Three dimensional information estimation and tracking for moving objects detection using two cameras framework

Calibration, matching and tracking are major concerns to obtain 3D information consisting of depth, direction and velocity. In finding depth, camera parameters and matched points are two necessary inputs. Depth, direction and matched points can be achieved accurately if cameras are well calibrated using manual traditional calibration. However, most of the manual traditional calibration methods are inconvenient to use because markers or real size of an object in the real world must be provided or known. Self-calibration can solve the traditional calibration limitation, but not on depth and matched points. Other approaches attempted to match corresponding object using 2D visual information without calibration, but they suffer low matching accuracy under huge perspective distortion. This research focuses on achieving 3D information using self-calibrated tracking system. In this system, matching and tracking are done under self-calibrated condition. There are three contributions introduced in this research to achieve the objectives. Firstly, orientation correction is introduced to obtain better relationship matrices for matching purpose during tracking. Secondly, after having relationship matrices another post-processing method, which is status based matching, is introduced for improving object matching result. This proposed matching algorithm is able to achieve almost 90% of matching rate. Depth is estimated after the status based matching. Thirdly, tracking is done based on x-y coordinates and the estimated depth under self-calibrated condition. Results show that the proposed self-calibrated tracking system successfully differentiates the location of objects even under occlusion in the field of view, and is able to determine the direction and the velocity of multiple moving objects

Mobile assistive technologies for the visually impaired

There are around 285 million visually impaired people worldwide, and around 370,000 people are registered as blind or partially sighted in the UK. Ongoing advances in information technology (IT) are increasing the scope for IT-based mobile assistive technologies to facilitate the independence, safety, and improved quality of life of the visually impaired. Research is being directed at making mobile phones and other handheld devices accessible via our haptic (touch) and audio sensory channels. We review research and innovation within the field of mobile assistive technology for the visually impaired and, in so doing, highlight the need for successful collaboration between clinical expertise, computer science, and domain users to realize fully the potential benefits of such technologies. We initially reflect on research that has been conducted to make mobile phones more accessible to people with vision loss. We then discuss innovative assistive applications designed for the visually impaired that are either delivered via mainstream devices and can be used while in motion (e.g., mobile phones) or are embedded within an environment that may be in motion (e.g., public transport) or within which the user may be in motion (e.g., smart homes)

Workshop on "Control issues in the micro / nano - world".

International audienceDuring the last decade, the need of systems with micro/nanometers accuracy and fast dynamics has been growing rapidly. Such systems occur in applications including 1) micromanipulation of biological cells, 2) micrassembly of MEMS/MOEMS, 3) micro/nanosensors for environmental monitoring, 4) nanometer resolution imaging and metrology (AFM and SEM). The scale and requirement of such systems present a number of challenges to the control system design that will be addressed in this workshop. Working in the micro/nano-world involves displacements from nanometers to tens of microns. Because of this precision requirement, environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, vibration, could generate noise and disturbance that are in the same range as the displacements of interest. The so-called smart materials, e.g., piezoceramics, magnetostrictive, shape memory, electroactive polymer, have been used for actuation or sensing in the micro/nano-world. They allow high resolution positioning as compared to hinges based systems. However, these materials exhibit hysteresis nonlinearity, and in the case of piezoelectric materials, drifts (called creep) in response to constant inputs In the case of oscillating micro/nano-structures (cantilever, tube), these nonlinearities and vibrations strongly decrease their performances. Many MEMS and NEMS applications involve gripping, feeding, or sorting, operations, where sensor feedback is necessary for their execution. Sensors that are readily available, e.g., interferometer, triangulation laser, and machine vision, are bulky and expensive. Sensors that are compact in size and convenient for packaging, e.g., strain gage, piezoceramic charge sensor, etc., have limited performance or robustness. To account for these difficulties, new control oriented techniques are emerging, such as[d the combination of two or more ‘packageable' sensors , the use of feedforward control technique which does not require sensors, and the use of robust controllers which account the sensor characteristics. The aim of this workshop is to provide a forum for specialists to present and overview the different approaches of control system design for the micro/nano-world and to initiate collaborations and joint projects

RECVID as a Re-Usable Test-Collection for Video Retrieval

TRECVID has been running as a video retrieval benchmarking platform for a number of years now. Some progress seems to be made in the area of video retrieval, but also it has been shown that many of the differences in scores between tested approaches are nonsignificant. This paper studies the reliability of the TRECVID search collections for measuring video retrieval effectiveness and investigates how useful the collections are for re-use

