Event-based Vision: A Survey

Event cameras are bio-inspired sensors that differ from conventional frame cameras: Instead of capturing images at a fixed rate, they asynchronously measure per-pixel brightness changes, and output a stream of events that encode the time, location and sign of the brightness changes. Event cameras offer attractive properties compared to traditional cameras: high temporal resolution (in the order of microseconds), very high dynamic range (140 dB vs. 60 dB), low power consumption, and high pixel bandwidth (on the order of kHz) resulting in reduced motion blur. Hence, event cameras have a large potential for robotics and computer vision in challenging scenarios for traditional cameras, such as low-latency, high speed, and high dynamic range. However, novel methods are required to process the unconventional output of these sensors in order to unlock their potential. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the emerging field of event-based vision, with a focus on the applications and the algorithms developed to unlock the outstanding properties of event cameras. We present event cameras from their working principle, the actual sensors that are available and the tasks that they have been used for, from low-level vision (feature detection and tracking, optic flow, etc.) to high-level vision (reconstruction, segmentation, recognition). We also discuss the techniques developed to process events, including learning-based techniques, as well as specialized processors for these novel sensors, such as spiking neural networks. Additionally, we highlight the challenges that remain to be tackled and the opportunities that lie ahead in the search for a more efficient, bio-inspired way for machines to perceive and interact with the world

Indoor assistance for visually impaired people using a RGB-D camera

In this paper a navigational aid for visually impaired people is presented. The system uses a RGB-D camera to perceive the environment and implements self-localization, obstacle detection and obstacle classification. The novelty of this work is threefold. First, self-localization is performed by means of a novel camera tracking approach that uses both depth and color information. Second, to provide the user with semantic information, obstacles are classified as walls, doors, steps and a residual class that covers isolated objects and bumpy parts on the floor. Third, in order to guarantee real time performance, the system is accelerated by offloading parallel operations to the GPU. Experiments demonstrate that the whole system is running at 9 Hz

Vision-based localization methods under GPS-denied conditions

This paper reviews vision-based localization methods in GPS-denied environments and classifies the mainstream methods into Relative Vision Localization (RVL) and Absolute Vision Localization (AVL). For RVL, we discuss the broad application of optical flow in feature extraction-based Visual Odometry (VO) solutions and introduce advanced optical flow estimation methods. For AVL, we review recent advances in Visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (VSLAM) techniques, from optimization-based methods to Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) based methods. We also introduce the application of offline map registration and lane vision detection schemes to achieve Absolute Visual Localization. This paper compares the performance and applications of mainstream methods for visual localization and provides suggestions for future studies.Comment: 32 pages, 15 figure

A hybrid approach to simultaneous localization and mapping in indoors environment

This thesis will present SLAM in the current literature to benefit from then it will present the investigation results for a hybrid approach used where different algorithms using laser, sonar, and camera sensors were tested and compared. The contribution of this thesis is the development of a hybrid approach for SLAM that uses different sensors and where different factors are taken into consideration such as dynamic objects, and the development of a scalable grid map model with new sensors models for real time update of the map.The thesis will show the success found, difficulties faced and limitations of the algorithms developed which were simulated and experimentally tested in an indoors environment

Survey on video anomaly detection in dynamic scenes with moving cameras

The increasing popularity of compact and inexpensive cameras, e.g.~dash cameras, body cameras, and cameras equipped on robots, has sparked a growing interest in detecting anomalies within dynamic scenes recorded by moving cameras. However, existing reviews primarily concentrate on Video Anomaly Detection (VAD) methods assuming static cameras. The VAD literature with moving cameras remains fragmented, lacking comprehensive reviews to date. To address this gap, we endeavor to present the first comprehensive survey on Moving Camera Video Anomaly Detection (MC-VAD). We delve into the research papers related to MC-VAD, critically assessing their limitations and highlighting associated challenges. Our exploration encompasses three application domains: security, urban transportation, and marine environments, which in turn cover six specific tasks. We compile an extensive list of 25 publicly-available datasets spanning four distinct environments: underwater, water surface, ground, and aerial. We summarize the types of anomalies these datasets correspond to or contain, and present five main categories of approaches for detecting such anomalies. Lastly, we identify future research directions and discuss novel contributions that could advance the field of MC-VAD. With this survey, we aim to offer a valuable reference for researchers and practitioners striving to develop and advance state-of-the-art MC-VAD methods.Comment: Under revie

Monocular detection and estimation of moving obstacles for robot navigation

The detection of motion and moving objects or persons with stationary monocular cameras has been extensively studied. However, those techniques fail if the camera is moving itself. In this paper, we present a method for detecting and estimating the position of moving objects using a monocular camera that is mounted in front of a mobile robot platform. The position estimates are used for obstacle avoidance and robot navigation. We apply image warping to compensate the egomotion of the camera. This allows us to use standard techniques for motion detection. The final position and velocity estimates are obtained using Extended Kalman Filters. Combined with a monocular scene reconstruction our approach allows the robust detection and avoidance of both static and moving obstacles by using a single monocular camera as the only sensor

BatMobility: Towards Flying Without Seeing for Autonomous Drones

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) rely on optical sensors such as cameras and lidar for autonomous operation. However, such optical sensors are error-prone in bad lighting, inclement weather conditions including fog and smoke, and around textureless or transparent surfaces. In this paper, we ask: is it possible to fly UAVs without relying on optical sensors, i.e., can UAVs fly without seeing? We present BatMobility, a lightweight mmWave radar-only perception system for UAVs that eliminates the need for optical sensors. BatMobility enables two core functionalities for UAVs -- radio flow estimation (a novel FMCW radar-based alternative for optical flow based on surface-parallel doppler shift) and radar-based collision avoidance. We build BatMobility using commodity sensors and deploy it as a real-time system on a small off-the-shelf quadcopter running an unmodified flight controller. Our evaluation shows that BatMobility achieves comparable or better performance than commercial-grade optical sensors across a wide range of scenarios

04251 -- Imaging Beyond the Pinhole Camera

From 13.06.04 to 18.06.04, the Dagstuhl Seminar 04251 ``Imaging Beyond the Pin-hole Camera. 12th Seminar on Theoretical Foundations of Computer Vision\u27\u27 was held in the International Conference and Research Center (IBFI), Schloss Dagstuhl. During the seminar, several participants presented their current research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar as well as abstracts of seminar results and ideas are put together in this paper. The first section describes the seminar topics and goals in general. Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available