M. Tech. Electrical Engineering. / Aims to implement a lossy image compression scheme that uses a graph-based approach. On the one hand, this new method should reach high compression rates with good visual quality, while on the other hand it may lead to the following sub-problems:efficient classification of image data with the use of bilateral mesh filtering ; Transformation of the image into a graph with grid smoothing ; reduction of the graph by means of mesh decimation techniques ; reconstruction process of the reduced graph into an image and quality analysis of the reconstructed images.

With technological advances digital video and imaging are becoming more and more relevant. Medical, remote-learning, surveillance, conferencing and home monitoring are just a few applications of these technologies. Along with compression, there is now a need for analysis and extraction of data. During the days of film and early digital cameras the processing and manipulation of data from such cameras was transparent to the end user. This transparency has been decreasing and the industry is moving towards `smart users' - people who will be enabled to program and manipulate their video and imaging systems. Smart cameras can currently zoom, refocus and adjust lighting by sourcing out current from the camera itself to the headlight. Such cameras are used in the industry for inspection, quality control and even counting objects in jewelry stores and museums, but could eventually allow user defined programmability. However, all this will not happen without interactive software as well as capabilities in the hardware to allow programmability. In this research, compression, expansion and detail extraction from videos in the surveillance arena are addressed. Here, a video codec is defined that can embed contextual details of a video stream depending on user defined requirements creating a video summary. This codec also carries out motion based segmentation that helps in object detection. Once an object is segmented it is matched against a database using its shape and color information. If the object is not a good match, the user can either add it to the database or consider it an anomaly. RGB vector angle information is used to generate object descriptors to match objects to a database. This descriptor implicitly incorporates the shape and color information while keeping the size of the database manageable. Color images of objects that are considered `safe' are taken from various angles and distances (with the same background as that covered by the camera is question) and their RGB vector angle based descriptors constitute the information contained in the database. This research is a first step towards building a compression and detection system for specific surveillance applications. While the user has to build and maintain a database, there are no restrictions on the size of the images, zoom and angle requirements, thus, reducing the burden on the end user in creating such a database. This also allows use of different types of cameras and doesn't need a lot of up-front planning on camera location, etc.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 199-209). / Microfiche. / xii, 209 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

Thesis (M.E.)--University of New South Wales, 2003. / Also available online.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 202-221). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the nature of digital image compression and the calculation of the quality of the compressed images. The work is focused on greyscale images in the domain of satellite images and aerial photographs. Two compression techniques are studied in detail namely the JPEG and fractal compression methods. Implementations of both these techniques are then applied to a set of test images. The rest of this thesis is dedicated to investigating the measurement of the loss of quality that was introduced by the compression. A general method for quality measurement (signal To Noise Ratio) is discussed as well as a technique that was presented in literature quite recently (Grey Block Distance). Hereafter, a new measure is presented. After this, a means of comparing the performance of these measures is presented. It was found that the new measure for image quality estimation performed marginally better than the SNR algorithm. Lastly, some possible improvements on this technique are mentioned and the validity of the method used for comparing the quality measures is discussed. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie tesis is om ondersoek in te stel na die aard van digitale beeldsamepersing en die berekening van beeldkwaliteit na samepersing. Daar word gekonsentreer op grysvlak beelde in die spesifieke domein van satellietbeelde en lugfotos. Twee spesifieke samepersingstegnieke word in diepte ondersoek naamlik die JPEG en fraktale samepersingsmetodes. Implementasies van beide hierdie tegnieke word op 'n stel toetsbeelde aangewend. Die res van hierdie tesis word dan gewy aan die ondersoek van die meting van die kwaliteitsverlies van hierdie saamgeperste beelde. Daar word gekyk na 'n metode wat in algemene gebruik in die praktyk is asook na 'n nuwer metode wat onlangs in die literatuur veskyn het. Hierna word 'n nuwe tegniek bekendgestel. Verder word daar 'n vergelyking van hierdie mates en 'n ondersoek na die interpretasie van die 'kwaliteit' van hierdie kwaliteitsmate gedoen. Daar is gevind dat die nuwe maatstaf vir kwaliteit net so goed en selfs beter werk as die algemene maat vir beeldkwaliteit naamlik die Sein tot Ruis Verhouding. Laastens word daar moontlike verbeterings op die maatstaf genoem en daar volg 'n bespreking oor die geldigheid van die metode wat gevolg is om die kwaliteit van die kwaliteitsmate te bepaal

Thesis (MScEng)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: One of the problems with any deep space communication system is that information may be altered or lost during transmission due to channel noise. It is known that any damage to the bit stream may lead to objectionable visual quality distortion of images at the decoder. The purpose of this thesis is to design an error correction and data compression algorithm for image protection, which will allow the communication bandwidth to be better utilized. The work focuses on Sunsat (Stellenbosch Satellite) images as test images. Investigations were done on the JPEG 2000 compression algorithm's robustness to random errors, putting more emphasis on how much of the image is degraded after compression. Implementation of both the error control coding and data compression strategy is then applied to a set of test images. The FEe algorithm combats some if not all of the simulated random errors introduced by the channel. The results illustrates that the error correction of random errors is achieved by a factor of 100 times (xl00) on all test images and that the probability of error of 10-2in the channel (10-4for image data) shows that the errors causes little degradation on the image quality. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Een van die probleme met kommunikasie in die ruimte is dat informasie mag verlore gaan en! of gekorrupteer word deur ruis gedurende versending deur die kanaal. Dit is bekend dat enige skade aan die bisstroom mag lei tot hinderlike vervorming van die beelde wat op aarde ontvang word. Die doel van hierdie tesis om foutkorreksie en datakompressie te ontwikkel wat die satelliet beelde sal beskerm gedurende versending en die kommunikasie kanaal se bandwydte beter sal benut. Die werk fokus op SUNSAT (Stellenbosch Universiteit Satelliet) se beelde as toetsbeelde. Ondersoeke is gedoen na die JPEG2000 kompressie algoritme se bestandheid teen toevalsfoute, met klem op hoeveel die beeld gedegradeer word deur die bisfoute wat voorkom. Beide die kompressie en die foutkorreksie is ge-implementeer en aangewend op die toetsbeelde. Die foutkorreksie bestry die gesimuleerde toevalsfoute, soos wat dit op die kanaal voorkom. Die resultate toon dat die foutkorreksie die toevalsfoute met 'n faktor 100 verminder, en dat 'n foutwaarskynlikheid van 10-2 op die kanaal (10-4 op die beelddata) weinig degradering in die beeldkwaliteit veroorsaak.

