Intelligent Systems Report € December € 1995 € Volume 12 € No. 12

Products

NEURAL NETWORKS

Evolutionary rapid prototyping

ECANSE (Environment for Computer Aided Neural Software Engineering) introduces a new concept of programming on a high-abstraction level, called Visual Programming, by integrating a wide selection of predefined functional components/modules on a fully graphical interface. Modules in ECANSE range from data interfaces, signal generators, mathematical/statistical functions, script language and graphical displays to neural networks, fuzzy logic and genetic algorithms.

ECANSE provides a framework for evolutionary rapid prototyping. The generic object-oriented framework allows extension and integration of new tools and processing techniques. Since software configurations are designed visually under its generic environment, hybrid systems including conventional computing and new processing techniques like neural networks, fuzzy logic, genetic algorithms, expert systems, and nonlinear analysis (e.g., chaotic dynamics, mutual information) can be implemented. Furthermore, hybrid intelligent systems may also be designed where the system incorporates several soft-computing techniques for performance enhancement. Any of the components designed may be reused for future applications. ECANSE operates on UNIX workstations.

Siemens AG Austria, PSE NLT2, Gudrunstr. 11, A-1100 Vienna, Austria, tel: + 43 1 60171 5985, Fax: + 43 1 60171 6399, e-mail: ecanseweb@cent.gud.siemens.co.at

EXPERT SYSTEMS

System integration capabilities

K-Vision 3.0 expert system development tool generates a case-based reasoning (CBR) system from decision trees. The CBR system allows users to describe problems in free-form English. At run-time it automatically collects and disseminates new cases from users. This automatic learning capability collects knowledge from one person and distributes it to multitude teams, shifts and geographical locations.

Version 3.0 includes full system integration capabilities such as ODBC connectivity, multimedia, access to external Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs), and third-party communications software.

Ginesys Corp., 12100 Woodruff Road, Suite C-9, Greenville, SC 29607, (803) 288-8338, Fax: (803) 458-9050.

CBR system

ReCall 1.5 is a case-based reasoning (CBR) system that allows new problems to be solved by adapting the solutions of past experiences similar to the new situation. It performs a hierarchical indexing of the case base that allows the user to select cases similar to a new problem to be solved.

The new version allows developers to build help systems. Features include online help, the ability to import/export data from external databases through ODBC, script-driven GUI, and integration capabilities through updated C++ libraries. Recall runs on Unix workstations and PCs.

Isoft s.a., Chemin de Moulon, F-91190 Gif sur Yvette, France, + 33 1 69 41 27 77, Fax: +33 1 69 41 25 32.

SPEECH RECOGNITION

Flexible vocabulary

VProFlex/XD is a flexible, phoneme-based speech recognition technology that allows users of the VPro 3.4 telephony speech recognition engine to collect new voice samples while maintaining a high accuracy. No training samples are required if users choose from a set of over 1,000 words or phrases. Outside the 1,000 words, a limited speech sample is required.

Users can mix VProFlex/XD vocabularies with conventional XD vocabularies in the same application and on the same hardware. A vocabulary costs $1,000.

Voice Processing Corp., One Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, (617) 494-0100, Fax: (617) 494-4970.

Windows 95 support

VoiceType Dictation for Windows 1.32 allows users to talk into a microphone connected to their desktop or notebook PC. VoiceType Dictation converts the user's speech into on-screen text almost instantly, without requiring the user to actually be looking at the screen while dictating.

Text and documents developed using VoiceType Dictation can be integrated with other applications, including word processing packages and Lotus Notes. The speech recognition technology in VoiceType Dictation adapts to the way a person dictates and learns the user's word patterns. Version 1.32 features functions that exploit the Windows 95 environment.

IBM Corp., 1133 Westchester Ave., White Plains, NY 10604, (914) 766-1697.

VIRTUAL REALITY

Windows NT support

Amber is an object-oriented VR development system now available on Windows NT platforms. The system supports OpenGL under Windows NT and IRIX, as well as a real-time server implementation. The system also supports head-mounted displays (HMDs), spatial audio and advanced graphics accelerators.

Amber supports communication between participants and complex interactions with virtual objects via a virtual environment transfer protocol originally developed for military simulation. This protocol is derived from the DIS protocol used in networked military simulators, and is employed in DIVE Labs' infantry training systems. Amber also runs on Windows 3.1, Windows 95 and SGI platforms. Price: $149 for Windows version; $199 for UNIX version.

DIVE Labs Inc., 2501 Mission Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, (408) 469-1720, Fax: (408) 469-1722.

3-D control device

SpaceController is a multi-axis control device for 3-D PC-based applications. Users are able to pan, zoom or scale and rotate 3-D CAD models with simultaneous six degrees of freedom control. SpaceController now supports Windows NT versions of Pro/Engineer, CAMAND and CADKEY software.

The active mechanism of the control device is the PowerSensor ball, which is operated by simply pushing, pulling or twisting it. The PowerSensor senses the direction and amount of force applied, resulting in a simultaneous, corresponding movement of the 3-D model on screen. Price for the SpaceController: $595.

Spacetec IMC Corp., 600 Suffolk Street, Lowell, MA 01854-3629, (508) 970-0330, Fax: (508) 970-0199, WWW: http://web.spacetec.com

VRML authoring capability

Superscape VRT 4.0 software now includes Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) authoring capability for creating VR WorldWideWeb sites on the Internet and linking to other Web pages. VRML allows the user to move around an environment in three dimensions using a browser.

An upgraded Virtual Clip Art Library has been added with contemporary objects, including two virtual humans - a man and a woman - who can walk, run or climb stairs. Collision detection, i.e., the ability to detect surfaces, has been built in. Superscape VRT 4.0 imports and exports images in a wider range of formats than earlier versions, including JPG, BMP, GIF, TIFF and TGA. The 4.0 release also extends the list of head-mounted displays (HMDs) supported to include the Virtual I/O headset.

Superscape Inc., 2483 East Bayshore Road, Suite 103, Palo Alto, CA 94303, (415) 812-9380, Fax: (415) 812-9390, WWW: http://www.superscape.com

HMD

Ocular Vergence and Accommodation Sensor (OVAS) is a 3-D, binocular unit that measures precisely where a user is focusing and details where the scene in a user's line of sight must be generated in real-time. OVAS uses physical optics techniques to measure the refractive power of the eye. It can reproduce the distance at which a person is looking, providing quantitative measurement of this focusing distance in real-time. OVAS makes it possible to observe the dynamics of the eye throughout the full range of focusing.

OVAS looks at each eye of the user independently while the user is looking into a virtual environment. It does not assume that both eyes are looking at a common focal point. Price: $99,500, which includes a Pentium-class computer.

Applied Modern Technologies Corp., 5500 Bolsa Avenue, Suite 155, Huntington Beach, CA 92649, (714) 379-2870, Fax: (714) 379-2873.

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