Laser welding is used in modern industrial production due to its high welding speed and good welding performance comparing to more traditional arc welding. To improve the flex-ibility, robots can be used to mount the laser tool. However, laser welding has a high require-ment for the accuracy in positioning the laser tool. There are three main related variables which affect the laser welding accuracy: robot path accuracy, workpiece geometry and fixture repeatability. Thus, joint tracking is very important for laser welding to achieve high quality welds. There are many joint tracking systems which were proposed in recent years. After receiv-ing the joint information, a control system is necessary to control the robot motion in real-time. The open control system for the industrial robot is one trend for the future. A lot of methods and systems are proposed to control the robot motion. Some systems can achieve a high accuracy in the experiments. However, it is still hard to apply them in practical indus-trial production. Thus more commercial solutions appear to overcome the robot motion problem nowadays. They are very useful to realize practical applications. ABB EGM path correction module, a new function of Robotware, is one of the com-mercial solutions for robot motion control in real time. In the experiments presented in this work, a computer is used to simulate a sensor to create a path correction signal. To test its feasibility for the laser welding application, many experiments are conducted. One was to test the robot path repeatability when there is no correction message sent to the robot. Another was to test the level of accuracy EGM can achieve during the correction process. Different types of paths and three different speeds were separately carried out. The results showed that it is possible to use the EGM in the laser welding application. In the EGM feasibility test, there exists deviation in the z-direction. Since these deviations are less than 0.2mm, it will have a minor influence the laser welding performance, implying that the EGM path correction can be applied in practical production.

Elbow joint laxity is a problem that normally comes with age; it increases up to critical levels due to rupture or damage to the ligaments of the elbow and affects the stability and capacities of the joint, interfering even with daily activities. This work investigates the kinematics of the elbow through in-vivo experimental measurement. To this end, a platform based on Stewart Platform mechanism was built and used at the bioengineering labs of Brunel University in West London, the UK, to measure the six degrees of freedom of the joint. This thesis aims to develop a method to simulate such motion which could be used for elbow implant design and manufacture. This work contributes to both the basic science of joint movement measurement and to the clinical applications of diagnosing elbow illness. In addition this research presents the preliminary results for a design for elbow implants. Tracking system developed in house was used to measure the degrees of freedom in healthy elbow motion. A pilot study was performed to assess the joint motion and its repeatability. A group of volunteers with normal elbow movement was used to carry out this study. A Stewart Platform mechanism based on the tracking system was used in this study as a non-invasive tool to capture elbow joint motion and track the trajectory and pattern of the motion in three-dimensional space. This thesis aimed to develop a method to simulate the elbow joint motion that could potentially be used for the elbow implants design and there manufacture. The goal of this study was achieved by in vivo measurement of the elbow movement. It was found that the results vary from person to person, but a healthy pattern of motion can be distinguished from an abnormal pattern. To ensure the result, the motion of the right and left hand of each person was compared,allowing the behaviour of the elbow motion to be judged and the results can help surgeons to analyze the motion of the elbow joint and follow up suspicions of abnormal behaviour in the joint or trace any possible joint laxity. Furthermore, the errors involved with the mechanism were calculated and appropriate factors were applied to correct them. As part of this study the manufacturing of medical implants was reviewed and discussed.

This thesis presents an experimental study on how to track zero gaps between metal sheets to be joined by laser beam butt welding. Automated laser beam welding is gaining interest due to its ability to produce narrow and deep welds giving limited heat input and therefore less distortions compared to other processes, such as arc-welding. The automated laser beam welding process is however sensitive to how the high power laser is positioned with regards to the joint position. Deviations from the joint position may occur due to inaccuracies of the welding robot and fixturing, changes in joint geometry, process induced distortions, etc. Welding with an offset from the joint position can result inlack of sidewall fusion, a serious defect that is hard to detect. This work develops and evaluates three monitoring systems to be used during welding in order to be able to later control the laser beam spot position. (i) A monitoring systemis developed for three different photo diodes, one for the visual spectrum of the process emissions, one for the infrared spectrum, and one for the reflected highpower laser light. The correlation between the signals from the photodiodes and the welding position relative to the joint is analysed using a change detection algorithm. In this way an indication of a path deviation is given. (ii) A visual camera with matching illumination and optical filters is integrated into the laser beam welding tool in order to obtain images of the area in front of the melt pool. This gives a relatively clear view of the joint position even during intense spectral disturbances emitted from the process, and by applying animage processing algorithm and a model based filtering method the joint positionis estimated with an accuracy of 0.1 mm. (iii) By monitoring the spectral emissions from the laser induced plasma plume using a high speed and high resolution spectrometer, the plasma electron temperature can be estimated from the intensities of two selected spectral lines and this is correlated to the welding position and can be used for finding the joint position.

