MATLAB is the go-to option for statistical programming, which refers to computation techniques employed for accomplishing data analysis. R is also a great option for the same, and that’s why you will often come across the endless R vs. MATLAB debates.
We will save the discussion of R for some other day, as we will be discussing MATLAB in this article. MATLAB is a popular programming language for data analysis.
Whether training an artificial neural network to recognize and group different activities, or to leverage disinfectant robots for warding off COVID-19, MATLAB is changing the way human-machine interaction works. Hence, it is among the most-researched tools of the 21st century.
To help you learn and advance with MATLAB, we’ve compiled a list of the ten best MATLAB projects for you to try out. Each of these projects allows you to understand and work with various aspects of MATLAB while developing a specific application.
Top 10 Best MATLAB Projects
Project 1 - Text Detection and Recognition in Images
Expected Time to Complete - 1 to 2 hours
Level - Beginner
Objective(s)
- To develop a MATLAB program that can detect and recognize text within an image.
This is an exciting and easy project to develop if you are new to MATLAB. This project aims to create a MATLAB algorithm that will make it possible to analyze images and search for any text present in them.
Such an algorithm will make it possible to design a system that can retrieve text from images (as well as videos). The system can further be programmed to perform a defined action if a particular text pattern is detected in the image/video. However, this is out of the scope of the project detailed here, but you can work on it if you want to.
To accomplish this MATLAB project, you need first to detect the regions of the image containing text and discard the regions where no text is detected. One good way to detect non-text regions is by examining stroke width variations throughout the image. Finally, you need to combine all the regions with text in them and recognize the text using OCR.
Overall, this beginner-level project will help you get introduced to the real-world usage of MATLAB. Also, you will get familiar with the concept of optical character recognition (OCR) as you will be leveraging it for recognizing the text within the images.
Reference Free Projects on GitHub:
- Text-Detection-and-Recognition-in-Natural-Seen-Images
- Master Thesis - Bag of Features for Text Detection in Natural Scene Images (Also uses C, M, and Python.)
- Text-Detection-Program (Also uses Java.)
Project 2 - Video Surveillance System
Expected Time to Complete - 1 to 2 hours
Level - Beginner
Objective(s)
- To develop a MATLAB-based video surveillance system.
Video surveillance systems are extremely popular for ensuring better security of people in both private and public places. By leveraging the power of MATLAB, you can create a basic video surveillance system capable of performing human detection and motion detection.
While working on this project, your main motive will be to analyze footage obtained through a CCTV camera. The video surveillance system you will develop should be capable of identifying humans in the video and tracking the motion of any moving object.
The most straightforward flow of this project would be:
- To capture the video using a camera
- Extract frames from the video
- Apply relevant enhancements to the frames
- Compare and eliminate the stationary scenes
- Compare frames to detect the presence of humans and objects in motion
Reference Free Projects on GitHub:
- Surveillance-video-system (Also uses C, C++, Python, and QMake.)
- Car Selector
- Frame-Based-Object-Detection-for-Traffic-Monitoring-Application-Matlab
- Motion-Detection-Robot (Also uses C.)
Recommended Course
Project 3 - Face Recognition System
Expected Time to Complete - 8 to 10 hours
Level - Advanced
Objective(s)
- To develop a face recognition system based on image processing and neural networks.
Face detection is considered to be among the most challenging tasks to achieve with computers. However, using the image-based face detection and recognition approach in MATLAB makes it possible to create your own face recognition system.
However, before you decide to work on this project, you must understand that face recognition systems are sophisticated. So, you need to have at least some experience working with MATLAB before getting started with this project.
In the project, you will need to create the face recognition system using the image-based approach and an artificial neural network (ANN).
The system needs to analyze images of human faces using DCT (discrete cosine transform). Also, the artificial neural network will help the system train and identify various features needed to recognize human faces.
In all, this is a fantastic MATLAB project that you would want to develop if you are interested in artificial intelligence (AI).
Reference Free Projects on GitHub:
- face_recognition_matlab
- Face-and-Facial-Expression-detection-based-Authenticated-ZigBee-Based-Robo (Also uses M and ZigBee.)
