Fast algorithms for a multidimensional hypercomplex discrete Fourier transform with radix-3 decomposition

Combined algorithms for the multidimensional hypercomplex discrete Fourier transform (HDFT) of a real signal with data representation in the Hamilton-Eisenstein generalized codes are synthesized. The complexity of arithmetic operations in a commutative-associative hypercomplex algebra and its representation in generalized codes are obtained. It is shown that there exist only two essentially different commutative-associative hypercomplex algebras: the direct sums of real or complex algebras. The computational complexity of the algorithm synthesized is estimated. Marat Vyacheslavovich Aliev. Born 1978. Graduated from Adygeya State University in 2000. Received candidate’s degree in physics and mathematics in 2004. Presently he is a senior lecturer at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Information Technologies, Adygeya State University. Scientific interests: image processing, fractals, fast algorithms of discrete transforms, and finite-dimensional algebras. Author of 14 publications, including 7 papers. Member of the Russian Association of Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis. Marina Aleksandrovna Chicheva. Born 1964. Graduated from the Kuibyshev Aviation Institute (now Samara State Aerospace University) in 1987. Received candidate’s degree in Engineering in 1998. Presently, she is a senior researcher at the Image Processing Systems Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences. Scientific interests: image processing, compression, and fast algorithms of discrete transforms. Author of more than 50 publications, including 18 papers and 1 monograph. Member of the Russian Association of Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis.     

Parallel algorithms for a hypercomplex discrete fourier transform

Methods for the parallel computation of a multidimensional hypercomplex discrete Fourier transform (HDFT) are considered. The basic idea consists in the application of the properties of the hypercomplex algebra in which this transform is performed. Additional possibilities for increasing the efficiency of the algorithm are provided by the natural parallelism of the multidimensional Cooley-Tukey scheme. Marat Vyacheslavovich Aliev. Born 1978. Graduated from the Adygeya State University in 2000. Received candidate’s degree in physics and mathematics in 2004. Presently he is a senior lecturer at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Information Technologies, Adygeya State University. Scientific interests: image processing, fractals, fast algorithms of discrete transforms, and finite-dimensional algebras. Author of 14 publications, including 7 papers. Member of the Russian Association of Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis. Aleksandr Mikhailovich Belov. Born 1980. Graduated from the Samara State Aerospace University in 2002. In the same year, he entered postgraduate courses with the specialty 05.13.18: mathematical modeling, numerical methods, and program complexes. Presently he is a postgraduate student at the Department of Geoinformatics, Samara State Aerospace University, and a trainee at the Laboratory of Mathematical Methods of Image Processing, Image Processing Systems Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences. Scientific interests: discrete orthogonal transforms, fast algorithms of discrete orthogonal transforms, and theory of canonical systems of calculus. Author of 13 publications, including 5 papers. Member of the Russian Association of Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis. Aleksei Vladimirovich Ershov. Born 1983. In 2000, he graduated from the Samara Lyceum of Economics and entered the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, Samara State University, to specialize in the field of Organization and Technology of Information Security. In 2001, he started his training within an additional educational program and was qualified as a translator in the field of professional communication. Presently he is a fifth-year student at Samara State University. The title of his diploma work is “Control of the Flows of Confidential Information.” He is an active participant in the translation of the monograph Principia Mathematica, Cambridge University Press, 1927, by A. Whitehead and B. Russell. Author of four publications, including two papers. Marina Aleksandrovna Chicheva. Born 1964. Graduated from the Kuibyshev Aviation Institute (now Samara State Aerospace University) in 1987. Received candidate’s degree in Engineering in 1998. Presently she is a senior researcher at the Image Processing Systems Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences. Scientific interests: image processing, compression, and fast algorithms of discrete transforms. Author of more than 50 publications, including 18 papers and 1 monograph. Member of the Russian Association of Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis.     

