Remote Bio-Sensing: Open Source Benchmark Framework for Fair Evaluation of rPPG

rPPG (Remote photoplethysmography) is a technology that measures and analyzes BVP (Blood Volume Pulse) by using the light absorption characteristics of hemoglobin captured through a camera. Analyzing the measured BVP can derive various physiological signals such as heart rate, stress level, and blood pressure, which can be applied to various applications such as telemedicine, remote patient monitoring, and early prediction of cardiovascular disease. rPPG is rapidly evolving and attracting great attention from both academia and industry by providing great usability and convenience as it can measure biosignals using a camera-equipped device without medical or wearable devices. Despite extensive efforts and advances in this field, serious challenges remain, including issues related to skin color, camera characteristics, ambient lighting, and other sources of noise and artifacts, which degrade accuracy performance. We argue that fair and evaluable benchmarking is urgently required to overcome these challenges and make meaningful progress from both academic and commercial perspectives. In most existing work, models are trained, tested, and validated only on limited datasets. Even worse, some studies lack available code or reproducibility, making it difficult to fairly evaluate and compare performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to provide a benchmarking framework to evaluate various rPPG techniques across a wide range of datasets for fair evaluation and comparison, including both conventional non-deep neural network (non-DNN) and deep neural network (DNN) methods. GitHub URL: https://github.com/remotebiosensing/rppg

Blockchain-Enabled Federated Learning: A Reference Architecture Incorporating a DID Access System

Recently, Blockchain-Enabled Federated Learning (BCFL), an innovative approach that combines the advantages of Federated Learning and Blockchain technology, is receiving great attention. Federated Learning (FL) allows multiple participants to jointly train machine learning models in a decentralized manner while maintaining data privacy and security. This paper proposes a reference architecture for blockchain-enabled federated learning, which enables multiple entities to collaboratively train machine learning models while preserving data privacy and security. A critical component of this architecture is the implementation of a decentralized identifier (DID)-based access system. DID introduces a decentralized, self-sovereign identity (ID) management system that allows participants to manage their IDs independently of central authorities. Within this proposed architecture, participants can authenticate and gain access to the federated learning platform via their DIDs, which are securely stored on the blockchain. The access system administers access control and permissions through the execution of smart contracts, further enhancing the security and decentralization of the system. This approach, integrating blockchain-enabled federated learning with a DID access system, offers a robust solution for collaborative machine learning in a distributed and secure manner. As a result, participants can contribute to global model training while maintaining data privacy and identity control without the need to share local data. These DIDs are stored on the blockchain and the access system uses smart contracts to manage access control and permissions. The source code will be available to the public soon.