SINGAPORE — Encrypted short message service (SMS), image recognition and sensor networks for stress and body temperature were some of the technologies on display at the Intelligence, Communications and Multimedia (ICM) Outreach 2013 event held on May 8.

Organised by A*STAR’s Institute of Infocomm Research (I2R) to showcase technologies developed in its laboratories that are ready for market adoption, the event saw the attendance of guests from research and industry. During the event, I2R also announced collaborations with ST Electronics and Singapore Power on software-defined communications systems and grid networks, respectively, and the establishment of joint laboratories with each.

At the heart of I2R is its Sense and Sense-abilities (S&S) programme, named so because it develops capabilities to sense and make sense of our living environment in real time. S&S is responsible for the Wireless Body Sensor Network platform, which can be combined with various off-the-shelf sensors, such as those for ECG, galvanic skin response, heart rate and temperature for use in medicine, healthcare and sports training.

ICM Outreach also demonstrated their Snap2Tell mobile application, an image recognition technology that recognises an object or scene by pointing a mobile phone or tablet camera at it, or taking a photo. The photo captured will be recognised, and can then generate content designated by the provider. “For example, if you snap a movie poster, (the application) can lead you to the trailer, movie timings or an Internet link to buy movie tickets,” explained Mr Alex Chooi, Senior Research Engineer at I2R.

“This technology is different from QR codes in that it can recognise two-dimensional images and even three-dimensional objects, while QR codes are fixed, much like barcodes,” said Dr Jimmy Lee, Scientist at I2R. “Furthermore, QR codes are not meaningful or intuitive to humans.”

Another piece of technology from I2R is the Hush-Hush mobile security application, which supports secure SMS and MMS by encrypting them and controlling password creation, transmission, storage and deletion.

“This event is about outreach,” said Dr Tan Geok Leng, Executive Director of I2R. “We do research, but we want to take the research results out to the industry. If the research stays in the lab, it’s no use for us.”

“Research that creates impact is our core mission.”