In many practical problems, both decision and estimation are involved. This dissertation intends to study the relationship between decision and estimation in these problems, so that more accurate inference methods can be developed. Hybrid estimation is an important formulation that deals with state estimation and model structure identification simultaneously. Multiple-model (MM) methods are the most widelyused tool for hybrid estimation. A novel approach to predict the Internet end-to-end delay using MM methods is proposed. Based on preliminary analysis of the collected end-to-end delay data, we propose an off-line model set design procedure using vector quantization (VQ) and short-term time series analysis so that MM methods can be applied to predict on-line measurement data. Experimental results show that the proposed MM predictor outperforms two widely used adaptive filters in terms of prediction accuracy and robustness. Although hybrid estimation can identify model structure, it mainly focuses on the estimation part. When decision and estimation are of (nearly) equal importance, a joint solution is preferred. By noticing the resemblance, a new Bayes risk is generalized from those of decision and estimation, respectively. Based on this generalized Bayes risk, a novel, integrated solution to decision and estimation is introduced. Our study tries to give a more systematic view on the joint decision and estimation (JDE) problem, which we believe the work in various fields, such as target tracking, communications, time series modeling, will benefit greatly from. We apply this integrated Bayes solution to joint target tracking and classification, a very important topic in target inference, with simplified measurement models. The results of this new approach are compared with two conventional strategies. At last, a surveillance testbed is being built for such purposes as algorithm development and performance evaluation. We try to use the testbed to bridge the gap between theory and practice. In the dissertation, an overview as well as the architecture of the testbed is given and one case study is presented. The testbed is capable to serve the tasks with decision and/or estimation aspects, and is helpful for the development of the JDE algorithms.

Dans le cadre de la surveillance maritime ou terrestre par radar aéroporté, l’un des principaux objectifs est de détecter et de poursuivre une grande diversité de cibles au cours du temps.Ces traitements s’appuient généralement sur l’utilisation d’un filtre Bayésien pour estimer récursivement les paramètres cinématiques (position, vitesse et accélération) des cibles. Il repose surla représentation dans l’espace d’état du système et plus particulièrement sur la modélisation a priori de l’évolution des cibles à partir d’un modèle de mouvement (mouvement rectiligne uniforme, mouvement uniformément accéléré, mouvement rotationnel, etc.). Si les cibles pistées sont manoeuvrantes, plusieurs modèles de mouvement, chacun avec une dynamique prédéfinie,sont classiquement combinés au sein d’une structure à modèles multiples. Même si ces approches s’avèrent pertinentes, des améliorations peuvent être apportées à plusieurs niveaux, notamment sur la manière de sélectionner et définir a priori les modèles utilisés.Dans ce contexte d’étude, plusieurs problématiques doivent être traitées.1/ Lors de l’utilisation d’une structure à modèles multiples, on considère en général deux à trois modèles. Ce choix est fait lors de la phase de conception de l’algorithme selon la connaissance du système et l’expertise de l’utilisateur. Cependant, il n’existe pas à notre connaissance d’outils ou de règles permettant de définir les types de mouvement à associer et leurs paramètres.2/ Il est préférable que le choix du ou des modèles de mouvement soit cohérent avec le type de cible pisté.3/ Lorsqu’un type de mouvement est utilisé, ses paramètres sont fixés a priori mais ces valeurs ne sont pas nécessairement adaptées à toutes les phases du mouvement. L’une des difficultés majeures réside dans la manière de définir et de faire évoluer la matrice de covariance du bruit de modèle. Le travail présenté dans ce mémoire vise à proposer des solutions algorithmiques aux problématiques précédentes afin d’améliorer l’estimation des trajectoires des cibles d’intérêt.Dans un premier temps, nous établissons une mesure de dissimilarité fondée sur la divergence de Jeffrey entre deux densités de probabilité associés à deux modèles d’état différents. Celle-ci est appliquée à la comparaison de modèles de mouvement. Elle est ensuite utilisée pour comparer un ensemble de plusieurs modèles d’état. Cette étude est alors mise à profit pour proposer une méthode de sélection a priori des modèles