Generalized Discrete Radon Transforms and Their Use in the Ridgelet Transform

We introduce and study a new class of Radon transforms in a discrete setting for the purpose of applying them to the ridgelet and curvelet transforms. We give a detailed analysis of the p-adic case and provide a closed-form formula for an inverse of the p-adic Radon transform. We give conditions for a scaled version of the generalized discrete Radon transform to yield a tight frame, and discuss a direct Radon matrix method for the implementation of a local ridgelet transform. We then study the effectiveness of some types of the generalized Radon transforms in reducing a type of noise known as speckle that is present in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery. Flavia Colonna received the M.A. degree and the Ph.D degree in mathematics from the University of Maryland (College Park) in 1980 and 1985, respectively. She was an assistant professor at the University of Bari (Italy) until she joined the faculty of George Mason University in 1986, where she is currently professor of mathematics. Her research interests include discrete harmonic analysis, integral geometry, potential theory, and classical complex function theory. Glenn R. Easley received the B.S. degree (with honors) and the M.A. degree in mathematics from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1993 and 1996, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in computational science and informatics from George Mason University in 2000. Since 2000, he has been working for System Planning Corporation in signal and image processing. His research interests include computational harmonic analysis, wavelet analysis, synthetic aperture radar, deconvolution and computer vision.This revised version was published online in June 2005 with correction to CoverDate     

Blackboard relations in the μLog coordination model

This paper describescoordination relations, that are relations that induce the presence or absence of data on some dataspaces from the presence or absence of other data on other dataspaces. To that end we build upon previous work on the μLog model and show that the coordination relations can be easily incorporated in it. This is achieved, on the one hand, by means of novel auxiliary operations, not classically used in Linda-like languages, and, on the other hand, by a translation technique reducing the extended μLog model to the core model augmented with the auxiliary operations. Among the most significant ones are multiple read and get operations on a blackboard, readall and getall operations, and tests for the absence of data on blackboards. Although simple, the form of coordination relations we propose is quite powerful as evidenced by a few examples including relations coming from the object-oriented paradigm such as inheritance relations. Jean-Marie Jacquet, Ph.D.: He is Professor at the Institute of Informatics at the University of Namur, Belgium, and, at an honorary title, Research Associate of the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research. He obtained a Master in Mathematics from the University of Liège in 1982, a Master in Computer Science from the University of Namur in 1984 and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Namur in 1989. His research interest are in Programming Languages and Coordination models. He has served as a reviewer and program committee member of several conferences. Koen de Bosschere, Ph.D.: He holds the degree of master of Science in Engineering of the Ghent University, and a Ph.D. from the same University. He is currently research associate with the Fund for Scientific Research — Flanders and senior lecturer at the Ghent University, where he teaches courses on computer architecture, operating systems and declarative programming languages. His research interests are coordination in parallel logic programming, computer architecture and systems software.     

Estimating the number of clusters using a windowing technique

Clustering is the process of partitioning a set of patterns into disjoint and homogeneous meaningful groups (clusters). A fundamental and unresolved issue in cluster analysis is to determine how many clusters are present in a given set of patterns. In this paper, we present the z-windows clustering algorithm, which aims to address this problem using a windowing technique. Extensive empirical tests that illustrate the efficiency and the accuracy of the propsoed method are presented. The text was submitted by the authors in English. Basilis Boutsinas. Received his diploma in Computer Engineering and Informatics in 1991 from the University of Patras, Greece. He also conducted studies in Electronics Engineering at the Technical Education Institute of Piraeus, Greece, and Pedagogics at the Pedagogical Academy of Lamia, Greece. He received his PhD on Knowledge Representation from the University of Patras in 1997. He has been an assistant professor in the Department of Business Administration at the University of Patras since 2001. His primary research interests include data mining, business intelligence, knowledge representation techniques, nonmonotonic reasoning, and parallel AI. Dimitris K. Tasoulis received his diploma in Mathematics from the University of Patras, Greece, in 2000. He attained his MSc degree in 2004 from the postgraduate course “Mathematics of Computers and Decision Making” from which he was awarded a postgraduate fellowship. Currently, he is a PhD candidate in the same course. His research activities focus on data mining, clustering, neural networks, parallel algorithms, and evolutionary computation. He is coauthor of more than ten publications. Michael N. Vrahatis is with the Department of Mathematics at the University of Patras, Greece. He received the diploma and PhD degree in Mathematics from the University of Patras in 1978 and 1982, respectively. He was a visiting research fellow at the Department of Mathematics, Cornell University (1987–1988) and a visiting professor to the INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare), Bologna, Italy (1992, 1994, and 1998); the Department of Computer Science, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium (1999); the Department of Ocean Engineering, Design Laboratory, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA (2000); and the Collaborative Research Center “Computational Intelligence” (SFB 531) at the Department of Computer Science, University of Dortmund, Germany (2001). He was a visiting researcher at CERN (European Organization of Nuclear Research), Geneva, Switzerland (1992) and at INRIA (Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique), France (1998, 2003, and 2004). He is the author of more than 250 publications (more than 110 of which are published in international journals) in his research areas, including computational mathematics, optimization, neural networks, evolutionary algorithms, and artificial intelligence. His research publications have received more than 600 citations. He has been a principal investigator of several research grants from the European Union, the Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, and the Hellenic Ministry of Industry, Energy, and Technology. He is among the founders of the “University of Patras Artificial Intelligence Research Center” (UPAIRC), established in 1997, where currently he serves as director. He is the founder of the Computational Intelligence Laboratory (CI Lab), established in 2004 at the Department of Mathematics of University of Patras, where currently he serves as director.     

