37,868 research outputs found
Video vehicle detection at signalised junctions: a simulation-based study
Many existing advanced methods of traffic signal control depend on information about
approaching traffic provided by inductive loop detectors at particular points in the road. But
analysis of images from CCTV cameras can in principle provide more comprehensive
information about traffic approaching and passing through junctions, and cameras may be
easier to install and maintain than loop detectors, and some systems based on video detection
have already been in use for some time.
Against this background, computer simulation has been used to explore the potential of
existing and immediately foreseeable capability in automatic on-line image analysis to extract
information relevant to signal control from images provided by cameras mounted in
acceptable positions at signal-controlled junctions. Some consequences of extracting relevant
information in different ways were investigated in the context of an existing detailed
simulation model of vehicular traffic moving through junctions under traffic-responsive signal
control, and the development of one basic and one advanced algorithm for traffic-responsive
control. The work was confined as a first step to operation of one very simple signalcontrolled
junction.
Two techniques for extraction of information from images were modelled - a more ambitious
technique based on distinguishing most of the individual vehicles visible to the camera, and a
more modest technique requiring only that the presence of vehicles in any part of the image
be distinguished from the background scene. In the latter case, statistical modelling was used
to estimate the number of vehicles corresponding to any single area of the image that
represents vehicles rather than background.
At the simple modelled junction, each technique of extraction enabled each of the algorithms
for traffic-responsive control of the signals to achieve average delays per vehicle appreciably
lower than those given by System D control, and possibly competitive with those that MOVA
would give, but comparison with MOVA was beyond the scope of the initial study.
These results of simulation indicate that image analysis of CCTV pictures should be able to
provide sufficient information in practice for traffic-responsive control that is competitive
with existing techniques. Ways in which the work could be taken further were discussed with
practitioners, but have not yet been progressed
Radiative hydrodynamic modelling and observations of the X-class solar flare on 2011 March 9
We investigated the response of the solar atmosphere to non-thermal electron
beam heating using the radiative transfer and hydrodynamics modelling code
RADYN. The temporal evolution of the parameters that describe the non-thermal
electron energy distribution were derived from hard X-ray observations of a
particular flare, and we compared the modelled and observed parameters. The
evolution of the non-thermal electron beam parameters during the X1.5 solar
flare on 2011 March 9 were obtained from analysis of RHESSI X-ray spectra. The
RADYN flare model was allowed to evolve for 110 seconds, after which the
electron beam heating was ended, and was then allowed to continue evolving for
a further 300s. The modelled flare parameters were compared to the observed
parameters determined from extreme-ultraviolet spectroscopy. The model produced
a hotter and denser flare loop than that observed and also cooled more rapidly,
suggesting that additional energy input in the decay phase of the flare is
required. In the explosive evaporation phase a region of high-density cool
material propagated upward through the corona. This material underwent a rapid
increase in temperature as it was unable to radiate away all of the energy
deposited across it by the non-thermal electron beam and via thermal
conduction. A narrow and high-density ( cm) region at
the base of the flare transition region was the source of optical line emission
in the model atmosphere. The collision-stopping depth of electrons was
calculated throughout the evolution of the flare, and it was found that the
compression of the lower atmosphere may permit electrons to penetrate farther
into a flaring atmosphere compared to a quiet Sun atmosphere.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure
Estimating the location of the open-closed magnetic field line boundary from auroral images
The open-closed magnetic field line boundary (OCB) delimits the region of open magnetic flux forming the polar cap in the Earthâs ionosphere. We present a reliable, automated method for determining the location of the poleward auroral luminosity boundary (PALB) from far ultraviolet (FUV) images of the aurora, which we use as a proxy for the OCB. This technique models latitudinal profiles of auroral luminosity as both a single and double Gaussian function with a quadratic background to produce estimates of the PALB without prior knowledge of the level of auroral activity
or of the presence of bifurcation in the auroral oval. We
have applied this technique to FUV images recorded by the
IMAGE satellite from May 2000 until August 2002 to produce
a database of over a million PALB location estimates,
which is freely available to download. From this database,
we assess and illustrate the accuracy and reliability of this technique during varying geomagnetic conditions. We find that up to 35% of our PALB estimates are made from double Gaussian fits to latitudinal intensity profiles, in preference to single Gaussian fits, in nightside magnetic local time (MLT) sectors. The accuracy of our PALBs as a proxy for the location of the OCB is evaluated by comparison with particle precipitation boundary (PPB) proxies from the DMSP satellites. We demonstrate the value of this technique in estimating the total rate of magnetic reconnection from the time variation of the polar cap area calculated from our OCB estimates
Projection effects in galaxy cluster samples: insights from X-ray redshifts
Up to now, the largest sample of galaxy clusters selected in X-rays comes
from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS). Although there have been many interesting
clusters discovered with the RASS data, the broad point spread function (PSF)
of the ROSAT satellite limits the amount of spatial information of the detected
objects. This leads to the discovery of new cluster features when a
re-observation is performed with higher resolution X-ray satellites. Here we
present the results from XMM-Newton observations of three clusters:
RXCJ2306.6-1319, ZwCl1665 and RXCJ0034.6-0208, for which the observations
reveal a double or triple system of extended components. These clusters belong
to the extremely expanded HIghest X-ray FLUx Galaxy Cluster Sample
(eeHIFLUGCS), which is a flux-limited cluster sample ( erg s cm in the keV energy band). For
each structure in each cluster, we determine the redshift with the X-ray
spectrum and find that the components are not part of the same cluster. This is
confirmed by an optical spectroscopic analysis of the galaxy members.
