184,674 research outputs found
SurfelWarp: Efficient Non-Volumetric Single View Dynamic Reconstruction
We contribute a dense SLAM system that takes a live stream of depth images as
input and reconstructs non-rigid deforming scenes in real time, without
templates or prior models. In contrast to existing approaches, we do not
maintain any volumetric data structures, such as truncated signed distance
function (TSDF) fields or deformation fields, which are performance and memory
intensive. Our system works with a flat point (surfel) based representation of
geometry, which can be directly acquired from commodity depth sensors. Standard
graphics pipelines and general purpose GPU (GPGPU) computing are leveraged for
all central operations: i.e., nearest neighbor maintenance, non-rigid
deformation field estimation and fusion of depth measurements. Our pipeline
inherently avoids expensive volumetric operations such as marching cubes,
volumetric fusion and dense deformation field update, leading to significantly
improved performance. Furthermore, the explicit and flexible surfel based
geometry representation enables efficient tackling of topology changes and
tracking failures, which makes our reconstructions consistent with updated
depth observations. Our system allows robots to maintain a scene description
with non-rigidly deformed objects that potentially enables interactions with
dynamic working environments.Comment: RSS 2018. The video and source code are available on
https://sites.google.com/view/surfelwarp/hom
Pictures in Your Mind: Using Interactive Gesture-Controlled Reliefs to Explore Art
Tactile reliefs offer many benefits over the more classic raised line drawings or tactile diagrams, as depth, 3D shape, and surface textures are directly perceivable. Although often created for blind and visually impaired (BVI) people, a wider range of people may benefit from such multimodal material. However, some reliefs are still difficult to understand without proper guidance or accompanying verbal descriptions, hindering autonomous exploration.
In this work, we present a gesture-controlled interactive audio guide (IAG) based on recent low-cost depth cameras that can be operated directly with the hands on relief surfaces during tactile exploration. The interactively explorable, location-dependent verbal and captioned descriptions promise rapid tactile accessibility to 2.5D spatial information in a home or education setting, to online resources, or as a kiosk installation at public places.
We present a working prototype, discuss design decisions, and present the results of two evaluation studies: the first with 13 BVI test users and the second follow-up study with 14 test users across a wide range of people with differences and difficulties associated with perception, memory, cognition, and communication. The participant-led research method of this latter study prompted new, significant and innovative developments
The Effect of Boundary Support and Reflector Dimensions on Inflatable Parabolic Antenna Performance
For parabolic antennas with sufficient surface accuracy, more power can be radiated with a larger aperture size. This paper explores the performance of antennas of various size and reflector depth. The particular focus is on a large inflatable elastic antenna reflector that is supported about its perimeter by a set of elastic tendons and is subjected to a constant hydrostatic pressure. The surface accuracy of the antenna is measured by an RMS calculation, while the reflector phase error component of the efficiency is determined by computing the power density at boresight. In the analysis, the calculation of antenna efficiency is not based on the Ruze Equation. Hence, no assumption regarding the distribution of the reflector surface distortions is presumed. The reflector surface is modeled as an isotropic elastic membrane using a linear stress-strain constitutive relation. Three types of antenna reflector construction are considered: one molded to an ideal parabolic form and two different flat panel design patterns. The flat panel surfaces are constructed by seaming together panels in a manner that the desired parabolic shape is approximately attained after pressurization. Numerical solutions of the model problem are calculated under a variety of conditions in order to estimate the accuracy and efficiency of these antenna systems. In the case of the flat panel constructions, several different cutting patterns are analyzed in order to determine an optimal cutting strategy
Analyzing interference between RGB-D cameras for human motion tracking
Multi-camera RGB-D systems are becoming popular as sensor setups in Computer Vision applications but they are prone to cause interference between them, compromising their accuracy. This paper extends previous works on the analysis of the noise introduced by interference with new and more realistic camera configurations and different brands of devices. As expected, the detected noise increases as distance and angle grows, becoming worse when interference is present. Finally, we evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed solutions of using DC vibration motors to mitigate them. The results of this study are being used to assess the effect of interference when applying these setups to human motion tracking.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. Plan Propio de Investigación de la UMA. Junta de Andalucía, proyecto TEP2012-53