constituant des algorithmes à modèles multiples.Puis, nous présentons des modèles Bayésiens non-paramétriques (BNP) utilisant les processus de Dirichlet pour estimer les statistiques du bruit de modèle. Cette modélisation a l’avantage de pouvoir représenter des bruits multimodaux sans avoir à spécifier a priori le nombre de modes et leurs caractéristiques. Deux cas sont traités. Dans le premier, on estime la matrice de précision du bruit de modèle d’un unique modèle de mouvement sans émettre d’a priori sur sa structure.Dans le second, nous tirons profit des formes structurelles des matrices de précision associées aux modèles de mouvement pour n’estimer qu’un nombre réduit d’hyperparamètres. Pour les deux approches, l’estimation conjointe des paramètres cinématiques de la cible et de la matrice de précision du bruit de modèle est réalisée par filtrage particulaire. Les contributions apportées sont notamment le calcul de la distribution d’importance optimale dans chacun des cas.Enfin, nous tirons profit des méthodes dites de classification et pistage conjoints (joint tracking and classification -JTC-) pour mener simultanément la classification de la cible et l’inférence de ses paramètres. Dans ce cas, à chaque classe de cible est associé un ensemble de modèles d’évolution qui lui est propre. [...] / As part of the ground or maritime surveillance by using airborne radars, one of the mainobjectives is to detect and track a wide variety of targets over time. These treatments are generallybased on Bayesian filtering to estimate recursively the kinematic parameters (position,velocity and acceleration) of the targets. It is based on the state-space representation and moreparticularly on the prior modeling of the target evolutions (uniform motion, uniformly acceleratedmotion, movement rotational, etc.). If maneuvering targets are tracked, several motionmodels, each with a predefined dynamic, are typically combined in a multiple-model structure.Although these approaches are relevant, improvements can be made at several levels, includinghow to select and define a priori the models to be used.In this framework, several issues must be addressed.1 / When using a multiple-model structure, it is generally considered two to three models. Thischoice is made in the algorithm design stage according to the system knowledge and the userexpertise. However, it does not exist in our knowledge tools or/and rules to define the types ofmotions and their associated parameters.2 / It is preferable that the choice of the motion model(s) is consistent with the type of targetto be tracked.3 / When a type of motion model is used, its parameters are fixed a priori but these values ??arenot necessarily appropriate in all phases of the movement. One of the major challenges is theway to define the covariance matrix of the model noise and to model its evolution.The work presented in this thesis consists of algorithmic solutions to the previous problemsin order to improve the estimation of target trajectories.First, we establish a dissimilarity measure based on Jeffrey divergence between probability densitiesassociated with two different state models. It is applied to the comparison of motion models.It is then used to compare a set of several state models. This study is then harnessed to providea method for selecting a priori models constituting multiple-model algorithms.Then we present non-parametric Bayesian models (BNP) using the Dirichlet process to estimatemodel noise statistics. This model has the advantage of representing multimodal noises withoutspecifying a priori the number of modes and their features. Two cases are treated. In the firstone, the model noise precision matrix is estimated for a single motion model without issue ofany a priori on its structure. In the second one, we take advantage of the structural forms ofprecision matrices associated to motion models to estimate only a small number of hyperparameters.For both approaches, the joint estimation of the kinematic parameters of the target andthe precision matrix of the model noise is led by particle filtering. The contributions includecalculating the distribution optimal importance in each case.Finally, we take advantage of methods known as joint tracking and classification (JTC) forsimultaneously leading the classification of the target and the inference of its parameters. Inthis case, each target class is associated with a set of evolution models. In order to achievethe classification, we use the target position measurements and the target extent measurementscorresponding to the projection of the target length on the line of sight radar-target. Note that this approach is applied in a single target tracking context and a multiple-target environment.

