APPLICATIONS OF MACHINE LEARNING AND COMPUTER VISION FOR SMART INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT IN CIVIL ENGINEERING

Machine Learning and Computer Vision are the two technologies that have innovative applications in diverse fields, including engineering, medicines, agriculture, astronomy, sports, education etc. The idea of enabling machines to make human like decisions is not a recent one. It dates to the early 1900s when analogies were drawn out between neurons in a human brain and capability of a machine to function like humans. However, major advances in the specifics of this theory were not until 1950s when the first experiments were conducted to determine if machines can support artificial intelligence. As computation powers increased, in the form of parallel computing and GPU computing, the time required for training the algorithms decreased significantly. Machine Learning is now used in almost every day to day activities. This research demonstrates the use of machine learning and computer vision for smart infrastructure management. This research’s contribution includes two case studies – a) Occupancy detection using vibration sensors and machine learning and b) Traffic detection, tracking, classification and counting on Memorial Bridge in Portsmouth, NH using computer vision and machine learning. Each case study, includes controlled experiments with a verification data set. Both the studies yielded results that validated the approach of using machine learning and computer vision. Both case studies present a scenario where in machine learning is applied to a civil engineering challenge to create a more objective basis for decision-making. This work also includes a summary of the current state-of-the -practice of machine learning in Civil Engineering and the suggested steps to advance its application in civil engineering based on this research in order to use the technology more effectively

eXplainable data processing

Seminario realizado en U & P U Patel Department of Computer Engineering, Chandubhai S. Patel Institute of Technology, Charotar University of Science And Technology (CHARUSAT), Changa-388421, Gujarat, India 2021[EN]Deep Learning y has created many new opportunities, it has unfortunately also become a means for achieving ill-intentioned goals. Fake news, disinformation campaigns, and manipulated images and videos have plagued the internet which has had serious consequences on our society. The myriad of information available online means that it may be difficult to distinguish between true and fake news, leading many users to unknowingly share fake news, contributing to the spread of misinformation. The use of Deep Learning to create fake images and videos has become known as deepfake. This means that there are ever more effective and realistic forms of deception on the internet, making it more difficult for internet users to distinguish reality from fictio

Training of Crisis Mappers and Map Production from Multi-sensor Data: Vernazza Case Study (Cinque Terre National Park, Italy)

This aim of paper is to presents the development of a multidisciplinary project carried out by the cooperation between Politecnico di Torino and ITHACA (Information Technology for Humanitarian Assistance, Cooperation and Action). The goal of the project was the training in geospatial data acquiring and processing for students attending Architecture and Engineering Courses, in order to start up a team of "volunteer mappers". Indeed, the project is aimed to document the environmental and built heritage subject to disaster; the purpose is to improve the capabilities of the actors involved in the activities connected in geospatial data collection, integration and sharing. The proposed area for testing the training activities is the Cinque Terre National Park, registered in the World Heritage List since 1997. The area was affected by flood on the 25th of October 2011. According to other international experiences, the group is expected to be active after emergencies in order to upgrade maps, using data acquired by typical geomatic methods and techniques such as terrestrial and aerial Lidar, close-range and aerial photogrammetry, topographic and GNSS instruments etc.; or by non conventional systems and instruments such us UAV, mobile mapping etc. The ultimate goal is to implement a WebGIS platform to share all the data collected with local authorities and the Civil Protectio

Senseable Spaces: from a theoretical perspective to the application in augmented environments

