast alternative to conventional tools used for this purpose, offering its
operator the capability to conduct diagnostic tests in real time. The system is expected to
attract the interest of urban planning authorities, associations of civil engineers and private
businesses. Furthermore, its future widespread use could contribute to the optimization of the
procedures for quality certification of buildings and structures.
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Technology/Product/Service description
The main research results of the prototype device are:
1. A new hardware platform has been designed that integrates various separate
subsystems for the acquisition and processing of thermal images.
2. Efficient image processing algorithms, able to detect various abnormalities in the
thermal images, have been implemented.
3. An user-friendly interface through a touchscreen is provided
4. The results are provided in real-time without the need for additional off-line processing
using some specialized software e.g. on a personal computer.
5. The proposed technology is modular, versatile and extendable to accommodate
possible future needs. The capabilities of the platform can be easily extended through
software, for example, to accommodate the identification and detection of
additional failure cases caused by structural damages, such as water leakages.
The use of thermal images for building diagnostics is a well-documented issue. However, the
associated devices that are commercially available are expensive and they essentially
provide to the user only the thermal images. Then the user has to study / edit them in a
manual and off-line way. The proposed device aims at giving a high level of intelligence to
the diagnostic tools by supporting the end user to come to final conclusions faster by
providing real-time information. The key innovative features are:
1. The required processing is executed very fast, using the technology of Field
Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA).
2. The device is able to connect wirelessly to wireless sensor networks that are expected
to be installed into Smart Buildings of the future.
Competitive advantages
The lack of energy and vital resources constitutes one of the most important problems of
recent times having non-reversible negative repercussions for the environment on a global
scale. This problem has contributed to the formation of a comprehensive energy and
environmental policy of the European Union (EU) based on clear objectives and timetables,
aimed at saving water and energy resources and reducing CO2 emissions. The construction
of energy efficient buildings is considered a particularly difficult problem and has led the EU
to devise regulations concerning the certification of building installations through the
establishment of EU directives (COM 2002/91/EC) and imminent legislations on the reduction
of losses of water resources. In this context, one could assume that diagnostic tests
conducted for the inspection of buildings and civil structures offer a powerful tool for the
detection and potential elimination of energy losses.
However, the associated devices that are commercially available are expensive and they
essentially provide to the user only the thermal images. Then the user has to study / edit them
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
in a manual and off-line way. The proposed device aims at giving a high level of intelligence
to the diagnostic tools by supporting the end user to come to final conclusions faster by
providing real-time information. The key innovative features include:
1. Reduced cost as compared to standard thermal inspection devices
2. The proposed technology is modular, versatile and extendable to accommodate
possible future needs. The device can be easily extended to deal with other types of
defects, via software
3. The required processing is executed very fast, using the technology of Field
Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA).
4. The device is able to connect wirelessly to wireless sensor networks that are expected
to be installed into Smart Buildings in the future.
5. The end prototype system is expected to significantly improve the energy losses
detection as far as accuracy and speed in detection is concerned
Market Analysis
Hence, the potential target market is gradually increasing and the proposed portable and
innovative device is expected to attract the interest of the urban planning authority as well
as associations of civil engineers and private businesses interested in the conduction of “onthe-spot” tests.
Development Roadmap & Investment
The actions that took place so far,aimed to drive the commercialization of an innovative
technology for inspecting energy losses in structures by developing a portable system for
conducting “on the spot” tests. More particularly they focused on the development and
extensive testing of a prototype system using methodology that includes industrial research
in the following sectors:
1. Design and implementation of a pre-industrial prototype incorporating a Field
Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) platform and Image Analysis and Decision
Making Hardware, adapted for handheld computers for the collection and
processing of infrared (IR) images in real time,
2. development and training of identification/recognition software for identification of
energy losses in buildings through the use of IR images,
3. development of fusion techniques for combining information from IR images with
data retrieved from wireless sensor networks in smart houses and fusing this
information with the IR processing data,
4. design of database and graphical user interface for handheld computer.
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
A pre-industrial prototype is now ready through which all the functionalities of the system are
able to be demonstrated.
Partners plan to demonstrate the pre-industrial prototype to potential investors able to fund,
through joint development collaboration, the development of the industrial product and all
the marketing processes until the final product is ready for the market. The development and
industrialisation process will include:
 Revise Requirements and Specifications based on up-to-date state-of-the-Art
technology/systems/solutions.
 Perform the required modifications both in hardware and software level based on
the updated specs.
 Clearly identify the market figures
 Extensive study of the product life cycle
 Industrialisation of components, assembling and packaging
 Marketing/promotion processes.
Alternatively, in the case that the first option fails and partners are not able to find an investor
willing to fund the proposed system, the creation of a spin-off company will be examined to
deal with the industrialisation of the device.
Profile (team and background)
The laboratory of Signal Processing and Communications (SPCLAB) was founded in 1998 and
covers the educational and research activities of the department of Computer Engineering
and Informatics (CEID), at the University of Patras, in the wider area of signal processing and
communications. The SPCLAB team consists of 3 faculty members, 6 postdoctoral
researchers, 7 PhD students, while every year about 5 postgraduate and 10 undergraduate
students conduct their masters and final year theses, respectively. SPCLAB members
participate in a number of national and European research projects and they are active in
the international research community through publication of peer-reviewed papers in highimpact journals and conference proceedings, participation in National, European and other
international evaluation boards, as well as participation in editorial boards of high-ranked
technical journals and in scientific and organizing committees of several scientific events.
SPCLAB has a strong collaboration with Research Unit 8 of the Computer Technology Institute
and Press “Diophantus”. More information about the SPCLAB and its activities can be found
in the following links:
http://xanthippi.ceid.upatras.gr/
http://xanthippi.ceid.upatras.gr/people/berberidis/index.php/Home
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
SignalGeneriX Ltd is a Cypriot R&D company doing cutting edge research and
development in the fields of Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and Communications. The
company is based in Limassol but operates as expert providers of DSP and Communications
technologies realised both in hardware and software for a wide network of clients and
collaborators throughout Europe.
