March 2023 - EuroCC Montenegro

20.03.2023.18.04.2023.

Exploratory analysis of text using NLP

Researchers from UDG and NCC Montenegro published a paper “Exploratory analysis of text using available NLP technologies for Serbian language”. The authors are L. Lakovic, S. Cakic, I. Jovovic, and D. Babic. The paper was presented at 22nd International Symposium INFOTECH-JAHORINA, that took place on 15-17 March 2023. The paper is published in IEEE Xplore.

ABSTRACT – This paper combines available NLP technologies for Serbian languages and traditional data science methods in order to analyze collected dataset on the news headlines related to the COVID-19 pandemics. As an addition to NLP technologies for the Serbian language, a specialized database was created in an attempt to enhance the research within the field. Within the paper, the database was exploratory analyzed, and perspectives of the work with the data were thoroughly explored.

13.03.2023.13.03.2023.

A scientific paper on HPC competence development in Montenegro

Researchers from the EuroCC NCC Montenegro team published a scientific paper in IOS press journal Technology and Health Care – Volume Pre-press. This article belongs to the “Special Issue for magazine Technology and health care: official journal of the European Society for Engineering and Medicine ” (link). The paper “Competence development as critical issue for successful performance in HPC technology environment: A case study of Montenegro” by B. Malisic, S. Tinaj provides an overview of the concepts and systems needed to develop the competencies needed to implement modern technology such as High-Performance Computing (HPC) in Montenegro. In work and in practice through the EuroCC project within the National Competence Center Montenegro, we start from a holistic approach to competences, which includes or integrates knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that influence the ability and competence for certain actions, in this case for the adoption and application of technology. Learn more at the following link.

ABSTRACT: This paper provides an overview of the concepts and systems needed to develop the competencies needed to implement modern technology such as High-Performance Computing (HPC) in Montenegro. In this research paper competencies are viewed holistically. This paper will elaborate the defined competencies related to the HPC technology environment, identified during the implementation of the EuroCC project in Montenegro, but also based on market analyses, combined with the identified indicators of absorption capacity, generally at the national level. By identifying the innovative and business potential of representatives of the public, academic and economic sectors, with special reference to small and medium-sized companies and the IT cluster that make up the dominant segments in the structure of the market sample, as generators and accelerators of innovation, smart growth and the digital economy, we got a clear picture regarding the development of necessary competencies within the NCC team but also at the national level. There must be a systemic approach and sustainable, dynamic projects and tools for the development of human resources in the development of competences.

10.03.2023.10.03.2023.

Developing Edge AI Computer Vision for Smart Poultry Farms Using Deep Learning and HPC

Researchers from the AIMHiGH team published a scientific paper in MDPI journal Sensors, This article belongs to the “Special Issue Novel Architectures and Applications for Artificial Intelligent and Internet of Things Ecosystems” (link). The paper “Developing Edge AI Computer Vision for Smart Poultry Farms Using Deep Learning and HPC” by S. Cakic, T. Popovic, S. Krco, D. Nedic, D. Babic, and I. Jovovic reports on the approach, experiences, and results of using HPC and AI to develop advanced Edge AI computer vision solutions for smart agriculture systems. AIMHiGH project is implemented as an experiment done in the context of FF4EuroHPC project. FF4EuroHPC is a European initiative that helps facilitate access to all high-performance computing-related technologies for SMEs and thus increases the innovation potential of European industry. Whether it is running high-resolution simulations, doing large-scale data analyses, or incorporating AI applications into SMEs’ workflows, FF4EuroHPC connects business with cutting-edge technologies. Learn more at: link.

ABSTRACT – This research describes the use of high-performance computing (HPC) and deep learning to create prediction models that could be deployed on edge AI devices equipped with camera and installed in poultry farms. The main idea is to leverage an existing IoT farming platform and use HPC offline to run deep learning to train the models for object detection and object segmentation, where the objects are chickens in images taken on farm. The models can be ported from HPC to edge AI devices to create a new type of computer vision kit to enhance the existing digital poultry farm platform. Such new sensors enable implementing functions such as counting chickens, detection of dead chickens, and even assessing their weight or detecting uneven growth. These functions combined with the monitoring of environmental parameters, could enable early disease detection and improve the decision-making process. The experiment focused on Faster R-CNN architectures and AutoML was used to identify the most suitable architecture for chicken detection and segmentation for the given dataset. For the selected architectures, further hyperparameter optimization was carried out and we achieved the accuracy of AP = 85%, AP50 = 98%, and AP75 = 96% for object detection and AP = 90%, AP50 = 98%, and AP75 = 96% for instance segmentation. These models were installed on edge AI devices and evaluated in the online mode on actual poultry farms. Initial results are promising, but further development of the dataset and improvements in prediction models is needed.

02.03.2023.03.03.2023.

EuroCC at SmAgTech EXPO VIRAL!

Within the two-day SmAgTech EXPO VIRAL event held at the University of Donja Gorica in the period from February 23 to 24, 2023 the results of the EuroCC project were presented with a special focus on the application of HPC and Ai/ML for computer vision in smart chicken farms.

Ms. Bojana Malisic presented the project to the visitors

The event gathered over 300 visitors from Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovenia, the Netherlands, including agricultural small and medium-sized enterprises, representatives of the IT sector, and academy. In addition to the aforementioned, the event was attended by students and high school pupils attending educational programs complementary to agriculture, information technology and food technology.

Mr Stevan Cakic presenting a HPC/AI use case in agriculture

Numerous companies in the field of agriculture, food industry, as well as information technologies and systems that presented their products and services at the fair, had the opportunity to learn about the EuroCC project and the advantages offered by advanced computing in the form of HPC technology.As part of the EXPO, the representatives of NCC Montenegro presented a pilot project-experiment within Horizon 2020 for innovative small and medium-sized enterprises, which is related to the application of HPC technologies in agriculture, specifically in poultry farming, where with the help of HPC technology, diseases among poultry are monitored and predicted by applying machine learning.

NCC Montenegro team at VIRAL EXPO 2023

VIRAL EXPO 2023 video (longer version)

01.03.2023.02.03.2023.

FF4EuroHPC releases success story video on AIMHiGH

Within the FF4EuroHPC experiment, DigitalSmart Montenegro, together with DunavNET, University of Donja Gorica, Radinovic Company, and Meso-promet Franca, used HPC and AI to develop ML prediction models for computer vision that can be ported on Edge AI and integrated into Smart agriculture systems for poultry farms.

The smart agriculture solution developed within this experiment could boost the productivity of poultry farms by potentially reducing both manual labor costs and chicken mortality rates by about 10% each. This is accomplished because assessing the weight of chickens in real-time increases the uniformity of the finished product and reduces the impact of stress on both the chickens and manual labor. Furthermore, real-time insight into poultry barns allows for improving disease management due to early detection.

HPC provided the technology organisations DigitalSmart Montenegro and DunavNET needed to develop smart agriculture solutions quickly and efficiently using machine learning and computer vision, in this case for the needs of the poultry industry. The computer kit has become a part of the PoultryNET platform offering, and there is an opportunity to sell such components to third-party vendors active in the market of smart agriculture solutions.

Click to watch