Behavior interpretation from traffic video streams

Copyright © 2003 IEEEThis paper considers video surveillance research applied to traffic video streams. We present a framework for analyzing and recognizing different possible behaviors from image sequences acquired from a fixed camera. Two types of interactions have been mainly considered. In one there is interaction between two or more mobile objects in the field of view (FOV) of the camera. The other is interaction between a mobile object and static objects in the environment. The framework is based on two types of a priori knowledge: (1) the contextual knowledge of the camera's FOV, in terms of the description of the different static objects of the scene and (2) sets of predefined behaviors which need to be analyzed in different contexts. At present the system is designed to recognize behavior from stored videos and retrieve the frames in which the specific behaviors took place. We demonstrate successful behavior recognition results for pedestrian-vehicle interaction and vehicle-checkpost interactions

Bayesian network based computer vision algorithm for traffic monitoring using video

This paper presents a novel approach to estimating the 3D velocity of vehicles from video. Here we propose using a Bayesian Network to classify objects into pedestrians and different types of vehicles, using 2D features extracted from the video taken from a stationary camera. The classification allows us to estimate an approximate 3D model for the different classes. The height information is then used with the image co-ordinates of the object and the camera's perspective projection matrix to estimate the objects 3D world co-ordinates and hence its 3D velocity. Accurate velocity and acceleration estimates are both very useful parameters in traffic monitoring systems. We show results of highly accurate classification and measurement of vehicle's motion from real life traffic video streams.Kumar, P.; Ranganath, S.; Weimin, H

The evolution of the earth observation system in India

The Indian Earth Observations Programme has been applications- driven and national development has been its prime motivation. From the experimental satellite Bhaskara-I launched in 1979 to the recent Cartosat-2B launched in July 2010, India's Earth Observations capability has increased manifold. The Enhancement in observation capabilities are not only in spatial, spectral, temporal and radiometric resolutions, but also in their coverage and value-added products. The sensors built over this period provide observations over land, atmosphere and oceans in visible, infrared, thermal and microwave regions of the electro magnetic spectrum. Earth Observation data has been extensively used in inventories, monitoring and conservation plans of various natural resources of the country for societal benefits. An institutional mechanism for the absorption of technology at different levels of governance in the country has been built through the concept of the National Natural Resources Management System. The Establishment of various centres/institutions in different states, central agencies as well as academic and research institutions has helped capacity building in the area of remote sensing technology and applications programmes. The paper reviews the evolution of the Earth Observation System in the country in the last three decades and briefly discusses future directions

Climate change studies using space based observation

Climate change is associated with earth radiation budget that depends upon incoming solar radiation, surface albedo and radiative forcing by greenhouse gases. Human activities are contributing to climate change by causing changes in Earth's atmosphere (greenhouse gases, aerosols) and biosphere (deforestation, urbanization, irrigation). Long term and precise measurements from calibrated global observation constellation is a vital component in climate system modelling. Space based records of biosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere over more than three decades are providing important information on climate change. Space observations are an important source of climate variables due to multi scale simultaneous observation (local, regional, and global scales) capability with temporal revisit in tune with requirements of land, ocean and atmospheric processes. Essential climatic variables that can be measured from space include atmosphere (upper air temperature, water vapour, precipitation, clouds, aerosols, GHGs etc.), ocean (sea ice, sea level, SST, salinity, ocean colour etc.) and land (snow, glacier, albedo, biomass, LAI/fAPAR, soil moisture etc.). India's Earth Observation Programme addresses various aspects of land, ocean and atmospheric applications. The present and planned missions such as Resourcesat-1, Oceansat-2, RISAT, Megha-Tropiques, INSAT-3D, SARAL, Resourcesat-2, Geo-HR Imager and series of Environmental satellites (I-STAG) would help in understanding the issues related to climate changes. The paper reviews observational needs, space observation systems and studies that have been carried out at ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) towards mapping/detecting the indicators of climate change, monitoring the agents of climate change and understanding the impact of climate change, in national perspectives. Studies to assess glacier retreat, changes in polar ice cover, timberline change and coral bleaching are being carried out towards monitoring of climate change indicators. Spatial methane inventories from paddy rice, livestock and wetlands have been prepared and seasonal pattern of CO2, and CO have been analysed. Future challenges in space observations include design and placement of adequate and accurate multi-platform observational systems to monitor all parameters related to various interaction processes and generation of long term calibrated climate data records pertaining to land ocean and atmosphere