Pose Estimation in Conformal Geometric Algebra Part II: Real-Time Pose Estimation Using Extended Feature Concepts

Part II uses the foundations of Part I [35] to define constraint equations for 2D-3D pose estimation of different corresponding entities. Most articles on pose estimation concentrate on specific types of correspondences, mostly between points, and only rarely use line correspondences. The first aim of this part is to extend pose estimation scenarios to correspondences of an extended set of geometric entities. In this context we are interested to relate the following (2D) image and (3D) model types: 2D point/3D point, 2D line/3D point, 2D line/3D line, 2D conic/3D circle, 2D conic/3D sphere. Furthermore, to handle articulated objects, we describe kinematic chains in this context in a similar manner. We ensure that all constraint equations end up in a distance measure in the Euclidean space, which is well posed in the context of noisy data. We also discuss the numerical estimation of the pose. We propose to use linearized twist transformations which result in well conditioned and fast solvable systems of equations. The key idea is not to search for the representation of the Lie group, describing the rigid body motion, but for the representation of their generating Lie algebra. This leads to real-time capable algorithms.Bodo Rosenhahn gained his diploma degree in Computer Science in 1999. Since then he has been pursuing his Ph.D. at the Cognitive Systems Group, Institute of Computer Science, Christian-Albrechts University Kiel, Germany. He is working on geometric applications of Clifford algebras in computer vision.Prof. Dr. Gerald Sommer received a diploma degree in physics from the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany, in 1969, a Ph.D. degree in physics from the same university in 1975, and a habilitation degree in engineering from the Technical University Ilmenau, Germany, in 1988. Since 1993 he is leading the research group Cognitive Systems at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Germany. Currently he is also the scientific coordinator of the VISATEC project.     

Stochastic filtering of approximate symmetries in dense packings of clusters

Certain questions concerning the arrangement of optimal dense packings of clusters are considered when simple routine long-term procedures are applied instead of a laborious method of direct solution. A unified approach to searching for hidden symmetries in such packings is proposed that represents a certain combination of the generalized Hough transform and the Purzen windows technique in nonparametric density estimation. All symmetries are sought via the Hough transforms adjusted to certain types of adjacent classes on the SO _N group manifold. Exact symmetries and separate solutions are filtered out by using the ergodic properties of the independent sequential choice procedure. Aleksandr Petrovich Vinogradov. Born 1951. Graduated from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in 1974. Received candidates degree in physics and mathematics in the field of mathematical cybernetics. Scientific interests: pattern recognition, image analysis, application of algebraic and geometric methods to the problems of data analysis. Author of 45 papers. Jan Voracek (1962), graduated from Brno University of Technology (BUT) in 1985. Obtained his MS in Technical Cybernetics in 1985, first PhD in Technical Cybernetics in 1992, and second PhD in Manufacturing Technology in 1996, all from BUT. Since 1997 he has been working as a professor of information technology at the Laboratory of Information Processing, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. Author and coauthor of more than 80 publications. Research interests include pattern recognition, image processing, and international education. Yuri I. Zhuravlev. Born 1935. Graduated from the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, Moscow State University, in 1957. Received his PhD (Kandidat Nauk) degree in 1959 and Doctoral (Doktor Nauk) degree in Physics and Mathematics in 1965. Since 1969, with the Computer Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, first as a Laboratory Head and then as a Deputy Director. Professor at Moscow State University. Full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (since 1992) and of the Academy of Sciences of Spain (since 1993). Scientific interests: mathematical logic; algebra; discrete optimization; pattern recognition; and the use of mathematical and computational methods for solving applied problems of data processing and research automation in industry, medicine, geology, and sociology. Author of more than 170 publications on information technology and applied mathematics. Editor-in-Chief of the journal Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis and a member of the editorial boards of several international and Russian journals on information technology and applied mathematics.     

