Moving Objects (moving + object)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Optimal Representative Blocks for the Efficient Tracking of a Moving Object

JOURNAL OF FIELD ROBOTICS (FORMERLY JOURNAL OF ROBOTIC SYSTEMS), Issue 3 2004
SangJoo Kim
Optimal representative blocks are proposed for an efficient tracking of a moving object and it is verified experimentally by using a mobile robot with a pan-tilt camera. The key idea comes from the fact that when the image size of a moving object is shrunk in an image frame according to the distance between the camera of mobile robot and the moving object, the tracking performance of a moving object can be improved by shrinking the size of representative blocks according to the object image size. Motion estimation using edge detection (ED) and block-matching algorithm (BMA) are often used in the case of moving object tracking by vision sensors. However, these methods often miss the real-time vision data since these schemes suffer from the heavy computational load. To overcome this problem and to improve the tracking performance, the optimal representative block that can reduce a lot of data to be computed is defined and optimized by changing the size of the representative block according to the size of object in the image frame. The proposed algorithm is verified experimentally by using a mobile robot with a two degree-of-freedom active camera. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Restoration of degraded moving image for predicting a moving object

ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATIONS IN JAPAN, Issue 2 2009
Kei Akiyama
Abstract Iterative optimal calculation methods have been proposed for degraded static image restoration based on the multiresolution wavelet decomposition. However, it is quite difficult to apply these methods to process moving images due to the high computational cost. In this paper, we propose an effective restoration method for degraded moving images by modeling the motion of moving object and predicting the future object position. We verified our method by computer simulations and experiments to show that our method can achieve favorable results. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn, 92(2): 38,48, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ecj.10013 [source]


Directional responses of visual wulst neurones to grating and plaid patterns in the awake owl

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 7 2007
Jerome Baron
Abstract The avian retinothalamofugal pathway reaches the telencephalon in an area known as visual wulst. A close functional analogy between this area and the early visual cortex of mammals has been established in owls. The goal of the present study was to assess quantitatively the directional selectivity and motion integration capability of visual wulst neurones, aspects that have not been previously investigated. We recorded extracellularly from a total of 101 cells in awake burrowing owls. From this sample, 88% of the units exhibited modulated directional responses to sinusoidal gratings, with a mean direction index of 0.74 ± 0.03 and tuning bandwidth of 28 ± 1.16°. A direction index higher than 0.5 was observed in 66% of the cells, thereby qualifying them as direction selective. Motion integration was tested with moving plaids, made by adding two sinusoidal gratings of different orientations. We found that 80% of direction-selective cells responded optimally to the motion direction of the component gratings, whereas none responded to the global motion of plaids, whose direction was intermediate to that of the gratings. The remaining 20% were unclassifiable. The strength of component motion selectivity rapidly increased over a 200 ms period following stimulus onset, maintaining a relatively sustained profile thereafter. Overall, our data suggest that, as in the mammalian primary visual cortex, the visual wulst neurones of owls signal the local orientated features of a moving object. How and where these potentially ambiguous signals are integrated in the owl brain might be important for understanding the mechanisms underlying global motion perception. [source]


Optimal Representative Blocks for the Efficient Tracking of a Moving Object

JOURNAL OF FIELD ROBOTICS (FORMERLY JOURNAL OF ROBOTIC SYSTEMS), Issue 3 2004
SangJoo Kim
Optimal representative blocks are proposed for an efficient tracking of a moving object and it is verified experimentally by using a mobile robot with a pan-tilt camera. The key idea comes from the fact that when the image size of a moving object is shrunk in an image frame according to the distance between the camera of mobile robot and the moving object, the tracking performance of a moving object can be improved by shrinking the size of representative blocks according to the object image size. Motion estimation using edge detection (ED) and block-matching algorithm (BMA) are often used in the case of moving object tracking by vision sensors. However, these methods often miss the real-time vision data since these schemes suffer from the heavy computational load. To overcome this problem and to improve the tracking performance, the optimal representative block that can reduce a lot of data to be computed is defined and optimized by changing the size of the representative block according to the size of object in the image frame. The proposed algorithm is verified experimentally by using a mobile robot with a two degree-of-freedom active camera. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