SignalGeneriX demonstrates long established experience in developing new products and
processes in Digital Signal Processing and Communications. The company is deeply
involved in Research and Development and has amassed a broad portfolio of intellectual
property rights covering core signal processing algorithms, telecommunication networks
wireless sensor applications and medical systems. Our range of products includes among
others low powered sensor nodes, smart antennas, intelligent power management, DSP
processes and advanced remote monitoring platforms, miniature ECG Data acquisition
hardware, wearable sensors, emergency telemedicine systems, patient activity detection
systems and hardware for rehabilitation robotics systems.
SignalGeneriX is actively participating in various National and European projects in its area
of expertise. The company is currently involved in ICT and Research for the benefit of SME/AG
projects in the area of wireless sensor networks, signal processing and telecommunications.
SignalGeneriX is focusing on the development of innovative IP and realising this into novel
hardware and software products. The company has recently secured a European patent
and also presented its scientific results in various international scientific conferences and also
produced scientific papers published in international books, transactions and journals. Some
of the ongoing projects include the WiserBAN IP ICT project where SignalGeneriX is applying
its expertise in DSP and hardware design, the SME/AG projects LYNCEUS, Chameleon and
Icyheart where it provides RTD work on signal processing, communications, image
processing and microelectronics. In addition to that SignalGeneriX also participates in
various National funded projects in its area of expertise.
Relevant Picture/drawing
Please include a relevant picture or drawing in high resolution including a short description
of the picture in one sentence.
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
FPGA Block Diagram
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
4
3
2
1
Figure 2. First Device Prototype (1: Ultrasonic sensor for measuring distance, 2: Thermal
Camera, 3: Temperature Sensor, 4: 2.8’’ LCD touchscreen)
Figure 3: Remote Wireless temperature Sensor Prototype
Technology Opportunity
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Organisation
name:
Organisation
contact
details
(eg
address,
email, phone
number,
website):
Department:
University of Patras
Department of Computer Engineering & Informatics
University of Patras
26500 Patras, Greece
http://xanthippi.ceid.upatras.gr/
http://xanthippi.ceid.upatras.gr/people/berberidis/index.php/Home
Signal Processing and Communications Lab
Department of Computer Engineering & Informatics
Contact
Person:
Kostas Berberidis
Position:
Professor
Email:
[email protected]
Mobile
phone:
0030-6977-003510
Title: Optical Density Sensor for monitoring algae growth in hatchery units
Summary
Automated monitoring and control of algae production in hatcheries, reduces significantly
the operational cost and increases the algae productivity. It heavily relies on the
performance of an optical density (OD) sensor, used for monitoring the algae growth. A
market research of commercially available OD sensors, was carried out, showing that the
direct use of a readily available OD sensor should be avoided, due to financial and
technical reasons. To keep the operational cost low and provide accurate monitoring of the
algae concentration, a novel automated flow-through OD sensor was developed.
Technology/Product/Service description
A continuous algae production system is typically a closed system that provides with
phytoplankton in high concentrations the other components of a hatchery. In such a system,
having continuous knowledge or estimation of the concentration of the algae water
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
available in a hatchery can be of great importance, because, based on this knowledge,
the operator decides when and how much algae has to be harvested.
A novel flow-through sensor configuration for the estimation of the algal concentration in a
continuous algae production unit has been proposed and implemented. It is often assumed
that in such a system the dominant factor causing turbidity in the tank is the concentration
of the algal cells. This assumption might not be always realistic. For example, dead cells or
contamination in the culture are factors that affect the turbidity. For this reason, it would be
desirable to have some kind of diversity in the collected data, so that, during a processing
phase, the noisy effect of these factors is significantly reduced. Diversity can be obtained
either by measuring the effect of the same light source with multiple photosensors positioned
at different locations, or by making many independent measurements (using different light
sources and/or photosensor types) on the same sample, or by both strategies.
The operation of the proposed sensor is similar to the operation of a turbidity meter. Several
light sources emit beams of light into the algae. Then, photosensors read the response. In the
absence of reflection losses, when a weak beam of light passes through a dielectric sample,
the two processes most responsible for reducing the intensity of the transmitted beam are
absorption and scattering. The reduction in transmitted light intensity due to scattering is
called the sample’s turbidity. The Beer-Lambert or Lambert law describes the effects of both
absorption and turbidity on the transmitted light power. This law is written as:
PT = P0e −(α+τ)l
where PT =power of the light transmitted through the sample, P0=power of the light incident
on the sample, α =absorption coefficient per unit length, τ =turbidity per unit length, and l
=length of the light path in the sample.
The proposed sensor employs four (4) monochromatic LEDs of different spectra (blue at
470nm, green at 518nm, red at 630nm and infrared at 940nm), which are expected to lead
to exponential processes with different parameters, thus providing the desired diversity to
our measurements. Photodiodes (for the visible spectrum) and phototransistors (for the
infrared beam) are used as photo sensors, because they tend to vary their response in a
linear way with respect to the power of the excitation beam. The main parts of the sensor
are:




a cylindrical body with two groups of four sockets each. Each group is exactly
opposite to the other.
eight LED/phododiode covers. These covers provide waterproof attachments of the
LEDs and photodiodes on the sensor's body.
A specially designed driving circuit. This circuit provides power to the LEDs and the
photodiodes, and converts the output of the sensor to voltages. It comprises the
necessary calibration trimmers for fine tuning the power supply of the LEDs. This
electronic board also provides the means to control the sensor and serves as the
interface between the sensor and the controlling device (i.e. a computer).
A “Data Acquisition and Signal Processing Unit”, which comprises of (a) a computer
equipped with special purpose hardware (for analog data acquisition and digital
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
logic output) and (b) specially designed computer software. The signal processing
unit coordinates the procedure for reading correctly the sensor's output voltages, by
controlling the driving circuit board. It then converts the received voltages to an
estimation of the algal concentration, by passing the acquired voltages through the
signal processing subsystem. This subsystem can be re-trained, but during normal
operation it is fixed and operates automatically.
The proposed sensor is typically installed on a continuous algae production unit, cascaded
on the circulation flow. As the algae water flows through the sensor's body, it is beamed by
light at different spectra, and the response is read through the photosensors which are
located opposite. The whole process is performed by the driving circuit board, which also
ensures that the LEDs emit always light of the same power. A specially equipped computer
system controls the electronic board, by running the appropriate custom software. Each
measurement taken from the sensor results in a 4x1 vector of voltages, which are fed to the
signal processing unit, also implemented in software. The output of this unit is an estimation
of the algal concentration of the water that is flowing through the sensor at the time of the
measurement.