Pose Estimation in Conformal Geometric Algebra Part I: The Stratification of Mathematical Spaces

2D-3D pose estimation means to estimate the relative position and orientation of a 3D object with respect to a reference camera system. This work has its main focus on the theoretical foundations of the 2D-3D pose estimation problem: We discuss the involved mathematical spaces and their interaction within higher order entities. To cope with the pose problem (how to compare 2D projective image features with 3D Euclidean object features), the principle we propose is to reconstruct image features (e.g. points or lines) to one dimensional higher entities (e.g. 3D projection rays or 3D reconstructed planes) and express constraints in the 3D space. It turns out that the stratification hierarchy [11] introduced by Faugeras is involved in the scenario. But since the stratification hierarchy is based on pure point concepts a new algebraic embedding is required when dealing with higher order entities. The conformal geometric algebra (CGA) [24] is well suited to solve this problem, since it subsumes the involved mathematical spaces. Operators are defined to switch entities between the algebras of the conformal space and its Euclidean and projective subspaces. This leads to another interpretation of the stratification hierarchy, which is not restricted to be based solely on point concepts. This work summarizes the theoretical foundations needed to deal with the pose problem. Therefore it contains mainly basics of Euclidean, projective and conformal geometry. Since especially conformal geometry is not well known in computer science, we recapitulate the mathematical concepts in some detail. We believe that this geometric model is useful also for many other computer vision tasks and has been ignored so far. Applications of these foundations are presented in Part II [36].Bodo Rosenhahn gained his diploma degree in Computer Science in 1999. Since then he has been pursuing his Ph.D. at the Cognitive Systems Group, Institute of Computer Science, Christian-Albrechts University Kiel, Germany. He is working on geometric applications of Clifford algebras in computer vision.Prof. Dr. Gerald Sommer received a diploma degree in physics from the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany, in 1969, a Ph.D. degree in physics from the same university in 1975, and a habilitation degree in engineering from the Technical University Ilmenau, Germany, in 1988. Since 1993 he is leading the research group Cognitive Systems at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Germany. Currently he is also the scientific coordinator of the VISATEC project.     

Combining Seminorms in Adaptive Lifting Schemes and Applications to Image Analysis and Compression

