A physically based satellite rainfall estimation method using fluid dynamics modelling

A cloud motion winds (CMW) method is presented for improving quantitative rainfall estimation advection schemes that use both infrared (IR) and passive microwave (PMW) satellite data. Advection schemes are used to provide quantitative rainfall estimates by combining more direct PMW rainfall estimates with more frequent IR cloud top temperature measures using a two‐step technique: (1) PMW estimates are transported along CMW trajectories calculated with an advection scheme at subpixel resolution; and (2) PMW estimates are calibrated using the IR gradient along those trajectories. These schemes outperform traditional methods of satellite rainfall estimation but no clear physical basis for the procedure has yet been described. Here, the physical basis for the image processing techniques used in advection techniques is described. It is shown that geostationary satellite‐derived CMW from IR sensors can be modelled in terms of fluid dynamics using Navier–Stokes equations. This approach allows for modelling the problem as equivalent to the flow of a brightness temperature field, also providing subpixel resolution and unlimited rotation/deformation possibilities. The method is illustrated with rainfall estimates from a numerical weather prediction (NWP) model and with 3‐hourly PMW products as simulation data, obtaining consistent results.     

大范围云导风的直接可视化方法

针对传统大范围云导风生成及显示过程中存在较大计算冗余的问题,提出一种快速风场可视化算法,可使用卫星云图序列直接生成便于人眼观察的大范围云导风态势展示视频。该算法首先使用稀疏像素块匹配分析得到相邻帧之间的运动信息,再使用匹配结果形成图像形变网格,最后使用该网格对噪声纹理图像进行形变和颜色混合叠加操作,从而输出风场运动轨迹的动态视频。由于无须复杂的光流计算和额外流场可视化后处理等步骤,该算法在程序实现时更加便捷,对计算硬件依赖性较小。实验结果显示,这种直接可视化算法可以生成易于辨识的、时间一致性强的云导风动态可视化视频,能应对红外、可见光和水汽等各种波段的卫星图像数据,对云层无规则消散、生成等干扰具有较高鲁棒性。     

Computing optical flow with physical models of brightness variation

Although most optical flow techniques presume brightness constancy, it is well-known that this constraint is often violated, producing poor estimates of image motion. This paper describes a generalized formulation of optical flow estimation based on models of brightness variations that are caused by time-dependent physical processes. These include changing surface orientation with respect to a directional illuminant, motion of the illuminant, and physical models of heat transport in infrared images. With these models, we simultaneously estimate the 2D image motion and the relevant physical parameters of the brightness change model. The estimation problem is formulated using total least squares, with confidence bounds on the parameters. Experiments in four domains, with both synthetic and natural inputs, show how this formulation produces superior estimates of the 2D image motion     

Vision Based UAV Attitude Estimation: Progress and Insights

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly replacing manned systems in situations that are dangerous, remote, or difficult for manned aircraft to access. Its control tasks are empowered by computer vision technology. Visual sensors are robustly used for stabilization as primary or at least secondary sensors. Hence, UAV stabilization by attitude estimation from visual sensors is a very active research area. Vision based techniques are proving their effectiveness and robustness in handling this problem. In this work a comprehensive review of UAV vision based attitude estimation approaches is covered, starting from horizon based methods and passing by vanishing points, optical flow, and stereoscopic based techniques. A novel segmentation approach for UAV attitude estimation based on polarization is proposed. Our future insightes for attitude estimation from uncalibrated catadioptric sensors are also discussed.     

深度光流估计方法研究进展

结合深度学习模型实现光流端到端的计算是当前计算机视觉领域的一个研究热点.文中对基于深度学习的光流估计方法进行总结和梳理.首先,介绍了光流的起源与定义;其次,总结了现有的数据集合和评价指标;最重要的是,着重从3个方面回顾了深度光流估计方法,包括有监督的深度光流估计方法、无监督的深度光流估计方法以及对现有光流估计方法的性能...     

Evaluation of non-geometric methods for visual odometry

Visual Odometry (VO) is one of the fundamental building blocks of modern autonomous robot navigation and mapping. While most state-of-the-art techniques use geometrical methods for camera ego-motion estimation from optical flow vectors, in the last few years learning approaches have been proposed to solve this problem. These approaches are emerging and there is still much to explore. This work follows this track applying Kernel Machines to monocular visual ego-motion estimation. Unlike geometrical methods, learning-based approaches to monocular visual odometry allow issues like scale estimation and camera calibration to be overcome, assuming the availability of training data. While some previous works have proposed learning paradigms to VO, to our knowledge no extensive evaluation of applying kernel-based methods to Visual Odometry has been conducted. To fill this gap, in this work we consider publicly available datasets and perform several experiments in order to set a comparison baseline with traditional techniques. Experimental results show good performances of learning algorithms and set them as a solid alternative to the computationally intensive and complex to implement geometrical techniques.     