Human actions are the essence of a human life and a natural product of the human mind. Analysis of human activities by a machine has attracted the attention of many researchers. This analysis is very important in a variety of domains including surveillance, video retrieval, human-computer interaction, athlete performance investigation, etc. This dissertation makes three major contributions to automatic analysis of human actions. First, we conjecture that the relationship between body joints of two actors in the same posture can be described by a 3D rigid transformation. This transformation simultaneously captures different poses and various sizes and proportions. As a consequence of this conjecture, we show that there exists a fundamental matrix between the imaged positions of the body joints of two actors, if they are in the same posture. Second, we propose a novel projection model for cameras moving at a constant velocity in 3D space, \emph cameras, and derive the Galilean fundamental matrix and apply it to human action recognition. Third, we propose a novel use for the invariant ratio of areas under an affine transformation and utilizing the epipolar geometry between two cameras for 2D model-based tracking of human body joints. In the first part of the thesis, we propose an approach to match human actions using semantic correspondences between human bodies. These correspondences are used to provide geometric constraints between multiple anatomical landmarks ( e.g. hands, shoulders, and feet) to match actions observed from different viewpoints and performed at different rates by actors of differing anthropometric proportions. The fact that the human body has approximate anthropometric proportion allows for innovative use of the machinery of epipolar geometry to provide constraints for analyzing actions performed by people of different anthropometric sizes, while ensuring that changes in viewpoint do not affect matching. A novel measure in terms of rank of matrix constructed only from image measurements of the locations of anatomical landmarks is proposed to ensure that similar actions are accurately recognized. Finally, we describe how dynamic time warping can be used in conjunction with the proposed measure to match actions in the presence of nonlinear time warps. We demonstrate the versatility of our algorithm in a number of challenging sequences and applications including action synchronization , odd one out, following the leader, analyzing periodicity etc. Next, we extend the conventional model of image projection to video captured by a camera moving at constant velocity. We term such moving camera Galilean camera. To that end, we derive the spacetime projection and develop the corresponding epipolar geometry between two Galilean cameras. Both perspective imaging and linear pushbroom imaging form specializations of the proposed model and we show how six different ``fundamental" matrices including the classic fundamental matrix, the Linear Pushbroom (LP) fundamental matrix, and a fundamental matrix relating Epipolar Plane Images (EPIs) are related and can be directly recovered from a Galilean fundamental matrix. We provide linear algorithms for estimating the parameters of the the mapping between videos in the case of planar scenes. For applying fundamental matrix between Galilean cameras to human action recognition, we propose a measure that has two important properties. First property makes it possible to recognize similar actions, if their execution rates are linearly related. Second property allows recognizing actions in video captured by Galilean cameras. Thus, the proposed algorithm guarantees that actions can be correctly matched despite changes in view, execution rate, anthropometric proportions of the actor, and even if the camera moves with constant velocity. Finally, we also propose a novel 2D model based approach for tracking human body parts during articulated motion. The human body is modeled as a 2D stick figure of thirteen body joints and an action is considered as a sequence of these stick figures. Given the locations of these joints in every frame of a model video and the first frame of a test video, the joint locations are automatically estimated throughout the test video using two geometric constraints. First, invariance of the ratio of areas under an affine transformation is used for initial estimation of the joint locations in the test video. Second, the epipolar geometry between the two cameras is used to refine these estimates. Using these estimated joint locations, the tracking algorithm determines the exact location of each landmark in the test video using the foreground silhouettes. The novelty of the proposed approach lies in the geometric formulation of human action models, the combination of the two geometric constraints for body joints prediction, and the handling of deviations in anthropometry of individuals, viewpoints, execution rate, and style of performing action. The proposed approach does not require extensive training and can easily adapt to a wide variety of articulated actions.

