Dr. Al Bovik was recently awarded two separate grants from the National Science Foundation totaling $703,000. The first is an equipment grant to conduct high definition (HD) video processing research, with particular emphasis on video quality assessment. The equipment includes the “Red One”—a revolutionary high-definition cinematic movie camera famously used by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson—as well as high-definition displays and a visual eyetracker and headtracker. Bovik’s research group plans to build a standardized public database of HD videos for video quality assessment and other applications.

The second grant is a joint project with UT-Psychology Professor Larry Cormack. Bovik and Cormack’s grant, entitled “Statistical Measurement, Modeling, and Inference on Natural 3D Scenes.” They are using a precision terrestrial scanner to measure luminance, chrominance, range, and disparity and ultimately develop sophisticated statistical models of natural scenes. Their work will make possible many important engineering applications, including creating better stereoscopic (3-D) image sensors and displays, and higher-quality 3-D movies.