Narrowband target tracking using a biomimetic sonarhead

This work presents a target tracking method that exploits both the physics of narrowband echolocation and appropriate movements of the sensor, taking inspiration from narrowband (CF-FM) bats. The platform used in this work is RoBat, a biomimetic sonarhead mounted on a mobile platform. Two different techniques are integrated in the tracker. First, Barshan’s and Kuc’s method for estimating target range and azimuth angle is adapted to the geometry of the sonarhead. Next, Walker’s arc scanning hypothesis for target elevation estimation in CF-FM bats is implemented, applying curve fitting for an accurate estimation of the peak-delay. The integration of both techniques in a preliminary 3D tracking system is performed applying both methods independently.     

Over-Parameterized Variational Optical Flow

A novel optical flow estimation process based on a spatio-temporal model with varying coefficients multiplying a set of basis functions at each pixel is introduced. Previous optical flow estimation methodologies did not use such an over parameterized representation of the flow field as the problem is ill-posed even without introducing any additional parameters: Neighborhood based methods of the Lucas–Kanade type determine the flow at each pixel by constraining the flow to be described by a few parameters in small neighborhoods. Modern variational methods represent the optic flow directly via the flow field components at each pixel. The benefit of over-parametrization becomes evident in the smoothness term, which instead of directly penalizing for changes in the optic flow, accumulates a cost of deviating from the assumed optic flow model. Our proposed method is very general and the classical variational optical flow techniques are special cases of it, when used in conjunction with constant basis functions. Experimental results with the novel flow estimation process yield significant improvements with respect to the best results published so far.     

基于多尺度变形卷积的特征金字塔光流计算方法

针对现有深度学习光流计算方法的运动边缘模糊问题,提出了一种基于多尺度变形卷积的特征金字塔光流计算方法.首先,构造基于多尺度变形卷积的特征提取模型,显著提高图像边缘区域特征提取的准确性;然后,将多尺度变形卷积特征提取模型与特征金字塔光流计算网络耦合,提出一种基于多尺度变形卷积的特征金字塔光流计算模型;最后,设计一种结合图像与运动边缘约束的混合损失函数,通过指导模型学习更加精准的边缘信息,克服了光流计算运动边缘模糊问题.分别采用MPI-Sintel和KITTI2015测试图像集对该方法与代表性的深度学习光流计算方法进行综合对比分析.实验结果表明,该方法具有更高的光流计算精度,有效解决了光流计算的边缘模糊问题.     

Histogram-Based Optical Flow for Motion Estimation in Ultrasound Imaging

Motion estimation on ultrasound data is often referred to as ‘Speckle Tracking’ in clinical environments and plays an important role in diagnosis and monitoring of cardiovascular diseases and the identification of abnormal cardiac motion. The impact of physical effects in the process of data acquisition raises many problems for conventional image processing techniques. The most significant difference to other medical data is its high level of speckle noise, which has completely different characteristics from other noise models, e.g., additive Gaussian noise. In this paper we address the problem of multiplicative speckle noise for motion estimation techniques that are based on optical flow methods and prove that the influence of this noise leads to wrong correspondences between image regions if not taken into account. To overcome these problems we propose the use of local statistics and introduce an optical flow method which uses histograms as discrete representations of local statistics for motion analysis. We show that this approach is more robust under the presence of speckle noise than classical optical flow methods.     

A Quantitative Analysis of Current Practices in Optical Flow Estimation and the Principles Behind Them

The accuracy of optical flow estimation algorithms has been improving steadily as evidenced by results on the Middlebury optical flow benchmark. The typical formulation, however, has changed little since the work of Horn and Schunck. We attempt to uncover what has made recent advances possible through a thorough analysis of how the objective function, the optimization method, and modern implementation practices influence accuracy. We discover that “classical” flow formulations perform surprisingly well when combined with modern optimization and implementation techniques. One key implementation detail is the median filtering of intermediate flow fields during optimization. While this improves the robustness of classical methods it actually leads to higher energy solutions, meaning that these methods are not optimizing the original objective function. To understand the principles behind this phenomenon, we derive a new objective function that formalizes the median filtering heuristic. This objective function includes a non-local smoothness term that robustly integrates flow estimates over large spatial neighborhoods. By modifying this new term to include information about flow and image boundaries we develop a method that can better preserve motion details. To take advantage of the trend towards video in wide-screen format, we further introduce an asymmetric pyramid downsampling scheme that enables the estimation of longer range horizontal motions. The methods are evaluated on the Middlebury, MPI Sintel, and KITTI datasets using the same parameter settings.     

基于相位微分技术的光流估计

提出一种基于相位微分技术的光流估计方法.该方法选择6个方向对图像进行Gabor滤波,并把每个方向滤波后的图像叠加,作为特征图像计算时空相位梯度,再用相位梯度计算光流.用合成图像和真实图像对本文算法进行测试,实验结果表明,该算法在光流的计算精度优于Horn ＆ Schunck光流算法.     