- FaceRecognitionSystem
Project 4 - Voice-Based Biometric System
Expected Time to Complete - 3 to 5 hours
Level - Intermediate
Objective(s)
- To create a voice-based access control system using speech processing.
If you are interested in developing MATLAB-based security systems, you don’t want to miss working on this project. The voice-based biometric system project uses voice recognition and provides an extra layer of security for other systems.
The voice-based system that you will develop should be capable of taking a human voice or speech as input, comparing it with the voice samples already available in the database, and granting access if the input voice is matched with any of the existing samples.
Also, the system should deny access whenever the input voice is unrecognizable and does not match with any voice samples stored in the database. The benefit of a voice-based access control system is that it can be used on top of other systems that need to be accessed only by certain users.
While working on this MATLAB project, you need to design the algorithm of the voice access system so that it can detect and recognize both the letter and the words from the input voice. Also, the system should detect if the input voice is within the frequency range of human speech or not.
Reference Free Projects on GitHub:
- SPEAKER-RECOGNITION-USING-MFCC-AND-TDA
- Voice Activity Detection System (Also uses M.)
- Speaker-voice-Recognition-using-MFCC-algorithm-in-matlab (Also uses C++.)
Project 5 - Two-Level Security System
Expected Time to Complete - 6 to 8 hours
Level - Intermediate
Objective(s)
- To create a MATLAB-based two-level security system: password authentication and fingerprint recognition.
This is yet another great security-related MATLAB project that you may find intriguing. In this project, you will have to implement two layers of user authentication — password authentication and fingerprint recognition — to ensure more reinforced security measures.
With the two-factor security system in place, users will first have to enter a valid password and prove their identity by providing their fingerprint impressions. Users who pass both security levels will be granted access to the system or database.
This strong security system will be extremely useful for protecting sensitive and confidential information against hacking and unauthorized access.
One possible way to implement this is to create multiple users in the database, with each user having a distinct password and fingerprint dataset. When users want to access the system on top of this two-factor security system, they must specify their username and enter the password.
If the password matches the one stored in the database, the user will be prompted to provide their fingerprint data with the help of a fingerprint scanner. If the data provided by users doesn't match the data stored in the database, access will be denied.
Reference Free Projects on GitHub:
- GUI-Based-Password-Authentication-System-in-MATLAB-and-MYSQL
- Fingerprint_Minutiae_enhancement-recognition-_system (Also uses M and Mercury.)
- Fingerprint-Recognition-Security-System
Project 6 - Simulation of an Artificial Neural Network
Expected Time to Complete - 8 to 10 hours
Level - Advanced
Objective(s)
- To simulate an artificial neural network (ANN) and understand how it works.
In the simplest words, an artificial neural network tends to simulate the functioning of a human brain. As you may be aware that brain simulation is among the most complex engineering tasks, you will encounter various challenges while working on this project.
The main aim of this project is to create a neural network and simulate it using MATLAB and LabVIEW. Your main focus is to understand how artificial neural networks are created and trained to provide meaningful output.
You may also need to study one of the simplest artificial neural networks — Perceptron. Doing so will help you to comprehend neural network theory better. Also, you may be required to understand and apply the learning algorithm of Perceptron in your project.
It's advisable to study and get familiar with the underlying concepts of neural networks first and get a clear idea of the scope of MATLAB in developing neural networks before starting developing this project.
Reference Free Projects on GitHub:
- The LRP Toolbox for Artificial Neural Networks (1.3.1) (Also uses C++, CMake, Cuda, Jupyter Notebook, Python, and other technologies.)
- AI-mag: Inductor Modeling and Design with FEM/ANN (Also uses Mathematica, Python, et cetera.)
- neural-networks-MATLAB
- Digit-Recognition-ANN (Also uses Python.)
Project 7 - Automated Certificate Generator
Expected Time to Complete - 3 to 5 hours
Level - Intermediate
Objective(s)
- To build a system with MATLAB that is capable of generating certificates automatically.
