A review of aeroplane spin literature is presented, including early spin research history and lessons learned from spinning trials. Despite many years of experience in spinning evaluation, it is difficult to predict spin characteristics and problems have been encountered and several prototype aeroplanes have been lost. No currently published method will reliably predict an aeroplane’s spin recovery characteristics. Quantitative data is required to study the spin motion of the aeroplane in adequate detail. An alternative method, Vision Based State Estimation, has been used to capture the spin motion. This alternative method has produced unique illustrations of the spinning research aeroplane and data has been obtained that could possibly be very challenging to obtain using traditional methods. To investigate the aerodynamic flow of a spinning aeroplane, flights have been flown using wool tufts on wing, aft fuselage and empennage for flow visualization. To complement the tuft observations, the differential pressure between the upper and lower horizontal tail and wing surfaces have been measured at selected points. Tufts indicate that a large-scale Upper Surface Vortex forms on the outside wing. This USV has also been visualized using a smoke source. The flow structures on top of both wings, and on top of the horizontal tail surfaces, have also been studied on another aeroplane model. The development of these rotational flow effects has been related to the spin motion. It is hypothesized that the flow structure of the turbulent boundary layer on the outside upper wing surface is due to additional accelerations induced by the rotational motion of the aeroplane. The dynamic effects have been discussed and their importance for the development of the spin considered. In addition, it is suggested that another dynamic effect might exist due to the additional acceleration of the turbulent boundary layer due to the rotational motion of the aeroplane. It is recommended that future spin recovery prediction methods account for dynamic effects, in addition to aerodynamic control effectiveness and aeroplane inertia, since the spin entry phase is important for the subsequent development of the spin. Finally, suggestions for future research are given.

Biometrics is a unique physical or behavioral characteristic of a person. This unique attribute, such as fingerprints or gait, can be used for identification or verification purposes. Gait is an emerging biometrics with great potential. Gait recognition is based on recognizing a person by the manner in which they walk. Its potential lays in that it can be captured at a distance and does not require the cooperation of the subject. This advantage makes it a very attractive tool for forensic cases and applications, where it can assist in identifying a suspect when other evidence such as DNA, fingerprints, or a face were not attainable. Gait can be used for recognition in a direct manner when the two samples are shot from similar camera resolution, position, and conditions. Yet in some cases, the only sample available is of an incomplete gait cycle, low resolution, low frame rate, a partially visible subject, or a single static image. Most of these conditions have one thing in common: static measurements. A gait signature is usually formed from a number of dynamic and static features. Static features are physical measurements of height, length, or build; while dynamic features are representations of joint rotations or trajectories. The aim of this thesis is to study the potential of predicting dynamic features from static features. In this thesis, we have created a database that utilizes a 3D laser scanner for capturing accurate shape and volumes of a person, and a motion capture system to accurately record motion data. The first analysis focused on analyzing the correlation between twenty-one 2D static features and eight dynamic features. Eleven pairs of features were regarded as significant with the criterion of a P-value less than 0.05. Other features also showed a strong correlation that indicated the potential of their predictive power. The second analysis focused on 3D static and dynamic features. Through the correlation analysis, 1196 pairs of features were found to be significantly correlated. Based on these results, a linear regression analysis was used to predict a dynamic gait signature. The predictors chosen were based on two adaptive methods that were developed in this thesis: "the top-x" method and the "mixed method". The predictions were assessed for both for their accuracy and their classification potential that would be used for gait recognition. The top results produced a 59.21% mean matching percentile. This result will act as baseline for future research in predicting a dynamic gait signature from static features. The results of this thesis bare potential for applications in biomechanics, biometrics, forensics, and 3D animation.

A number of three-dimensional virtual environments are available to develop vision-based robotic capabilities. These have the advantage of repeated trials at low cost compared to field testing. However, they still suffer from a lack of realism and credibility for validation and verification.This work consists of the creation and validation of state of the art virtual terrains for research in Martian rover vision-based navigation algorithms. This Master's thesis focuses on the creation of virtual environments, which are the exact imitations of the planetary terrain testbed at the European Space Agency's ESTEC site. Two different techniques are used to recreate the Martian-like site in a simulator. The first method uses a novel multi-view stereo reconstruction technique. The second method uses a high precision laser scanning system to accurately map the terrain.Comparison of real environment to the virtual environments is done at exact same locations by making use of captured stereo camera images. Ultimately, the differences will be characterized by the main known feature detectors (e.g. SURF, and SIFT).The present work led to the creation and validation of a database containing highly realistic virtual terrains which can be found on Mars for the purpose of vision-based control algorithms verification. / <p>Validerat; 20120821 (anonymous)</p>

