TECHNOLOGY

AMoRA TTS software:

Converting Sinhala texts to voice technology

by Gamini WARUSHAMANA

Talented Sri Lankan IT professionals have been the innovators of many wonders-things that one would hardly dream of. AMoRA, a Text to Speech System (TTS) for the Sinhala Unicode which receives raw text as input and produces appropriate speech output is a marvel of our young IT professionals.

AMoRA Team: Sithara Lakmal, Supun Bulathsinhala, Thilini Liyanagama and Chandana Bandara with the National Best Quality Software Awards.

AMoRA won two awards, the Bronze for Tertiary Student Category and the Best Local Language Software Award at the National Best Quality Software Award ceremony held last week.

AMoRA has also been selected to represent the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards which will be held from October 12-16 in Malaysia.

AMoRA was developed by four final year students of the Faculty of Computer Science, University of Moratuwa Chandana Bandara, Thilini Liyanagama, Sithara Lakmal and Supun Bulathsinghala as their final year project.

Chandana Bandara explained how the idea was conceived and of the technology they used in this project "We were given a list of project proposals from which we were to select one which we thought was more subject oriented.

We wanted to give a solution to a real world problem people experience or will be of benefit to society and came up with the idea to develop software that can translate Sinhala text documents into voice. We knew that similar programs are available for the English language and many other languages", said Bandara.

"Our objective was to broaden the IT knowledge spectrum of the local community, especially that of the visually impaired in the country.

After we started the project we got to know that a similar program had been developed by the University of Colombo, School of Computing for male voice. So we decided to develop a program for female voice," he said. We used an open source frame work called Festival as the core of the system and we successfully developed a Sinhala female voice database.

First we developed a small speech synthesis, a limited domain where only words can be read and it was successful.

After several failures we decided to go for universal interface, a diaphone based synthesis that can read any word. In that we extracted all diaphones from the Sinhala language. We extracted over 1400 diaphones and recorded them in a database.

Our effort was successful and we could develop a software that is capable of reading Sinhala texts. However, the problem was it read continuously without stops or phrase breaking, a robotic voice.

We wanted to introduce phrase breaking and we developed algorithms to make the reading more clear, live and similar to the natural human voice."

"To present a high quality natural voice, the database was enriched with unique linguistic and prosodic features. The main feature was the novel algorithm which we built for predicting phrase breaks in Sinhala language. Algorithms for duration, stress and F0 contour of the speaker were successfully built and integrated to the system.

This is one unique feature in AMoRA. We were then able to successfully implement those algorithms using Classification And Regression Tree (CART) in scheme language. Gathering all these project outputs under one roof, the AMoRA team developed a stand alone user interface for end users.

AMoRA aims at building a prosodic phrase break method for the Sinhala language, so that future enhancements and developments regarding Sinhala TTS can be done more efficiently and effectively.

We incorporated Sinhala language features into the system. As in any other language, Sinhala too has unique pronunciation rules and styles. This includes pronunciation ambiguity regarding the same words and same letters in different positions of a sentence.

Also there are some letters which are pronounced differently with different associated letters.

To accomplish the main goal of AMoRA, these characteristics and rules should be taken into consideration and incorporated to the voice. Then, we wanted it developed for practical usage and now AMoRA can read any Sinhala text that is copied into its memory.

In practical usage if someone wants to read a daily newspaper or a long article in the online edition of a Sinhala newspaper, he can copy it into AMoRA's memory in MP3 format and he can keep on listening while doing anything else, even while driving a car, using his hand phone.

The application can be used to browse the Internet, read emails, read documentaries and even for clipboard content.

AMoRA can also be used to facilitate visually impaired persons use for reading and texts and help in their education, which will help overcome the limitations of the Braille system", Bandara said.

The project was guided by Prof. Gihan - Dias and Dr. Sanath Jayasena of the Department of Computer Science of the University of Moratuwa.

Gateway sweeps the boards at Young Computer Scientist Awards

Outstanding performances of students of Gateway Colleges and the Gateway Kids School of Computing were the highlights of the Young Computer Scientist 2010 Awards Ceremony held recently at the HNB Auditorium in Colombo. Every year, the Sri Lanka Association for the Software Industry (SLASI) organises the Young Computer Scientist competition in association with the Ministry of Education. The competition is held in search of young talent islandwide andis open to all schools in Sri Lanka. This year's Awards ceremony was graced by The ambassador of Korea in Sri Lanka Choi Ki Chui, and Minister of Education Bandula Gunawardena.

