46,774 research outputs found
Eye Tracker Accuracy: Quantitative Evaluation of the Invisible Eye Center Location
Purpose. We present a new method to evaluate the accuracy of an eye tracker
based eye localization system. Measuring the accuracy of an eye tracker's
primary intention, the estimated point of gaze, is usually done with volunteers
and a set of fixation points used as ground truth. However, verifying the
accuracy of the location estimate of a volunteer's eye center in 3D space is
not easily possible. This is because the eye center is an intangible point
hidden by the iris. Methods. We evaluate the eye location accuracy by using an
eye phantom instead of eyes of volunteers. For this, we developed a testing
stage with a realistic artificial eye and a corresponding kinematic model,
which we trained with {\mu}CT data. This enables us to precisely evaluate the
eye location estimate of an eye tracker. Results. We show that the proposed
testing stage with the corresponding kinematic model is suitable for such a
validation. Further, we evaluate a particular eye tracker based navigation
system and show that this system is able to successfully determine the eye
center with sub-millimeter accuracy. Conclusions. We show the suitability of
the evaluated eye tracker for eye interventions, using the proposed testing
stage and the corresponding kinematic model. The results further enable
specific enhancement of the navigation system to potentially get even better
results
Understanding fast macroscale fracture from microcrack post mortem patterns
Dynamic crack propagation drives catastrophic solid failures. In many
amorphous brittle materials, sufficiently fast crack growth involves
small-scale, high-frequency microcracking damage localized near the crack tip.
The ultra-fast dynamics of microcrack nucleation, growth and coalescence is
inaccessible experimentally and fast crack propagation was therefore studied
only as a macroscale average. Here, we overcome this limitation in
polymethylmethacrylate, the archetype of brittle amorphous materials: We
reconstruct the complete spatio-temporal microcracking dynamics, with
micrometer / nanosecond resolution, through post mortem analysis of the
fracture surfaces. We find that all individual microcracks propagate at the
same low, load-independent, velocity. Collectively, the main effect of
microcracks is not to slow down fracture by increasing the energy required for
crack propagation, as commonly believed, but on the contrary to boost the
macroscale velocity through an acceleration factor selected on geometric
grounds. Our results emphasize the key role of damage-related internal
variables in the selection of macroscale fracture dynamics.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures + supporting information (15 pages
Deployment Strategies of Multiple Aerial BSs for User Coverage and Power Efficiency Maximization
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based aerial base stations (BSs) can provide
rapid communication services to ground users and are thus promising for future
communication systems. In this paper, we consider a scenario where no
functional terrestrial BSs are available and the aim is deploying multiple
aerial BSs to cover a maximum number of users within a certain target area. To
this end, we first propose a naive successive deployment method, which converts
the non-convex constraints in the involved optimization into a combination of
linear constraints through geometrical relaxation. Then we investigate a
deployment method based on K-means clustering. The method divides the target
area into K convex subareas, where within each subarea, a mixed integer
non-linear problem (MINLP) is solved. An iterative power efficient technique is
further proposed to improve coverage probability with reduced power. Finally,
we propose a robust technique for compensating the loss of coverage probability
in the existence of inaccurate user location information (ULI). Our simulation
results show that, the proposed techniques achieve an up to 30% higher coverage
probability when users are not distributed uniformly. In addition, the proposed
simultaneous deployment techniques, especially the one using iterative
algorithm improve power-efficiency by up to 15% compared to the benchmark
circle packing theory
Post-peak ICT: graceful degradation for communication networks in an energy constrained future
In recent years, rising energy prices and increasing environmental concerns have boosted research in the so called green ICT and green networking research tracks, aimed at improving the energy efficiency of communications while still offering maximal functionality. In this article we explore a future scenario in which low power networking is no longer optional, but instead becomes a necessity due to fluctuating energy availability. The contribution of this work is twofold. First, we argue why a so called post-peak future scenario, in which we can no longer rely on fossil fuels as our main resource for electricity production, is not unlikely, and what it might entail. Second, we explore the consequences of such a scenario for ICT: How well can current and future infrastructures cope with temporary energy limitations? As an illustration, we present a case study showing the impact of reduced energy availability on a wireless access network
Mathematics and Morphogenesis of the City: A Geometrical Approach
Cities are living organisms. They are out of equilibrium, open systems that
never stop developing and sometimes die. The local geography can be compared to
a shell constraining its development. In brief, a city's current layout is a
step in a running morphogenesis process. Thus cities display a huge diversity
of shapes and none of traditional models from random graphs, complex networks
theory or stochastic geometry takes into account geometrical, functional and
dynamical aspects of a city in the same framework. We present here a global
mathematical model dedicated to cities that permits describing, manipulating
and explaining cities' overall shape and layout of their street systems. This
street-based framework conciliates the topological and geometrical sides of the
problem. From the static analysis of several French towns (topology of first
and second order, anisotropy, streets scaling) we make the hypothesis that the
development of a city follows a logic of division / extension of space. We
propose a dynamical model that mimics this logic and which from simple general
rules and a few parameters succeeds in generating a large diversity of cities
and in reproducing the general features the static analysis has pointed out.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figure
An indoor variance-based localization technique utilizing the UWB estimation of geometrical propagation parameters
A novel localization framework is presented based on ultra-wideband (UWB) channel sounding, employing a triangulation method using the geometrical properties of propagation paths, such as time delay of arrival, angle of departure, angle of arrival, and their estimated variances. In order to extract these parameters from the UWB sounding data, an extension to the high-resolution RiMAX algorithm was developed, facilitating the analysis of these frequency-dependent multipath parameters. This framework was then tested by performing indoor measurements with a vector network analyzer and virtual antenna arrays. The estimated means and variances of these geometrical parameters were utilized to generate multiple sample sets of input values for our localization framework. Next to that, we consider the existence of multiple possible target locations, which were subsequently clustered using a Kim-Parks algorithm, resulting in a more robust estimation of each target node. Measurements reveal that our newly proposed technique achieves an average accuracy of 0.26, 0.28, and 0.90 m in line-of-sight (LoS), obstructed-LoS, and non-LoS scenarios, respectively, and this with only one single beacon node. Moreover, utilizing the estimated variances of the multipath parameters proved to enhance the location estimation significantly compared to only utilizing their estimated mean values
Quantum effects from a purely geometrical relativity theory
A purely geometrical relativity theory results from a construction that
produces from three-dimensional space a happy unification of Kaluza's
five-dimensional theory and Weyl's conformal theory. The theory can provide
geometrical explanations for the following observed phenomena, among others:
(a) lifetimes of elementary particles of lengths inversely proportional to
their rest masses; (b) the equality of charge magnitude among all charged
particles interacting at an event; (c) the propensity of electrons in atoms to
be seen in discretely spaced orbits; and (d) `quantum jumps' between those
orbits. This suggests the possibility that the theory can provide a
deterministic underpinning of quantum mechanics like that provided to
thermodynamics by the molecular theory of gases.Comment: 7 pages, LaTeX jpconf.cls (Institute of Physics Publishing), 6
Encapsulated PostScript figures (Fig. 6 is 1.8M uncompressed); Presented at
VI Mexican School on Gravitation and Mathematical Physics "Approaches to
Quantum Gravity
Modelling of the gravity compensators in robotic manufacturing cells
The paper deals with the modeling and identification of the gravity
compensators used in heavy industrial robots. The main attention is paid to the
geometrical parameters identification and calibration accuracy. To reduce
impact of the measurement errors, the design of calibration experiments is
used. The advantages of the developed technique are illustrated by experimental
result
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