To improve the safety of autonomous cars, their obstacle detection capability in bad weather must... more To improve the safety of autonomous cars, their obstacle detection capability in bad weather must be substantially improved. Haze is a major factor that degrades outdoor images. Although various dehazing schemes have been proposed, a dehazing scheme designed to improve obstacle detection capability has not been reported. Hence, we present a dehazing algorithm that enhances the safety of an autonomous car. This algorithm should be able to work in real time, even using edge computers typically installed as car electronics. Furthermore, this algorithm should work on grayscale images, as systems dependent on color images are often unaffected by environmental color changes caused by factors such as a setting sun. The empirical results showed that our grayscale image-based proposed algorithm is comparable to the results of current cutting-edge methods, and operates in real time.
International symposium on affective science and engineering, 2018
To improve the safety of autonomous cars, their obstacle detection capability in bad weather must... more To improve the safety of autonomous cars, their obstacle detection capability in bad weather must be substantially improved. Haze is a major factor that degrades outdoor images. Although various dehazing schemes have been proposed, a dehazing scheme designed to improve obstacle detection capability has not been reported. Hence, we present a dehazing algorithm that enhances the safety of an autonomous car. This algorithm should be able to work in real time, even using edge computers typically installed as car electronics. Furthermore, this algorithm should work on grayscale images, as systems dependent on color images are often unaffected by environmental color changes caused by factors such as a setting sun. We developed this algorithm based on the following three existing dehazing algorithms: dark channel prior, median dark channel prior, and the parameter tuning scheme for dark channel prior. We extend these methods based only on grayscale images. In terms of object detection capability, structural similarity index measure, and peak signal-to-noise ratio, the empirical results showed that our grayscale image-based proposed algorithm is comparable to the results of current cutting-edge methods, and operates in real time.
The discrete velocity method has been extended to include inelastic collisions with rotational-tr... more The discrete velocity method has been extended to include inelastic collisions with rotational-translational energy exchange. A single value of rotational energy per unit mass is assigned to every velocity in the velocity domain and inelastic collisions are modeled using the Larsen-Borgnakke method. The discrete velocity version of energy exchange is used to simulate both a homogeneous relaxation of a distribution with non-equilibrium rotational and translational temperatures and a 1D shock with rotational energy modes. The method has also been modified to allow for non-uniform grids in velocity space. Non-uniform grids permit computational effort to be focused on specific areas of interest within the velocity distribution function. The Bobylev-Krook-Wu solution to the Boltzmann equation (the only analytic solution known) is used to compare a non-uniform grid with a uniform grid.
IECON 2020 The 46th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, Oct 18, 2020
As the impact of traffic accidents caused by older adults is significantly large, they are often ... more As the impact of traffic accidents caused by older adults is significantly large, they are often advised to surrender their driving license. On the contrary, the decrease in the number of human drivers for public transportation is a serious problem in rural areas where populations are aging and declining. With a rapidly aging society, mobility-related problems among the elderly have gained significant attention. To address these issues, dedicated autonomous public transportation is essential, thereby necessitating field-operational tests involving autonomous buses. However, the deployment of autonomous bus-related field-operational tests in Japan is relatively slow as compared to the that in the U.S. and China. This is attributed to the few by-wire controllable bus systems that meet the requirements of Japanese vehicular laws for field-operational tests. To resolve these issues, we propose an autonomous bus using existing joystick driving system solutions. The steering wheel and gas/brake pedals are activated using electric motors of the joystick driving system, thus achieving drive-by-wire. Therefore, we selected this joystick-driving system attached to a bus as the basis for an autonomous bus, to meet the requirements of Japanese vehicular laws. Systems including LIDAR, GNSS, gyro sensors, and cameras enable the bus to be automatically controlled using the proposed driving system. This proposed prototype bus has passed vehicular inspection, and field-operational tests have been performed on public roads using this bus. The results of these tests confirm the viability of our proposed solution.
International Journal of Affective Engineering, 2018
It is known that criminal investigation assistance systems that use face images are unreliable wh... more It is known that criminal investigation assistance systems that use face images are unreliable when profile images are queried. Although frontal facial recognition has matured, profile facial recognition is not yet well developed. To compensate for such unreliability, the use of ear recognition is a promising direction, as ear shapes are known to be unique and visible in profile images. However, the ear has a complex, three-dimensional concave shape. Thus, accurate ear identification is challenging when the angle of an ear image from a surveillance camera is different from that of images in an image database. Some studies (including our past work) have addressed this issue and improved the robustness of ear recognition against off-angle ear rotation. However, there is room for improvement in this area. To improve on our earlier work on single view-based ear biometrics, another estimation method for the camera angle of an ear image based on principal component analysis is examined in this study. Experimental results show that the proposed method can improve the accuracy of the estimation of the camera angle. In conjunction with this enhancement, the improvement in robustness against off-angle ear rotation is examined. Therefore, the proposed method improves the robustness of ear recognition by accurately calculating the camera angle of the image of the ear.