The signal processing unit is re-trainable. Training might be required in order to improve the
sensor's performance (i.e. reduce the estimation error). New training must also be performed
in order to support new species of algae. However, after the signal processing unit is
appropriately trained, the sensor's operation is completely automated.
The proposed sensor was tested under real outdoors conditions. Three experimental pilotscale trials (I, II, III) were performed at the Agricultural University of Athens facilities. An upscaled system for growing algae, equipped with the new sensor, was also installed and
tested at the facilities of Agrosaronikos S.A located in the Pyrgiakoni district, south of Salamis.
To ensure reliability of the cell concentration measurements provided by the developed OD
sensor, cell density was measured independently by hatchery staff members and members
of the research team.
Competitive advantages
A market search carried out systematically through the internet and representatives of
several companies showed that most of the commercially available sensors have been
designed for outdoors measurements in water environments and their specifications did not
meet the needs of photobioreactors used for the continuous production of algae. There are
a few commercial sensors which are able to measure the high cell concentration values
encountered in the restricted environment of the bioreactor’s main tank. They have a
relatively high cost though. Thus, in order to keep the cost of the overall system low, a new
sensor was designed, implemented and tested. This sensor was designed to meet the
technical requirements of the specific application. The sensor is able to provide very close
approximations of the Nannochloropsis sp. algae concentrations within the range of interest
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
for the given photobioreactor. An additional feature of the proposed design is that it can
be used for measurements in a wider field of algae species as well as for other tasks that are
common in a fish hatchery unit (e.g. measurement of algae concentration in a solution
which also includes rotifers and their waste). Moreover, the proposed sensor is highly
reconfigurable and easy to calibrate.
Profile (team and backround)
The laboratory of Signal Processing and Communications (SPCLAB) was founded in 1998 and
covers the educational and research activities of the department of Computer Engineering
and Informatics (CEID), at the University of Patras, in the wider area of signal processing and
communications. The SPCLAB team consists of 3 faculty members, 6 postdoctoral
researchers, 7 PhD students, while every year about 5 postgraduate and 10 undergraduate
students conduct their masters and final year theses, respectively. SPCLAB members
participate in a number of national and European research projects and they are active in
the international research community through publication of peer-reviewed papers in highimpact journals and conference proceedings, participation in National, European and other
international evaluation boards, as well as participation in editorial boards of high-ranked
technical journals and in scientific and organizing committees of several scientific events.
SPCLAB has a strong collaboration with Research Unit 8 of the Computer Technology Institute
and Press “Diophantus”. More information about the SPCLAB and its activities can be found
in the following links:
http://xanthippi.ceid.upatras.gr/
http://xanthippi.ceid.upatras.gr/people/berberidis/index.php/Home
Relevant Picture/drawing
Please include a relevant picture or drawing in high resolution including a short description
of the picture in one sentence.
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Technology Opportunity
Organisation name:
Organisation contact
details (eg address,
email, phone number,
website):
University of Patras
Assistant Professor Pantelis G. Nikolakopoulos
[email protected]
http://mdl.mech.upatras.gr
Department:
Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics
Contact Person:
Pantelis G. Nikolakopoulos
Position:
Email:
Assistant Professor
[email protected]
Mobile phone:
Title: Nanomagnetorheological fluid film journal bearing
Summary
The magnetorheological fluids are produced with the dispersion of iron
particles in a carrier fluid which is usually a lubricant. These fluids are able to
change their apparent viscosity under the influence of an external magnetic
field. A journal bearing system, able to generate a controllable homogenous
magnetic field which would polarize the iron particles of a
magnetorheological fluid has been developed and manufactured in the
Machine Design Laboratory of the University of Patras, under the program
Karatheodoris 2009 (C.923). The research objectives achieved to date
include the simulation of such a device, the calculation of its dynamic
characteristics and the successful execution of initial experiments. These
experiments show the potential of improvement of the load capacity and
the vibration control capability of such a bearing.
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
The added value of this research was the design of a journal bearing system
which would take advantage of the increased viscosity of the
nanomagnetorheological fluids.
The purpose of such a device is the wear correction and the vibrations
control of a journal bearing system and overall the safe operation of rotating
machinery for longer periods of time.
Candidate applications include the journal bearings of ships propeller's shafts
or internal combustion engines. In light of maintenance difficulty during midsea operations, this type of bearings may permit the safe operation of
bearings which would otherwise suffer partial or complete failure of
operation.
Technology/Product/Service description
The complete design, static and dynamic performance characteristics for
such a device can be provided by our Laboratory upon request. Our
research has shown that this type of bearings
1. can alleviate wear
2. can benefit the static performance of the bearing (higher minimum
lubricant thickness)
3. can achieve high damping and vibrations control. (relevant papers are
available)
The innovation lies both on the kind of the fluid used and the design of the
bearing itself.
Competitive advantages
The use of such a type of bearings would increase the time between
consecutive inspections, reduce the vibrations present in rotating
machinery, increasing the stability regions, and offer tolerance over
possible equipment wear which otherwise would be impossible.
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Market Analysis
The target market is the shipbuilding and automotive industries. Additional
markets could be the aviation industry in the field of aeroengines.
Existing technologies include conventional journal bearings, magnetic
journal bearings and roller bearings. While the nanomagnetorheological
journal bearings may have higher manufacturing cost than the simple
journal bearings, they still have the benefits of a controllable device. The
magnetic journal bearings demand a sophisticated control system that
upon failure may cause significant damage to the supported system while
the manufacturing costs remain equally or even more substantial than
those of the nanomagnetorheological fluid journal bearing. The roller
bearing is a well known solution that provides reliable load carrying
capacity for a wide range of rotating machinery applications. The
nanomagnetorheological fluid film bearing can offer lower friction and
comparable stiffness along with the additional capability of vibrations
control. Cost comparisons between the two solutions depend highly on
the application.
Companies that are already active in the field of journal bearing and roller
bearing manufacturing include SKF and Federal Mogul. Additionally,
since this technology can be applied in marine engines, companies such
as Wartzila and MAN could be interested in such a technology. Suppliers
of smart lubricants are also interested and include the German firm BASF.
