5,822 research outputs found
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
A neuromorphic systems approach to in-memory computing with non-ideal memristive devices: From mitigation to exploitation
Memristive devices represent a promising technology for building neuromorphic
electronic systems. In addition to their compactness and non-volatility
features, they are characterized by computationally relevant physical
properties, such as state-dependence, non-linear conductance changes, and
intrinsic variability in both their switching threshold and conductance values,
that make them ideal devices for emulating the bio-physics of real synapses. In
this paper we present a spiking neural network architecture that supports the
use of memristive devices as synaptic elements, and propose mixed-signal
analog-digital interfacing circuits which mitigate the effect of variability in
their conductance values and exploit their variability in the switching
threshold, for implementing stochastic learning. The effect of device
variability is mitigated by using pairs of memristive devices configured in a
complementary push-pull mechanism and interfaced to a current-mode normalizer
circuit. The stochastic learning mechanism is obtained by mapping the desired
change in synaptic weight into a corresponding switching probability that is
derived from the intrinsic stochastic behavior of memristive devices. We
demonstrate the features of the CMOS circuits and apply the architecture
proposed to a standard neural network hand-written digit classification
benchmark based on the MNIST data-set. We evaluate the performance of the
approach proposed on this benchmark using behavioral-level spiking neural
network simulation, showing both the effect of the reduction in conductance
variability produced by the current-mode normalizer circuit, and the increase
in performance as a function of the number of memristive devices used in each
synapse.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, accepted for Faraday Discussion
Collisionless Pattern Discovery in Robot Swarms Using Deep Reinforcement Learning
We present a deep reinforcement learning-based framework for automatically
discovering patterns available in any given initial configuration of fat robot
swarms. In particular, we model the problem of collision-less gathering and
mutual visibility in fat robot swarms and discover patterns for solving them
using our framework. We show that by shaping reward signals based on certain
constraints like mutual visibility and safe proximity, the robots can discover
collision-less trajectories leading to well-formed gathering and visibility
patterns
Arbitrary Pattern Formation on a Continuous Circle by Oblivious Robot Swarm
In the field of distributed system, Arbitrary Pattern Formation (APF) problem
is an extensively studied problem. The purpose of APF is to design an algorithm
to move a swarm of robots to a particular position on an environment (discrete
or continuous) such that the swarm can form a specific but arbitrary pattern
given previously to every robot as an input. In this paper the solvability of
the APF problem on a continuous circle has been discussed for a swarm of
oblivious and silent robots without chirality under a semi synchronous
scheduler. Firstly a class of configurations called \textit{Formable
Configuration}() has been provided which is necessary to solve the APF
problem on a continuous circle. Then considering the initial configuration to
be an , an deterministic and distributed algorithm has been provided that
solves the APF problem for robots on a continuous circle of fixed radius
within epochs without collision
Dependability in Aggregation by Averaging
Aggregation is an important building block of modern distributed
applications, allowing the determination of meaningful properties (e.g. network
size, total storage capacity, average load, majorities, etc.) that are used to
direct the execution of the system. However, the majority of the existing
aggregation algorithms exhibit relevant dependability issues, when prospecting
their use in real application environments. In this paper, we reveal some
dependability issues of aggregation algorithms based on iterative averaging
techniques, giving some directions to solve them. This class of algorithms is
considered robust (when compared to common tree-based approaches), being
independent from the used routing topology and providing an aggregation result
at all nodes. However, their robustness is strongly challenged and their
correctness often compromised, when changing the assumptions of their working
environment to more realistic ones. The correctness of this class of algorithms
relies on the maintenance of a fundamental invariant, commonly designated as
"mass conservation". We will argue that this main invariant is often broken in
practical settings, and that additional mechanisms and modifications are
required to maintain it, incurring in some degradation of the algorithms
performance. In particular, we discuss the behavior of three representative
algorithms Push-Sum Protocol, Push-Pull Gossip protocol and Distributed Random
Grouping under asynchronous and faulty (with message loss and node crashes)
environments. More specifically, we propose and evaluate two new versions of
the Push-Pull Gossip protocol, which solve its message interleaving problem
(evidenced even in a synchronous operation mode).Comment: 14 pages. Presented in Inforum 200
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