One of the main barriers encountered by blind people is access to graphic information, including photos, maps, drawings and pictures. There is a need to develop effective methods for processing visual information into sensory signals that are accessible to blind people. This work concentrates on expanding and acquiring new knowledge in the field of presentation of visual scenes for the blind using the senses of touch and hearing. The research hypothesis is as follows: it is possible to develop tactile-controlled sound patterns allowing the blind user to correctly interpret the image displayed on the touch screen.

Even the best electronic travel aids (ETAs) supporting blind people in independent travel are unable to provide assistance that another person can offer. Modern cell phones are equipped with very efficient processors and, often, very good quality digital cameras. Almost every smartphone is equipped with a set of position sensors enabling the detection of phone movement, its GPS location and orientation. Data recorded by mobile phones can be used as additional information needed to obtain support for a blind person from a remote assistant equipped with a suitable terminal.

Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) are devices, which acquire raw brain activity signals, analyze them, and translate them into commands that are transferred to output devices. In such a way BCI communication systems are independent from the brains regular output pathways of peripheral nerves and muscles. For that unique reason, such devices may someday enable people with disabilities, including paralyzed people to use the computer and other technical equipment, on a par with other users.

In the era of the information society, the computer has become an indispensable personal tool used in in fact in every area of life. Information and communication technologies (ICT) should be available to all potential users, regardless of their age, disability or type of equipment used. Therefore, it is necessary to design these tools according to the principles of universal design for ICT and recommendations described in three documents prepared by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium): Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) and User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG).

The research in the field of antenna design, which is carried out at the Institute of Electronics, is related to the development of modern wireless communication systems. These include systems designed to work in the proximity of human body. They require the development of new antenna designs and the improvement of tools for their design. Another stimulus for the development of this research area is the development of material technologies enabling the production of antennas, such as the technology of conductive textile materials.

Electromagnetic metamaterials (EM) are synthetic structures with special electromagnetic properties such as negative value of the refractive index – as postulated by Veselago. They have become an active research area because they exhibit unusual EM responses not attainable with natural materials. Some attractive application examples are in superlensing, cloaking, artificial magnetic conductance and more generally, coordinate transformation material design. As a one way to realize such functionalities, periodic or semi-periodic arrays of resonant structures such as split-ring resonators (SRRs) have been used. Second way to realize such functionalities, full 3D dielectric structure based on period 3D unit cell have been used. To realize modeling of these structures, (distributed) circuit model-based and full EM-simulation model based have benn used.

In the Institute of Electronics, the research and implementation of new methods and systems of infrared (IR) medical thermography are being developed for diagnosis and screening. The research is focused on new processing methods of IR images, in particular for dynamic active thermography. The new tools, systems and software mainly for medical screening, with application of thermal stress are the results of the scientific works. Thermal modelling based on inverse heat transfer problem solution of multilayer tissue structures for cancer and lesion screening is an important area of research. It concerns perfusion, anisotropy, modelling of thin and porous materials and non-Fourier heat transfer using Dual-Phase Lag approach. The new algorithm of advanced image processing using frequency analysis of long thermal image sequences were developed to achieve parametric images presenting e.g. perfusion.

One of the areas of research carried out at the Institute of Electronics (LUT) is industrial application of thermography. Researches are mainly focused on the thermal phenomena occurring in electronic circuits and power systems, non-destructive testing using thermography, optical gas leaks imaging using in-house designed infrared and multispectral imaging systems. The new method of signal processing for temperature and strain measurement using optical fibers and Raman and Brillouin scattering phenomena has recently been developed. These studies are carried out in cooperation with industry and other research entities. The research works are supplemented with thermography training and courses that are aimed at enabling the broad possible use of thermography in the industry.

Programme name: ‘Things are for people/0043/2020’ under the government's Accessibility Plus Programme.

2022/45/B/ST7/02820 project funded by NCN in the OPUS 23 competition. System cooling is an important problem in modern electronics. Among the most typical solutions that allow heat to be dissipated from the surface of electronic circuits to the environment is the use of a heat sink with forced gas or liquid flow.