Since there are no commercial nanomagnetorheological fluid film
bearings there is no direct competition.
Development Roadmap & Investment
The first step is the definition of the requirements of the client concerning load
carrying capacity and dimensions limitations
The second step is the prediction of the static and dynamic performance of
the journal bearing, which currently available through validated
simulations
The third step is the detailed design of the nanomagnetorheological journal
bearing.
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
The fourth step is the manufacturing of the bearing along with preliminary
tests.
The development of the specific device may take up to 2 months. The most
preferable manner for the introduction of such a product would be the
creation of a spin-off company.
Profile (team and backround)
1. Pantelis Nikolakopoulos
Patras,Greece)
(Ass.
Professor,
University
of
Dr. Nikolakopoulos was born in Kalamata in 1967. He holds a Diploma in
Mechanical Engineering (1990), and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering
(1996), from the Department of Mechanical and Aeronautics Engineering of
the University of Patras, Greece. His research activities include hydrodynamic
lubrication of journal and thrust bearings, stability, misalignment, wear and
wear detection of journal bearings, tribology of artificial textured journal and
thrust bearings, Magnetorheological, Nano- magnetorheological and
Electrorheological fluids and its effects on rotor bearing systems,
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) of non Newtonian lubrication of journal
bearings and optimization of machine elements.
Career: Dr Nikolakopoulos has been a research scientist in several EU and
National funded research programs since 1990. He worked for almost 12
years in industry since 1997 as design engineer and technical manager on
military projects and as a project engineer and project manager on energy
projects. He is currently a Lecturer at the Department of Mechanical and
Aeronautics Engineering of the University of Patras, Greece (since 2008).
Other activities: He is a reviewer of the scientific journals of Tribology
International (Elsevier), of Journal of Tribology of ASME, of the Journal of
Engineering Structures (Elsevier), of the Journal of Alloys and
Compounds(Elsevier), of the Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers, Part C, Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science, of the Journal
of Vibrations and Acoustics of ASME, of the Journal of Flow, Turbulence and
Combustion, of the Journal of Mechanism and Machine Theory (Elsevier) and
of the Journal of the Mechanical System and Signal Processing (Elsevier).
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
He has participated in 8 research projects funded by the EU and the Greek
Government: 89-ΠΣ-66: GGET& HELLENING BUREAU OF SHIPPING,
TEXTILE/STRIDE 269, 92-ΠΣ-80: GGET& HELLENING BUREAU OF SHIPPING, PENED
1991, PENED 1995,
HERCULES, KARATHEOTHORIS 2009, TRIBOLOGICAL
OPTIMIZATION OF MARINE PROPULSION SYSTEMS (ARISTEIA 2011),
KARATHEODORIS 2013, and he is currently coordinator of a 1 project of basic
research funded by the Research Council of the University of Patras:
Tribological Design of Journal Bearing Using Nano-Magnetorheological Fluids
(KARATHEOTHORIS 2013).
Author activities: He has published 89 papers in international journals and
conferences (31 papers in international journals reviewed in full text, 58
papers in international conferences, in which 48 reviewed in full text and 10
papers reviewed in the summary, also he has 1 chapter in book (IUTAM
Symposium on Emerging Trends in Rotor Dynamics, Springer 2009, ISBN 97894-007-0019-2,DOI
10.1007/978-94-007-0020-8),and
one
Greek
and
International patent. The international recognition of his work is supported
with over 300 citations. His key publications include:
2. Bompos Dimitrios (Ph.D Student), received his Mechanical and
Aeronautics Engineering Diploma from the University of Patras (2010). He
worked for the submersible pumps manufacturer KSP, in Argos, Greece. His is
a PhD student at the University of Patras. His research interests include
magnetorheological fluids, artificial texturing on journal bearings and metal
casting. He is author or co-author on two (2) journal papers and nine (9)
papers on international scientific conferences.
Key Publications:
1.
P. G. Nikolakopoulos, C. A. Papadopoulos, “A study of Friction in Worn
Misalign­ed Journal Bearings under Severe Hydrodynamic Lubrication”,
Tribology
International,
(2008)
41
(6)
pp
461-472,
(http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.triboint.2007.10.005). Top 25 Hottest Articles
2.
K. Gertzos, P.G. Nikolakopoulos, A.C. Chasalevris, C.A. Papadopoulos,
“Wear Identification in Rotor-Bearing Systems by Measurements of Dynamic
Bearing Characteristics “, Computers and Structures, 89 (1-2), pp. 55-66, 2010.
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
3.
Nikolakopoulos
P.G.,
Papadopoulos
C.I.,
Kaiktsis
L.,
“Elastohydrodynamic analysis and Pareto optimization of intact, worn and
misaligned journal bearings”, Meccanica, Vol 46 (2011), pp. 577-588.
4.
K.M. Saridakis, P.G. Nikolakopoulos, C.A. Papadopoulos, A.J.
Dentsoras, “Wear and Misalignment Identification on Journal Bearings by
using Artificial Neural Networks”, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers, Part J, Journal of Engineering Tribology, January 2012; vol. 226, 1:
pp. 46-56 (one of the most read articles, February 2012).
5.
Bompos, D.A., & Nikolakopoulos, P.G. (2011). CFD simulation of
magnetorheological fluid journal bearings. Simulation Modelling Practice
and Theory, 19(4), 1035-1060
6.
Bompos, D.A., & Nikolakopoulos, P.G. (2014). Journal Bearing Stiffness
and Damping Coefficients Using Nanomagnetorheological Fluids and
Stability Analysis. Journal of Tribology (In print).
7. Bompos, D.A., Nikolakopoulos, P. G., Papadopoulos, C.I. & Kaiktsis L. (2011).
A Tribological CFD Study of Journal Bearings with Artificial Surface Texturing,
ECOTRIB 2011 Conference Proceedings,(2)725-730.
8. Bompos, D.A., & Nikolakopoulos, P.G.(2011).Molecular Dynamics
Simulation of Solid Particles of Nano Magnetorheological Fluids under Shear,
ECOTRIB 2011 Conference Proceedings,(2)845-850
9.
Nikolakopoulos P.G.,Bompos D.A., Paouris L.I. (2012). A Study on
Metallic Plates Containing Holes and Cracks under the influence of Magnetic
Field, In proceeding of: The 14th International Congress on Mesomechanics,
At Budapest
10.