Accurate optical flow computation under non-uniform brightness variations

In this paper, we present a very accurate algorithm for computing optical flow with non-uniform brightness variations. The proposed algorithm is based on a generalized dynamic image model (GDIM) in conjunction with a regularization framework to cope with the problem of non-uniform brightness variations. To alleviate flow constraint errors due to image aliasing and noise, we employ a reweighted least-squares method to suppress unreliable flow constraints, thus leading to robust estimation of optical flow. In addition, a dynamic smoothness adjustment scheme is proposed to efficiently suppress the smoothness constraint in the vicinity of the motion and brightness variation discontinuities, thereby preserving motion boundaries. We also employ a constraint refinement scheme, which aims at reducing the approximation errors in the first-order differential flow equation, to refine the optical flow estimation especially for large image motions. To efficiently minimize the resulting energy function for optical flow computation, we utilize an incomplete Cholesky preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm to solve the large linear system. Experimental results on some synthetic and real image sequences show that the proposed algorithm compares favorably to most existing techniques reported in literature in terms of accuracy in optical flow computation with 100% density.     

图象光流场计算技术研究进展

时变图象光流场计算技术是计算机视觉中的重要研究内容，也是当今研究的热点问题。为了使人们对该技术有一个较全面的了解，因而对时变图象光流场计算技术的研究和进展做了较系统的论述，首先分别列举了灰度时变图象和彩色时变图象的光流场计算方法，并对这些方法进行了分类，然后总结了出目前图象光流场计算中存在的几个问题，最后对光流场计算技术的研究发展及其应用前景指出了一些可能的方向。     

对数极坐标域梯度光流跟踪研究

针对直角坐标系中光流跟踪算法无法跟踪存在旋转和尺度变化目标图像的问题,在分析Horn-Schunck经典光流计算公式基础上,提出了一种对数极坐标域的梯度跟踪算法。该算法可以对存在旋转和尺度变化的运动目标实施跟踪,通过实验证明了这种方法在处理运动图像变化时是有效的。因而,这种用对数极坐标域的跟踪算法有一定的实用价值。     

Blind carrier recovery for circular QAM using nonlinear least-squares estimation

In this work, a family of blind feedforward nonlinear least-squares (NLS) estimators for joint estimation of the carrier phase and frequency offset of circular quadrature amplitude modulated (QAM) transmissions is introduced. Well-known synchronization techniques are adapted for the circular QAM schemes, and a constellation-dependent optimal matched nonlinear estimator is derived to minimize the asymptotic variance. A computationally efficient approximation to the optimal nonlinearity is introduced and its performance assessed. Finally, computer simulations for various circular QAM transmissions are carried out to show that the proposed estimation technique is competitive with conventional monomial estimators. From the simulation results, conclusions are drawn about selecting the best synchronization method for implementation in actual communication systems.     

基于图像的动目标检测技术

本文研究了光流估计的基本算法，从运动分割的角度的提出了使用光流分割方案来解决复杂背景下的动目标检测问题。文中分析了标准光流估计的缺陷及其原因，并使用鲁棒性估计技术提高了光流估计算法的实用性。最后给出了动目标检测算法的仿真结果，表明利用图像的运动特征来实现目标检测是一种很有效的方法。     

低视角红外图像行人监控的光流分析

光流法是运动目标检测的重要方法,在对运动目标参数的估计和跟踪方面有着重要的应用。红外图像的噪声相对比较大,对比度较低,光流法很少用于红外图像的目标的运动检测,特别是行人的检测。本文将光流法用于红外图像的行人监控,检测行人运动速度的大小和方向,并针对低视角情况下存在的由远近效应造成的误差,提出了一种低视角理想情况下行人光流分析的补偿方法,并对实验数据进行了测试,实验结果证明经该方法改进后的光流更符合实际情况。     

Exploiting Discontinuities in Optical Flow

Most optical flow estimation techniques have substantial difficulties dealing with flow discontinuities. Methods which simultaneously detect flow boundaries and use the detected boundaries to aid in flow estimation can produce significantly improved results. Current approaches to implementing these methods still have important limitations, however. We demonstrate three such problems: errors due to the mixture of image properties across boundaries, an intrinsic ambiguity in boundary location when only short sequences are considered, and difficulties insuring that the motion of a boundary aids in flow estimation for the surface to which it is attached without corrupting the flow estimates for the occluded surface on the other side. The first problem can be fixed by basing flow estimation only on image changes at edges. The second requires an analysis of longer time intervals. The third can be aided by using a boundary detection mechanism which classifies the sides of boundaries as occluding and occluded at the same time as the boundaries are detected.