137,807 research outputs found
SO(3)-invariant asymptotic observers for dense depth field estimation based on visual data and known camera motion
In this paper, we use known camera motion associated to a video sequence of a
static scene in order to estimate and incrementally refine the surrounding
depth field. We exploit the SO(3)-invariance of brightness and depth fields
dynamics to customize standard image processing techniques. Inspired by the
Horn-Schunck method, we propose a SO(3)-invariant cost to estimate the depth
field. At each time step, this provides a diffusion equation on the unit
Riemannian sphere that is numerically solved to obtain a real time depth field
estimation of the entire field of view. Two asymptotic observers are derived
from the governing equations of dynamics, respectively based on optical flow
and depth estimations: implemented on noisy sequences of synthetic images as
well as on real data, they perform a more robust and accurate depth estimation.
This approach is complementary to most methods employing state observers for
range estimation, which uniquely concern single or isolated feature points.Comment: Submitte
Intrinsic Dynamic Shape Prior for Fast, Sequential and Dense Non-Rigid Structure from Motion with Detection of Temporally-Disjoint Rigidity
While dense non-rigid structure from motion (NRSfM) has been extensively studied from the perspective of the reconstructability problem over the recent years, almost no attempts have been undertaken to bring it into the practical realm. The reasons for the slow dissemination are the severe ill-posedness, high sensitivity to motion and deformation cues and the difficulty to obtain reliable point tracks in the vast majority of practical scenarios. To fill this gap, we propose a hybrid approach that extracts prior shape knowledge from an input sequence with NRSfM and uses it as a dynamic shape prior for sequential surface recovery in scenarios with recurrence. Our Dynamic Shape Prior Reconstruction (DSPR) method can be combined with existing dense NRSfM techniques while its energy functional is optimised with stochastic gradient descent at real-time rates for new incoming point tracks. The proposed versatile framework with a new core NRSfM approach outperforms several other methods in the ability to handle inaccurate and noisy point tracks, provided we have access to a representative (in terms of the deformation variety) image sequence. Comprehensive experiments highlight convergence properties and the accuracy of DSPR under different disturbing effects. We also perform a joint study of tracking and reconstruction and show applications to shape compression and heart reconstruction under occlusions. We achieve state-of-the-art metrics (accuracy and compression ratios) in different scenarios
Visual Servoing from Deep Neural Networks
We present a deep neural network-based method to perform high-precision,
robust and real-time 6 DOF visual servoing. The paper describes how to create a
dataset simulating various perturbations (occlusions and lighting conditions)
from a single real-world image of the scene. A convolutional neural network is
fine-tuned using this dataset to estimate the relative pose between two images
of the same scene. The output of the network is then employed in a visual
servoing control scheme. The method converges robustly even in difficult
real-world settings with strong lighting variations and occlusions.A
positioning error of less than one millimeter is obtained in experiments with a
6 DOF robot.Comment: fixed authors lis
Efficiency Analysis of Swarm Intelligence and Randomization Techniques
Swarm intelligence has becoming a powerful technique in solving design and
scheduling tasks. Metaheuristic algorithms are an integrated part of this
paradigm, and particle swarm optimization is often viewed as an important
landmark. The outstanding performance and efficiency of swarm-based algorithms
inspired many new developments, though mathematical understanding of
metaheuristics remains partly a mystery. In contrast to the classic
deterministic algorithms, metaheuristics such as PSO always use some form of
randomness, and such randomization now employs various techniques. This paper
intends to review and analyze some of the convergence and efficiency associated
with metaheuristics such as firefly algorithm, random walks, and L\'evy
flights. We will discuss how these techniques are used and their implications
for further research.Comment: 10 pages. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with
arXiv:1212.0220, arXiv:1208.0527, arXiv:1003.146
COORDINATION OF LEADER-FOLLOWER MULTI-AGENT SYSTEM WITH TIME-VARYING OBJECTIVE FUNCTION
This thesis aims to introduce a new framework for the distributed control of multi-agent systems with adjustable swarm control objectives. Our goal is twofold: 1) to provide an overview to how time-varying objectives in the control of autonomous systems may be applied to the distributed control of multi-agent systems with variable autonomy level, and 2) to introduce a framework to incorporate the proposed concept to fundamental swarm behaviors such as aggregation and leader tracking. Leader-follower multi-agent systems are considered in this study, and a general form of time-dependent artificial potential function is proposed to describe the varying objectives of the system in the case of complete information exchange. Using Lyapunov methods, the stability and boundedness of the agents\u27 trajectories under single order and higher order dynamics are analyzed. Illustrative numerical simulations are presented to demonstrate the validity of our results. Then, we extend these results for multi-agent systems with limited information exchange and switching communication topology. The first steps of the realization of an experimental framework have been made with the ultimate goal of verifying the simulation results in practice
Classical Radiation Reaction in Particle-In-Cell Simulations
Under the presence of ultra high intensity lasers or other intense
electromagnetic fields the motion of particles in the ultrarelativistic regime
can be severely affected by radiation reaction. The standard particle-in-cell
(PIC) algorithms do not include radiation reaction effects. Even though this is
a well known mechanism, there is not yet a definite algorithm nor a standard
technique to include radiation reaction in PIC codes. We have compared several
models for the calculation of the radiation reaction force, with the goal of
implementing an algorithm for classical radiation reaction in the Osiris
framework, a state-of-the-art PIC code. The results of the different models are
compared with standard analytical results, and the relevance/advantages of each
model are discussed. Numerical issues relevant to PIC codes such as resolution
requirements, application of radiation reaction to macro particles and
computational cost are also addressed. The Landau and Lifshitz reduced model is
chosen for implementation.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure
A framework for modelling linear surface waves on shear currents in slowly varying waters
We present a theoretical and numerical framework -- which we dub the Direct
Integration Method (DIM) -- for simple, efficient and accurate evaluation of
surface wave models allowing presence of a current of arbitrary depth
dependence, and where bathymetry and ambient currents may vary slowly in
horizontal directions. On horizontally constant water depth and shear current
the DIM numerically evaluates the dispersion relation of linear surface waves
to arbitrary accuracy, and we argue that for this purpose it is superior to two
existing numerical procedures: the piecewise-linear approximation and a method
due to \textit{Dong \& Kirby} [2012]. The DIM moreover yields the full
linearized flow field at little extra cost. We implement the DIM numerically
with iterations of standard numerical methods. The wide applicability of the
DIM in an oceanographic setting in four aspects is shown. Firstly, we show how
the DIM allows practical implementation of the wave action conservation
equation recently derived by \textit{Quinn et al.} [2017]. Secondly, we
demonstrate how the DIM handles with ease cases where existing methods
struggle, i.e.\ velocity profiles changing direction with
vertical coordinate , and strongly sheared profiles. Thirdly, we use the DIM
to calculate and analyse the full linear flow field beneath a 2D ring wave upon
a near--surface wind--driven exponential shear current, revealing striking
qualitative differences compared to no shear. Finally we demonstrate that the
DIM can be a real competitor to analytical dispersion relation approximations
such as that of \textit{Kirby \& Chen} [1989] even for wave/ocean modelling.Comment: 25 pages, 8 figures, 1 table, submitted to J. Geophys. Res.: Ocean
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