Maritime target tracking from an airborne radar faces many issues due to the features of theenvironment, the targets to be tracked and the movement of the radar platform. Therefore, aunique tracking algorithm is not always able to reach the best possible performance for everyencountered situation. It needs to self-adapt to the environment and to the targets which areobserved in order to always be as ecient as possible. Adaptability is thus a key issue of radartracking.Several implementations of the mathematical Bayesian estimation theory, commonly called lters,have been used in the literature in order to estimate as precisely as possible targets trajectory.Depending on the situations and the assumptions that are considered, some of themare expected to perform better. This thesis suggests to look deeper into the tracking techniquesthat can be found in the literature and compare them in order to dene more precisely the advantagesof each of them over the others. This should enable to wisely choose the method thatis most likely to provide the best performance for a given situation. In particular, the nonlinearconversion between the Cartesian coordinates with which the state vector is dened and thespherical coordinates used for the measurements is investigated. A measure of nonlinearity isintroduced, studied and used to compare the extended Kalman lter and the particle lter.The size of the detected maritime targets is a special feature that makes it possible to draw amaneuverability-based classication which enables to adapt the tracking technique to be used.Joint tracking and classication (JTC) has already been described in the literature with a specicmeasurement model. This thesis makes this model more realistic using a random distribution ofthe reection point on the target's shape. The tracking method is modied to take into accountthis new measurement model and some simulations are run.This modied JTC algorithm proves to be more ecient than the JTC structure presented inthe literature. Eventually, this thesis shows that nonlinearity is a paramount issue that needsto be considered to implement an ecient self-adapatable radar tracking algorithm, this beingespecially true for extended targets. / Maritim malfoljning fran en luftburen radar star infor manga problem pa grund av miljons karaktar, de mal som ska sparas och radarplattformens rorelse. Darfor kan en unik sparningsalgoritminte na basta mojliga prestanda for varje situation som uppstar. Den maste anpassa sig sjalvtill miljon och till de mal som overvakas for att bli sa eektiv som mojligt. Anpassningsformagaar alltsa en viktig fraga inom radarsparning.Flera implementeringar av den matematiska Bayesianska berakningsteorin, vanligtvis kalladelter, har anvants i litteraturen for att forutsaga malbanor sa exakt som mojligt. Beroendepa situationer och antaganden som beaktas forvantas vissa av dem bli battre. Denna avhandlingforeslar att noggrant undersoka sparningsteknikerna som kan hittas i litteraturen ochjamfora dem for att mer precist deniera fordelarna av var och en framfor de andra. Det skulleunderlatta ett klokt val av metoden som mest sannolikt ger basta prestanda for varje given situation.Sarskilt undersoks den icke-linjara omvandlingen mellan kartesiska koordinatsystemet,som denierar tillstandsvektorn, och sfariska koordinater som anvands for matningarna. Ettmatt pa icke-linjaritet presenteras, studeras och anvands for att jamfora ett utokat Kalmanltermed partikelltret.Storleken pa de detekterade maritima malen ar en speciell egenskap som gor det mojligt attgora en klassicering baserad pa manovrerbarhet som hjalper till att anpassa sparningsteknikensom ska anvandas. Simultan foljning och klassiering, "joint tracking and classication" (JTC)pa engelska, har redan beskrivits i litteraturen med en specik matmodell. Denna avhandlinggor modellen mer realistisk med hjalp av en slumpmassig fordelning av reektionspunkten pamalets form. Sparningsmetoden ar modierad for att beakta denna nya matmodell och nagrasimuleringar utfors.Denna modierade JTC-struktur visar sig mer eektiv an JTC-strukturen som presenteras ilitteraturen. Slutligen visar denna avhandling att icke-linjaritet ar en viktig fraga som mastebeaktas for att erhalla en eektiv radarsparningsalgoritm som kan anpassa sig sjalv. Dettagaller sarskilt for utstrackta mal.