A Motion Detection-Based Framework for Improving Image Quality of CCTV Security Systems

JOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES, Issue 5 2006
Shih-Hsuan Chiu Ph.D.
ABSTRACT: Closed-circuit television (CCTV) security systems have been widely used in banks, convenience stores, and other facilities. They are useful to deter crime and depict criminal activity. However, CCTV cameras that provide an overview of a monitored region can be useful for criminal investigation but sometimes can also be used for object identification (e.g., vehicle numbers, persons, etc.). In this paper, we propose a framework for improving the image quality of CCTV security systems. This framework is based upon motion detection technology. There are two cameras in the framework: one camera (camera A) is fixed focus with a zoom lens for moving-object detection, and the other one (camera B) is variable focus with an auto-zoom lens to capture higher resolution images of the objects of interest. When camera A detects a moving object in the monitored area, camera B, driven by an auto-zoom focus control algorithm, will take a higher resolution image of the object of interest. Experimental results show that the proposed framework can improve the likelihood that images obtained from stationary unattended CCTV cameras are sufficient to enable law enforcement officials to identify suspects and other objects of interest. [source]


Is there an auditory,visual flash-lag effect?

CLINICAL & EXPERIMENTAL OPHTHALMOLOGY, Issue 3 2003
Trevor J Hine PhD
Abstract A flash adjacent to the path of a moving object appears behind the moving object: the ,flash-lag effect'. We sought to test the flash-lag effect with a ,click' instead of a flash: a white triangle horizontally traversed the screen at a constant 12°/s passing through a fixation cross in the presence of a quiet click. The subject judged whether the click occurred before or after the triangle passed through the cross. To be perceived as co-instantaneous events, the click had to be presented 127 ms after the moving triangle reached the cross (a ,click-lead' effect, providing falsification of predictive accounts of the flash-lag effect), as opposed to a standard flash-lag effect condition where a flashed triangle replaced the click and had to appear 60 ms before the moving triangle to appear aligned. With the auditory versus visual processing speed advantage considered, the neural time required to calculate a moving object's position is constant, independent of the modality of the flag. [source]


Developmental profiles for multiple object tracking and spatial memory: typically developing preschoolers and people with Williams syndrome

DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 3 2010
Kirsten O'Hearn
The ability to track moving objects, a crucial skill for mature performance on everyday spatial tasks, has been hypothesized to require a specialized mechanism that may be available in infancy (i.e. indexes). Consistent with the idea of specialization, our previous work showed that object tracking was more impaired than a matched spatial memory task in individuals with Williams syndrome (WS), a genetic disorder characterized by severe visuo-spatial impairment. We now ask whether this unusual pattern of performance is a reflection of general immaturity or of true abnormality, possibly reflecting the atypical brain development in WS. To examine these two possibilities, we tested typically developing 3- and 4-year-olds and people with WS on multiple object tracking (MOT) and memory for static spatial location. The maximum number of objects that could be correctly tracked or remembered (estimated from the k -statistic) showed similar developmental profiles in typically developing 3- and 4-year-old children, but the WS profile differed from either age group. People with WS could track more objects than 3-year-olds, and the same number as 4-year-olds, but they could remember the locations of more static objects than both 3- and 4-year-olds. Combining these data with those from our previous studies, we found that typically developing children show increases in the number of objects they can track or remember between the ages of 3 and 6, and these increases grow in parallel across the two tasks. In contrast, object tracking in older children and adults with WS remains at the level of 4-year-olds, whereas the ability to remember multiple locations of static objects develops further. As a whole, the evidence suggests that MOT and memory for static location develop in tandem typically, but not in WS. Atypical development of the parietal lobe in people with WS could play a causal role in the abnormal, uneven pattern of performance in WS. This interpretation is consistent with the idea that multiple object tracking engages different mechanisms from those involved in memory for static object location, and that the former can be particularly disrupted by atypical development. [source]


Representational momentum and children's sensori-motor representations of objects

DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 3 2008
Lynn K. Perry
Recent research has shown that 2-year-olds fail at a task that ostensibly only requires the ability to understand that solid objects cannot pass through other solid objects. Two experiments were conducted in which 2- and 3-year-olds judged the stopping point of an object as it moved at varying speeds along a path and behind an occluder, stopping at a barrier visible above the occluder. Three-year-olds were able to take into account the barrier when searching for the object, while 2-year-olds were not. However, both groups judged faster moving objects to travel farther as indicated by their incorrect reaches. Thus, the results show that young children's sensori-motor representations exhibit a form of representational momentum. This unifies the perceptually based representations of early childhood with adults' dynamic representations that incorporate physical regularities but that are also available to conscious reasoning. [source]


Drifting grating stimulation reveals particular activation properties of visual neurons in the caudate nucleus

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 7 2008
Attila Nagy
Abstract The role of the caudate nucleus (CN) in motor control has been widely studied. Less attention has been paid to the dynamics of visual feedback in motor actions, which is a relevant function of the basal ganglia during the control of eye and body movements. We therefore set out to analyse the visual information processing of neurons in the feline CN. Extracellular single-unit recordings were performed in the CN, where the neuronal responses to drifting gratings of various spatial and temporal frequencies were recorded. The responses of the CN neurons were modulated by the temporal frequency of the grating. The CN units responded optimally to gratings of low spatial frequencies and exhibited low spatial resolution and fine spatial frequency tuning. By contrast, the CN neurons preferred high temporal frequencies, and exhibited high temporal resolution and fine temporal frequency tuning. The spatial and temporal visual properties of the CN neurons enable them to act as spatiotemporal filters. These properties are similar to those observed in certain feline extrageniculate visual structures, i.e. in the superior colliculus, the suprageniculate nucleus and the anterior ectosylvian cortex, but differ strongly from those of the primary visual cortex and the lateral geniculate nucleus. Accordingly, our results suggest a functional relationship of the CN to the extrageniculate tecto-thalamo-cortical system. This system of the mammalian brain may be involved in motion detection, especially in velocity analysis of moving objects, facilitating the detection of changes during the animal's movement. [source]


Cortical mechanisms of smooth pursuit eye movements with target blanking.

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 5 2004
An fMRI study
Abstract Smooth pursuit eye movements are evoked by retinal image motion of visible moving objects and can also be driven by the internal representation of a target due to extraretinal mechanisms (e.g. efference copy). To delineate the corresponding neuronal correlates, functional magnetic resonance imaging at 1.5 T was applied during smooth pursuit at 10 °/s with continuous target presentation and target blanking for 1 s to 16 right-handed healthy males. Eye movements were assessed during scanning sessions by infra-red reflection oculography. Smooth pursuit performance was optimal when the target was visible but decreased to a residual velocity of about 30% of the velocity observed during continuous target presentation. Random effects analysis of the imaging data yielded an activation pattern for smooth pursuit in the absence of a visual target (in contrast to continuous target presentation) which included a number of cortical areas in which extraretinal information is available such as the frontal eye field, the superior parietal lobe, the anterior and the posterior intraparietal sulcus and the premotor cortex, and also the supplementary and the presupplementary eye field, the supramarginal gyrus, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, cerebellar areas and the basal ganglia. We suggest that cortical mechanisms such as prediction, visuo-spatial attention and transformation, multimodal visuomotor control and working memory are of special importance for maintaining smooth pursuit eye movements in the absence of a visible target. [source]


Response properties of PMLS and PLLS neurons to simulated optic flow patterns

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 5 2000
Bing Li
Abstract The processing of optic flow information has been extensively investigated in the medial superior temporal area (MST) of the macaque. In the cat, the posteromedial area and the posterolateral area in the lateral suprasylvian cortex (PMLS and PLLS, respectively) have been suggested as likely participants according to their direction preferences to moving objects. In the present study, 203 PMLS and 123 PLLS neurons were tested with simulated optic flow patterns composed of random dots (including expansion and contraction, clockwise and counter-clockwise rotation, and translation) and moving bar stimuli. About 90% of the neurons were found to be excited by the optic flow stimuli and most of them were multiple-responsive to different flow patterns. Only 20,25% of the cells were selective to different optic flow modes, and in general, the direction preference was fairly modest. The selective cells showed stronger directionality to both flow field and moving bar than nonselective cells. However, the optic flow response properties in the PMLS and PLLS were not well correlated with the direction preference to moving bars. In accordance with previous findings, the PMLS was analogous to the middle temporal area of the macaque in many respects. As for the PLLS cells, they were sensitive to fewer types of stimuli, but responded better and more selectively to radial motion. All these results suggest that the two lateral suprasylvian areas are unlikely to be specialized for the analysis or discrimination of different flow patterns, but may play some kind of relay role in optic flow information processing. [source]