Biometrics is a unique physical or behavioral characteristic of a person. This unique attribute, such as fingerprints or gait, can be used for identification or verification purposes. Gait is an emerging biometrics with great potential. Gait recognition is based on recognizing a person by the manner in which they walk. Its potential lays in that it can be captured at a distance and does not require the cooperation of the subject. This advantage makes it a very attractive tool for forensic cases and applications, where it can assist in identifying a suspect when other evidence such as DNA, fingerprints, or a face were not attainable. Gait can be used for recognition in a direct manner when the two samples are shot from similar camera resolution, position, and conditions. Yet in some cases, the only sample available is of an incomplete gait cycle, low resolution, low frame rate, a partially visible subject, or a single static image. Most of these conditions have one thing in common: static measurements. A gait signature is usually formed from a number of dynamic and static features. Static features are physical measurements of height, length, or build; while dynamic features are representations of joint rotations or trajectories. The aim of this thesis is to study the potential of predicting dynamic features from static features. In this thesis, we have created a database that utilizes a 3D laser scanner for capturing accurate shape and volumes of a person, and a motion capture system to accurately record motion data. The first analysis focused on analyzing the correlation between twenty-one 2D static features and eight dynamic features. Eleven pairs of features were regarded as significant with the criterion of a P-value less than 0.05. Other features also showed a strong correlation that indicated the potential of their predictive power. The second analysis focused on 3D static and dynamic features. Through the correlation analysis, 1196 pairs of features were found to be significantly correlated. Based on these results, a linear regression analysis was used to predict a dynamic gait signature. The predictors chosen were based on two adaptive methods that were developed in this thesis: "the top-x" method and the "mixed method". The predictions were assessed for both for their accuracy and their classification potential that would be used for gait recognition. The top results produced a 59.21% mean matching percentile. This result will act as baseline for future research in predicting a dynamic gait signature from static features. The results of this thesis bare potential for applications in biomechanics, biometrics, forensics, and 3D animation.

No description available.

O sistema de varredura a LASER aerotransportado é uma tecnologia competitiva para levantamentos que visam à geração de modelos digitais de superfície (MDS) e modelos digitais de terreno (MDT). Esta tecnologia sofreu certa resistência por parte das empresas de aerolevantamento e de alguns usuários, porém vem conquistando o mercado, graças à grande quantidade de trabalhos recentemente publicados. Uma das limitações associadas ao levantamento a LASER é a correta detecção de objetos não pertencentes ao terreno como árvores e edificações. Esses objetos, quando devidamente identificados, são essenciais para várias aplicações como cadastro e avaliação da qualidade cartográfica. Este trabalho propõe uma metodologia de identificação de edificações através da detecção de suas bordas, em uma rede triangular (TIN) construída sobre a nuvem de pontos. A utilização da TIN preserva os valores originais da amostra e, representa o universo real com melhor fidelidade que os modelos matriciais. A detecção é realizada calculando-se as declividades para todos os triângulos da TIN. Após esta etapa, são segmentados todos os triângulos que possuem valor de declividade acima de um limiar, pois representam variações abruptas no terreno, condizentes com edificações. A definição do limiar depende da resolução da nuvem de pontos, padrão de varredura e natureza do terreno. O trabalho apresenta ferramentas preliminares para automatizar a vetorização das bordas detectadas. As edificações extraídas pela metodologia e ferramentas apresentadas, podem ser utilizadas para avaliação da qualidade cartográfica do MDS/MDT. Para isso, compara-se o MDS a um documento cartográfico de referência, e realizam-se testes para: detecção e eliminação de erros grosseiros, detecção de tendências e minimização de erros sistemáticos, testes de precisão e de atendimento ao Padrão de Exatidão Cartográfico (PEC). Após análises, conclui-se que a metodologia de detecção de bordas propostas é eficiente, porém as ferramentas de automatização precisam ser aperfeiçoadas. Conclui-se também que o MDS oriundo do levantamento a LASER tem qualidade cartográfica compatível com o produto cartográfico de referência. Recomenda-se aplicação das metodologias propostas em outros conjuntos de dados. / The airborne LASER scanner is competitive technology for surveys that generates digital surface models (DSM) and Digital Terrain Models (DTM). This technology suffered some resistance by the aerosurvey enterprise (and some users), but is conquering its market share due the amount of papers recently published in this field. A limitation associated with this technique is the correct detection of the offterrain objects, like trees and buildings. These objects, when well identified, are essential to a sort of applications like cadastre e map quality evaluation. This dissertation proposes a methodology to identify buildings by the edge detection of a triangular irregular net (TIN) built over the point cloud. The utilization of TIN preserves the original values, representing the real 3D universe with fidelity despite the raster models. The detection is done calculating the slopes for all triangles of the TIN. After that, the triangles with slope values above a threshold are segmented. The Threshold definition depends on resolution of the point cloud, scan pattern and target behavior. Triangles with high slope values represent hard variation and may mean buildings. This work shows preliminary tools to automate the vectorization of the detected edges. The extracted buildings may be used for map quality evaluation of the DSM/DTM, by comparing it with a reference map. This means: test for detection e elimination of bundles, test for detection and minimization of systematic errors, precision tests and evaluate the meeting the Brazilian cartographic accuracy standard (PEC). Theses analysis concludes that the proposed methodology of edge detection is efficient but the developed tools of automation may be sharpened. Also, concludes that the DSM built with LASER scanner survey is compatible with reference map. Its recommended the application of the methodology on other collections of data.