Gold medal winner Pamodh Yasawardena of Gateway Kids School of Computing, Nugegoda receives his award

Pamodh Yasawardena of Gateway Kids School of Computing, Nugegoda won the Gold medal for the Junior category for his project of a virtual laboratory.

He was also selected to represent Sri Lanka for APICTA to be held in

Malaysia. The group project of Abdul Samad Mahamed, Hasris Hassan, Sahied Nausheed of Gateway College, Rajagiriya won the Silver medal and the group project of Ryan Sebastian, Devon Mallawarachchi, Mahesha Kulatunga and Sanjula Weerawardena of Gateway College, Rajagiriya won the Bronze medal for the International Schools junior category.

Lanka Waravita, Sandali Weerasinghe, Udeshika Mendis, Dinushada Sri

Karavita, Istibshan Irfan, Devinda Senanayake, Leonard Kure, Zahi Harsan,Gayan Samarasinghe and Viraji Chanuka of Gateway College, Rajagiriya, T.Upenthiran, Tharindu Mendis, K. Don Vimanga, Swin Rathnayake and Arunod Sameera of Gateway College, Negombo, Abdul Muizz Rizvan, Kanishka Wanigasekera and Ambalavanar Senthuran of Gateway Kids School of Computing Bambalapitiya, Nisith Vilochana, Bisina Wickramasinghe and Hasara Liyanage of Gateway Kids School of Computing Nugegoda, Chanuka Ahangama and Imanee Ranasinghe of Gateway Kids School of Computing Borella, and Dilini Mahesha Peiris of Gateway Kids School of Computing Panadura won merit awards for their projects.

HP ProLiant MicroServer for small businesses

HP has introduced its first HP ProLiant MicroServer designed to enable small companies to confidently grow their businesses while taking advantage of the reliability, performance and security of a server.

At the center of HP's new 'Just Right IT' portfolio for micro and small businesses, the HP ProLiant MicroServer delivers affordability, energy and space-saving features. The portfolio makes it easy for micro and small businesses to get the exact IT capabilities they need at the right time and price, and includes new server, storage and PC products.

Designed for companies with less than ten employees, the HP ProLiant MicroServer enables them to share and secure critical business information. Ideal when needing to stay connected - whether in the office or on the road, the server simplifies how users access data differently than on desktop or notebook PCs.

The HP ProLiant MicroServer's compact, quiet and sleek design is about half the size and 50 percent quieter than most entry-level servers. It also offers lower power consumption for energy-conscious businesses.

Chairman Finevision Rohan Welivita with 3D Director Streography of 3Ality, USA, Ray Haneesian after a workshop.

3D for local cinema

Sri Lanka will be among the ten countries using 3D technology for shooting films by 2011. Three Dimension technology or 3D, the latest technology used by television and movies will be introduced to Sri Lanka by Finevision.

Finevision is planning to open two 3D film halls in the Colombo city this month while shooting of the first 3D film will commence in December.

The company has already imported the necessary equipment and are conducting testing on editing and shooting of 3D films.

CB internet payment gateway offers functionality

Enhancements nnounced by the Commercial Bank of Ceylon to its internet payment gateway provide new functionality for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to offer seamless and secure e-commerce and m-commerce solutions to their customers.

Commercial bank said operating an internet payment gateway hosted by MIGS (MasterCard Internet Gateway System), the Combank Payment Gateway (CPG) offers many features that facilitate SME type transactions, without the complexity and costs of existing e-commerce structures. Sophisticated anti-fraud features make it possible for customers to view products, place their orders, generate invoices and pay online in a secure environment that meets the highest global standards, with both 'MasterCard Secure Code' and 'Verified by Visa' authentication, the Bank said.

Transactions are Payment Card Industry - Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) compliant, thereby providing maximum protection of card holder information, the Bank said. Processing of refunds is also possible while maintaining the integrity of the system and protecting sensitive information.