Select2Col: Leveraging Spatial-Temporal Importance of Semantic Information for Efficient Collaborative Perception

Collaboration by leveraging the shared semantic information plays a crucial role in overcoming the perception capability limitations of isolated agents. However, existing collaborative perception methods tend to focus solely on the spatial features of semantic information, while neglecting the importance of the temporal dimension. Consequently, the potential benefits of collaboration remain underutilized. In this article, we propose Select2Col, a novel collaborative perception framework that takes into account the {s}patial-t{e}mpora{l} importanc{e} of semanti{c} informa{t}ion. Within the Select2Col, we develop a collaborator selection method that utilizes a lightweight graph neural network (GNN) to estimate the importance of semantic information (IoSI) in enhancing perception performance, thereby identifying contributive collaborators while excluding those that bring negative impact. Moreover, we present a semantic information fusion algorithm called HPHA (historical prior hybrid attention), which integrates multi-scale attention and short-term attention modules to capture the IoSI in feature representation from the spatial and temporal dimensions respectively, and assigns IoSI-consistent weights for efficient fusion of information from selected collaborators. Extensive experiments on two open datasets demonstrate that our proposed Select2Col significantly improves the perception performance compared to state-of-the-art approaches. The code associated with this research is publicly available at https://github.com/huangqzj/Select2Col/

Vehicle Keypoint Detection and Fine-Grained Classification using Deep Learning

Los sistemas de detección de puntos clave en vehículos y de clasificación por marca y modelo han visto como sus capacidades evolucionaban a un ritmo nunca antes visto, pasando de rendimientos pobres a resultados increíbles en cuestión de unos años. La irrupción de las redes neuronales convolucionales y la disponibilidad de datos y sistemas de procesamiento cada vez más potentes han permitido que, mediante el uso de modelos cada vez más complejos, estos y muchos otros problemas sean afrontados y resueltos con enfoques muy diversos. Esta tesis se centra en el problema de detección de puntos clave y clasificación a nivel de marca y modelo de vehículos con un enfoque basado en aprendizaje profundo. Tras el análisis de los conjuntos datos existentes para afrontar ambas tareas se ha optado por crear tres bases de datos específicas. La primera, orientada a la detección de puntos clave en vehículos, es una mejora y extensión del famoso conjunto de datos PASCAL3D+, reetiquetando parte del mismo y añadiendo nuevos keypoints e imágenes para aportar mayor variabilidad. La segunda, se trata de un conjunto de prueba de clasificación de vehículos por marca y modelo basado en The PREVENTION dataset, una base de datos de predicción de trayectoria de vehículos en entornos de circulación real. Por último, un conjunto de datos cruzados (Cross-dataset) compuesto por las marcas y modelos comunes de tres de las principales bases de datos de clasificación de vehículos, CompCars, VMMR-db y Frontal-103. El sistema de detección de puntos clave se basa en un método de detección de pose en humanos que mediante el uso de redes neuronales convolucionales y capas de-convolucionales genera, a partir de una imagen de entrada, un mapa de calor por cada punto clave. La red ha sido modificada para ajustarse al problema de detección de puntos clave en vehículos obteniendo resultados que mejoran el estado del arte sin hacer uso de complejas arquitecturas o metodologías. Adicionalmente se ha analizado la idoneidad de los puntos clave de PASCAL3D+, validando la propuesta de nuevos puntos clave como una mejor alternativa. El sistema de clasificación de vehículos por marca y modelo se basa en el uso de redes preentrenadas en el famoso conjunto de datos ImageNet y adaptadas al problema de clasificación de vehículos. Uno de los problemas detectados en el estado del arte es la saturación de los resultados en las bases de datos existentes que, por otra parte, se encuentran sesgadas, limitando la capacidad de generalización de los modelos entrenados con ellas. Se han usado múltiples técnicas de aprendizaje y ponderación de los datos para tratar de aliviar el impacto del sesgo de los conjuntos de datos. Para poder evaluar la capacidad de generalización en situaciones reales de los modelos entrenados, se ha hecho uso del conjunto de pruebas derivado del PREVENTION dataset. Adicionalmente, se ha hecho uso del Cross-dataset para evaluar la complejidad de las bases de datos existentes y las capacidades de generalización de los modelos entrenados con ellas. Se demuestra que, sin hacer uso de complejas arquitecturas, se pueden obtener resultados competitivos y la necesidad de un conjunto de datos que refleje de manera adecuada el mundo real para poder afrontar adecuadamente el problema de clasificación de vehículos.Vehicle keypoint detection and fine-grained classification systems have seen their capabilities evolve at an unprecedented rate, from poor performance to incredible results in a matter of a few years. The advent of convolutional neural networks and the availability of large amounts of data and progress in computational capabilities have allowed these and many other problems to be tackled and solved with very different approaches using increasingly complex models. This thesis focuses on the problems of keypoint detection and fine-grained classification of vehicles with a deep learning approach. After the analysis of the existing datasets to tackle both tasks, three new datasets have been built. The first one, oriented to the detection of keypoints in vehicles, is an improvement and extension of the famous PASCAL3D+ dataset, re-labelling part of it and adding new keypoints and images to provide more variability. The second is a vehicle make and model classification test set based on the PREVENTION dataset, a realworld driving scenario vehicle trajectory prediction dataset. Finally, a cross-dataset composed of common makes and models from three major vehicle classification databases, CompCars, VMMR-db and Frontal-103. The keypoint detection system is based on a human pose detection method that by using convolutional neural networks and deconvolutional layers generates, from an input image, a heat map for each keypoint. The network has been modified to fit the problem of keypoint detection in vehicles obtaining results that improve the state of the art without using complex architectures or methodologies. Additionally, the suitability of the PASCAL3D+ keypoints has been analysed, validating the proposal of new keypoints as a better alternative. The vehicle make and model classification system is based on the use of ImageNet pre-trained networks and fine-tuned for the vehicle classification problem. One of the problems detected in the state of the art is the saturation of the results in the existing datasets, which, moreover, are biased, limiting the generalisation capacity of the models trained with them. Multiple data learning and weighting techniques have been used to try to alleviate the impact of dataset bias. In order to assess the generalisation capabilities of the trained models in real situations, the PREVENTION test set has been used. Additionally, the cross-dataset has been used to evaluate the complexity of the existing datasets and the generalisation capabilities of the models trained with them. It is shown that competitive results can be achieved without the use of complex architectures and that a high quality dataset that adequately reflects the real world is needed in order to properly address the vehicle classification problem