O sistema de varredura a LASER aerotransportado é uma tecnologia competitiva para levantamentos que visam à geração de modelos digitais de superfície (MDS) e modelos digitais de terreno (MDT). Esta tecnologia sofreu certa resistência por parte das empresas de aerolevantamento e de alguns usuários, porém vem conquistando o mercado, graças à grande quantidade de trabalhos recentemente publicados. Uma das limitações associadas ao levantamento a LASER é a correta detecção de objetos não pertencentes ao terreno como árvores e edificações. Esses objetos, quando devidamente identificados, são essenciais para várias aplicações como cadastro e avaliação da qualidade cartográfica. Este trabalho propõe uma metodologia de identificação de edificações através da detecção de suas bordas, em uma rede triangular (TIN) construída sobre a nuvem de pontos. A utilização da TIN preserva os valores originais da amostra e, representa o universo real com melhor fidelidade que os modelos matriciais. A detecção é realizada calculando-se as declividades para todos os triângulos da TIN. Após esta etapa, são segmentados todos os triângulos que possuem valor de declividade acima de um limiar, pois representam variações abruptas no terreno, condizentes com edificações. A definição do limiar depende da resolução da nuvem de pontos, padrão de varredura e natureza do terreno. O trabalho apresenta ferramentas preliminares para automatizar a vetorização das bordas detectadas. As edificações extraídas pela metodologia e ferramentas apresentadas, podem ser utilizadas para avaliação da qualidade cartográfica do MDS/MDT. Para isso, compara-se o MDS a um documento cartográfico de referência, e realizam-se testes para: detecção e eliminação de erros grosseiros, detecção de tendências e minimização de erros sistemáticos, testes de precisão e de atendimento ao Padrão de Exatidão Cartográfico (PEC). Após análises, conclui-se que a metodologia de detecção de bordas propostas é eficiente, porém as ferramentas de automatização precisam ser aperfeiçoadas. Conclui-se também que o MDS oriundo do levantamento a LASER tem qualidade cartográfica compatível com o produto cartográfico de referência. Recomenda-se aplicação das metodologias propostas em outros conjuntos de dados. / The airborne LASER scanner is competitive technology for surveys that generates digital surface models (DSM) and Digital Terrain Models (DTM). This technology suffered some resistance by the aerosurvey enterprise (and some users), but is conquering its market share due the amount of papers recently published in this field. A limitation associated with this technique is the correct detection of the offterrain objects, like trees and buildings. These objects, when well identified, are essential to a sort of applications like cadastre e map quality evaluation. This dissertation proposes a methodology to identify buildings by the edge detection of a triangular irregular net (TIN) built over the point cloud. The utilization of TIN preserves the original values, representing the real 3D universe with fidelity despite the raster models. The detection is done calculating the slopes for all triangles of the TIN. After that, the triangles with slope values above a threshold are segmented. The Threshold definition depends on resolution of the point cloud, scan pattern and target behavior. Triangles with high slope values represent hard variation and may mean buildings. This work shows preliminary tools to automate the vectorization of the detected edges. The extracted buildings may be used for map quality evaluation of the DSM/DTM, by comparing it with a reference map. This means: test for detection e elimination of bundles, test for detection and minimization of systematic errors, precision tests and evaluate the meeting the Brazilian cartographic accuracy standard (PEC). Theses analysis concludes that the proposed methodology of edge detection is efficient but the developed tools of automation may be sharpened. Also, concludes that the DSM built with LASER scanner survey is compatible with reference map. Its recommended the application of the methodology on other collections of data.

