Enhancing Perception of Complex Sculptural Forms using Interactive Real-time Ray tracing

This paper looks at experiments into using real-time ray tracing to significantly enhance shape perception of complex three-dimensional digitally created structures. The author is a computational artist whose artistic practice explores the creation of intricate organic three-dimensional forms using simulation of morphogenesis. The generated forms are often extremely detailed, comprising tens of millions of cellular primitives. This often makes depth perception of the resulting structures difficult. His practice has explored various techniques to create presentable artefacts from the data, including high resolution prints, animated videos, stereoscopic installations, 3D printing and virtual reality. The author uses ray tracing techniques to turn the 3D data created from his morphogenetic simulations into visible artefacts. This is typically a time-consuming process, taking from seconds to minutes to create a single frame. The latest generation of graphics processing units offer dedicated hardware to accelerate ray tracing calculations. This potentially allows the generation of ray traced images, including self-shadowed complex structures and multiple levels of transparency, from new viewpoints at frame rates capable of real-time interaction. The author presents the results of his experiments using this technology with the aim of providing significantly enhanced perception of his generated three-dimensional structures by allowing user-initiated interaction to generate novel views, and utilizing depth cues such as stereopsis, depth from motion and defocus blurring. The intention is for these techniques to be usable to present new exhibitable works in a gallery context

Estimating Residential Solar Potential Using Aerial Data

Project Sunroof estimates the solar potential of residential buildings using high quality aerial data. That is, it estimates the potential solar energy (and associated financial savings) that can be captured by buildings if solar panels were to be installed on their roofs. Unfortunately its coverage is limited by the lack of high resolution digital surface map (DSM) data. We present a deep learning approach that bridges this gap by enhancing widely available low-resolution data, thereby dramatically increasing the coverage of Sunroof. We also present some ongoing efforts to potentially improve accuracy even further by replacing certain algorithmic components of the Sunroof processing pipeline with deep learning

EXPLORING THE ABILITY TO EMPLOY VIRTUAL 3D ENTITIES OUTDOORS AT RANGES BEYOND 20 METERS

The Army is procuring the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) system to enable enhanced night vision, planning, and training capability. One known limitation of the IVAS system is the limited ability to portray virtual entities at far ranges in the outdoors due to light wash out, accurate positioning, and dynamic occlusion. The primary goal of this research was to evaluate fixed three-dimensional (3D) visualizations to support outdoor training for fire teams through squads, requiring target visualizations for 3D non-player characters or vehicles at ranges up to 300 m. Tools employed to achieve outdoor visualizations included GPS locational data with virtual entity placement, and sensors to adjust device light levels. This study was conducted with 20 military test subjects in three scenarios at the Naval Postgraduate School using a HoloLens II. Outdoor location considerations included shadows, background clutter, cars blocking the field of view, and the sun’s positioning. Users provided feedback on identifying the type of object, and the difficulty in finding the object. The results indicate GPS only aided in identification for objects up to 100 m. Animation had a statistically insignificant effect on identification of objects. Employment of software to adjust the light levels of the virtual objects aided in identification of objects at 200 m. This research develops a clearer understanding of requirements to enable the employment of mixed reality in outdoor training.Lieutenant Colonel, United States ArmyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Bridging prehistory and history in the archaeology of cities

Archaeology is ideally suited for examining the deep roots of urbanism, its materialization and physicality, and the commonalities and variability in urban experiences cross-culturally and temporally. We propose that the significant advances archaeologists have made in situating the discipline within broader urban studies could be furthered through increased dialog between scholars working on urbanism during prehistoric and historical periods, as a means of bridging concerns in the study of the past and present. We review some major themes in urban studies by presenting archaeological cases from two areas of the Americas: central Mexico and Atlantic North America. Our cases span premodern and early modern periods, and three of the four covered in greatest depth live on as cities of today. Comparison of the cases highlights the complementarity of their primary datasets: the long developmental trajectories and relatively intact urban plans offered by many prehistoric cities, and the rich documentary sources offered by historic cities

