Robust Stabilised Visual Tracker for Vehicle Tracking

Visual tracking is performed in a stabilised video. If the input video to the tracker algorithm is itself destabilised, incorrect motion vectors will cause a serious drift in tracking. Therefore video stabilisation is must before tracking. A novel algorithm is developed which simultaneously takes care of video stabilisation and target tracking. Target templates in just previous frame are stored in positive and negative repositories followed by Affine mapping. Then optimised affine parameters are used to stabilise the video. Target of interest in the next frame is approximated using linear combinations of previous target templates. Proposed modified L1 minimisation method is used to solve sparse representation of target in the target template subspace. Occlusion problem is minimised using the inherent energy of coefficients. Accurate tracking results have been obtained in destabilised videos

Investigation of airfoil design

In this project titled “Investigation of airfoil design” an effort has been made to make a detailed study on lift and drag coefficient of various airfoil sections. Airfoil is an important part of any airplane structure whether it may be passenger planes, jet planes or helicopters. The airfoils decide whether the lift force is sufficient to balance the weight of the plane or not and how much drag force is being applied on the plane. Airfoils are basically divided into two categories, I have tried to differentiate between the two types i.e Symmetrical and Asymmetrical airoils on the basis of their lift and drag coefficient’s variation with angle of attack, stall angle of attack and magnitude of the coefficients. I have also modelled three commonly used airfoil sections namely BOEING737, MIG21 and BELL 200XV which are of passenger, jet and helicopters respectively and tried to study their lift and drag coefficients and the lift forc

Efficient Embedded Hardware Architecture for Stabilised Tracking Sighting System of Armoured Fighting Vehicles

A line-of-sight stabilised sighting system, capable of target tracking and video stabilisation is a prime requirement of any armoured fighting tank vehicle for military surveillance and weapon firing. Typically, such sighting systems have three prime electro-optical sensors i.e. day camera for viewing in day conditions, thermal camera for night viewing and eye-safe laser range finder for obtaining the target range. For laser guided missile firing, additional laser target designator may be a part of sighting system. This sighting system provides necessary parameters for the fire control computer to compute ballistic offsets to fire conventional ammunition or fire missile. System demands simultaneous interactions with electro-optical sensors, servo sensors, actuators, multi-function display for man-machine interface, fire control computer, logic controller and other sub-systems of tank. Therefore, a complex embedded electronics hardware is needed to respond in real time for such system. An efficient electronics embedded hardware architecture is presented here for the development of this type of sighting system. This hardware has been developed around SHARC 21369 processor and FPGA. A performance evaluation scheme is also presented for this sighting system based on the developed hardware

Accurate Tracking of Manoeuvring Target using Scale Estimation and Detection

Camera zoom operation and fast approaching/receding target causes scaling of acquired target in video frames. Fast moving target manifests in large inter-frame motion. In general, non-uniform background degrades performance of tracking algorithms. Fast Fourier transform (FFT)-based Correlation algorithms improve tracking in this scenario, but their applications is limited to small inter-frame motion. Increasing search region has implication on execution speed of the algorithms. Rapid target scaling, non-uniform background and large inter-frame motion of target hinder accurate and long term visual tracking. These challenges have been addressed for extended target tracking by augmenting fast discriminative scale space tracking (fDSST) algorithm with probable target location prediction and target detection. Localisation of fast motion has been achieved by applying fused outputs of Kalman filter and quadratic regression based prediction before applying fDSST. It has helped in accurate localisation of fast motion without increasing search region. In each frame, target location and size have been estimated using fDSST and further refined by target detection near this location. Smoothing and limiting of trajectory and size of detected target has enhanced tracking performance. Experimental results show considerable improvement of precision, success rate and centre location error tracking performance against state-of-the-art trackers in stringent conditions