In this paper, we present some adaptive wavelet decompositions that can capture the directional nature of images. Our method exploits the properties of seminorms to build lifting structures able to choose between different update filters, the choice being triggered by the local gradient-type features of the input. In order to deal with the variety and wealth of images, one has to be able to use multiple criteria, giving rise to multiple choice of update filters. We establish the conditions under these decisions can be recovered at synthesis, without the need for transmitting overhead information. Thus, we are able to design invertible and non-redundant schemes that discriminate between different geometrical information to efficiently represent images for lossless compression methods. The work of Piella is supported by a Marie-Curie Intra-European Fellowships within the 6th European Community Framework Programme. Gemma Piella received the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from the Polytechnical University of Catalonia (UPC), Barcelona, Spain, and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in 2003. From 2003 to 2004, she was at UPC as a visiting professor. She then stayed at the Ecole Nationale des Telecommunications, Paris, as a Post-doctoral Fellow. Since September 2005 she is at the Technology Department in the Pompeu Fabra University. Her main research interests include wavelets, geometrical image processing, image fusion and various other aspects of digital image and video processing. Beatrice Pesquet-Popescu received the engineering degree in telecommunications from the “Politehnica” Institute in Bucharest in 1995 and the Ph.D. thesis from the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan in 1998. In 1998 she was a Research and Teaching Assistant at Université Paris XI and in 1999 she joined Philips Research France, where she worked for two years as a research scientist, then project leader, in scalable video coding. Since Oct. 2000 she is an Associate Professor in multimedia at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications (ENST). Her current research interests are in scalable and robust video coding, adaptive wavelets and multimedia applications. EURASIP gave her a “Best Student Paper Award” in the IEEE Signal Processing Workshop on Higher-Order Statistics in 1997, and in 1998 she received a “Young Investigator Award” granted by the French Physical Society. She is a member of IEEE SPS Multimedia Signal Processing (MMSP) Technical Committee and a Senior Member IEEE. She holds 20 patents in wavelet-based video coding and has authored more than 80 book chapters, journal and conference papers in the field. Henk Heijmans received his masters degree in mathematics from the Technical University in Eindhoven and his PhD degree from the University of Amsterdam in 1985. Since then he has been in the Centre for Mathematics and Computer Science, Amsterdam, where he had been directing the “signals and images” research theme. His research interest are focused towards mathematical techniques for image and signal processing, with an emphasis on mathematical morphology and wavelet analysis. Grégoire Pau was born in Toulouse, France in 1977 and received the M.S. degree in Signal Processing in 2000 from Ecole Centrale de Nantes. From 2000 to 2002, he worked as a Research Engineer at Expway where he actively contributed to the standardization of the MPEG-7 binary format. He is currently a PhD candidate in the Signal and Image Processing Departement of ENST-Telecom Paris. His research interests include subband video coding, motion compensated temporal filtering and adaptive non-linear wavelet transforms.     

Improving class separability using extended pixel planes: a comparative study

In this work we explored class separability in feature spaces built on extended representations of pixel planes (EPP) produced using scale pyramid, subband pyramid, and image transforms. The image transforms included Chebyshev, Fourier, wavelets, gradient, and Laplacian; we also utilized transform combinations, including Fourier, Chebyshev, and wavelets of the gradient transform, as well as Fourier of the Laplacian transform. We demonstrate that all three types of EPP promote class separation. We also explored the effect of EPP on suboptimal feature libraries, using only textural features in one case and only Haralick features in another. The effect of EPP was especially clear for these suboptimal libraries, where the transform-based representations were found to increase separability to a greater extent than scale or subband pyramids. EPP can be particularly useful in new applications where optimal features have not yet been developed.     

Evolutionary optimization using graphical models

We have previously shown that a genetic algorithm can be approximated by an evolutionary algorithm using the product of univariate marginal distributions of selected points as search distribution. This algorithm (UMDA) successfully optimizes difficult multi-modal optimization problems. For correlated fitness landscapes more complex factorizations of the search distribution have to be used. These factorizations are used by the Factorized Distribution Algorithm FDA. In this paper we extend FDA to an algorithm which computes a factorization from the data. The factorization can be represented by a Bayesian network. The Bayesian network is used to generate the search points. Heinz Mühlenbein, Ph.D.: He is a research manager at GMD, the German national center for information technology. He obtained his diploma in mathematics from the University of Cologne in 1969, and his Ph.D from the University of Bonn in 1975. He entered GMD in 1969. He has worked on performance analysis of computer systems, computer networks, and massively parallel computers. Since 1988 his research interests are in Natural Computation. He was Visiting Professor at the Universities Paderborn, Bonn, Edinburgh and Carnegie-Mellon University. He has published over 60 research papers. He initiated the international conference series in natural computation PPSN in 1990. From 1993 to 1998 he was responsible European editor of Evolutionary Computation. He is presently on the Editorial Board of Evolutionary Computation, Scientific Computation and Journal of Heuristics. Thilo Mahnig, Ph.D. student: He is working at GMD — German National Research Center for Information Technology in St. Augustin. He obtained his diploma in mathematics from the University of Bonn in differential geometry in 1996. His research interest lies in the theory of population based optimization algorithms. He has co-authored several papers with Heinz Mühlenbein.     