Space observation for climate change studies

Climate change is associated with earth radiation budget that depends upon in-comming solar radiation, surface albedo and radiative forcing by green house gases. Human activities are contributing to climate change by causing changes in Earth's atmosphere (greenhouse gases, aerosols) and biosphere (deforestation, urbanization, irrigation). Long term and precise measurements from calibrated global observation constellation is a vital component in climate system modelling. Space based records of biosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere over more than three decades are providing important information on climate change. Space observations are an important source of climate variables due to multi scale simultaneous observation (local, regional, global) capability with temporal revisit in tune with requirements of land, ocean and atmospheric processes. Essential climatic variables that can be measured from space include atmosphere (upper air temperature, water vapour, precipitation, clouds, aerosols & GHGs etc.), ocean (sea ice, sea level, SST, salinity, ocean colour etc.) and land (snow, glacier, albedo, biomass, LAI/fAPAR, soil moisture etc.). India's Earth Observation Programme addresses various aspects of land, ocean and atmospheric applications. The present and planned missions such as Resourcesat-1, Oceansat-2, RISAT, Megha-Tropiques, INSAT-3D, SARAL, Resourcesat-2, Geo-HR Imager and I-STAG would help in understanding the issues related to climate changes. The paper reviews observational needs, space observation systems and studies that have been carried out at ISRO towards mapping/ detecting the indicators of climate change, monitoring the agents of climate change and understanding the impact of climate change, in national perspectives. Studies to assess glacier retreat, changes in polar ice cover, timberline change and coral bleaching are being carried out towards monitoring of climate change indicators. Spatial methane inventories from paddy rice, livestock and wetlands have been prepared and seasonal pattern of CO2, and CO have been analysed. Future challenges in space observations include design and placement of adequate and accurate multi-platform observational system to monitor all parameters related to various interaction processes and generation of long term calibrated climate data records pertaining to land ocean and atmosphere

Framework for real time behavior interpretation from traffic video

© 2005 IEEE.Video-based surveillance systems have a wide range of applications for traffic monitoring, as they provide more information as compared to other sensors. In this paper, we present a rule-based framework for behavior and activity detection in traffic videos obtained from stationary video cameras. Moving targets are segmented from the images and tracked in real time. These are classified into different categories using a novel Bayesian network approach, which makes use of image features and image-sequence- based tracking results for robust classification. Tracking and classification results are used in a programmed context to analyze behavior. For behavior recognition, two types of interactions have mainly been considered. One is interaction between two or more mobile targets in the field of view (FoV) of the camera. The other is interaction between targets and stationary objects in the environment. The framework is based on two types of a priori information: 1) the contextual information of the camera’s FoV, in terms of the different stationary objects in the scene and 2) sets of predefined behavior scenarios, which need to be analyzed in different contexts. The system can recognize behavior from videos and give a lexical output of the detected behavior. It also is capable of handling uncertainties that arise due to errors in visual signal processing. We demonstrate successful behavior recognition results for pedestrian– vehicle interaction and vehicle–checkpost interactions.Kumar, P.; Ranganath, S.; Huang Weimin; Sengupta, K

Cooperative multitarget tracking with efficient split and merge handling

Copyright © 2006 IEEEFor applications such as behavior recognition it is important to maintain the identity of multiple targets, while tracking them in the presence of splits and merges, or occlusion of the targets by background obstacles. Here we propose an algorithm to handle multiple splits and merges of objects based on dynamic programming and a new geometric shape matching measure. We then cooperatively combine Kalman filter-based motion and shape tracking with the efficient and novel geometric shape matching algorithm. The system is fully automatic and requires no manual input of any kind for initialization of tracking. The target track initialization problem is formulated as computation of shortest paths in a directed and attributed graph using Dijkstra's shortest path algorithm. This scheme correctly initializes multiple target tracks for tracking even in the presence of clutter and segmentation errors which may occur in detecting a target. We present results on a large number of real world image sequences, where upto 17 objects have been tracked simultaneously in real-time, despite clutter, splits, and merges in measurements of objects. The complete tracking system including segmentation of moving objects works at 25 Hz on 352times288 pixel color image sequences on a 2.8-GHz Pentium-4 workstationPankaj Kumar, Surendra Ranganath, Kuntal Sengupta, and Huang Weimi

Remote sensing applications: an overview

Remote Sensing (RS) refers to the science of identification of earth surface features and estimation of their geo-biophysical properties using electromagnetic radiation as a medium of interaction. Spectral, spatial, temporal and polarization signatures are major characteristics of the sensor/target, which facilitate target discrimination. Earth surface data as seen by the sensors in different wavelengths (reflected, scattered and/or emitted) is radiometrically and geometrically corrected before extraction of spectral information. RS data, with its ability for a synoptic view, repetitive coverage with calibrated sensors to detect changes, observations at different resolutions, provides a better alternative for natural resources management as compared to traditional methods. Indian Earth Observation (EO) programme has been applications-driven and national development has been its prime motivation. From Bhaskara to Cartosat, India's EO capability has increased manifold. Improvements are not only in spatial, spectral, temporal and radiometric resolutions, but also in their coverage and value-added products. Some of the major operational application themes, in which India has extensively used remote sensing data are agriculture, forestry, water resources, land use, urban sprawl, geology, environment, coastal zone, marine resources, snow and glacier, disaster monitoring and mitigation, infrastructure development, etc. The paper reviews RS techniques and applications carried out using both optical and microwave sensors. It also analyses the gap areas and discusses the future perspectives