Therefore, the total number of clusters is actually 7 and not 3. We derive
global cluster properties of each extended component. We compare the measured
properties to lower-redshift group samples, and find a good agreement. Our flux
measurements reveal that only one component of the ZwCl1665 cluster has a flux
above the eeHIFLUGCS limit, while the other clusters will no longer be part of
the sample. These examples demonstrate that cluster-cluster projections can
bias X-ray cluster catalogues and that with high-resolution X-ray follow-up
this bias can be corrected
The Radiated Energy Budget of Chromospheric Plasma in a Major Solar Flare Deduced From Multi-Wavelength Observations
This paper presents measurements of the energy radiated by the lower solar
atmosphere, at optical, UV, and EUV wavelengths, during an X-class solar flare
(SOL2011-02-15T01:56) in response to an injection of energy assumed to be in
the form of nonthermal electrons. Hard X-ray observations from RHESSI were used
to track the evolution of the parameters of the nonthermal electron
distribution to reveal the total power contained in flare accelerated
electrons. By integrating over the duration of the impulsive phase, the total
energy contained in the nonthermal electrons was found to be
erg. The response of the lower solar atmosphere was measured in the free-bound
EUV continua of H I (Lyman), He I, and He II, plus the emission lines of He II
at 304\AA\ and H I (Ly) at 1216\AA\ by SDO/EVE, the UV continua at
1600\AA\ and 1700\AA\ by SDO/AIA, and the WL continuum at 4504\AA, 5550\AA, and
6684\AA, along with the Ca II H line at 3968\AA\ using Hinode/SOT. The summed
energy detected by these instruments amounted to erg;
about 15% of the total nonthermal energy. The Ly line was found to
dominate the measured radiative losses. Parameters of both the driving electron
distribution and the resulting chromospheric response are presented in detail
to encourage the numerical modelling of flare heating for this event, to
determine the depth of the solar atmosphere at which these line and continuum
processes originate, and the mechanism(s) responsible for their generation.Comment: 14 pages, 18 figures. Accepted for publication in Astrophysics
Journa
The Radiated Energy Budget of Chromospheric Plasma in a Major Solar Flare Deduced From Multi-Wavelength Observations
This paper presents measurements of the energy radiated by the lower solar
atmosphere, at optical, UV, and EUV wavelengths, during an X-class solar flare
(SOL2011-02-15T01:56) in response to an injection of energy assumed to be in
the form of nonthermal electrons. Hard X-ray observations from RHESSI were used
to track the evolution of the parameters of the nonthermal electron
distribution to reveal the total power contained in flare accelerated
electrons. By integrating over the duration of the impulsive phase, the total
energy contained in the nonthermal electrons was found to be
erg. The response of the lower solar atmosphere was measured in the free-bound
EUV continua of H I (Lyman), He I, and He II, plus the emission lines of He II
at 304\AA\ and H I (Ly) at 1216\AA\ by SDO/EVE, the UV continua at
1600\AA\ and 1700\AA\ by SDO/AIA, and the WL continuum at 4504\AA, 5550\AA, and
6684\AA, along with the Ca II H line at 3968\AA\ using Hinode/SOT. The summed
energy detected by these instruments amounted to erg;
about 15% of the total nonthermal energy. The Ly line was found to
dominate the measured radiative losses. Parameters of both the driving electron
distribution and the resulting chromospheric response are presented in detail
to encourage the numerical modelling of flare heating for this event, to
determine the depth of the solar atmosphere at which these line and continuum
processes originate, and the mechanism(s) responsible for their generation.Comment: 14 pages, 18 figures. Accepted for publication in Astrophysics
Journa
Exploring the capabilities of the Anti-Coincidence Shield of the INTEGRAL spectrometer to study solar flares
INTEGRAL is a hard X-ray/gamma-ray observatory for astrophysics (ESA)
covering photon energies from 15 keV to 10 MeV. It was launched in 2002 and
since then the BGO detectors of the Anti-Coincidence shield (ACS) of the SPI
spectrometer have detected many hard X-ray (HXR) bursts from the Sun, producing
lightcurves at photon energies above ~ 100 keV. The spacecraft has a highly
elliptical orbit, providing a long uninterrupted observing time (about 90% of
the orbital period) with nearly constant background due to the reduction of the
crossing time of the Earth's radiation belts. However, due to technical
constraints, INTEGRAL cannot point to the Sun and high-energy solar photons are
always detected in non-standard observation conditions. To make the data useful
for solar studies, we have undertaken a major effort to specify the observing
conditions through Monte-Carlo simulations of the response of ACS for several
selected flares. We check the performance of the model employed for the
Monte-Carlo simulations using RHESSI observations for the same sample of solar
flares. We conclude that, despite the fact that INTEGRAL was not designed to
perform solar observations, ACS is a useful instrument in solar flare research.
In particular, its relatively large effective area allows the determination of
good-quality HXR/gamma-ray lightcurves for X- and M-class solar flares and, in
some cases, probably also for C-class flares.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures; Solar Physics 201
A biologically inspired spiking model of visual processing for image feature detection
To enable fast reliable feature matching or tracking in scenes, features need to be discrete and meaningful, and hence edge or corner features, commonly called interest points are often used for this purpose. Experimental research has illustrated that biological vision systems use neuronal circuits to extract particular features such as edges or corners from visual scenes. Inspired by this biological behaviour, this paper proposes a biologically inspired spiking neural network for the purpose of image feature extraction. Standard digital images are processed and converted to spikes in a manner similar to the processing that transforms light into spikes in the retina. Using a hierarchical spiking network, various types of biologically inspired receptive fields are used to extract progressively complex image features. The performance of the network is assessed by examining the repeatability of extracted features with visual results presented using both synthetic and real images
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