Comparison of the efficiencies of image compression algorithms based on separable and nonseparable two-dimensional Haar wavelet bases

Compression algorithms for digital images are described that are based on nonseparable two-dimensional wavelet transforms on nonrectangular supports. The efficiencies of these algorithms are experimentally investigated and compared with those of a compression algorithm based on a separable Haar wavelet basis. Aleksandr Mikhailovich Belov. Born 1980. Graduated from the Samara State Aerospace University. Received candidate’s degree in physics and mathematics in 2007. Currently is a junior scientist at the Institute of Image Processing, Russian Academy of Sciences. Scientific interests: discrete orthogonal transforms, fast algorithms for discrete orthogonal transforms, and the theory of canonical number systems. Author of 20 publications, including 8 papers. Member of the Russian Pattern Recognition and Image Processing Association.     

Propagators,Tomograms, Wavelets and Quasidistributions for Multipartite Quantum Systems

Integral transforms of analytic signal and quantum-system states like wavelets, tomograms, Ville-Wigner and other quasidistributions are constructed for systems with several degrees of freedom. Mutual relations of the integral transforms are presented. Quantum propagator is interpreted as the kernel of the integral transform. An example of the integral transforms with generic Gaussian kernels is studied. The fractional Fourier transform is discussed.     

The Theory and Use of the Quaternion Wavelet Transform

This paper presents the theory and practicalities of the quaternion wavelet transform (QWT). The major contribution of this work is that it generalizes the real and complex wavelet transforms and derives a quaternionic wavelet pyramid for multi-resolution analysis using the quaternionic phase concept. As a illustration we present an application of the discrete QWT for optical flow estimation. For the estimation of motion through different resolution levels we use a similarity distance evaluated by means of the quaternionic phase concept and a confidence mask. We show that this linear approach is amenable to be extended to a kind of quadratic interpolation. Eduardo Jose Bayro-Corrochano gained his Ph.D. in Cognitive Computer Science in 1993 from the University of Wales at Cardiff. From 1995 to 1999 he has been Researcher and Lecturer at the Institute for Computer Science, Christian Albrechts University, Kiel, Germany, working on applications of geometric Clifford algebra to cognitive systems. His current research interest focuses on geometric methods for artificial perception and action systems. It includes geometric neural networks, visually guidevsd robotics, color image processing, Lie bivector algebras for early vision and robot maneuvering. He is editor and author of the following books: Geometric Computing for Perception Action Systems, E. Bayro-Corrochano, Springer Verlag, 2001; Geometric Algebra with Applications in Science and Engineering, E. Bayro-Corrochano and G. Sobczyk (Eds.), Birkahauser 2001; Handbook of Computational Geometry for Pattern Recognition, Computer Vision, Neurocomputing and Robotics, E. Bayro-Corrochano, Springer Verlag, 2005.     

Interactive online learning

This paper describes a system for visual object recognition based on mobile augmented reality gear. The user can train the system to the recognition of objects online using advanced methods of interaction with mobile systems: Hand gestures and speech input control “virtual menus,” which are displayed as overlays within the camera image. Here we focus on the underlying neural recognition system, which implements the key requirement of an online trainable system—fast adaptation to novel object data. The neural three-stage architecture can be adapted in two modes: In a fast training mode (FT), only the last stage is adapted, whereas complete training (CT) rebuilds the system from scratch. Using FT, online acquired views can be added at once to the classifier, the system being operational after a delay of less than a second, though still with reduced classification performance. In parallel, a new classifier is trained (CT) and loaded to the system when ready. The text was submitted by the authors in English. Gunther Heidemann was born in 1966. He studied physics at the Universities of Karlsruhe and Münster and received his PhD (Eng.) from Bielefeld University in 1998. He is currently working within the collaborative research project “Hybrid Knowledge Representation” of the SFB 360 at Bielefeld University. His fields of research are mainly computer vision, robotics, neural networks, data mining, bonification, and hybrid systems. Holger Bekel was born in 1970. He received his BS degree from the University of Bielefeld, Germany, in 1997. In 2002 he received a diploma in Computer Science from the University of Bielefeld. He is currently pursuing a PhD program in Computer Science at the University of Bielefeld, working within the Neuroinformatics Group (AG Neuroinformatik) in the project VAMPIRE (Visual Active Memory Processes and Interactive Retrieval). His fields of research are active vision and data mining. Ingo Bax was born in 1976. He received a diploma in Computer Science from the University of Bielefeld in 2002. He is currently pursuing a PhD program in Computer Science at the Neuroinformatics Group of the University of Bielefeld, working within the VAMPIRE project. His fields of interest are cognitive computer vision and pattern recognition. Helge J. Ritter was born 1958. He studied physics and mathematics at the Universities of Bayreuth, Heidelberg and Munich. After a PhD in physics at Technical University of Munich in 1988, he visited the Laboratory of Computer Science at Helsinki University of Technology and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Since 1990 he has headed the Neuroinformatics Group at the Faculty of Technology, Bielefeld University. His main interests are principles of neural computation and their application to building intelligent systems. In 1999, she was awarded the SEL Alcatel Research Prize, and in 2001, the Leibniz Prize of the German Research Foundation DFG.     