On the Origin of Near-Infrared Extragalactic Background Light Anisotropy
Extragalactic background light (EBL) anisotropy traces variations in the
total production of photons over cosmic history, and may contain faint,
extended components missed in galaxy point source surveys. Infrared EBL
fluctuations have been attributed to primordial galaxies and black holes at the
epoch of reionization (EOR), or alternately, intra-halo light (IHL) from stars
tidally stripped from their parent galaxies at low redshift. We report new EBL
anisotropy measurements from a specialized sounding rocket experiment at 1.1
and 1.6 micrometers. The observed fluctuations exceed the amplitude from known
galaxy populations, are inconsistent with EOR galaxies and black holes, and are
largely explained by IHL emission. The measured fluctuations are associated
with an EBL intensity that is comparable to the background from known galaxies
measured through number counts, and therefore a substantial contribution to the
energy contained in photons in the cosmos.Comment: 65 pages, 29 figures, Published in Science Nov 7 2014 (includes
supplementary material
Approximating Tverberg Points in Linear Time for Any Fixed Dimension
Let P be a d-dimensional n-point set. A Tverberg-partition of P is a
partition of P into r sets P_1, ..., P_r such that the convex hulls conv(P_1),
..., conv(P_r) have non-empty intersection. A point in the intersection of the
conv(P_i)'s is called a Tverberg point of depth r for P. A classic result by
Tverberg implies that there always exists a Tverberg partition of size n/(d+1),
but it is not known how to find such a partition in polynomial time. Therefore,
approximate solutions are of interest.
We describe a deterministic algorithm that finds a Tverberg partition of size
n/4(d+1)^3 in time d^{O(log d)} n. This means that for every fixed dimension we
can compute an approximate Tverberg point (and hence also an approximate
centerpoint) in linear time. Our algorithm is obtained by combining a novel
lifting approach with a recent result by Miller and Sheehy (2010).Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures. A preliminary version appeared in SoCG 2012.
This version removes an incorrect example at the end of Section 3.
Exact Geosedics and Shortest Paths on Polyhedral Surface
We present two algorithms for computing distances along a non-convex polyhedral surface. The first algorithm computes exact minimal-geodesic distances and the second algorithm combines these distances to compute exact shortest-path distances along the surface. Both algorithms have been extended to compute the exact minimalgeodesic paths and shortest paths. These algorithms have been implemented and validated on surfaces for which the correct solutions are known, in order to verify the accuracy and to measure the run-time performance, which is cubic or less for each algorithm. The exact-distance computations carried out by these algorithms are feasible for large-scale surfaces containing tens of thousands of vertices, and are a necessary component of near-isometric surface flattening methods that accurately transform curved manifolds into flat representations.National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (R01 EB001550
Lyman-alpha radiative transfer during the Epoch of Reionization: contribution to 21-cm signal fluctuations
During the epoch of reionization, Ly-alpha photons emitted by the first stars
can couple the neutral hydrogen spin temperature to the kinetic gas
temperature, providing the opportunity to observe the gas in emission or
absorption in the 21-cm line. Given the bright foregrounds, it is of prime
importance to determine precisely the fluctuations signature of the signal, to
be able to extract it by its correlation power.
LICORICE is a Monte-Carlo radiative transfer code, coupled to the dynamics
via an adaptative Tree-SPH code. We present here the Ly-alpha part of the
implementation, and validate it through three classical tests. Contrary to
previous works, we do not assume that P_alpha, the number of scatterings of
Ly-alpha photons per atom per second, is proportional to the Ly-alpha
background flux, but take into account the scatterings in the Ly-alpha line
wings. The latter have the effect to steepen the radial profile of P_alpha
around each source, and re-inforce the contrast of the fluctuations. In the
particular geometry of cosmic filaments of baryonic matter, Ly-alpha photons
are scattered out of the filament, and the large scale structure of P_alpha is
significantly anisotropic. This could have strong implications for the possible
detection of the 21-cm signal.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures. To be published in A&
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