Nikolakopoulos P.G.,Bompos D.A. (2013). Journal Bearings Wear
Correction using Magnetorheological Fluids, In proceeding of:68th STLE
Annual Meeting and Exhibition, Detroit 2013
11.
Bompos, D.A., Nikolakopoulos, P. G. (2013). The Effects of
Nanomagnetorheological Fluids On the Rotor Bearing System Dynamic
Behavior, In proceeding of:68th STLE Annual Meeting and Exhibition, Detroit
2013.
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
12.
Paouris L.I.,Bompos D.A. & Nikolakopoulos P.G. (2013).Simulation of
Static Performance of Air Foil Bearings using Coupled FEM and CFD
Techniques In proceeding of: ASME IGTI Turboexpo 2013, At San
Antonio,TX,US.
13.
Dimitrios Bompos, Pantelis Nikolakopoulos,Experimental and
Analytical Investigations of Dynamic Characteristics of Magnetorheological
and Nano Magnetorheological Fluid Film Journal Bearing,GT2014-25219,
Presented at IGTI2014 , June 2014.
Relevant Picture/drawing
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Technology Opportunity
Organisation name:
Organisation contact
details (eg address,
email, phone number,
website):
University of Patras
1.Professor Chris A. Papadopoulos
[email protected]
+30 2610 969426
http://mdl.mech.upatras.gr
2. Assistant Professor Pantelis G. Nikolakopoulos
[email protected]
+30 2610 969421
http://mdl.mech.upatras.gr
Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics
Department:
Chris A. Papadopoulos
Contact Person:
Position:
Email:
Professor
[email protected]
Mobile phone:
Title: Hydromagnetic Bearings
Summary
The present invention describes a hybrid journal bearing, that comprises both an
electromagnetic part and a hydrodynamic part, wherein both parts are in a
common nutshell, are regulated by the same control system and are operating in
the same control volume, in which hybrid journal bearing
the equilibrium point is eccentric,
the electromagnets are placed internally, perimetrically at a specific
distance from the internal surface of the inner ring,
the material of the bearings may be graphite, metal alloy, graphite/metal
alloy or Graphalloy and may have operating temperatures of up to 540οC,
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the hydrodynamic bearing operates as support to the magnetic bearing when there
will not be requirements of high temperatures and high speeds and will also operate as a
load and rotor reception mechanism in case of power failure in the supply of the magnetic
bearing.
Technology/Product/Service description
The present invention/technology describes a hybrid journal bearing that can exploit the
advantages of both hydrodynamic and electromagnetic bearing components.
A hybrid journal bearing, which has the possibility of operating, simultaneously or selectively,
as hydrodynamic or as electromagnetic or as both. The hydrodynamic and
electromagnetic field of the hybrid journal bearing of the present invention operate
within a common nutshell. With the suitable controller, the new type of hybrid bearing,
described in the present invention, exploits the advantages of the hydrodynamic and
the electromagnetic bearing and it operates occasionally as hydrodynamic, or as
electromagnetic, or as hybrid (i.e. electromagnetic and hydrodynamic simultaneously).
By this way, the hybrid journal bearing that is described by the present invention, obtains
the optimum dynamic behaviour. It can, that is to say, operate as hydrodynamic
bearing, as hydrodynamic bearing with control of response via the operation of the
electromagnets of the bearing in cases of instability (oil whirl and oil whip), as
hydrodynamic bearing using the electromagnets as external parametric exciter used for
the recognition of the system and localisation of possible damage, as hydrodynamic
and electromagnetic simultaneously in order to increase the load carrying capacity
when this is necessary or as electromagnetic bearing only, without the participation of
hydrodynamic operation.
Competitive advantages
A hybrid journal bearing that is at the same time hydrodynamic and electromagnetic
according to the present invention, presents a lot of advantages. It develops the
advantages of the hydrodynamic oil field as well as of the electromagnetic one. The
hybrid journal bearing offer the possibility of wider range of rotational speeds of the axis
(higher than these of hydrodynamic or the magnetic journal bearing). The hybrid journal
bearing of the invention has the possibility of receiving higher external load W, because
part of the load can be received from hydrodynamic journal bearing (receipt of load Wh)
while the rest from electromagnetic journal bearing (receipt of load Wm). Also, it can
reliably operate in high, intermediate and low revolutions, it can withstand in shock
situations, avoiding high frictions in extreme situations of machine operation. The use of
lubricant is not essential for every case of operation, big consumption of electric power is
not essential, no problems are created in the shaft and in bearing, in case where electric
power is interrupted, or in case of instability, where rub situation of the shaft on the internal
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part of the bearing is possible, because of the type of the material used for the
construction of the internal part of the bearing.
Market Analysis
The application of this particular invention with the use of the proposed hybrid journal
bearings in the industry (in electric power plants), in the shipping (as bearings in naval
engines), in the aeronautics (as bearings of the air turbines in airplanes), contributes in
the modern environmental objectives of wider modern society and in this light
contributes also in the needs of modern industry, in Europe and in all over the world.
Companies that are already active in the field of journal bearing and roller bearing
manufacturing include SKF and Federal Mogul. Additionally, since this technology can
be applied in marine engines, companies such as Wartzila and MAN could be interested
in such a technology.
Development Roadmap & Investment
The first step is the definition of the requirements of the client concerning load carrying
capacity and dimensions limitations
The second step is the prediction of the static and dynamic performance of the hydro
magnetic bearing, which currently available through validated simulations
The third step is the detailed design of the hydro magnetic bearing controller
The fourth step is the manufacturing of the bearing with the control unit along with
preliminary tests.
The development of the specific device may take up to 2 months. The most preferable
manner for the introduction of such a product would be the creation of a spin-off
company.
Profile (team and backround)
1. Chris Papadopoulos (Professor, University of Patras, Greece)
Dr. Chris Papadopoulos is a Professor of Machine Design and Computer
Aided Design in the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics of the University of
Patras (MEAD/UP), Greece. He obtained his Diploma in Mechanical Engineering (1979)
and his Ph.D. in the field of Dynamic Analysis of Cracked Rotors (1987), both from the
MEAD/UP. He served as Project and Consulting Engineer for Greek Industries in the
eighties.