Particles exist in great abundance in nature, such as in sands and clays, and they also constitute 75% of the materials used in industry (e.g., mineral ores, formulated pharmaceuticals, dyes, detergent powders). When a load is applied to a bulk assembly of soil particles, the response of a geomaterial at the bulk (macro) scale, originates from the changes that take place at the particle scale. If particle breakage occurs, the shape and size of the particles comprising the bulk are changed; this induces changes in the contact network through which applied loads are transmitted. As a result, changes at the micro-scale can significantly affect the mechanical behaviour of a geomaterial at a macro-scale. It is therefore unsurprising that the mechanisms leading to particle breakage are a subject of intense research interest in several fields, including geomechanics. In this thesis, particle breakage of two dry granular materials is studied, both experimentally and numerically. The response of the materials is investigated under different stress paths and in all the tests grain breakage occurs. High resolution x-ray computed micro-tomography (XCT) is used to obtain 3D images of entire specimens during high confinement triaxial compression tests and strain controlled oedometric compression tests. The acquired images are processed and measurements are made of the temporal and spatial evolution of breakage, local variations of porosity, volumetric and shear strain and grading. The evolution and spatial distribution of quantified breakage including the resulting particle size distribution for the whole specimen and for specific areas, are presented and further related to the localised shear and volumetric strains that developed in the specimens. In addition, the discrete element method (DEM) was used to provide further micro-mechanical insight of the underlying mechanisms leading to particle breakage. Classical DEM simulations, using a Hertz-Mindlin contact model and non-breakable spheres, was first deployed to study the initiation and likelihood of particle breakage under oedometric compression. Moreover, a bonded DEM model was used to create clumps that represent each particle and simulate breakage of particles under single particle compression. The DEM model parameters were obtained from results of single particle compression test and the models were validated against the quantitative 3D information of the micro-scale, acquired from the XCT analysis.

L'étude du comportement sous incendie des bétons a particulièrement pris son essor depuis des incendies répétés de tunnels comme celui sous la Manche ou du Mont-Blanc. La problématique de résistance au feu est essentielle puisque les éclatements qui peuvent accompagner la diminution de résistance du matériau sont de nature à fragiliser fortement les structures. Depuis plusieurs décennies, le domaine de la résistance au feu des bétons ordinaires et à hautes performances a été exploré tant expérimentalement que théoriquement. Cependant il existe des matériaux plus récents, que sont les bétons fibrés à ultra performances (BFUP), pour lesquels le phénomène d'instabilité thermique est accentué et dont le comportement mécanique à chaud n'a pas été beaucoup exploré. L'étude menée ici a pour vocation de s'intéresser à un BFUP particulier, le BCV®, fourni par l'entreprise Vicat. Les résultats exposés permettent de mieux comprendre l'efficacité des fibres de polypropylène face aux autres fibres synthétiques, grâce à une approche expérimentale originale complétée par une étude à l'échelle microscopique. Cette dernière est constituée de nombreuses analyses au microscope électronique à balayage ainsi que d'études de porosimétrie au mercure. Cette première phase est suivie d'un vaste programme de caractérisations mécaniques à chaud sur le BCV® à des températures variant de 20°C à 1100°C, essais peu courants pour ce genre de matériau. Ce travail contribue à la compréhension du comportement des BFUP à haute température, et montre que l'évolution avec la température de leurs caractéristiques mécaniques principales (résistance en flexion, résistance en compression et module d'élasticité) est assez semblable à celle des bétons ordinaires. Les résultats de cette étude contribuent à une meilleures connaissance du comportement à haute température des bétons fibrés à ultra performances. / Study of concrete behaviour under fire has really increased since the occurence of several fires in tunnels such as the Chunnel or the Mont-Blanc tunnel. Fire resistance of concrete is a very important subject because the possible spalling coupled with a decrease of the strength of the material can deeply weaken the structures. For decades the fire resistance field of ordinary concrete and high performance concrete was studied experimentally and theorically. However more recent materials such as ultra-high performance fibre reinforced concrete (UHPFRC), for which spalling phenomenon is emphasized and whose high temperature mechanical behaviour has not been studied so much. The present study is aimed to study a particular UHPFRC, the BCV®, supplied by Vicat. The results enable to better understand the effenciency of polypropylene fibres compared to other synthetic fibres, thanks to an original experimental approach coupled with a study at the microscopic scale. The latter consists in various scanning electron microscope analysis and mercury intrusion porosimetry. This first part is followed by a wide number of experimental results which characterize the mechanical behaviour of BCV® for a range of temperatures from 20°C to 1100°C. Experiments in such testing conditions are not common for this material. The work achieved contributes to a better understanding of the high performance behaviour of UHPFRC. It reveals also that the evolution with temperature of main mechanical characteristics (bending strength, compression strength and Young Modulus) is really close to those of ordinary concretes. The results of this study contributes to a better knowledge of ultra-high performance fibre reinforced concrete under high temperature.