Tracking a partially occluded target with a cluster of Kalman filters

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS, Issue 6 2002
Dae-Sik Jang
Tracking moving objects is one of the most important techniques in motion analysis and understanding, and it has many difficult problems to solve. Estimating and identifying moving objects, when the background and moving objects vary dynamically, are especially difficult. It is possible under such a complex environment that targets might disappear totally or partially due to occlusion by other objects. The Kalman filter has been used to estimate motion information and use the information in predicting the appearance of targets in succeeding frames. In this article, we propose another version of the Kalman filter, to be called the structural Kalman filter, which can successfully accomplish its role of estimating motion information under such a deteriorating condition as occlusion. Experimental results show that the suggested approach is very effective in estimating and tracking non-rigid moving objects reliably. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Perceptual organization of motions in pigeons (Columba livia)1

JAPANESE PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH, Issue 3 2004
TOMOKAZU USHITANI
Abstract:, We investigated whether pigeons perceived relative motion of more than one object. We trained pigeons to match a white target dot moving vertically at a constant speed to one color and the same dot moving diagonally to another. In Experiment 1, we presented an additional yellow dot (accompanying dot) moving horizontally near the target. We hypothesized that the pigeons would match the diagonal motion to the color for "vertical motion" and vice versa if they perceived relative motion of the target and the accompanying dot. We reduced the size and the speed of the stimuli by half in Experiment 2 and changed the movement pattern of the target to a sine-function in Experiment 3. In Experiment 4, we presented two accompanying dots. However, the results of Experiments 1 to 4 showed no evidence that pigeons perceived relative motion. In Experiment 5, we substituted a moving frame for accompanying dots. The pigeons tended to respond to the color corresponding to the relative motion. These results suggest that pigeons may organize a set of moving objects as one object moving relative to the other in some stimulus displays in which the second object constitutes an explicit reference frame. [source]


Navigation Aided Image Processing in UAV Surveillance: Preliminary Results and Design of an Airborne Experimental System

JOURNAL OF FIELD ROBOTICS (FORMERLY JOURNAL OF ROBOTIC SYSTEMS), Issue 2 2004
Jonas Nygårds
This paper describes an airborne reconfigurable measurement system being developed at Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), Sensor Technology, Sweden. An image processing oriented sensor management architecture for UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) IR/EO-surveillance is presented. Some preliminary results of navigation aided image processing in UAV applications are demonstrated, such as SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping), structure from motion and geolocation, target tracking, and detection of moving objects. The design goal of the measurement system is to emulate a UAV-mounted sensor gimbal using a stand-alone system. The minimal configuration of the system consists of a gyro-stabilized gimbal with IR and CCD sensors and an integrated high-performance navigation system. The navigation system combines dGPS real-time kinematics (RTK) data with data from an inertial measurement unit (IMU) mounted with reference to the optical sensors. The gimbal is to be used as an experimental georeferenced sensor platform, using a choice of carriers, to produce military relevant image sequences for studies of image processing and sensor control on moving surveillance and reconnaissance platforms. Furthermore, a high resolution synthetic environment, developed for sensor simulations in the visual and infrared wavelengths, is presented. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Omnidirectional Vision and Inertial Clues for Robot Navigation