Building a certificate generator using MATLAB is a good way to explore writing code and creating MATLAB functions. The certificate generator that you need to create in this project should automatically fetch the data of individuals from a database and generate certificates accordingly. You can also design the certificate generator to fetch the data of individuals from an Excel sheet.
Automated certificate generators find their application in educational institutions. These institutions have to issue certificates to a large number of students.
For developing the project, you will need to write MATLAB code that enables the automated certificate generator to access the required data from the database or Excel sheet. The data will then need to be placed in the appropriate sections of the standard certificate format, which is available as an image.
In general, the data you need to add to the certificate includes the name of the individual, course name, and course completion date.
You also must make sure that all the certificates generated are stored in a particular folder. This will make it easier to access the certificates and keep them well-organized.
Reference Free Projects on GitHub:
Project 8 - Hearing Aid System
Expected Time to Complete - 4 to 6 hours
Level - Intermediate
Objective(s)
- To develop a modern digital hearing aid system with noise cancellation.
Developing a digital hearing aid system will require working with noise reduction filters and frequency and amplitude filters. You will need to design a MATLAB algorithm capable of processing the input sound and delivering the modified audio as the output after performing a set of functions.
You can provide the input to the hearing aid system either directly from a mic or as an audio file. Once the audio is received as the input, the system will first suppress or remove the noise from the audio, preferably by using an adaptive filter.
The adaptive filter will grant the system the ability to clip the noise and enhance the audio quality. Also, you can add a bandpass filter to increase the frequency of the filtered audio to enhance the overall audio quality received at the output.
You must decide the characteristics of the audio that will be delivered by the hearing aid system beforehand. This will make it easier for you to design the system and create a relevant MATLAB algorithm.
Reference Free Projects on GitHub:
- Hearing-Aid-System-MATLAB
- DigitalHearingAid
- Hearing-Aid-System-MATLAB
- Hearing-aids-for-impaired-people (Also uses Objective-C.)
Project 9 - JPEG Image Compressor
Expected Time to Complete - 2 to 4 hours
Level - Intermediate
Objective(s)
- To develop an image compressor that is capable of reducing the storage size of JPEG images.
The next project on our list of the best 10 MATLAB projects is a JPEG image compressor that you can develop to improve your skills as a MATLAB developer.
This project will help you understand the basics of image visualization, processing, and analysis with MATLAB. Before you get started with this project, you should understand the need for a JPEG compressor.
Most pictures taken from digital cameras are in JPEG format and are quite big in terms of size. Storing large-sized images becomes problematic as they demand storage devices with higher capacities.
The JPEG compressor you need to develop should reduce the overall size of images available in JPEG format. Also, the compression should be lossless, which means that the original image can be reconstructed from its compressed version.
While developing the MATLAB algorithm for the JPEG compressor, you will have to use discrete cosine transform (DCT) and wavelet transform methods.
Reference Free Projects on GitHub:
Project 10 - Armature-Controlled DC Motor Modeling and Simulation
Expected Time to Complete - 5 to 6 hours
Level - Intermediate
Objective(s)
- To design and simulate an armature-controlled DC motor in MATLAB Simulink.
The last project on our list of the best MATLAB projects is the modeling and simulation of an armature-controlled DC motor. The project will pique your curiosity if you are interested in the field of electrical and electronics engineering.
In general, the speed of a DC motor can be varied by changing the input voltage supplied to it. In this MATLAB project, your goal is to evaluate the relation between the load torque and the speed of the DC motor at different input voltages.
The project needs to be carried out in 2 different phases:
- The first phase of the project requires you to prepare the mathematical model of the system.
- In the second phase, you need to simulate the system.
You can easily accomplish both the phases of this project in Simulink, a MATLAB-based graphical programming environment.
Reference Free Projects on GitHub:
MATLAB Master Class: Go from Beginner to Expert in MATLAB
Conclusion
Working on MATLAB projects will help you learn the numeric computing platform and enhance your understanding of data analysis and statistical programming.
Involving yourself with MATLAB projects and championing the same requires a good amount of effort. You need to learn continuously. Check out these best MATLAB tutorials to step up your game in statistical programming and MATLAB.