Electroencephalogram (EEG) is often used in confirmatory test for brain death determination in cl... more Electroencephalogram (EEG) is often used in confirmatory test for brain death determination in clinical practice. Because the EEG measuring and monitoring is relatively safe and reliable for deep comatose patients, it is believed to be valuable for reducing the risk of diagnosis or prevent mistaken diagnosis of brain death. In this paper, we present EEG complexity analysis and EEG energy analyses for the EEG acquisition of 35 adult patients. In EEG complexity analysis, we firstly report statistically significant differences of quantitative statistics in this clinical study. Next, for the patient-wise case study, we develop a dynamical calculating entropy method to monitor the symptom change of patients. In EEG energy analysis, we firstly accumulate the EEG energy from the extracted components that are related to the brain activities. Then, we evaluate the energy differences between deep comatose patients and brain death. The empirical results reported in this paper suggest some promising directions and valuable clues for clinical practice.
Abstract A new method for setting a threshold value on a quasi-chroma histogram to extract facial... more Abstract A new method for setting a threshold value on a quasi-chroma histogram to extract facial areas based on the methods used in forecasting stock market features, such as dead cross and golden cross, is proposed. In general, when a threshold value is set to isolate ...
Although ear shape is used in forensic investigations, ear identification system assisting forens... more Although ear shape is used in forensic investigations, ear identification system assisting forensic experts is not well developed. One of the reasons for this is ear's 3D concave shape that changes their 2D appearances when there are changes in camera angles. To compensate these changes in 2D appearance, 3D statistical modeling is necessary. For this purpose, only one model is used in our previous study. Based on a few forensic classification methods of ear shapes, we attempted to increase the number of 3D statistical ear models. Through experimental evaluation, we find a possibility to improve the robustness against change in camera angles.
To improve the safety of autonomous cars, their obstacle detection capability in bad weather must... more To improve the safety of autonomous cars, their obstacle detection capability in bad weather must be substantially improved. Haze is a major factor that degrades outdoor images. Although various dehazing schemes have been proposed, a dehazing scheme designed to improve obstacle detection capability has not been reported. Hence, we present a dehazing algorithm that enhances the safety of an autonomous car. This algorithm should be able to work in real time, even using edge computers typically installed as car electronics. Furthermore, this algorithm should work on grayscale images, as systems dependent on color images are often unaffected by environmental color changes caused by factors such as a setting sun. The empirical results showed that our grayscale image-based proposed algorithm is comparable to the results of current cutting-edge methods, and operates in real time.
International symposium on affective science and engineering, 2018
To improve the safety of autonomous cars, their obstacle detection capability in bad weather must... more To improve the safety of autonomous cars, their obstacle detection capability in bad weather must be substantially improved. Haze is a major factor that degrades outdoor images. Although various dehazing schemes have been proposed, a dehazing scheme designed to improve obstacle detection capability has not been reported. Hence, we present a dehazing algorithm that enhances the safety of an autonomous car. This algorithm should be able to work in real time, even using edge computers typically installed as car electronics. Furthermore, this algorithm should work on grayscale images, as systems dependent on color images are often unaffected by environmental color changes caused by factors such as a setting sun. We developed this algorithm based on the following three existing dehazing algorithms: dark channel prior, median dark channel prior, and the parameter tuning scheme for dark channel prior. We extend these methods based only on grayscale images. In terms of object detection capability, structural similarity index measure, and peak signal-to-noise ratio, the empirical results showed that our grayscale image-based proposed algorithm is comparable to the results of current cutting-edge methods, and operates in real time.
The discrete velocity method has been extended to include inelastic collisions with rotational-tr... more The discrete velocity method has been extended to include inelastic collisions with rotational-translational energy exchange. A single value of rotational energy per unit mass is assigned to every velocity in the velocity domain and inelastic collisions are modeled using the Larsen-Borgnakke method. The discrete velocity version of energy exchange is used to simulate both a homogeneous relaxation of a distribution with non-equilibrium rotational and translational temperatures and a 1D shock with rotational energy modes. The method has also been modified to allow for non-uniform grids in velocity space. Non-uniform grids permit computational effort to be focused on specific areas of interest within the velocity distribution function. The Bobylev-Krook-Wu solution to the Boltzmann equation (the only analytic solution known) is used to compare a non-uniform grid with a uniform grid.