The Application of LiDAR to Assessment of Rooftop Solar Photovoltaic Deployment Potential in a Municipal District Unit

A methodology is provided for the application of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) to automated solar photovoltaic (PV) deployment analysis on the regional scale. Challenges in urban information extraction and management for solar PV deployment assessment are determined and quantitative solutions are offered. This paper provides the following contributions: (i) a methodology that is consistent with recommendations from existing literature advocating the integration of cross-disciplinary competences in remote sensing (RS), GIS, computer vision and urban environmental studies; (ii) a robust methodology that can work with low-resolution, incomprehensive data and reconstruct vegetation and building separately, but concurrently; (iii) recommendations for future generation of software. A case study is presented as an example of the methodology. Experience from the case study such as the trade-off between time consumption and data quality are discussed to highlight a need for connectivity between demographic information, electrical engineering schemes and GIS and a typical factor of solar useful roofs extracted per method. Finally, conclusions are developed to provide a final methodology to extract the most useful information from the lowest resolution and least comprehensive data to provide solar electric assessments over large areas, which can be adapted anywhere in the world

Proceedings of the 19th NASA Propagation Experimenters Meeting (NAPEX 19) and the 7th Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) Propagation Studies Workshop (APSW 7)

The NASA Propagation Experimenters Meeting (NAPEX), supported by the NASA Propagation Program, is convened annually to discuss studies made on radio wave propagation by investigators from domestic and international organizations. NAPEX 19 was held on 14 Jun. 1995, in Fort Collins, Colorado. Participants included representatives from Canada, Japan, and the United States, including researchers from universities, government agencies, and private industry. The meeting focused on mobile personal satellite systems and the use of 20/30-GHz band for fixed and mobile satellite applications. In total, 18 technical papers were presented. Following NAPEX 19, the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) Propagation Studies Workshop 7 (APSW 7) was held on 15-16 Jun. 1995, to review ACTS propagation activities with emphasis on the experimenters' status reports and dissemination of propagation data to industry

Modeling HRTF for Sound Localization in Normal Listeners and Bilateral Cochlear Implant Users

Mathematical models can be very useful for understanding complicated systems and for testing algorithms through simulation that would be difficult or expensive to implement. This dissertation presents a model that attempts to simulate the sound localization performance of persons using bilateral cochlear implants. The expectation is that this model could prove to be a useful tool in developing new signal processing algorithms for neural encoding strategies. The head related transfer function (HRTF) is a critical component of this model, and in the ideal case, provides the base characteristics of head shadow, torso and pinna effects. This defines the temporal, intensity and spectral cues that are important to sound localization. By building on the HRTF, a sound source localization model can be constructed. This model was first developed to simulate normal hearing persons and validated against published literature on HRTFs and localization. The model was then further developed to account for the differences in the signal pathway of the cochlear implant (CI) user due to sound processing effects, and the microphone location versus pinna and ear canal acoustics. Finally, the localization error calculated from the model for cochlear implant users was compared to published localization data obtained from these hearing impaired patients in order to validate the modified model. Results of the normal hearing model correlated closely with localization performance data published in the literature, with localization error of the model only slightly greater than that of normal hearing subjects. The cochlear implant population has a more broadly distributed range of localization error than that of the normal hearing population, and in addition, the mean error is significantly poorer. The performance of the cochlear implant model fell within the range of error reported in the research literature for cochlear implant users. This close correspondence with the published performance data suggests that the model developed in this dissertation provides a reasonably good approximation of sound source localization for normal hearing subject and persons with bilateral cochlear implants

Proceedings of the Augmented VIsual Display (AVID) Research Workshop

The papers, abstracts, and presentations were presented at a three day workshop focused on sensor modeling and simulation, and image enhancement, processing, and fusion. The technical sessions emphasized how sensor technology can be used to create visual imagery adequate for aircraft control and operations. Participants from industry, government, and academic laboratories contributed to panels on Sensor Systems, Sensor Modeling, Sensor Fusion, Image Processing (Computer and Human Vision), and Image Evaluation and Metrics