openGrazie all’ enorme diffusione di dispositivi senzienti nella vita di tutti i giorni, nell’ ultimo decennio abbiamo assistito ad un cambio definitivo nel modo in cui gli utenti interagiscono con lo spazio circostante. Viene coniato il termine Spazio Sensibile, per descrivere quegli spazi in grado di fornire servizi contestuali agli utenti, misurando e analizzando le dinamiche che in esso avvengono, e di reagire conseguentemente a questo continuo flusso di dati bidirezionale. La ricerca è stata condotta abbracciando diversi domini di applicazione, le cui singole esigenze hanno reso necessario testare il concetto di Spazi Sensibili in diverse declinazioni, mantenendo al centro della ricerca l’utente, con la duplice accezione di end-user e manager. Molteplici sono i contributi rispetto allo stato dell’ arte. Il concetto di Spazio Sensibile è stato calato nel settore dei Beni Culturali, degli Spazi Pubblici, delle Geosciences e del Retail. I casi studio nei musei e nella archeologia dimostrano come l’ utilizzo della Realtà Aumentata possa essere sfruttata di fronte a un dipinto o in outdoor per la visualizzazione di modelli complessi, In ambito urbano, il monitoraggio di dati generati dagli utenti ha consentito di capire le dinamiche di un evento di massa, durante il quale le stesse persone fruivano di servizi contestuali. Una innovativa applicazione di Realtà Aumentata è stata come servizio per facilitare l’ ispezione di fasce tampone lungo i fiumi, standardizzando flussi di dati e modelli provenienti da un Sistema Informativo Territoriale. Infine, un robusto sistema di indoor localization è stato istallato in ambiente retail, per scopi classificazione dei percorsi e per determinare le potenzialità di un punto vendita. La tesi è inoltre una dimostrazione di come Space Sensing e Geomatica siano discipline complementari: la geomatica consente di acquisire e misurare dati geo spaziali e spazio temporali a diversa scala, lo Space Sensing utilizza questi dati per fornire servizi all’ utente precisi e contestuali.Given the tremendous growth of ubiquitous services in our daily lives, during the last few decades we have witnessed a definitive change in the way users' experience their surroundings. At the current state of art, devices are able to sense the environment and users’ location, enabling them to experience improved digital services, creating synergistic loop between the use of the technology, and the use of the space itself. We coined the term Senseable Space, to define the kinds of spaces able to provide users with contextual services, to measure and analyse their dynamics and to react accordingly, in a seamless exchange of information. Following the paradigm of Senseable Spaces as the main thread, we selected a set of experiences carried out in different fields; central to this investigation there is of course the user, placed in the dual roles of end-user and manager. The main contribution of this thesis lies in the definition of this new paradigm, realized in the following domains: Cultural Heritage, Public Open Spaces, Geosciences and Retail. For the Cultural Heritage panorama, different pilot projects have been constructed from creating museum based installations to developing mobile applications for archaeological settings. Dealing with urban areas, app-based services are designed to facilitate the route finding in a urban park and to provide contextual information in a city festival. We also outlined a novel application to facilitate the on-site inspection by risk managers thanks to the use of Augmented Reality services. Finally, a robust indoor localization system has been developed, designed to ease customer profiling in the retail sector. The thesis also demonstrates how Space Sensing and Geomatics are complementary to one another, given the assumption that the branches of Geomatics cover all the different scales of data collection, whilst Space Sensing gives one the possibility to provide the services at the correct location, at the correct time.INGEGNERIA DELL'INFORMAZIONEembargoed_20181001Pierdicca, RobertoPierdicca, Robert

Senseable Spaces: from a theoretical perspective to the application in augmented environments

Grazie all’ enorme diffusione di dispositivi senzienti nella vita di tutti i giorni, nell’ ultimo decennio abbiamo assistito ad un cambio definitivo nel modo in cui gli utenti interagiscono con lo spazio circostante. Viene coniato il termine Spazio Sensibile, per descrivere quegli spazi in grado di fornire servizi contestuali agli utenti, misurando e analizzando le dinamiche che in esso avvengono, e di reagire conseguentemente a questo continuo flusso di dati bidirezionale. La ricerca è stata condotta abbracciando diversi domini di applicazione, le cui singole esigenze hanno reso necessario testare il concetto di Spazi Sensibili in diverse declinazioni, mantenendo al centro della ricerca l’utente, con la duplice accezione di end-user e manager. Molteplici sono i contributi rispetto allo stato dell’ arte. Il concetto di Spazio Sensibile è stato calato nel settore dei Beni Culturali, degli Spazi Pubblici, delle Geosciences e del Retail. I casi studio nei musei e nella archeologia dimostrano come l’ utilizzo della Realtà Aumentata possa essere sfruttata di fronte a un dipinto o in outdoor per la visualizzazione di modelli complessi, In ambito urbano, il monitoraggio di dati generati dagli utenti ha consentito di capire le dinamiche di un evento di massa, durante il quale le stesse persone fruivano di servizi contestuali. Una innovativa applicazione di Realtà Aumentata è stata come servizio per facilitare l’ ispezione di fasce tampone lungo i fiumi, standardizzando flussi di dati e modelli provenienti da un Sistema Informativo Territoriale. Infine, un robusto sistema di indoor localization è stato istallato in ambiente retail, per scopi classificazione dei percorsi e per determinare le potenzialità di un punto vendita. La tesi è inoltre una dimostrazione di come Space Sensing e Geomatica siano discipline complementari: la geomatica consente di acquisire e misurare dati geo spaziali e spazio temporali a diversa scala, lo Space Sensing utilizza questi dati per fornire servizi all’ utente precisi e contestuali.Given the tremendous growth of ubiquitous services in our daily lives, during the last few decades we have witnessed a definitive change in the way users' experience their surroundings. At the current state of art, devices are able to sense the environment and users’ location, enabling them to experience improved digital services, creating synergistic loop between the use of the technology, and the use of the space itself. We coined the term Senseable Space, to define the kinds of spaces able to provide users with contextual services, to measure and analyse their dynamics and to react accordingly, in a seamless exchange of information. Following the paradigm of Senseable Spaces as the main thread, we selected a set of experiences carried out in different fields; central to this investigation there is of course the user, placed in the dual roles of end-user and manager. The main contribution of this thesis lies in the definition of this new paradigm, realized in the following domains: Cultural Heritage, Public Open Spaces, Geosciences and Retail. For the Cultural Heritage panorama, different pilot projects have been constructed from creating museum based installations to developing mobile applications for archaeological settings. Dealing with urban areas, app-based services are designed to facilitate the route finding in a urban park and to provide contextual information in a city festival. We also outlined a novel application to facilitate the on-site inspection by risk managers thanks to the use of Augmented Reality services. Finally, a robust indoor localization system has been developed, designed to ease customer profiling in the retail sector. The thesis also demonstrates how Space Sensing and Geomatics are complementary to one another, given the assumption that the branches of Geomatics cover all the different scales of data collection, whilst Space Sensing gives one the possibility to provide the services at the correct location, at the correct time

