Space station group activities habitability module study: A synopsis

Space station habitability was studied by investigating crew activity routines, proximities, ergonomic envelopes, and group volumes. Ten alternative schematic interior designs were proposed. Preliminary conclusions include: (1) in-service interior modifications may be necessary and should be planned for; (2) design complexity will be increased if the module cluster is reduced from five to three; (3) the increased crew circulation attendant upon enhancement of space station activity may produce human traffic bottlenecks and should be planned for; (4) a single- or two-person quiet area may be desirable to provide crew members with needed solitude during waking hours; and (5) the decision to choose a two-shift or three-shift daily cycle will have a significant impact on the design configuration and operational efficiency of the human habitat

Automated Markerless Extraction of Walking People Using Deformable Contour Models

We develop a new automated markerless motion capture system for the analysis of walking people. We employ global evidence gathering techniques guided by biomechanical analysis to robustly extract articulated motion. This forms a basis for new deformable contour models, using local image cues to capture shape and motion at a more detailed level. We extend the greedy snake formulation to include temporal constraints and occlusion modelling, increasing the capability of this technique when dealing with cluttered and self-occluding extraction targets. This approach is evaluated on a large database of indoor and outdoor video data, demonstrating fast and autonomous motion capture for walking people

Unsteady three-dimensional simulation of VTOL upwash fountain turbulence

Numerical simulations of a planar turbulent wall jet and a planar VTOL upwash fountain were performed. These are three dimensional simulations which resolve large scale unsteady motions in the flows. The wall jet simulation shows good agreement with experimental data and is presented to verify the simulation methodology. Simulation of the upwash fountain predicts elevated shear stress and a half velocity width spreading rate of 33% which agrees well with experiment. Turbulence mechanisms which contribute to the enhanced spreading rate are examined

Vertical regolith shield wall construction for lunar base applications

Lunar bases located on the lunar surface will require permanent protection from radiation and launch ejecta. This paper outlines a method of providing physical protection using lunar regolith that is constructed in situ as a modular vertical wall using specially devised methods of containment and construction. Deployable compartments, reinforced with corner struts, are elevated and filled by a moving gantry. The compartments interlock to form a stable wall. Different wall heights, thicknesses, and plan configurations are achieved by varying the geometry of the individual compartments, which are made from woven carbon fibers. Conventional terrestrial structural engineering techniques can be modified and used to establish the structural integrity and performance of the wall assembly

On Using Physical Analogies for Feature and Shape Extraction in Computer Vision

There is a rich literature of approaches to image feature extraction in computer vision. Many sophisticated approaches exist for low- and high-level feature extraction but can be complex to implement with parameter choice guided by experimentation, but impeded by speed of computation. We have developed new ways to extract features based on notional use of physical paradigms, with parameterisation that is more familiar to a scientifically-trained user, aiming to make best use of computational resource. We describe how analogies based on gravitational force can be used for low-level analysis, whilst analogies of water flow and heat can be deployed to achieve high-level smooth shape detection. These new approaches to arbitrary shape extraction are compared with standard state-of-art approaches by curve evolution. There is no comparator operator to our use of gravitational force. We also aim to show that the implementation is consistent with the original motivations for these techniques and so contend that the exploration of physical paradigms offers a promising new avenue for new approaches to feature extraction in computer vision

On Using Physical Analogies for Feature and Shape Extraction in Computer Vision

There is a rich literature of approaches to image feature extraction in computer vision. Many sophisticated approaches exist for low- and for high-level feature extraction but can be complex to implement with parameter choice guided by experimentation, but with performance analysis and optimization impeded by speed of computation. We have developed new feature extraction techniques on notional use of physical paradigms, with parametrization aimed to be more familiar to a scientifically trained user, aiming to make best use of computational resource. This paper is the first unified description of these new approaches, outlining the basis and results that can be achieved. We describe how gravitational force can be used for low-level analysis, while analogies of water flow and heat can be deployed to achieve high-level smooth shape detection, by determining features and shapes in a selection of images, comparing results with those by stock approaches from the literature. We also aim to show that the implementation is consistent with the original motivations for these techniques and so contend that the exploration of physical paradigms offers a promising new avenue for new approaches to feature extraction in computer vision

Force field feature extraction for ear biometrics

The overall objective in defining feature space is to reduce the dimensionality of the original pattern space, whilst maintaining discriminatory power for classification. To meet this objective in the context of ear biometrics a new force field transformation treats the image as an array of mutually attracting particles that act as the source of a Gaussian force field. Underlying the force field there is a scalar potential energy field, which in the case of an ear takes the form of a smooth surface that resembles a small mountain with a number of peaks joined by ridges. The peaks correspond to potential energy wells and to extend the analogy the ridges correspond to potential energy channels. Since the transform also turns out to be invertible, and since the surface is otherwise smooth, information theory suggests that much of the information is transferred to these features, thus confirming their efficacy. We previously described how field line feature extraction, using an algorithm similar to gradient descent, exploits the directional properties of the force field to automatically locate these channels and wells, which then form the basis of characteristic ear features. We now show how an analysis of the mechanism of this algorithmic approach leads to a closed analytical description based on the divergence of force direction, which reveals that channels and wells are really manifestations of the same phenomenon. We further show that this new operator, with its own distinct advantages, has a striking similarity to the Marr-Hildreth operator, but with the important difference that it is non-linear. As well as addressing faster implementation, invertibility, and brightness sensitivity, the technique is also validated by performing recognition on a database of ears selected from the XM2VTS face database, and by comparing the results with the more established technique of Principal Components Analysis. This confirms not only that ears do indeed appear to have potential as a biometric, but also that the new approach is well suited to their description, being robust especially in the presence of noise, and having the advantage that the ear does not need to be explicitly extracted from the background