Evaluating error associated with lidar-derived DEM interpolation

Light detection and ranging (lidar) technology is capable of precisely measuring a variety of vegetation metrics, the estimates of which are usually based on relative heights above a digital elevation model (DEM). As a result, the development of these elevation models is a critical step when processing lidar observations. A number of different algorithms exist to interpolate lidar ground hits into a terrain surface. We tested seven interpolation routines, using small footprint lidar data, collected over a range of vegetation classes on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The lidar data were randomly subsetted into a prediction dataset and a validation dataset. A suite of DEMs were then generated using linear, quintic, natural neighbour, regularized spline, spline with tension, a finite difference approach (ANUDEM), and inverse distance weighted interpolation routines, at spatial resolutions of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 m. In order to examine the effects of terrain and ground cover on interpolation accuracies, the study area was stratified by terrain slope, vegetation structural class, lidar ground return density, and normalized difference vegetation indices (NDVI) derived from Quickbird and Landsat7 ETM+ imagery. The root mean square (RMS) and mean absolute errors of the residuals between the surfaces and the validation points indicated that the 0.5 m DEMs were the most accurate. Of the tested approaches, the regularized spline and IDW algorithms produced the most extreme outliers, sometimes in excess of ±6 m in sloping terrain. Overall, the natural neighbour algorithm provided the best results with a minimum of effort. Finally, a method to create prediction uncertainty maps using classification and regression tree (CART) analysis is proposed.     

Characterising and exploiting workloads of highly interactive video-on-demand

This paper presents a detailed characterisation of user behaviour for a series of interactive video experiments over a 12 month period, in which we served popular sporting and musical content. In addition to generic VCR-like features, our custom-built video-on-demand application provides advanced interactivity features such as bookmarking. The dramatic impact of such functionality on how users consume content is studied and analysed. We discuss in detail how this user behaviour can be exploited by content distributors to improve user experience. Specifically, we study how simple dynamic bookmark placement and interactivity-aware content pre-fetching and replication can reduce the impact of highly interactive media on CDN performance.     

Glyphs for Asymmetric Second‐Order 2D Tensors

Tensors model a wide range of physical phenomena. While symmetric tensors are sufficient for some applications (such as diffusion), asymmetric tensors are required, for example, to describe differential properties of fluid flow. Glyphs permit inspecting individual tensor values, but existing tensor glyphs are fully defined only for symmetric tensors. We propose a glyph to visualize asymmetric second‐order two‐dimensional tensors. The glyph includes visual encoding for physically significant attributes of the tensor, including rotation, anisotropic stretching, and isotropic dilation. Our glyph design conserves the symmetry and continuity properties of the underlying tensor, in that transformations of a tensor (such as rotation or negation) correspond to analogous transformations of the glyph. We show results with synthetic data from computational fluid dynamics.     

From Autonomy to Cooperative Traded Control of Humanoid Manipulation Tasks with Unreliable Communication

In this paper, we present our system design, operational procedure, testing process, field results, and lessons learned for the valve-turning task of the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC). We present a software framework for cooperative traded control that enables a team of operators to control a remote humanoid robot over an unreliable communication link. Our system, composed of software modules running on-board the robot and on a remote workstation, allows the operators to specify the manipulation task in a straightforward manner. In addition, we have defined an operational procedure for the operators to manage the teleoperation task, designed to improve situation awareness and expedite task completion. Our testing process, consisting of hands-on intensive testing, remote testing, and remote practice runs , demonstrates that our framework is able to perform reliably and is resilient to unreliable network conditions. We analyze our approach, field tests, and experience at the DRC Trials and discuss lessons learned which may be useful for others when designing similar systems.     