He has been a Visiting Scholar in Mechanical Eng. Dept, Washington University St. Louis,
ΜΟ, USA, (1986-1987), and a Visiting Scientist in Joint Research Center, Ispra, Italy (20012002). He is teaching (since 1980 up today) the courses of Machine Elements and Machine
Design, Computer Aided Design, Design of Smart Machines and Tribology in MEAD/UP. He
also offers a course of Rotordynamics in the post-graduate program.
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Professor Papadopoulos has a wide range of research interests, primary involving
rotordynamics and structural dynamics, cracked structures, machine design, smart
machines and smart materials, computer aided design, diagnosis and prognosis,
autonomous underwater vehicles, lubrication. He is the author or co-author of over 90
scientific journal papers or conference presentations on above fields with over 1100
citations, as well as of three books (in Greek).
He supervised or took part in scientific committees of over 20 PhD's. He also took part in
over 30 research, educational or development projects. He is a reviewer in many
international scientific journals.
He is a member of Technical Chamber of Greece, of Hellenic Society of Mechanical and
Electrical Engineers (HSMEE), of American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and he
has been member of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE). He is a
member of the Technical Committee for Rotordynamics of the International Federation for
the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science (IFToMM).
Personal Links: Google Scholar, Research Gate, Scopus
2. Pantelis Nikolakopoulos (Ass. Professor, University of Patras,Greece)
Dr. Nikolakopoulos was born in Kalamata in 1967. He holds a Diploma in Mechanical
Engineering (1990), and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (1996), from the Department of
Mechanical and Aeronautics Engineering of the University of Patras, Greece. His research
activities include hydrodynamic lubrication of journal and thrust bearings, stability,
misalignment, wear and wear detection of journal bearings, tribology of artificial textured
journal and thrust bearings, Magnetorheological, Nano- magnetorheological and
Electrorheological fluids and its effects on rotor bearing systems, Computational Fluid
Dynamics (CFD) of non Newtonian lubrication of journal bearings and optimization of
machine elements.
Career: Dr Nikolakopoulos has been a research scientist in several EU and National funded
research programs since 1990. He worked for almost 12 years in industry since
1997 as design engineer and technical manager on military projects and as a project
engineer and project manager on energy projects. He is currently a Lecturer at the
Department of Mechanical and Aeronautics Engineering of the University of Patras,
Greece (since 2008).
Other activities: He is a reviewer of the scientific journals of Tribology International (Elsevier),
of Journal of Tribology of ASME, of the Journal of Engineering Structures (Elsevier), of the
Journal of Alloys and Compounds(Elsevier), of the Proceedings of the Institution of
Mechanical Engineers, Part C, Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science, of the Journal of
Vibrations and Acoustics of ASME, of the Journal of Flow, Turbulence and Combustion, of
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
the Journal of Mechanism and Machine Theory (Elsevier) and of the Journal of the
Mechanical System and Signal Processing (Elsevier).
He has participated in 8 research projects funded by the EU and the Greek Government:
89-ΠΣ-66: GGET& HELLENING BUREAU OF SHIPPING, TEXTILE/STRIDE 269, 92-ΠΣ-80: GGET&
HELLENING BUREAU OF SHIPPING, PENED 1991, PENED 1995, HERCULES, KARATHEOTHORIS
2009, TRIBOLOGICAL OPTIMIZATION OF MARINE PROPULSION SYSTEMS (ARISTEIA 2011),
KARATHEODORIS 2013, and he is currently coordinator of a 1 project of basic research
funded by the Research Council of the University of Patras: Tribological Design of Journal
Bearing Using Nano-Magnetorheological Fluids (KARATHEOTHORIS 2013).
Author activities: He has published 89 papers in international journals and conferences (31
papers in international journals reviewed in full text, 58 papers in international conferences,
in which 48 reviewed in full text and 10 papers reviewed in the summary, also he has 1
chapter in book (IUTAM Symposium on Emerging Trends in Rotor Dynamics, Springer 2009,
ISBN 978-94-007-0019-2,DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-0020-8),and one Greek and International
patent. The international recognition of his work is supported with over 300 citations.
Personal Links: Google Scholar, Research Gate, Scopus
Key Publications:
1.
P. G. Nikolakopoulos, C. A. Papadopoulos, “A study of Friction in Worn Misalign­ed
Journal Bearings under Severe Hydrodynamic Lubrication”, Tribology International, (2008)
41 (6) pp 461-472, (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.triboint.2007.10.005). Top 25 Hottest Articles
2.
K. Gertzos, P.G. Nikolakopoulos, A.C. Chasalevris, C.A. Papadopoulos, “Wear
Identification in Rotor-Bearing Systems by Measurements of Dynamic Bearing
Characteristics “, Computers and Structures, 89 (1-2), pp. 55-66, 2010.
3.
Nikolakopoulos P.G., Papadopoulos C.I., Kaiktsis L., “Elastohydrodynamic analysis
and Pareto optimization of intact, worn and misaligned journal bearings”, Meccanica, Vol
46 (2011), pp. 577-588.
4.
K.M. Saridakis, P.G. Nikolakopoulos, C.A. Papadopoulos, A.J. Dentsoras, “Wear and
Misalignment Identification on Journal Bearings by using Artificial Neural Networks”,
Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part J, Journal of Engineering
Tribology, January 2012; vol. 226, 1: pp. 46-56 (one of the most read articles, February 2012).
6.
Bompos, D.A., & Nikolakopoulos, P.G. (2014). Journal Bearing Stiffness and Damping
Coefficients Using Nanomagnetorheological Fluids and Stability Analysis. Journal of
Tribology (In print).
7. Michael G Farmakopoulos, Pantelis G Nikolakopoulos, Chris A Papadopoulos,DESIGN OF
AN ACTIVE HYDROMAGNETIC JOURNAL BEARING, Proceedings of the Institution of
Mechanical Engineers, Part J: Journal of Engineering Tribology July 2013 vol. 227 no. 7 673694.
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
8. M.G. Farmakopoulos, P.G.Nikolakopoulos, C.A.Papadopoulos, “Design of an Active
Hydromagnetic Journal Bearing”, Proccedings of IFToMM-Rotordynamics-2010, September
12-15, Seoul, Korea.
