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The performance of dynamic scene algorithms often suffers because of the inability to effectively acquire features on the targets, particularly when they are distributed over a wide field of view. In this paper, we propose an integrated analysis and control framework for a pan, tilt, zoom (PTZ) camera network in order to maximize various scene understanding performance criteria (e.g., tracking accuracy, best shot, and image resolution) through dynamic camera-to-target assignment and efficient feature acquisition. Moreover, we consider the situation where processing is distributed across the network since it is often unrealistic to have all the image data at a central location. In such situations, the cameras, although autonomous, must collaborate among themselves because each camera's PTZ parameter entails constraints on the others. Motivated by recent work in cooperative control of sensor networks, we propose a distributed optimization strategy, which can be modeled as a game involving the cameras and targets. The cameras gain by reducing the error covariance of the tracked targets or through higher resolution feature acquisition, which, however, comes at the risk of losing the dynamic target. Through the optimization of this reward-versus-risk tradeoff, we are able to control the PTZ parameters of the cameras and assign them to targets dynamically. The tracks, upon which the control algorithm is dependent, are obtained through a consensus estimation algorithm whereby cameras can arrive at a consensus on the state of each target through a negotiation strategy. We analyze the performance of this collaborative sensing strategy in active camera networks in a simulation environment, as well as a real-life camera network. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a nonlinear mixing model for hyperspectral image unmixing. The proposed model assumes that the pixel reflectances are nonlinear functions of pure spectral components contaminated by an additive white Gaussian noise. These nonlinear functions are approximated using polynomial functions leading to a polynomial postnonlinear mixing model. A Bayesian algorithm and optimization methods are proposed to estimate the parameters involved in the model. The performance of the unmixing strategies is evaluated by simulations conducted on synthetic and real data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A family of the block matching 3-D (BM3D) algorithms for various imaging problems has been recently proposed within the framework of nonlocal patchwise image modeling refid="ref1"/, refid="ref2"/. In this paper, we construct analysis and synthesis frames, formalizing BM3D image modeling, and use these frames to develop novel iterative deblurring algorithms. We consider two different formulations of the deblurring problem, i.e., one given by the minimization of the single-objective function and another based on the generalized Nash equilibrium (GNE) balance of two objective functions. The latter results in the algorithm where deblurring and denoising operations are decoupled. The convergence of the developed algorithms is proved. Simulation experiments show that the decoupled algorithm derived from the GNE formulation demonstrates the best numerical and visual results and shows superiority with respect to the state of the art in the field, confirming a valuable potential of BM3D-frames as an advanced image modeling tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes two new intraimage prediction methods based on two data dimensionality reduction methods: nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) and locally linear embedding. These two methods aim at approximating a block to be predicted in the image as a linear combination of k-nearest neighbors determined on the known pixels in a causal neighborhood of the input block. Variable k can be seen as a parameter controlling some sort of sparsity constraints of the approximation vector. The impact of this parameter as well as of the nonnegativity and sum-to-one constraints for the addressed prediction problem has been analyzed. The prediction and RD performances of these two new image prediction methods have then been evaluated in a complete image coding-and-decoding algorithm. Simulation results show gains up to 2 dB in terms of the PSNR of the reconstructed signal after coding and decoding of the prediction residue when compared with H.264/AVC intraprediction modes, up to 3 dB when compared with template matching, and up to 1 dB when compared with a sparse prediction method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantitatively accurate fluorescence diffuse optical tomographic (FDOT) image reconstruction is a computationally demanding problem that requires repeated numerical solutions of two coupled partial differential equations and an associated inverse problem. Recently, adaptive finite element methods have been explored to reduce the computation requirements of the FDOT image reconstruction. However, existing approaches ignore the ubiquitous presence of noise in boundary measurements. In this paper, we analyze the effect of finite element discretization on the FDOT forward and inverse problems in the presence of measurement noise and develop novel adaptive meshing algorithms for FDOT that take into account noise statistics. We formulate the FDOT inverse problem as an optimization problem in the maximum a posteriori framework to estimate the fluorophore concentration in a bounded domain. We use the mean-square-error (MSE) between the exact solution and the discretized solution as a figure of merit to evaluate the image reconstruction accuracy, and derive an upper bound on the MSE which depends upon the forward and inverse problem discretization parameters, noise statistics, a priori information of fluorophore concentration, source and detector geometry, as well as background optical properties. Next, we use this error bound to develop adaptive meshing algorithms for the FDOT forward and inverse problems to reduce the MSE due to discretization in the reconstructed images. Finally, we present a set of numerical simulations to illustrate the practical advantages of our adaptive meshing algorithms for FDOT image reconstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we propose