Intelligent Advanced User Interfaces for Monitoring Mental Health Wellbeing

It has become pressing to develop objective and automatic measurements integrated in intelligent diagnostic tools for detecting and monitoring depressive states and enabling an increased precision of diagnoses and clinical decision-makings. The challenge is to exploit behavioral and physiological biomarkers and develop Artificial Intelligent (AI) models able to extract information from a complex combination of signals considered key symptoms. The proposed AI models should be able to help clinicians to rapidly formulate accurate diagnoses and suggest personalized intervention plans ranging from coaching activities (exploiting for example serious games), support networks (via chats, or social networks), and alerts to caregivers, doctors, and care control centers, reducing the considerable burden on national health care institutions in terms of medical, and social costs associated to depression cares

Business Intelligence for Small and Middle-Sized Entreprises

Data warehouses are the core of decision support sys- tems, which nowadays are used by all kind of enter- prises in the entire world. Although many studies have been conducted on the need of decision support systems (DSSs) for small businesses, most of them adopt ex- isting solutions and approaches, which are appropriate for large-scaled enterprises, but are inadequate for small and middle-sized enterprises. Small enterprises require cheap, lightweight architec- tures and tools (hardware and software) providing on- line data analysis. In order to ensure these features, we review web-based business intelligence approaches. For real-time analysis, the traditional OLAP architecture is cumbersome and storage-costly; therefore, we also re- view in-memory processing. Consequently, this paper discusses the existing approa- ches and tools working in main memory and/or with web interfaces (including freeware tools), relevant for small and middle-sized enterprises in decision making

Building Similarity Maps Of The Environment Using SONAR Information For The Navigation Of The Mobile Robots

The objective of the work is to present a representation called similarity map based on some results in the evaluation of the SONAR system of a mobile robot. As environment a corner of our lab it is considered. Based on some reference positions, where the robot is making a complete rotation, some test positions are considered with the task of recognition of the environment, in order to be able to recognize the position. Using similarity measures based on Euclidian distance, similarities maps are defined and estimated. The results are useful in defining complex strategies of navigation using SONAR systems

SUDS, LID, BMPs, WSUD and more - The evolution and application of terminology surrounding urban drainage

Open Access articleThe management of urban stormwater has become increasingly complex over recent decades. Consequently, terminology describing the principles and practices of urban drainage has become increasingly diverse, increasing the potential for confusion and miscommunication. This paper documents the history, scope, application and underlying principles of terms used in urban drainage and provides recommendations for clear communication of these principles. Terminology evolves locally and thus has an important role in establishing awareness and credibility of new approaches and contains nuanced understandings of the principles that are applied locally to address specific problems. Despite the understandable desire to have a ‘uniform set of terminology’, such a concept is flawed, ignoring the fact that terms reflect locally shared understanding. The local development of terminology thus has an important role in advancing the profession, but authors should facilitate communication between disciplines and between regions of the world, by being explicit and accurate in their application

OBIA for combining LiDAR and multispectral data to characterize forested areas and land cover in a tropical region

International audiencePrioritizing and designing forest restoration strategies requires an adequate survey to inform on the status (degraded or not) of forest types and the human disturbances over a territory. Very High Spatial Resolution (VHSR) remotely sensed data offers valuable information for performing such survey. We present in this study an OBIA methodology for mapping forest types at risk and land cover in a tropical context (Mayotte Island) combining LiDAR data (1 m pixel), VHSR multispectral images (Spot 5 XS 10 m pixel and orthophotos 0.5 m pixel) and ancillary data (existing thematic information). A Digital Canopy Model (DCM) was derived from LiDAR data and additional information was built from the DCM in order to better take into account the horizontal variability of canopy height: max and high Pass filters (3m x 3m kernel size) and Haralick variance texture image (51m x 51m kernel size). OBIA emerges as a suitable framework for exploiting multisource information during segmentation as well as during the classification process. A precise map (84% total accuracy) was obtained informing on (i) surfaces of forest types (defined according to their structure, i.e. canopy height of forest patches for specific type); (ii) degradation (identified in the heterogeneity of canopy height and presence of eroded areas) and (iii) human disturbances. Improvements can be made when discriminating forest types according to their composition (deciduous, evergreen or mixed), in particular by exploiting a more radiometrically homogenous VHSR multispectral image