IECON 2020 The 46th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, Oct 18, 2020
As the impact of traffic accidents caused by older adults is significantly large, they are often ... more As the impact of traffic accidents caused by older adults is significantly large, they are often advised to surrender their driving license. On the contrary, the decrease in the number of human drivers for public transportation is a serious problem in rural areas where populations are aging and declining. With a rapidly aging society, mobility-related problems among the elderly have gained significant attention. To address these issues, dedicated autonomous public transportation is essential, thereby necessitating field-operational tests involving autonomous buses. However, the deployment of autonomous bus-related field-operational tests in Japan is relatively slow as compared to the that in the U.S. and China. This is attributed to the few by-wire controllable bus systems that meet the requirements of Japanese vehicular laws for field-operational tests. To resolve these issues, we propose an autonomous bus using existing joystick driving system solutions. The steering wheel and gas/brake pedals are activated using electric motors of the joystick driving system, thus achieving drive-by-wire. Therefore, we selected this joystick-driving system attached to a bus as the basis for an autonomous bus, to meet the requirements of Japanese vehicular laws. Systems including LIDAR, GNSS, gyro sensors, and cameras enable the bus to be automatically controlled using the proposed driving system. This proposed prototype bus has passed vehicular inspection, and field-operational tests have been performed on public roads using this bus. The results of these tests confirm the viability of our proposed solution.
International Journal of Affective Engineering, 2018
It is known that criminal investigation assistance systems that use face images are unreliable wh... more It is known that criminal investigation assistance systems that use face images are unreliable when profile images are queried. Although frontal facial recognition has matured, profile facial recognition is not yet well developed. To compensate for such unreliability, the use of ear recognition is a promising direction, as ear shapes are known to be unique and visible in profile images. However, the ear has a complex, three-dimensional concave shape. Thus, accurate ear identification is challenging when the angle of an ear image from a surveillance camera is different from that of images in an image database. Some studies (including our past work) have addressed this issue and improved the robustness of ear recognition against off-angle ear rotation. However, there is room for improvement in this area. To improve on our earlier work on single view-based ear biometrics, another estimation method for the camera angle of an ear image based on principal component analysis is examined in this study. Experimental results show that the proposed method can improve the accuracy of the estimation of the camera angle. In conjunction with this enhancement, the improvement in robustness against off-angle ear rotation is examined. Therefore, the proposed method improves the robustness of ear recognition by accurately calculating the camera angle of the image of the ear.
Electroencephalogram (EEG) is often used in confirmatory test for brain death determination in cl... more Electroencephalogram (EEG) is often used in confirmatory test for brain death determination in clinical practice. Because the EEG measuring and monitoring is relatively safe and reliable for deep comatose patients, it is believed to be valuable for reducing the risk of diagnosis or prevent mistaken diagnosis of brain death. In this paper, we present EEG complexity analysis and EEG energy analyses for the EEG acquisition of 35 adult patients. In EEG complexity analysis, we firstly report statistically significant differences of quantitative statistics in this clinical study. Next, for the patient-wise case study, we develop a dynamical calculating entropy method to monitor the symptom change of patients. In EEG energy analysis, we firstly accumulate the EEG energy from the extracted components that are related to the brain activities. Then, we evaluate the energy differences between deep comatose patients and brain death. The empirical results reported in this paper suggest some promising directions and valuable clues for clinical practice.
Abstract A new method for setting a threshold value on a quasi-chroma histogram to extract facial... more Abstract A new method for setting a threshold value on a quasi-chroma histogram to extract facial areas based on the methods used in forecasting stock market features, such as dead cross and golden cross, is proposed. In general, when a threshold value is set to isolate ...
Although ear shape is used in forensic investigations, ear identification system assisting forens... more Although ear shape is used in forensic investigations, ear identification system assisting forensic experts is not well developed. One of the reasons for this is ear's 3D concave shape that changes their 2D appearances when there are changes in camera angles. To compensate these changes in 2D appearance, 3D statistical modeling is necessary. For this purpose, only one model is used in our previous study. Based on a few forensic classification methods of ear shapes, we attempted to increase the number of 3D statistical ear models. Through experimental evaluation, we find a possibility to improve the robustness against change in camera angles.
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