an attraction-repulsion expectation-maximization (AREM) algorithm for image reconstruction and sensor field estimation. We rely on a new method for density estimation to address the problems of image reconstruction from limited samples and sensor field estimation from randomly scattered sensors. Density estimation methods often suffer from undesirable phenomena such as over-fitting and over-smoothing. Specifically, various density estimation techniques based on a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) tend to cluster the Gaussian functions together, thus resulting in over-fitting: On the other hand, other approaches repel the Gaussian functions and yield over-smooth density estimates. We propose a method that seeks an equilibrium between over-fitting and over-smoothing in density estimation by incorporating attraction and repulsion forces among the Gaussian functions and determining the optimal balance between the competing forces experimentally. We model the attractive and repulsive forces by introducing the Gibbs and inverse Gibbs distributions, respectively. The maximization of the likelihood function augmented by the Gibbs density mixture is solved under the expectation-maximization (EM) method. Computer simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed AREM algorithm in image reconstruction and sensor field estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of segmentation of tracking sequences is of central importance in a multitude of applications. In the current paper, a different approach to the problem is discussed. Specifically, the proposed segmentation algorithm is implemented in conjunction with estimation of the dynamic parameters of moving objects represented by the tracking sequence. While the information on objects' motion allows one to transfer some valuable segmentation priors along the tracking sequence, the segmentation allows substantially reducing the complexity of motion estimation, thereby facilitating the computation. Thus, in the proposed methodology, the processes of segmentation and motion estimation work simultaneously, in a sort of "collaborative" manner. The Bayesian estimation framework is used here to perform the segmentation, while Kalman filtering is used to estimate the motion and to convey useful segmentation information along the image sequence. The proposed method is demonstrated on a number of both computed-simulated and real-life examples, and the obtained results indicate its advantages over some alternative approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human visual system makes an extensive use of visual attention in order to select the most relevant information and speed-up the vision process. Inspired by visual attention, several computer models have been developped and many computer vision applications rely today on such models. However, the actual algorithms are not suitable to omnidirectional images, which contain a significant amount of geometrical distorsion. In this paper, we present a novel computational approach that performs in spherical geometry and thus is suitable for omnidirectional images. Following one of the actual models of visual attention, the spherical saliency map is obtained by fusing together intensity, chromatic, and orientation spherical cue conspicuity maps that are themselves obtained through multiscale analysis on the sphere. Finally, the consecutive maxima in the spherical saliency map represent the spots of attention on the sphere. In the experimental part, the proposed method is then compared to the standard one using a synthetic image. Also, we provide examples of spots detection in real omnidirectional scenes which show its advantages. Finally, an experiment illustrates the homogeneity of the detected visual attention in omnidirectional images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present two new articulated motion analysis and object tracking approaches: the decentralized articulated object tracking method and the hierarchical articulated object tracking method. The first approach avoids the common practice of using a high-dimensional joint state representation for articulated object tracking. Instead, we introduce a decentralized scheme and model the interpart interaction within an innovative Bayesian framework. Specifically, we estimate the interaction density by an efficient decomposed interpart interaction model. To handle severe self-occlusions, we further extend the first approach by modeling high-level interunit interaction and develop the second algorithm within a consistent hierarchical framework. Preliminary experimental results have demonstrated the superior performance of the proposed approaches on real-world videos in both robustness and speed compared with other articulated object tracking methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer modeling programs that generate three-dimensional (3-D) data on fine grids are capable of generating very large amounts of information. These data sets, as well as 3-D sensor/measured data sets, are prime candidates for the application of data compression algorithms. A very flexible and powerful compression algorithm for imagery data is the newly released JPEG 2000 standard. JPEG 2000 also has the capability to compress volumetric data, as described in Part 2 of the standard, by treating the 3-D data as separate slices. As a decoder standard, JPEG 2000 does not describe any specific method to allocate bits among the separate slices. This paper proposes two new bit allocation algorithms for accomplishing this task. The first procedure is rate distortion optimal (for mean squared error), and is conceptually similar to postcompression rate distortion optimization used for coding codeblocks within JPEG 2000. The disadvantage of this approach is its high computational complexity. The second bit allocation algorithm, here called the mixed model (MM) approach, mathematically models each slice's rate distortion curve using two distinct regions to get more accurate modeling at low bit rates. These two bit allocation algorithms are applied to a 3-D Meteorological data set. Test results show that the MM approach gives distortion results that are nearly identical to the optimal approach, while significantly reducing computational complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]