Planetary Rover Simulation for Lunar Exploration Missions

When planning planetary rover missions it is useful to develop intuition and skills driving in, quite literally, alien environments before incurring the cost of reaching said locales. Simulators make it possible to operate in environments that have the physical characteristics of target locations without the expense and overhead of extensive physical tests. To that end, NASA Ames and Open Robotics collaborated on a Lunar rover driving simulator based on the open source Gazebo simulation platform and leveraging ROS (Robotic Operating System) components. The simulator was integrated with research and mission software for rover driving, system monitoring, and science instrument simulation to constitute an end-to-end Lunar mission simulation capability. Although we expect our simulator to be applicable to arbitrary Lunar regions, we designed to a reference mission of prospecting in polar regions. The harsh lighting and low illumination angles at the Lunar poles combine with the unique reflectance properties of Lunar regolith to present a challenging visual environment for both human and computer perception. Our simulator placed an emphasis on high fidelity visual simulation in order to produce synthetic imagery suitable for evaluating human rover drivers with navigation tasks, as well as providing test data for computer vision software development.In this paper, we describe the software used to construct the simulated Lunar environment and the components of the driving simulation. Our synthetic terrain generation software artificially increases the resolution of Lunar digital elevation maps by fractal synthesis and inserts craters and rocks based on Lunar size-frequency distribution models. We describe the necessary enhancements to import large scale, high resolution terrains into Gazebo, as well as our approach to modeling the visual environment of the Lunar surface. An overview of the mission software system is provided, along with how ROS was used to emulate flight software components that had not been developed yet. Finally, we discuss the effect of using the high-fidelity synthetic Lunar images for visual odometry. We also characterize the wheel slip model, and find some inconsistencies in the produced wheel slip behaviour

A study of energy-related occupancy activities in a sample of monitored domestic buildings in the UK

Domestic energy use is determined by multiple non-technological factors, such as the occupants’ lifestyle and activities, which can even offset the effect from energy-efficiency technologies. Acquiring the actual occupancy data relating to energy use in a uniform format to generate comparable and representative information is challenging. Projects that seek to address this issue, such as the Retrofit for the Future and Building Performance Evaluation programmes of the Technology Strategy Board in the UK, usually require major investment. Long-term monitoring and longitudinal observation are two major features in these major investment projects. The former approach refers to the frequent measurement of indoor / outdoor environments and energy use conducted over at least two heating seasons, in line with the whole-house carbon and energy monitoring protocol of the Energy Saving Trust (2011). The latter approach, longitudinal observation, refers to observations conducted on the same group of individuals over an extended study period of years or decades to examine changes over time (Bryman, 2012). The majority of existing households and associated stakeholders that could potentially benefit from the investigation of energy-related occupancy activities cannot feasibly be involved in projects requiring major investment

Full Proceedings, 2018

Full conference proceedings for the 2018 International Building Physics Association Conference hosted at Syracuse University