Classifying the subjects of the Russian Federation on the basis of analysis of results of Gallup polling

The problem of processing of Gallup poll results by cluster analysis methods is considered. The aim of these polls, performed in different subjects of the Russian Federation, is to extract main characteristics of the regions. Demyanov Egor A. Born 1982. Graduated from the Moscow State University in 2004. Post-graduate student of the same university. Scientific interests: discrete mathematics and mathematical methods of pattern recognition. Author of two publications. Djukova Elena V. Born 1945. Graduated from the Moscow State University in 1967. Received candidate’s degree in Physics and Mathematics in 1979, Doctoral degree in Physics and Mathematics in 1997. Dorodnicyn Computing Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, leading researcher. Moscow State University, lecturer. Moscow Pedagogical University, lecturer. Scientific interests: discrete mathematics and mathematical methods of pattern recognition. Author of 76 papers. Peskov Nikolai V. Born 1978. Graduated from the Moscow State University in 2000. Received candidate’s degree in Physics and Mathematics in 2004. Dorodnicyn Computing Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, junior researcher. Scientific interests: discrete mathematics and mathematical methods of pattern recognition. Author of 17 papers. Inyakin Andrey S. Born 1978. Graduated from the Moscow State University in 2000. Received candidate’s degree in 2006. Dorodnicyn Computing Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, junior researcher. Scientific interests: discrete mathematics and mathematical methods of pattern recognition. Author of 16 papers.     

Stereophotogrammetric 3D real-time machine vision

Signal processing algorithms often have to be modified significantly for implementation in hardware. Continuous real-time image processing at high speed is a particularly challenging task. In this paper a hardware-software codesign is applied to a stereophotogrammetric system. To calculate the depth map, an optimized algorithm is implemented as a hierarchical-parallel hardware solution. By subdividing distances to objects and selecting them sequentially, we can apply 3D scanning and ranging over large distances. We designed processor-based object clustering and tracking functions. We can detect objects utilizing density distributions of disparities in the depth map (disparity histogram). Motion parameters of detected objects are stabilized by Kalman filters. The text was submitted by the authors in English. Michael Tornow was born in Magdeburg, Germany, in 1977. He received his diploma engineer degree (Dipl.-Ing.) in electrical engineering at the University of Magdeburg, Germany, in 2002. He is currently working on a PhD thesis focusing on hardware adapted image processing and vision based driver assistance. Robert W. Kuhn received his diploma engineer degree (Dipl.-Ing.) in geodesy at the Technical University of Berlin, Germany, in 2000. His current work on a PhD thesis focuses on calibration and image processing. Jens Kaszubiak was born in Blankenburg, Germany, in 1977. He received his diploma engineer degree (Dipl.-Ing.) in electrical engineering at the University of Magdeburg, Germany, in 2002. His current research work focuses on vision-based driver assistance and hardware-software codesign. Bernd Michaelis was born in Magdeburg, Germany, in 1947. He received a Masters Degree in Electronic Engineering from the Technische Hochschule, Magdeburg, in 1971 and his first PhD in 1974. Between 1974 and 1980 he worked at the Technische Hochschule, Magdeburg, and was granted a second doctoral degree in 1980. In 1993 he became Professor of Technical Computer Science at the Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg. His research work concentrates on the field of image processing, artificial neural networks, pattern recognition, processor architectures, and microcomputers. Professor Michaelis is the author of more than 150 papers. Gerald Krell was born in Magdeburg, Germany, in 1964. He earned his diploma in electrical engineering in 1990 and his doctorate in 1995 at Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg. Since then he has been a research assistant. His primary research interest is focused on digital image processing and compression, electronic hardware development, and artificial neural networks.