JOURNAL OF FIELD ROBOTICS (FORMERLY JOURNAL OF ROBOTIC SYSTEMS), Issue 1 2004
Irem Stratmann
The structural features inherent in the visual motion field of a mobile robot contain useful clues about its navigation. The combination of these visual clues and additional inertial sensor information may allow reliable detection of the navigation direction for a mobile robot and also the independent motion that might be present in the 3D scene. The motion field, which is the 2D projection of the 3D scene variations induced by the camera-robot system, is estimated through optical flow calculations. The singular points of the global optical flow field of omnidirectional image sequences indicate the translational direction of the robot as well as the deviation from its planned path. It is also possible to detect motion patterns of near obstacles or independently moving objects of the scene. In this paper, we introduce the analysis of the intrinsic features of the omnidirectional motion fields, in combination with gyroscopical information, and give some examples of this preliminary analysis. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


NONCONTACT TEMPERATURE MONITORING OF A PELLETING PROCESS USING INFRARED THERMOGRAPHY

JOURNAL OF FOOD PROCESS ENGINEERING, Issue 1 2007
C. SALAS-BRINGAS
ABSTRACT Contact methods are commonly used to determine temperature during food and feed manufacturing processes. This may, however, result in incorrect temperature measurements, because many food and feed materials easily agglomerate around the thermowell tip of the sensors, decreasing their time response; also, it is difficult to measure temperature from moving objects using contact methods. This article assesses the use of thermography to measure temperature throughout the manufacture of poultry feed. The experiment showed that precaution should be used when the temperature difference, between the meal at the outlet of the conditioner and pellets at the outlet of the pellet press, is associated with the temperature rise across the die. Precaution should also be used when the temperature of the pellets at the outlet of the pellet press is used as the peak temperature during the process. Temperature measurements through infrared emissions require improved instrument design to operate in a dusty, damp, steamy and oily environment. [source]


Shape measurement using pulsed optical holography , Fast and precise shape measurement of moving objects

LASER TECHNIK JOURNAL, Issue 1 2006
Susanne Frey Dr.
The starting point for the development of a new shape measurement system was the request of surgeons working in the field of cranio-facial and reconstructive surgery for an improved system for precise facial measurement. For the planning and documentation of surgical interventions, information on the bone structure of the patient is needed, which is imaged by computer tomography (CT). In particular in facial surgery it is vital to the patient, that not only the functionality of the face is given, but also the appearance of the patient is restored. To account for this aspect in the planning and evaluation of surgery, the outer appearance of a patient has to be documented, hence a surface model of the face has to be generated. [source]


Rapid cine MRI of the human heart using reconstruction by estimation of lines and inhibition of fold-in

MAGNETIC RESONANCE IN MEDICINE, Issue 5 2002
Wolfgang G. Rehwald
Abstract A fast imaging method is described that yields an approximately six-fold acquisition time reduction relative to conventional techniques. The method involves: 1) acquisition of every sixth k -space line; 2) shifting of acquired k -space lines between odd and even frames; and 3) a single-frame correction image. Reconstruction is achieved by temporal interpolation for k -space lines not acquired combined with subtraction of stationary fold-in artifacts. Seven patients with heart disease and one volunteer were evaluated. SNR was measured in myocardium and the ventricular cavity for both the conventional and new technique. The method is best suited for fast imaging of moving objects confined to a small region within a larger stationary object, such as the heart within the thoracic cavity. It can be implemented in cine and functional imaging sequences and, in principle, in perfusion sequences. Magn Reson Med 47:844,849, 2002. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Representing Space and Objects in Monkeys and Apes

COGNITIVE SCIENCE - A MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL, Issue 3 2000
Josep Call
Primate foraging can be construed as a set of interconnected problems that include finding food, selecting efficient travel routes, anticipating the positions of moving prey, and manipulating, and occasionally, extracting food items using tools. The evidence reviewed in this paper strongly suggests that both monkeys and apes use three types of representation (i.e., static, dynamic, and relational) to solve various problems. Static representations involve recalling certain features of the environment, dynamic representations involve imagining changes in the trajectories of moving objects, and relational representations involve encoding the properties of objects in relation to other objects. Contrary to previous claims, no clear differences were found between the representational skills of monkeys and apes. Current evidence also suggests that primates may be better at representing general compared to specific problem features. Finally, we have characterized the domains of space and objects as complementary and indicated future lines of research in these domains. [source]