Increasing demands in areas such as security, surveillance, search and rescue, and communication, has promoted the research and development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as such technologies can replace manned flights in dangerous or unfavorable conditions. Lighter-than-air UAVs such as blimps can carry higher payloads and can stay longer in the air compared to typical heavier-than-air UAVs such as aeroplanes or quadrotors. One purpose of this thesis is to develop a sensor suite basis for estimating the position and orientation of a blimp UAV in development with respect to a reference point for safer landing procedures using minimal on-board sensors. While the existing low-cost sensor package, including inertial measurement unit (IMU) and Global Navigation System (GPS) module, could be sufficient to estimate the pose of the blimp to a certain extent, the GPS module is not as precise in the short term, especially for altitude. The proposed system combines GPS and inertial data with information from a grounded infrared (IR) camera. Image frames are processed to identify three IR LEDs located on the UAV and each LED coordinate is estimated using a Perspective-n-Point (PnP) algorithm. Then the results from the PnP algorithm are fused with the GPS, accelerometer and gyroscope measurements using an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) to get a more accurate estimate of the position and the orientation. Tests were conducted on a simulated blimp using the experimental avionics.

Visual Aids for the blind people is an important subject. Apparently visually impaired individuals get impeded by certain hurdles in everyday life. This work proposes an indoor navigation system for visually impaired people. In particular, the goal of this study is to develop a robust, independent and portable aid to assist a user to navigate familiar as well as unfamiliar areas. The algorithm uses the data from Microsoft Xbox Kinect 360 which makes a 3D map of the indoor areas and detects the depth and estimates the relative distance and angle to an obstacle/human. To ensure the accuracy, Kinect tool is enabled with a colour camera to capture real-time details of surroundings which are then processed accordingly. Besides, the developed aid makes the user aware of environmental changes through a Bluetooth enabled headphones used as audio output device. The trials were conducted on six blindfolded volunteers who successfully navigated across various locations in the university campus such as classrooms, hallways, and stairs. Moreover, the user could also track a particular person through output generated from processed images. Hence, the work suggests a significant improvement for existing visual aids which may be very helpful in customisation as well as the adaptability of these devices.

The atmosphere distorts the spectrum of remotely sensed data, negatively affecting all forms of investigating Earth's surface. To gather reliable data, it is vital that atmospheric corrections are accurate. The current state of the field of atmospheric correction does not account well for the benefits and costs of different correction algorithms. Ground spectral data are required to evaluate these algorithms better. This dissertation explores using cameras as radiometers as a means of gathering ground spectral data. I introduce techniques to implement a camera systems for atmospheric correction using off the shelf parts. To aid the design of future camera systems for radiometric correction, methods for estimating the system error prior to construction, calibration and testing of the resulting camera system are explored. Simulations are used to investigate the relationship between the reflectance accuracy of the camera system and the quality of atmospheric correction. In the design phase, read noise and filter choice are found to be the strongest sources of system error. I explain the calibration methods for the camera system, showing the problems of pixel to angle calibration, and adapting the web camera for scientific work. The camera system is tested in the field to estimate its ability to recover directional reflectance from BRF data. I estimate the error in the system due to the experimental set up, then explore how the system error changes with different cameras, environmental set-ups and inversions. With these experiments, I learn about the importance of the dynamic range of the camera, and the input ranges used for the PROSAIL inversion. Evidence that the camera can perform within the specification set for ELM correction in this dissertation is evaluated. The analysis is concluded by simulating an ELM correction of a scene using various numbers of calibration targets, and levels of system error, to find the number of cameras needed for a full-scale implementation.

Övning är en helt central del av tillvaron för alla som aspirerar att bli professionella klassiska musiker och som med så mycket annat så finns det digitala verktyg avsedda för att underlätta och effektivisera denna process. I studien undersöktes hur applikationen Modacity i kombination med inspelning kan användas och om den erbjöd några fördelar resp. nackdelar under instuderingen av Capriccio da Camera av Berhard Krol. Studien kom fram till att övning med Modacity erbjuder en mängd fördelar gentemot traditionell övning. Framförallt så underlättar applikationens logiska arbetsflöde att uppnå ”flow” och leder till ökad effektivitet i övningen. Den är dock inte en helhetslösning för hela instuderingen av ett nytt stycke och vissa tekniska begränsningar gör att användbarheten minskar något. Sammantaget så är dock applikationen ett potent hjälpmedel och området med mobilapplikationer i övningen kommer säkerligen att fortsätta utvecklas i framtiden.

