Dr Lasith Yasaskethu

Biography

Lasith Yasakethu joined the Computing Department, University of Surrey, as a Research Fellow in April 2012. He is a member of the Multimedia Security and Forensics (MSF) Group. Part of his current research is associated with CockPitCI (Cyber-Security on SCADA: risk prediction analysis and reaction tools for critical infrastructures), EU FP7 project.

Lasith Yasakethu received his BSc Engineering degree (First Class Hons.) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, in 2007. He was awarded the prize for best performance in Electronic Communication Engineering by the University of Peradeniya for his achievements in undergraduate studies. He completed his Ph.D. at Centre for Vision, Speech and Signal Processing at University of Surrey, UK, in July 2010. He also worked for VISNET II Network of Excellence (NoE) EU FP6 project in the area of robust immersive media communications and MUSCADE (MUltimedia SCAlable 3D for Europe) EU FP7 project in the area of Quality of Experience (QoE) in multimedia communications. From Oct. 2010 to March 2012 he worked as a Research Engineer for Technicolor Research & Innovations (formerly known as THOMSON R&D), in Rennes, France. There he was a member of C43D (Content for 3D) system project and contributed to develop solutions for production, post-production and rendering of 3D content for cinema and 3DTV applications. He is a member of IEEE.

Research Interests

• Investigate vision & perception sciences to enrich image/video processing
• Quality of Experience (QoE) in multimedia communications
• 2D/3D video processing, compression and transmission
• Content creation for 3D cinema and 3DTV
• Machine Learning
• Cyber-security

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Journal Papers

1. S.L.P. Yasakethu, D.V.S.X. De Silva, W.A.C. Fernando, and A. Kondoz, “Predicting sensation of depth in 3D video”, IET Electronic letters, vol. 46, no.12, pp 837-839, June 2010.
2. S.L.P. Yasakethu, W.A.R.J. Weerakkody, W.A.C. Fernando, F. Pereira, A. Kondoz. “An Improved Decoding Algorithm for DVC over Multipath Error Prone Wireless Channels”, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, vol. 19, no. 10, pp. 1543 – 1548, October 2009.
3. S.L.P. Yasakethu, S. Adedoyin, W.A.C. Fernando, and A. Kondoz, “Rate Controlling in H.264/AVC Using Subjective Quality of Video and Evolution Strategy",  IEICE transactions on fundamentals of electronics, communications and computer science, vol. 92, pp.808-815, 2009.
4. D.V.S.X. De Silva, W.A.C. Fernando and S.L.P. Yasakethu,  “Object based coding of the depth maps for 3D video coding”,  IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, vol. 55, no. 3, pp. 1699-1706, August 2009.
5. S.L.P. Yasakethu, W.A.C. Fernando, B. Kamolrat and A. Kondoz, “Analyzing Perceptual Attributes of 3D Video”,  IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, vol. 55, no. 2, pp. 864-872, May 2009.
6. S.L.P. Yasakethu, W.A.C. Fernando and A. Kondoz, “Rate Controlling in Off Line 3D Video Coding Using Evolution Strategy”, IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, vol. 55, no. 1, pp. 150-157, February 2009.
7. S.L.P. Yasakethu, W.A.C. Fernando and A. Kondoz, “Evolution strategy based rate controlling for off line video coding”, IET Electronic letters, vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 204-205, February 2009.
8. S.L.P. Yasakethu, C.T.E.R. Hewage, W.A.C. Fernando, and A. Kondoz, “Quality Analysis for 3D Video Using 2D Video Quality Models”, IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, vol. 54, no. 4, pp. 1969-1977, November 2008.

Peer-Reviewed Conference Papers

1. S.L.P. Yasakethu, L. Bolondé, D. Doyen and Q. Quynh-Thu , “3D Cinema to 3DTV Content Adaptation”, Proceedings of IS&T/SPIE Electronic Imaging, California, USA, January 2012.
2. S.L.P. Yasakethu, L. Bolondé, D. Doyen and Q. Quynh-Thu , “Transforming 3D Cinema Content for an Enhanced 3DTV Experience”, Proceedings of The International Conference on 3D Imaging (IC3D), Liège, Belgium, December 2011.
3. S.L.P. Yasakethu, S.T. Worrall, D.V.S.X. De Silva, W.A.C. Fernando, A. Kondoz, “A Compound Depth and Image Quality Metric for Measuring the Effects of Packet Loss on 3D Video” Proceedings of International conference on Digital Signal Processing (DSP 2011), Corfu, Greece, July 2011.
4. D.V.S.X. De Silva, , W.A.C. Fernando, S.T. Worrall, S.L.P. Yasakethu and A. Kondoz, “Just Noticeable Difference in Depth Model for Stereoscopic 3D Displays”, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Multimedia & Expo, Singapore, July 2010.
5. S.L.P. Yasakethu, W.A.C. Fernando, S. Adedoyin and A. Kondoz, “A Rate Control Technique for H.264/AVC Using Subjective Quality of 2D/3D Video”,   Proceedings of ICCE, Las Vegas, USA, January 2009.
6. S.L.P. Yasakethu, W.A.C. Fernando, M.B. Badem and A. Kondoz, “Quality Analysis of Side Information Refinement in Transform-Based DVC”, Proceedings of ICIAfS 08, Colombo, Sri Lanka, December 2008.
7. M.B. Badem, W.A.C. Fernando, W.A.R.J. Weerakkody, S.L.P. Yasakethu and A. Kondoz, “Region-of-Activity Based Coding for Transform Domain DVC”, Proceedings of ICIAfS 08, Colombo, Sri Lanka, December 2008.

Honours and Awards

• Chester Sall award for the second best transactions paper in IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, 2009.
  Awarded a grant by the Royal Academy of Engineering on the basis of research achievements for international conference participation, 2009.
• Overseas Research Scholarships Award (ORSAS) by the Higher Education Funding Council of England to pursue PhD at the University of Surrey UK, 2007.
• W.M.G Fernando award for the best performance in Electronic Communication Engineering, awarded at the general convocation, by the University of Peradeniya Sri Lanka, 2007.

Hobbies

I love sports ☺. I am mainly interested in playing Cricket, Volleyball, Badminton and Basketball.

• Member of Guildford Cricket Club, Surrey, UK (April 2008 – June 2010, April 2012 – To date)
• Member of Guildford International Volleyball Club, Surrey, UK (March 2008 – February 2010)