9. Michael G. Farmakopoulos, Michalis D. Thanou, Pantelis G. Nikolakopoulos, Chris A.
Papadopoulos , Anthony P. Tzes,”A Control Model of Active Magnetic Bearings”, 3 rd
International Conference of Engineering Against Failure (ICEAF III),26-28 June 2013, Kos,
Greece.
10. Michael G. Farmakopoulos,
Eleftherios K. Loghis,Pantelis G.
Nikolakopoulos,Nikolaos I. Xiros,,Chris A. Papadpoulos ,” MODELING AND CONTROL OF THE
ELECTRICAL ACTUATION SYSTEM OF AN ACTIVE HYDROMAGNETIC JOURNAL BEARING
(AHJB)”, Proceedings of the ASME 2014 International Mechanical Engineering Congress &
Exposition November 14-20, 2014, Montreal, Canada
Relevant Picture/drawing
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Other mature research
Versatile architectures for
cryptographic systems
Athanasios Stouraitis
E-mail: [email protected]
Research Unit: DSP Laboratory
Department: Electrical and Computer Engineering
Multirate Teletraffic Loss Models
Michael Logothetis
E-mail: [email protected]
Department: Electrical and Computer Engineering
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School of Health
Sciences
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Transdermal administration of Sartans: Development
of a novel method for blood pressure regulation
Dimitrios Alexopoulos, Professor
E-mail: [email protected]
Departement: Medical School
Novel approach for the immunotherapy of Multiple
Sclerosis: Perspective for clinical Phase I studies
Panagiotis Papathanasopoulos, Professor
E-mail: [email protected]
Research Unit: Department of Neurology
Department: Medical School
Novel lead compounds with targeted
antitumorigenic function
Stavros Taraviras
E-mail: [email protected]
Research Unit: Stem Cell Laboratory, Department of Physiology
Department: Medical School
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School of Business
Administration
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University of Patras Directory of Mature Research Results – July 2014
Technology Opportunity
Organisation name:
Organisation contact
details (eg address,
email, phone number,
website):
UNIVERSITY OF PATRAS
Assist. Prof. Christos Makris
Computer Engineering & Informatics dept.
+302610960482
Computer Engineering & Informatics dept.
Department:
Christos Makris
Contact Person:
Position:
Email:
Mobile phone:
Assistant Professor
[email protected]
+30 6932878054
Title: Tools for efficient web information retrieval
Summary
Searching information is one of the most important tasks in modern societies. The last years
the people which seek information from search engines are raised and in the near future the
majority of the people will search their information using search engines. Now the most
search engines use complicated queries or more recently try to answer to user questions.
The next step for search engines is to communicate with people like the way that people
communicate each other.
Our set of tools pushes the search engines to this direction. Particularly we have created a
web site analyzing tool for the content and the structure of the websites. Also, a tool has
been developed for storing the user behaviour and for the creation of profiles for the users.
Additionally, semantic knowledge bases (like Wordnet and Wikipedia) have been utilized
for the annotation of the websites in order to classify them in different categories. In the field
of web search engines we have developed an add on tool for personalizing their results
according to the user behaviour. This tool is combined with the tool that analyzes the
behaviour of a user. Also, in order to address the problem of redundant information in search
results and generally to the web documents a tool was developed that remove redundant
information from search results combining the documents to new extended documents that
do not contain redundant information. Finally we constructed a tool that utilizes the results
of a search engine and answers efficiently natural language questions. A future combination
of our tools will replace the classic way of submitting queries with communication through
natural language. The proposed tools could apply to a variety of applications of information
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seeking. The tools also can work over all the modern search engines as add on in their
mechanism.
Moreover our set of tools considers the problem of web page usage prediction in a web site
by modeling users’ navigation history with Weighted Suffix Trees. The user’s navigation
prediction can be exploited either as an on-line recommendation system in a web-site or as
a web-page cache system. The methods proposed have the advantage that demands a
constant amount of computational effort per one user’s action and consumes a relatively
small amount of extra memory bytes. These features make our methods ideal for an on-line
working environment.
Technology/Product/Service description
Software for analyzing website content and structure (content mining).
Software for analyzing user behavior (profiles).
Software for semantic annotation of text documents(using Wikipedia, Wordnet knowledge
bases)
Software for personalization of search engine's results.
Software for removing redundant information from web pages.
Software for answering natural language questions.
Software for analyzing web page usage by users (usage mining).
Software for modeling and analyzing weighted sequences
Software for online web page recommendations.
Competitive advantages

Better Web search results

Personalized Web Search Experience

Integration with Social networks

Integration to existing platforms like MS Sharepoint, CMS platforms, CRM platforms,
Wiki platforms.
Market Analysis
The web tools are trying to transform the traditional way of retrieving information into modern
machines that communicate with people with a human manner. Consequently the
targeting market is the search engines and secondly companies with very large volume of
information which will use the tools in order to organize and search efficiently their data.
Initially the proposed tools can be added to the mechanisms of existing systems in order to
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improve their search process. Next out tools could create a new interactive system that
efficiently search data using semantic tools and knowledge bases like WordNet and
Wikipedia replacing the classical way of submitting queries with a system that interacts with
the users. There are other approaches that exist now and partially try to search data with a
smarter way like Siri of Apple and search engine Wolfram Alpha. Both approaches try to
answer questions of the users effectively.
Development Roadmap & Investment
The combination of the searching tools will create a new interactive system that will help
users to search their information needs efficiently. The searching tools will be available as
services in 12-24 months together with a prototype of the total system. Next after 1,5-2 years
the whole system will be available in the market. The development of the proposed needs
2 or 3 full time engineers for developing initially the tools as services and then developing a
whole product that incorporates with the previous services.
The best way for developing the proposed idea is through the cooperation with a search
engine which will accelerate the whole process.
Profile (team and backround)





Christos Makris [email protected]
Athanasios Tsakalidis [email protected]
Evangelos Theodoridis [email protected]
Yannis Plegas [email protected]
Andreas Kanavos [email protected]
The Host Organization is the University of Patras, Department of Computer Engineering and
Informatics, and in particular the Graphics, Multimedia and GIS laboratory. The Graphics,
Multimedia and GIS laboratory was established in 1994. It involves 4 faculty members (one
of them Assistant Professor Christos Makris is the Principal Investigator of the proposal), 15
doctoral researchers and academics, a number of PhD candidates, graduate and post
graduate students.
