23,556 research outputs found
On Robust Face Recognition via Sparse Encoding: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
In the field of face recognition, Sparse Representation (SR) has received
considerable attention during the past few years. Most of the relevant
literature focuses on holistic descriptors in closed-set identification
applications. The underlying assumption in SR-based methods is that each class
in the gallery has sufficient samples and the query lies on the subspace
spanned by the gallery of the same class. Unfortunately, such assumption is
easily violated in the more challenging face verification scenario, where an
algorithm is required to determine if two faces (where one or both have not
been seen before) belong to the same person. In this paper, we first discuss
why previous attempts with SR might not be applicable to verification problems.
We then propose an alternative approach to face verification via SR.
Specifically, we propose to use explicit SR encoding on local image patches
rather than the entire face. The obtained sparse signals are pooled via
averaging to form multiple region descriptors, which are then concatenated to
form an overall face descriptor. Due to the deliberate loss spatial relations
within each region (caused by averaging), the resulting descriptor is robust to
misalignment & various image deformations. Within the proposed framework, we
evaluate several SR encoding techniques: l1-minimisation, Sparse Autoencoder
Neural Network (SANN), and an implicit probabilistic technique based on
Gaussian Mixture Models. Thorough experiments on AR, FERET, exYaleB, BANCA and
ChokePoint datasets show that the proposed local SR approach obtains
considerably better and more robust performance than several previous
state-of-the-art holistic SR methods, in both verification and closed-set
identification problems. The experiments also show that l1-minimisation based
encoding has a considerably higher computational than the other techniques, but
leads to higher recognition rates
Building with Drones: Accurate 3D Facade Reconstruction using MAVs
Automatic reconstruction of 3D models from images using multi-view
Structure-from-Motion methods has been one of the most fruitful outcomes of
computer vision. These advances combined with the growing popularity of Micro
Aerial Vehicles as an autonomous imaging platform, have made 3D vision tools
ubiquitous for large number of Architecture, Engineering and Construction
applications among audiences, mostly unskilled in computer vision. However, to
obtain high-resolution and accurate reconstructions from a large-scale object
using SfM, there are many critical constraints on the quality of image data,
which often become sources of inaccuracy as the current 3D reconstruction
pipelines do not facilitate the users to determine the fidelity of input data
during the image acquisition. In this paper, we present and advocate a
closed-loop interactive approach that performs incremental reconstruction in
real-time and gives users an online feedback about the quality parameters like
Ground Sampling Distance (GSD), image redundancy, etc on a surface mesh. We
also propose a novel multi-scale camera network design to prevent scene drift
caused by incremental map building, and release the first multi-scale image
sequence dataset as a benchmark. Further, we evaluate our system on real
outdoor scenes, and show that our interactive pipeline combined with a
multi-scale camera network approach provides compelling accuracy in multi-view
reconstruction tasks when compared against the state-of-the-art methods.Comment: 8 Pages, 2015 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and
Automation (ICRA '15), Seattle, WA, US
Optical techniques for 3D surface reconstruction in computer-assisted laparoscopic surgery
One of the main challenges for computer-assisted surgery (CAS) is to determine the intra-opera- tive morphology and motion of soft-tissues. This information is prerequisite to the registration of multi-modal patient-specific data for enhancing the surgeon’s navigation capabilites by observ- ing beyond exposed tissue surfaces and for providing intelligent control of robotic-assisted in- struments. In minimally invasive surgery (MIS), optical techniques are an increasingly attractive approach for in vivo 3D reconstruction of the soft-tissue surface geometry. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art methods for optical intra-operative 3D reconstruction in laparoscopic surgery and discusses the technical challenges and future perspectives towards clinical translation. With the recent paradigm shift of surgical practice towards MIS and new developments in 3D opti- cal imaging, this is a timely discussion about technologies that could facilitate complex CAS procedures in dynamic and deformable anatomical regions
Cygnus A super-resolved via convex optimisation from VLA data
We leverage the Sparsity Averaging Reweighted Analysis (SARA) approach for
interferometric imaging, that is based on convex optimisation, for the
super-resolution of Cyg A from observations at the frequencies 8.422GHz and
6.678GHz with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). The associated average
sparsity and positivity priors enable image reconstruction beyond instrumental
resolution. An adaptive Preconditioned Primal-Dual algorithmic structure is
developed for imaging in the presence of unknown noise levels and calibration
errors. We demonstrate the superior performance of the algorithm with respect
to the conventional CLEAN-based methods, reflected in super-resolved images
with high fidelity. The high resolution features of the recovered images are
validated by referring to maps of Cyg A at higher frequencies, more precisely
17.324GHz and 14.252GHz. We also confirm the recent discovery of a radio
transient in Cyg A, revealed in the recovered images of the investigated data
sets. Our matlab code is available online on GitHub.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures (3/7 animated figures), accepted for publication
in MNRA
Sharing deep generative representation for perceived image reconstruction from human brain activity
Decoding human brain activities via functional magnetic resonance imaging
(fMRI) has gained increasing attention in recent years. While encouraging
results have been reported in brain states classification tasks, reconstructing
the details of human visual experience still remains difficult. Two main
challenges that hinder the development of effective models are the perplexing
fMRI measurement noise and the high dimensionality of limited data instances.
Existing methods generally suffer from one or both of these issues and yield
dissatisfactory results. In this paper, we tackle this problem by casting the
reconstruction of visual stimulus as the Bayesian inference of missing view in
a multiview latent variable model. Sharing a common latent representation, our
joint generative model of external stimulus and brain response is not only
"deep" in extracting nonlinear features from visual images, but also powerful
in capturing correlations among voxel activities of fMRI recordings. The
nonlinearity and deep structure endow our model with strong representation
ability, while the correlations of voxel activities are critical for
suppressing noise and improving prediction. We devise an efficient variational
Bayesian method to infer the latent variables and the model parameters. To
further improve the reconstruction accuracy, the latent representations of
testing instances are enforced to be close to that of their neighbours from the
training set via posterior regularization. Experiments on three fMRI recording
datasets demonstrate that our approach can more accurately reconstruct visual
stimuli
A Framework for Directional and Higher-Order Reconstruction in Photoacoustic Tomography
Photoacoustic tomography is a hybrid imaging technique that combines high
optical tissue contrast with high ultrasound resolution. Direct reconstruction
methods such as filtered backprojection, time reversal and least squares suffer
from curved line artefacts and blurring, especially in case of limited angles
or strong noise. In recent years, there has been great interest in regularised
iterative methods. These methods employ prior knowledge on the image to provide
higher quality reconstructions. However, easy comparisons between regularisers
and their properties are limited, since many tomography implementations heavily
rely on the specific regulariser chosen. To overcome this bottleneck, we
present a modular reconstruction framework for photoacoustic tomography. It
enables easy comparisons between regularisers with different properties, e.g.
nonlinear, higher-order or directional. We solve the underlying minimisation
problem with an efficient first-order primal-dual algorithm. Convergence rates
are optimised by choosing an operator dependent preconditioning strategy. Our
reconstruction methods are tested on challenging 2D synthetic and experimental
data sets. They outperform direct reconstruction approaches for strong noise
levels and limited angle measurements, offering immediate benefits in terms of
acquisition time and quality. This work provides a basic platform for the
investigation of future advanced regularisation methods in photoacoustic
tomography.Comment: submitted to "Physics in Medicine and Biology". Changes from v1 to
v2: regularisation with directional wavelet has been added; new experimental
tests have been include
- …