Bulletin Spring‧Summer 1994

To Convert New Technologies into Real Boon s MAGNET-II: A Multimedia Medical Imaging Network The first network of its kind in Southeast Asia and a research product of the Department of Information Engineering, MAGNET-II ca n connect hospitals, medical schools, and private clinics. MAGNET-II has full multimedia communication capabilities (i.e. communication by motion video, image, voice, data, text, and graphics). A pilot network connecting the University and the Prince of Wales Hospital with St. Teresa's Hospital in Kowloon has been in operation since August 1993. Medical images taken of patients by sophisticated diagnostic machines in these hospitals can be transmitted easily and speedily over this network. With such anetwork doctors and medical students can have fast and easy access to medical images to facilitate diagnosis. Joint consultation by doctors at different locations is also possible. The network may also be linked to similar systems outside Hong Kong, enabling the flow of medical advice from overseas experts. VIP NET: Voice Interactive Paging Network VIPNet is a two-way communication network tha t can provide voice and text messaging services to mobile users. Unlike existing paging systems, VIP Net allows auser to send and receivemessages any time, anywhere. The user can also send his message by using a keyboard or codec. The message will be saved in the central computer even though the line of the other party is busy or when his pager is switched off. Other applications that can be implemented on VIP Net include banking services, directory information services and reservation services. Semiconductor Laser In an ordinary telephone, a microphone in the mouthpiece will convert sound into electrical signals so that the message can be transmitted along wires. The semiconductor laser is adevice that turns these electrical signals into light signals that can be transmitted by optical fibres. Light (or optical) signals have a higher frequency and the optical fibres can therefore carry a far larger amount of information. The first home-grown semiconductor laser was made in May 1993 by the Department of Electronic Engineering. Skeletal Strokes Skeletal Stroke is a revolutionary computer graphics drawin g primitive first developed at Cambridge University. It employs an arbitrary picture as 'ink'. Based on an idealized 2D deformation model defined by an arbitrary path, a picture can be deformed as if by bending, shearing, twistingwhile conserving the aspect ratio of selected parts. A novel general anchoring mechanism even allows an arbitrary deformation pattern of the picture to be encapsulated in a single stroke. Its unsurpassed expressiveness as vector-base d digital brush strokes makes it particularly attractive in the making of stylish animations. MAGNET-II network displaying medical images Demonstration of VIP Net, an experimental network to provide two-way text and voice messaging service The first Hong Kong home-grown laser diode (2mmx1mm) comprising four lasers and a strip of semiconductor wafer from which they were cleaved. A demonstration of the computer animation research project draws the attention of Prof. Charles Kao (centre) and Dr. William M. W. Mong (right). Ho Sin-hang Engineering Building Formally Opened 3