The primary activities of the laboratory include the following:

the theoretical research conducting in areas such as Web 2.0, Semantic Web,
knowledge management, Web Engineering, Web Services, Information Retrieval,
Data Structures and Algorithms, Computational Geometry, Expert Systems, eLearning, e-Commerce, and Bioinformatics.

the development of related applications and tools within the frameworks of EU
research projects such as IST, INTERREG II, MARIE CURIE, ESPRIT, RACE, AIM, STRIDE,
Basic Research Actions in ESPRIT, ESPRIT special Actions, Telematics Applications,
ADAPT, HORIZON, INTERREG II, LEONARDO DA VINCI, SOCRATES, Telematics Transport,
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as well as projects funded from the National General Secretariat for Research and
Technology of Ministry of Development.
(more than 50 completed and ongoing projects).

the support of the Computer Engineering & Informatics Department’s
undergraduate education in the areas of: Data Structures, Advanced Data
Structures and Graphics, Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems, Models and
Analysis of Computer Systems, Principles of Programming Languages and Compilers,
Internet Technologies, Simulation of Information Systems.

the support of the Computer Engineering & Informatics Department's postgraduate
education in the areas of: Theory of Basic Data Structures, Management of
Multimedia in Databases, Information Retrieval.
Relevant Picture/drawing
Please include a relevant picture or drawing in high resolution including a short description
of the picture in one sentence.
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Technology Opportunity
Organisation name:
Organisation contact
details (eg address,
University of Patras
Rio, Patras, Greece, 26504, +302610997120,
http://www.upatras.gr
email, phone number,
website):
Department:
Department of Cultural Heritage Management
and New Technologies
Contact Person:
Georgios Styliaras
Position:
Assistant Professor
Email:
[email protected]
Mobile phone:
+306944592463
Title: HyperSea
Summary
HyperSea is an environment for collecting, organizing and presenting web
2.0 content. The environment allows a single user or many users to organise
their information sources in one large space, called Archipelago, which
can be authored and viewed with two-levels of detail. This decision was
made in order to keep the environment simple and inhibit users from
creating deep and complex hierarchies of data. Instead, HyperSea
encourages its users to represent deep hierarchies in space. HyperSea
extends the functionality of existing spatial hypermedia systems. The
environment can be used in education, for collecting and preparing
hypermedia content.
Technology/Product/Service description
HyperSea is an environment for collecting, organizing and presenting web
2.0 content.
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In the first level of detail, the user sees an archipelago, which is divided into
individual islands. In the second level of detail, all explicit links among nodes
and structs belonging to different islands are also visible. These links are also
visible in the first level of detail as links between the islands, but the end
point of each link is placed inside the island metaphor. Information spaces
produced by the HyperSea environment provide users with alternative ways
to comprehend the content and its relations within this space.
In other words, HyperSea is a spatial hypermedia environment with features
aiming to meet the requirements of web 2.0 users. These features were
carefully selected based on research and design methodologies of spatial
environments. Our focus is on providing simplicity while performing powerful
operations and support the efficient exploitation of the user’s space.
Competitive advantages
HyperSea supports a hierarchical organization of information in several
spaces and the navigation capability among these spaces. Moreover, a
user can import and link new content in the environment from web 2.0
applications, web pages and local multimedia files. Content is recognized
automatically and appropriate metadata such as title and technical
properties (e.g. the duration of a video clip) are shown and stored.
Furthermore, all this content is formalized, structured and stored as an
ontology, which enables its reusability and extension by other users. Last but
not least, all these actions, even the most complex ones such as node
deletions and linkings, are performed by simple mouse or touchscreen
actions.
Market Analysis
HyperSea can be used in educational and cultural settings for collecting,
arranging and presenting hypermedia content from multiple sources. These
settings need new ways to present content especially through new
mediums that provide space as interaction means, such as tablets. There
are several tools and applications that provide some of the features of
HyperSea such as Cantos & Contos, Canyon, Clui, Cmaptools, CThru, Dipity
and Padlet but none of them provide in combination the features of
HyperSea.
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Development Roadmap & Investment
HyperSea is the outcome of some research work in hypemedia. It has been
evaluated in actual educational settings and results were encouraging.
Based on these results and by exploiting emerging technologies in
hardware, an advanced version may be implemented. It is estimated that
100000 euros are needed for a two-year period.
The system’s description can be found at Georgios D.P. Styliaras and Sotiris
P. Christodoulou. 2009. HyperSea: towards a spatial hypertext environment
for web 2.0 content. In Proceedings of the 20th ACM conference on
Hypertext and hypermedia (HT '09). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 35-44. Its
evaluation can be found here: Koutromanos, G., Styliaras, G. &
Christodoulou, S. (2014). Student and in-Service teachers' acceptance of
spatial hypermedia in their teaching: The case of HyperSea. Education and
Information Technologies. DOI: 10.1007/s10639-013-9302-8.
The following methodology is proposed:
- Requirement analysis: 4 months
- Redesign of the environments: 4 months
- Implementation: 12 months
- Evaluation and dissemination: 4 months
The development could be de carried out through a joint development
collaboration project with specialized software companies and
educational institutions.
Profile (team and backround)
Georgios Styliaras, Department of Cultural Heritage Environment and New
Technologies, University of Patras, Seferi 2, Agrinio, 30100, Greece,
http://www.culture.upatras.gr/cms/?page_id=157&lang=en
Sotiris Christodoulou, Technological Educational Institute of Messolonghi,
Nea Ktiria, 30200, Messolonghi, Greece,
http://www.tesyd.teimes.gr/msc/index.php/lectures/151
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George Koutromanos, Faculty of Primary Education, National and
Kapodistrian University of Athens, 20 Ippokratous, 10680, Athens, Greece,
http://www.koutromanos.gr
Relevant Picture/drawing
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Figure shows a screenshot while interacting with the HyperSea environment
for linking content related to the film Avatar.
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UNIVERSITY OF PATRAS
Research Committee
Innovation and Technology Transfer Office
University Campus, Rio, 26500
Tel.: 00302610996660, 00302610996635 / FAX: 00302610996677
http://research.upatras.gr
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