Application of Text Summarization on Text-Based Generative Adversarial Networks

 In this project, we wish to convert long textual inputs into summarised text chunks and generate images describing the summarized text. This project aims to cultivate a model that can generate true-to-life images from summarized textual input using GAN. GANs aim to estimate and recreate the possible spread of real-world data samples and produce new pictures based on this distribution. This project offers an automated summarised text-to-image synthesis for creating images from written descriptions. The written descriptions serve as the GAN generator's conditional intake. The first step in this synthesis is the use of Natural Language Processing to bring out keywords for summarizing. BART transformers are employed. This is then fed to the GAN network consisting of a generator and discriminator. This project used a pre-trained DALL-E mini model as the GAN architecture

Emerging Consciousness as a Result of Complex-Dynamical Interaction Process

A quite general interaction process within a multi-component system is analysed by the extended effective potential method, liberated from usual limitations of perturbation theory or integrable model. The obtained causally complete solution of the many-body problem reveals the phenomenon of dynamic multivaluedness, or redundance, of emerging, incompatible system realisations and dynamic entanglement of system components within each realisation. The ensuing concept of dynamic complexity (and related intrinsic chaoticity) is absolutely universal and can be applied to the problem of consciousness that emerges now as a high enough, properly specified level of unreduced complexity of a suitable interaction process. This complexity level can be identified with the appearance of bound, permanently localised states in the multivalued brain dynamics from strongly chaotic states of unconscious intelligence, by analogy with classical behaviour emergence from quantum states at much lower levels of world dynamics. We show that the main properties of this dynamically emerging consciousness (and intelligence, at the preceding complexity level) correspond to empirically derived properties of natural versions and obtain causally substantiated conclusions about their artificial realisation, including the fundamentally justified paradigm of genuine machine consciousness. This rigorously defined machine consciousness is different from both natural consciousness and any mechanistic, dynamically single-valued imitation of the latter. We use then the same, truly universal concept of complexity to derive equally rigorous conclusions about mental and social implications of the machine consciousness paradigm, demonstrating its indispensable role in the next stage of civilisation development