abstract: Land use change driven by human population expansion continues to influence the integrity and configuration of riparian corridors worldwide. Wildlife viability in semi-arid regions depend heavily on the connectivity of riparian corridors, since water is the primary limiting resource. The Madrean Archipelago in northern Mexico and southwestern United States (US) is a biodiversity hotspot that supports imperiled wildlife like jaguar (Panthera onca) and ocelot (Leopardus pardalis). Recent and ongoing infrastructure developments in the historically understudied US-México borderlands region, such as the border wall and expansion of Federal Highway 2, are altering wildlife movement and disconnecting essential habitat. I used wildlife cameras to assess species occupancy, abundance, and related habitat variables affecting the use of washes as corridors for mammals in semi-arid Los Ojos (LO), a private ranch within a 530 km2 priority conservation area in Sonora, México located south of the border and Federal Highway 2. From October 2018 to April 2019, I deployed 21 wildlife cameras in five different riparian corridors within LO. I used single- season occupancy models and Royal Nichols abundance models to explore the relationship between habitat variables and use of riparian corridors by mammal communities of conservation concern within this region. Twenty-one mammal species were recorded in the study area, including American black bear (Ursus americanus), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and the first sighting of jaguar (Panthera onca) in this region in 25 years. For the 11 medium- and large-bodied mammals recorded, habitat variables related to perennial river characteristics (distance to river, weekly water, and site width) and remoteness (distance from highway, elevation, and NDVI) were important for occupancy, but the direction of the relationship varied by species. For commonly observed species such as mountain lion (Puma concolor) and white-nosed coati (Nasua narica), topographic variety was highly informative for species abundance. These results highlight the importance of habitat diversity when identifying corridors for future protection to conserve wildlife communities in semi-arid regions. Additionally, this study provides robust evidence in support of mitigation measures (e.g. funnel fencing, over- or under- passes) along Federal Highway 2, and other barriers such as the border wall, to facilitate wildlife connectivity. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Biology 2020

Drones have become more common, and are commercially available for consumers. Small drones can be used for unauthorized information gathering, or to cause disruptions. This has created a need for safe, effective countermeasures against drones. In this thesis, a method for countermeasures against drone imaging is investigated. The method is based on aiming and focusing a laser beam toward the camera of the drone. The retroreflection from the target is used as a feedback signal. Risley prisms were used to aim the beam, and an electrowetting lens was used to control the focus. Control algorithms based on the method called Stochastic Parallel Gradient Descent (SPGD), line searching and the Kalman filter are presented and evaluated. An experimental setup was used to track a moving target and dazzle a camera, demonstrating the validity of the method. Additionally, a simulation environment was used to estimate the potential performance of the control algorithms in a realistic scenario, under ideal circumstances.

In my diploma project I work with a topic of "watching" and arranging of view through digital media, especially the internet. The society got used to permanent presence of CCTV cameras at city squres, banks and shopping centres. The take of tracked locations is much bigger though. I was suprised by the amount of streams from totally unexpected places, which are possible to watch online. It is not a problem to visit a kitchen of columbian bistro, japanise barber shop or italian church, all from the comfort of home. The stream is running constantly and the viewer is limited only by the setting of the camera and a timezone of the particular country. Considering the fact, that separate streams are supplemented by almost no information, we are not able to define, who is the watchman, why is he watching and what is the actuall reason for watching. The whole situation of observing something in limited framerate without any context is just funny and creepy at the same time. My diploma project, which I named Live Low Framerate, is some kind of a reaction of those bizzare aspects of watching the public space.

The presented thesis deals with the design of a system capable of tracking the moving objects. The output of the thesis is the prototype layout of the device. Facility will be physically placed between the camera and the tripod in the dissertation and tested in real conditions. The role of this system is to automatically rolling the camera up the selected moving object.

As technology use increases in the world and inundates everyday life, the visual aspect of technology or computer graphics becomes increasingly important. This thesis presents a system for the automatic generation of virtual camera paths for fly-throughs of a digital scene. The sample scene used in this work is an underwater setting featuring a shipwreck model with other virtual underwater elements such as rocks, bubbles and caustics. The digital shipwreck model was reconstructed from an actual World War II shipwreck, resting off the coast of Malta. Video and sonar scans from an autonomous underwater vehicle were used in a photogrammetry pipeline to create the model. This thesis presents an algorithm to automatically generate virtual camera paths using a robotics motion planning algorithm, specifically the probabilistic roadmap. This algorithm uses a rapidly-exploring random tree to quickly cover a space and generate small maps with good coverage. For this work, the camera pitch and height along a specified path were automatically generated using cinematographic and geometric principles. These principles were used to evaluate potential viewpoints and influence whether or not a view is used in the final path. A computational evaluation of ‘the rule of thirds’ and evaluation of the model normals relative to the camera viewpoint are used to represent cinematography and geometry principles. In addition to the system that automatically generates virtual camera paths, a user study is presented which evaluates ten different videos produced via camera paths with this system. The videos were created using different viewpoint evaluation methods and different path generation characteristics. The user study indicates that users prefer paths generated by our system over flat and randomly generated paths. Specifically, users prefer paths generated using the computational evaluation of the rule of thirds and paths that show the wreck from a large variety of angles but without too much camera undulation.

Thesis deals with design of control for surveillance camera positionable stand over Ethernet. It describes the selected hardware solution based on development kit with ARM microprocessor and connected board with additional electronics. Thesis also discusses software solution using the Linux operating system, created using Buildroot package and modified for real-time control.