QoS Filtering and Resource Reservation in an Internet Environment

Multimedia group applications often operate in an environment where the various participants are located on systems and communication links with different capabilities. Mechanisms are required that ensure full-quality media for high-performance workstations but lower-quality media for playout at low-end systems. QoS filters have been proposed as a way to adapt QoS to the user specified level by changing the structure of a media stream in a well defined way. Resource reservation and QoS filter instantiation should be closely integrated since both represent one particular aspect of the provision of individualistic QoS for heterogeneous users in multipeer communications. The Internet reservation protocol RSVP is receiver oriented and allows each receiver to specify its resource requirements. However, no actual mechanisms are defined that adapt the data stream to the receiver specified QoS requirements.In this paper we present an enhanced version of RSVP (called RSVP++) that integrates resource reservation and QoS filter control. In order to achieve this integration we extend the RSVP functional model and define a new QoS service class. RSVP++ can coexist with common RSVP systems, thus, openness and interoperability of the system are ensured.     

Influence of age and proximity warning devices on collision avoidance in simulated driving

OBJECTIVE: We conducted a set of experiments to examine the utility of several different uni- and multimodal collision avoidance systems (CASs) on driving performance of young and older adult drivers in a high-fidelity simulator. BACKGROUND: Although previous research has examined the efficacy of different CASs on collision avoidance, there has been a dearth of studies that have examined such devices in different driving situations with different populations of drivers. METHOD: Several different CAS warnings were examined in varying traffic and collision configurations both without (Experiment 1a) and with (Experiment 2) a distracting in-vehicle task. RESULTS: Overall, collision avoidance performance for both potential forward and side object collisions was best for an auditory/visual CAS, which alerted drivers using both modalities. Interestingly, older drivers (60-82 years of age) benefited as much as younger drivers from the CAS, and sometimes they benefited more. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that CASs can be beneficial across a number of different driving scenarios, types of collisions, and driver populations. APPLICATION: These results have important implications for the design and implementation of CASs for different driver populations and driving conditions.     

A generalized Petri net modeling approach for the control of re-entrant flow semiconductor wafer fabrication

Re-entrant flow manufacturing lines, such as occur in semiconductor wafer fabrication, are characterized by a product routing that consists of multiple visits to a workstation or group of workstations during the manufacturing process. In this paper, a modeling approach is based on the use of generalized Petri nets for a re-entrant flow manufacturing line is presented. Specifically, three Petri net models representing a re-entrant flow line with three work centers and six machines are modeled. How these models may be used to represent a variety of queuing disciplines and work release policies is discussed.     

On the solution of an ill-posed design solidification problem using minimization techniques in finite- and infinite-dimensional function spaces

This paper provides a comparative study of two alternative methodologies for the solution of an inverse design solidification problem. It is the one-dimensional solidification problem of calculating the boundary heat flux history that achieves a desired freezing front velocity and desired heat fluxes at the freezing front. The front velocity h(t) and flux history q_mS(t) on the solid side of the front control the obtained cast structure. As such, the potential applications of the proposed methods to the control of casting processes are enormous. The first technique utilizes a finite-dimensional approximation of the unknown boundary heat flux function q₀(t). The second technique uses the adjoint method to calculate in L₂ the derivative of the cost functional, ‖T_m – T(h(t), t;q₀)‖, that expresses the square error between the calculated T(h(t), t; q₀) and the given freezing front temperature T_m. Both steepest descent (SDM) and conjugate gradient methods (CGM) are examined. A front tracking FEM technique is used for the discretization of the state space. A detailed numerical analysis of the space and time discretization of the ‘parameter’ and state spaces, of the effect of the end condition of the adjoint problem and of other parameters in the solution are examined.     

Automation of palm oil mills

Automation is the function of monitoring and regulating process operations non-manually or remotely to check or maintain the required processing conditions and product quality, the use of instrumental techniques of analysis in the laboratory and the use of computers for data processing and other miscellaneous applications. Applications where automation is justifiable and the impact of changing trends in automation technology, especially the recent influx of microprocessor-based systems, are discussed briefly. Applications in the palm oil mill where automation is fairly well-developed and is being developed, as well as ideas for future applications are reviewed. An example of a practical approach to automation in palm oil mills is given using automatic control of crude oil dilution.