State-of-the-Art Sensors Technology in Spain 2015: Volume 1

This book provides a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art sensors technology in specific leading areas. Industrial researchers, engineers and professionals can find information on the most advanced technologies and developments, together with data processing. Further research covers specific devices and technologies that capture and distribute data to be processed by applying dedicated techniques or procedures, which is where sensors play the most important role. The book provides insights and solutions for different problems covering a broad spectrum of possibilities, thanks to a set of applications and solutions based on sensory technologies. Topics include: • Signal analysis for spectral power • 3D precise measurements • Electromagnetic propagation • Drugs detection • e-health environments based on social sensor networks • Robots in wireless environments, navigation, teleoperation, object grasping, demining • Wireless sensor networks • Industrial IoT • Insights in smart cities • Voice recognition • FPGA interfaces • Flight mill device for measurements on insects • Optical systems: UV, LEDs, lasers, fiber optics • Machine vision • Power dissipation • Liquid level in fuel tanks • Parabolic solar tracker • Force sensors • Control for a twin roto

Reading of empty media

English: The research is dedicated to two questions: whether the media bearers without text, the books without letters and the entirely emtpty book could be called books and whether they could be readable. The medialogical analysis is oriented to the creative decisions for transformation of the emptiness or the silence into media, when the emptiness of the media body represents a metamessage about reading without eyes. It is made a systematical survey of a maximum wide spectrum of empty media – empty fine art, empty musical compositions, empty literary works, empty books, empty newspapers, and empty pages. There were discovered 13 reasons about the existence of a total or partial emptiness in media.Bulgarian: Изледването е посветено на два въпроса: дали медийните носители без текст, книгите без букви и напълно празните книги могат да се нарекат книги и могат ли да се четат. Медиологичният анализ е насочен към творческите решения за превръщане на празнотата или мълчанието в медия, когато празнотата на медийното тяло е метапослание за четене без очи. Направен е систематичен обзор на широк спектър от празни медии – празно изобразително изкуство, празни музикални произведения, празни литературни произведения, празни книги, празни вестници, празни страници. Разкрити са 13 причини за съществуването на тотална или частична празнота в медиите

