1,720,987 research outputs found

    3D SEQUENTIAL IMAGE MOSAICING for UNDERWATER NAVIGATION and MAPPING

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    Although fully autonomous mapping methods are becoming more and more common and reliable, still the human operator is regularly employed in many 3D surveying missions. In a number of underwater applications, divers or pilots of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) are still considered irreplaceable, and tools for real-time visualization of the mapped scene are essential to support and maximize the navigation and surveying efforts. For underwater exploration, image mosaicing has proved to be a valid and effective approach to visualize large mapped areas, often employed in conjunction with autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and ROVs. In this work, we propose the use of a modified image mosaicing algorithm that coupled with image-based real-time navigation and mapping algorithms provides two visual navigation aids. The first is a classic image mosaic, where the recorded and processed images are incrementally added, named 2D sequential image mosaicing (2DSIM). The second one geometrically transform the images so that they are projected as planar point clouds in the 3D space providing an incremental point cloud mosaicing, named 3D sequential image plane projection (3DSIP). In the paper, the implemented procedure is detailed, and experiments in different underwater scenarios presented and discussed. Technical considerations about computational efforts, frame rate capabilities and scalability to different and more compact architectures (i.e. embedded systems) is also provided

    Accurate scaling and levelling in underwater photogrammetry with a pressure sensor

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    Photogrammetry needs known geometric elements to provide metric traceable measurements. These known elements can be a distance between two three-dimensional object points or two camera stations, or a combination of known coordinates and/or angles to solve the seven degrees of freedom that lead to rank deficiency of the normal-equation matrix. In this paper we present a novel approach for scaling and levelling to the local vertical direction an underwater photogrammetric survey. The developed methodology is based on a portable low-cost device designed and realized by the authors that uses depth measurements from a high resolution pressure sensor. The prototype consists of a data logger featuring a pressure sensor synchronized with a digital camera in its underwater pressure housing. The modular design, with optical communication and synchronization, provides great flexibility not requiring the camera housing to undergo any hardware modifications. The proposed methodology allows for a full 3D levelling transformation comprising two angles, a vertical translation and a scale factor and can work for surveying scenes extending horizontally, vertically or both. The paper presents the theoretical principles, an overview of the developed system together with preliminary calibration results. Tests in a lake and at sea are reported. An accuracy better than 1:5000 on the length measurement was achieved in calm water conditions

    Underwater survey for oil and gas industry: A review of close range optical methods

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    In both the industrial and scientific fields, the need for very high‐resolution cartographic data is constantly increasing. With the aging of offshore subsea assets, it is very important to plan and maintain the longevity of structures, equipment, and systems. Inspection, maintenance, and repair (IMR) of subsea structures are key components of an overall integrity management system that aims to reduce the risk of failure and extend the life of installations. The acquisition of very detailed data during the inspection phase is a technological challenge, especially since offshore installations are sometimes deployed in extreme conditions (e.g., depth, hydrodynamics, visibility). After a review of high resolution mapping techniques for underwater environment, this article will focus on optical sensors that can satisfy the requirements of the offshore industry by assessing their relevance and degree of maturity. These requirements concern the resolution and accuracy but also cost, ease of implementation, and qualification. With the evolution of embedded computing resources, in‐vehicle optical survey solutions are becoming increasingly important in the landscape of large‐scale mapping solutions and more and more off‐the‐shelf systems are now available. The issues raised in this review are mainly related to the qualification of the results produced by optical systems and their limitations to cover all the needs expressed by the oil and gas industry field. Interesting qualification works of these solutions are presented in this paper as well as the use of online processing tools such as visual odometry or VSLAM to guide the data acquisition and pre‐qualified survey. Finally, it seems interesting to combine acoustic and optical technologies in order to extend the field of application of these methods to low visibility conditions, which remains one of the main limiting factors in the generalization of the use of optical sensors in high resolution underwater cartography applications

    A Digital Twin Infrastructure for NGC of ROV during Inspection

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    Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) provide practical solutions for a wide range of activities in a particularly challenging domain, despite their dependence on support ships and operators. Recent advancements in AI, machine learning, predictive analytics, control theories, and sensor technologies offer opportunities to make ROVs (semi) autonomous in their operations and to remotely test and monitor their dynamics. This study moves towards that goal by formulating a complete navigation, guidance, and control (NGC) system for a six DoF BlueROV2, offering a solution to the current challenges in the field of marine robotics, particularly in the areas of power supply, communication, stability, operational autonomy, localization, and trajectory planning. The vehicle can operate (semi) autonomously, relying on a sensor acoustic USBL localization system, tethered communication with the surface vessel for power, and a line of sight (LOS) guidance system. This strategy transforms the path control problem into a heading control problem, aligning the vehicle’s movement with a dynamically calculated reference point along the desired path. The control system uses PID controllers implemented in the navigator flight controller board. Additionally, an infrastructure has been developed that synchronizes and communicates between the real ROV and its digital twin within the Unity environment. The digital twin acts as a visual representation of the ROV’s movements and considers hydrodynamic behaviors. This approach combines the physical properties of the ROV with the advanced simulation and analysis capabilities of its digital counterpart. All findings were validated at the Point Rouge port located in Marseille and at the port of Ancona. The NGC implemented has proven positive vehicle stability and trajectory tracking in time despite external interferences. Additionally, the digital part has proven to be a reliable infrastructure for a future bidirectional communication system

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship

    Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis

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    We provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis

    Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts

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    We conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more sophisticated methods
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