Block-Matching Optical Flow for Dynamic Vision Sensor- Algorithm and FPGA Implementation

Rapid and low power computation of optical flow (OF) is potentially useful in robotics. The dynamic vision sensor (DVS) event camera produces quick and sparse output, and has high dynamic range, but conventional OF algorithms are frame-based and cannot be directly used with event-based cameras. Previous DVS OF methods do not work well with dense textured input and are designed for implementation in logic circuits. This paper proposes a new block-matching based DVS OF algorithm which is inspired by motion estimation methods used for MPEG video compression. The algorithm was implemented both in software and on FPGA. For each event, it computes the motion direction as one of 9 directions. The speed of the motion is set by the sample interval. Results show that the Average Angular Error can be improved by 30\% compared with previous methods. The OF can be calculated on FPGA with 50\,MHz clock in 0.2\,us per event (11 clock cycles), 20 times faster than a Java software implementation running on a desktop PC. Sample data is shown that the method works on scenes dominated by edges, sparse features, and dense texture.Comment: Published in ISCAS 201

Global Migration - Immigration - Multiethnicity: Challenges to the Concept of the Nation-State

Professor Delbriick begins his article by briefly discussing the history and development of the nation-state, and then examines how changes in the political and social environment, often international and cross-cultural in nature, have altered the traditional notion of the nation-state. He argues that the modern form of the State should be based on the concept of the Open Republic, rather than on that of the traditional closed, self-centered, and self-reliant nation-state. Professor Delbriick demands that his concept of an Open Republic first be grounded in the form of a republican State-a constitutional government involving the democratic participation of all citizens and a marketplace of ideas. He focuses on a republic geared in nature and character toward an openness to accepting and assimilating citizens of different ethnic, religious, or cultural backgrounds, with equal rights for those diverse citizens. He concludes that such an Open Republic is suited to preserving a national public interest, while at the same time meeting the global challenges of the present and future

Global Migration - Immigration - Multiethnicity: Challenges to the Concept of the Nation-State

Professor Delbriick begins his article by briefly discussing the history and development of the nation-state, and then examines how changes in the political and social environment, often international and cross-cultural in nature, have altered the traditional notion of the nation-state. He argues that the modern form of the State should be based on the concept of the Open Republic, rather than on that of the traditional closed, self-centered, and self-reliant nation-state. Professor Delbriick demands that his concept of an Open Republic first be grounded in the form of a republican State-a constitutional government involving the democratic participation of all citizens and a marketplace of ideas. He focuses on a republic geared in nature and character toward an openness to accepting and assimilating citizens of different ethnic, religious, or cultural backgrounds, with equal rights for those diverse citizens. He concludes that such an Open Republic is suited to preserving a national public interest, while at the same time meeting the global challenges of the present and future

A 5 Meps $100 USB2.0 Address-Event Monitor-Sequencer Interface

This paper describes a high-speed USB2.0 Address- Event Representation (AER) interface that allows simultaneous monitoring and sequencing of precisely timed AER data. This low-cost (<$100), two chip, bus powered interface can achieve sustained AER event rates of 5 megaevents per second (Meps). Several boards can be electrically synchronized, allowing simultaneous synchronized capture from multiple devices. It has three AER ports, one for sequencing, one for monitoring and one for passing through the monitored events. This paper also describes the host software infrastructure that makes the board usable for a heterogeneous mixture of AER devices and that allows recording and playback of recorded data