IoT and Sensor Networks in Industry and Society

The exponential progress of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the main elements that fueled the acceleration of the globalization pace. Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and big data analytics are some of the key players of the digital transformation that is affecting every aspect of human's daily life, from environmental monitoring to healthcare systems, from production processes to social interactions. In less than 20 years, people's everyday life has been revolutionized, and concepts such as Smart Home, Smart Grid and Smart City have become familiar also to non-technical users. The integration of embedded systems, ubiquitous Internet access, and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications have paved the way for paradigms such as IoT and Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) to be also introduced in high-requirement environments such as those related to industrial processes, under the forms of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT or I2oT) and Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPS). As a consequence, in 2011 the German High-Tech Strategy 2020 Action Plan for Germany first envisioned the concept of Industry 4.0, which is rapidly reshaping traditional industrial processes. The term refers to the promise to be the fourth industrial revolution. Indeed, the first industrial revolution was triggered by water and steam power. Electricity and assembly lines enabled mass production in the second industrial revolution. In the third industrial revolution, the introduction of control automation and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) gave a boost to factory production. As opposed to the previous revolutions, Industry 4.0 takes advantage of Internet access, M2M communications, and deep learning not only to improve production efficiency but also to enable the so-called mass customization, i.e. the mass production of personalized products by means of modularized product design and flexible processes. Less than five years later, in January 2016, the Japanese 5th Science and Technology Basic Plan took a further step by introducing the concept of Super Smart Society or Society 5.0. According to this vision, in the upcoming future, scientific and technological innovation will guide our society into the next social revolution after the hunter-gatherer, agrarian, industrial, and information eras, which respectively represented the previous social revolutions. Society 5.0 is a human-centered society that fosters the simultaneous achievement of economic, environmental and social objectives, to ensure a high quality of life to all citizens. This information-enabled revolution aims to tackle today’s major challenges such as an ageing population, social inequalities, depopulation and constraints related to energy and the environment. Accordingly, the citizens will be experiencing impressive transformations into every aspect of their daily lives. This book offers an insight into the key technologies that are going to shape the future of industry and society. It is subdivided into five parts: the I Part presents a horizontal view of the main enabling technologies, whereas the II-V Parts offer a vertical perspective on four different environments. The I Part, dedicated to IoT and Sensor Network architectures, encompasses three Chapters. In Chapter 1, Peruzzi and Pozzebon analyse the literature on the subject of energy harvesting solutions for IoT monitoring systems and architectures based on Low-Power Wireless Area Networks (LPWAN). The Chapter does not limit the discussion to Long Range Wise Area Network (LoRaWAN), SigFox and Narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT) communication protocols, but it also includes other relevant solutions such as DASH7 and Long Term Evolution MAchine Type Communication (LTE-M). In Chapter 2, Hussein et al. discuss the development of an Internet of Things message protocol that supports multi-topic messaging. The Chapter further presents the implementation of a platform, which integrates the proposed communication protocol, based on Real Time Operating System. In Chapter 3, Li et al. investigate the heterogeneous task scheduling problem for data-intensive scenarios, to reduce the global task execution time, and consequently reducing data centers' energy consumption. The proposed approach aims to maximize the efficiency by comparing the cost between remote task execution and data migration. The II Part is dedicated to Industry 4.0, and includes two Chapters. In Chapter 4, Grecuccio et al. propose a solution to integrate IoT devices by leveraging a blockchain-enabled gateway based on Ethereum, so that they do not need to rely on centralized intermediaries and third-party services. As it is better explained in the paper, where the performance is evaluated in a food-chain traceability application, this solution is particularly beneficial in Industry 4.0 domains. Chapter 5, by De Fazio et al., addresses the issue of safety in workplaces by presenting a smart garment that integrates several low-power sensors to monitor environmental and biophysical parameters. This enables the detection of dangerous situations, so as to prevent or at least reduce the consequences of workers accidents. The III Part is made of two Chapters based on the topic of Smart Buildings. In Chapter 6, Petroșanu et al. review the literature about recent developments in the smart building sector, related to the use of supervised and unsupervised machine learning models of sensory data. The Chapter poses particular attention on enhanced sensing, energy efficiency, and optimal building management. In Chapter 7, Oh examines how much the education of prosumers about their energy consumption habits affects power consumption reduction and encourages energy conservation, sustainable living, and behavioral change, in residential environments. In this Chapter, energy consumption monitoring is made possible thanks to the use of smart plugs. Smart Transport is the subject of the IV Part, including three Chapters. In Chapter 8, Roveri et al. propose an approach that leverages the small world theory to control swarms of vehicles connected through Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication protocols. Indeed, considering a queue dominated by short-range car-following dynamics, the Chapter demonstrates that safety and security are increased by the introduction of a few selected random long-range communications. In Chapter 9, Nitti et al. present a real time system to observe and analyze public transport passengers' mobility by tracking them throughout their journey on public transport vehicles. The system is based on the detection of the active Wi-Fi interfaces, through the analysis of Wi-Fi probe requests. In Chapter 10, Miler et al. discuss the development of a tool for the analysis and comparison of efficiency indicated by the integrated IT systems in the operational activities undertaken by Road Transport Enterprises (RTEs). The authors of this Chapter further provide a holistic evaluation of efficiency of telematics systems in RTE operational management. The book ends with the two Chapters of the V Part on Smart Environmental Monitoring. In Chapter 11, He et al. propose a Sea Surface Temperature Prediction (SSTP) model based on time-series similarity measure, multiple pattern learning and parameter optimization. In this strategy, the optimal parameters are determined by means of an improved Particle Swarm Optimization method. In Chapter 12, Tsipis et al. present a low-cost, WSN-based IoT system that seamlessly embeds a three-layered cloud/fog computing architecture, suitable for facilitating smart agricultural applications, especially those related to wildfire monitoring. We wish to thank all the authors that contributed to this book for their efforts. We express our gratitude to all reviewers for the volunteering support and precious feedback during the review process. We hope that this book provides valuable information and spurs meaningful discussion among researchers, engineers, businesspeople, and other experts about the role of new technologies into industry and society

A relational metric, its application to domain analysis, and an example analysis and model of a remote sensing domain

An objective and quantitative method has been developed for deriving models of complex and specialized spheres of activity (domains) from domain-generated verbal data. The method was developed for analysis of interview transcripts, incident reports, and other text documents whose original source is people who are knowledgeable about, and participate in, the domain in question. To test the method, it is applied here to a report describing a remote sensing project within the scope of the Earth Observing System (EOS). The method has the potential to improve the designs of domain-related computer systems and software by quickly providing developers with explicit and objective models of the domain in a form which is useful for design. Results of the analysis include a network model of the domain, and an object-oriented relational analysis report which describes the nodes and relationships in the network model. Other products include a database of relationships in the domain, and an interactive concordance. The analysis method utilizes a newly developed relational metric, a proximity-weighted frequency of co-occurrence. The metric is applied to relations between the most frequently occurring terms (words or multiword entities) in the domain text, and the terms found within the contexts of these terms. Contextual scope is selectable. Because of the discriminating power of the metric, data reduction from the association matrix to the network is simple. In addition to their value for design. the models produced by the method are also useful for understanding the domains themselves. They can, for example, be interpreted as models of presence in the domain