Synthesis, Characterization, and Magnetic Studies of α

Very fine nanosized metal oxide, namely, iron oxide (α-Fe2O3) has been synthesized by precipitation method using ammonia as precipitating agent and characterized by using XRD (X-ray diffraction), TGA/DTA, surface area measurement, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and magnetic measurements techniques. XRD studies show that iron oxide was formed as α-Fe2O3 instead of the commonly formed magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4) or a mixture of magnetite (Fe3O4) and maghemite (γ-Fe2O3, cubic), and it has rhombohedral structure. Magnetic measurements showed that iron oxide has five unpaired electrons and is ferromagnetic in nature, Ms value being 1.7 emu/g. The particle size of the synthesized iron oxide was determined by TEM. TEM images show that the size of particles of Fe2O3 varied from 15 nm to 49 nm with average crystallite size 35 nm

Trends in Sighting Systems for Combat Vehicles

Search and tracking in dynamic condition, rapid re-targeting, precision pointing and long range engagement in day and night condition are core requisite of stabilised sighting systems used for combat vehicles. Complex battle field requires integrated fire control system with stabilised sighting system as its main constituent. It facilitates quick reaction to fire control system and provides vital edge in the battlefield scenario. Precision gimbal design, optics design, embedded engineering, control system, electro-optical sensors, target detection and tracking, panorama generation, auto-alerting, digital image stabilisation, image fusion and integration are important aspects of sighting system development. In this paper, design considerations for a state of art stabilised sighting system have been presented including laboratory and field evaluation methods for such systems

Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Lactobacillus on Carrageenan-Induced Paw Edema in Male Wistar Rats

Introduction. Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus acidophilus were used to assess the anti-inflammatory properties in carrageenan induced acute inflammatory model. Materials and Methods. Diclofenac sodium was used as standard drug at concentration of 150 mg/kg of body weight. Culture of Lactobacillus  2 × 107 CFU/ml was given orally. Edema was induced with 1% carrageenan to all the groups after one hour of the oral treatments. Paw thickness was checked at t = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 24 hours. Stair climbing score and motility score were assessed at t = 24 hours. Cytokines assay for IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-α was performed on serum samples. Results. Lactobacillus showed a statistically significant decrease in paw thickness at P < 0.001. L. acidophilus and L. casei decreased by 32% and 28% in paw thickness. They both significantly increased the stair climbing and motility score. Lactobacillus treatment significantly downregulated IL-6 and TNF-α while upregulated IL-10 at P < 0.0001. Conclusion. L. casei and L. acidophilus significantly decreased the inflammatory reactions induced by carrageenan. This study has also proposed that Lactobacillus ameliorated the inflammatory reaction by downregulating the proinflammatory cytokines pathway

FORMULATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF MICROBALLOONS OF NORFLOXACIN

The present study involves preparation and evaluation of floating microballoons of norfloxacin for improving the bioavailability by prolongation of gastric residence time. norfloxacin, a sparingly water soluble drug, was selected and microballoons were prepared by emulsion solvent diffusion method using Eudragit L-100 and Eudragit RS-100 in ethyl alcohol and dichloromethane organic solvent system. The formation of a sphere and hollow within the sphere was confirmed through SEM studies. The percentage of drug entrapment and recovery was found to be 75- 80%. The micromeritic properties indicated better flowability and packability of the spheres. The Buoyancy test showed good floatability of norfloxacin microballoons in the simulated gastric fluid for more than 12 h. In vitro dissolution profile showed prolonged release of drug from the formulations. Thus microballoons of norfloxacin with acrylic polymers prepared by emulsion solvent diffusion proves to be an ideal novel floating dosage form that is adaptable to any intragastric condition for controlled drug delivery and enhanced bioavailability.Keywords: norfloxacin, hollow microspheres, acrylic polymers, evaluatio

Ayurvedic management of Myositis Ossificans of Vastus Lateralis Muscle (Urusthamba) - A Case Study

Myositis ossificansis characterized by heterotopic ossification (calcification) of muscle of various etiologies. It is most commonly affected in the quadriceps of the thighs. There are many tools available for diagnosis of Myositis ossificans, but lack of satisfactory treatment. So the development of a treatment protocol for Myositis ossificans is the need of today`s era. In Ayurveda, the same can be understood as Urusthamba. The present paper discusses a case of Myositis ossificans of right vastus lateralis muscle and its Ayurvedic treatment