This thesis describes and investigates different approaches to indoor mapping and navigation. A system capable of mapping large indoor areas with a stereo camera and/or a laser camera mounted to e.g. a robot or a human is developed. The approaches investigated in this report are either based on Simultaneous Lo- calisation and Mapping (SLAM) techniques, e.g. Extended Kalman Filter-SLAM (EKF-SLAM) and Smoothing and Mapping (SAM), or registration techniques, e.g. Iterated Closest Point (ICP) and Normal Distributions Transform (NDT).In SLAM, it is demonstrated that the laser camera can contribute to the stereo camera by providing accurate distance estimates. By combining these sensors in EKF-SLAM, it is possible to obtain more accurate maps and trajectories compared to if the stereo camera is used alone.It is also demonstrated that by dividing the environment into smaller ones, i.e. submaps, it is possible to build large maps in close to linear time. A new approach to SLAM based on EKF-SLAM and SAM, called Submap Joining Smoothing and Mapping (SJSAM), is implemented to demonstrate this.NDT is also implemented and the objective is to register two point clouds from the laser camera to each other so that the relative motion can be obtained. The NDT implementation is compared to ICP and the results show that NDT performs better at estimating the angular difference between the point clouds.

Successful wind power projects start with a realistic representation of the surface, more specifically the surface roughness of the site. This thesis investigates the use of airborne laser scans to model the surface roughness around a new wind farm. Estimations are made to find out how forest management and tree growth affects roughness length and displacement height. Data from scans two years apart for a specific site is provided by the Swedish governmental land registration authority. Next, tree height and plant area index methods are applied and analyzed using MATLAB. The results shows a difference of roughness length between 10.34% and 36.21% during an eight year period. WindPRO/WAsP is used to import roughness lengths for four specific cases. Height contour lines and meteorological data is taken from a long term corrected MESO data set. The results indicate a reduction in uncertainty in annual energy production between 0.79% and 2.89% across four different cases. This effect becomes significantly larger (12.76%) when comparing with classical land cover maps. Further on, effects of turbulence intensity are simulated.Finally, the results of a survey, sent to three large forest land owners in Sweden, show there is an interest in adapting forest management plans in favor of wind energy production if benefits can be shared.

The use of virtual reality in engineering tasks, such as in virtual commissioning, has increased steadily in recent years, where a robot, machine or object of interest can be simulated and visualized. Yet, for a more immerse experience, an environment for the object in question needs to be constructed. However, the process for creatingan accurate environment, for a virtual simulation have remained a costly and a long endeavour. Because of this, many digital simulations are performed, either with no environment at all, or present a very basic and abstract representation of an intended environment.The aim of this thesis is to investigate if technologies such as LiDAR and digital photogrammetry could shorten the environment creation process. Therefore, a demonstrative virtual environment was created and analysed, in which the different technologies was investigated and presented in the form of a comprehensive review of the current state of the technologies with in digital recreation. Lastly, a technique specific evaluation of the time requirement, cost and user difficulty was conducted. As the field of LiDAR and digital photogrammetry is too vast to investigate all forms thereof within one project, this thesis is limited to the investigation of static laser scanners and wide lens camera photogrammetry. A semi industrious locale was chosen for digital replication, which through static laser scans and photographs would generate semi-automated 3D models.The resulting 3D models leave much to be desired, as large holes were present throughout the 3D models, sincecertain surfaces are not suitable for neither replication processes. Transparent and reflective surfaces lead to ripple effects within the 3D models geometry and textures. Moreover, certain surfaces, as blank areas for photogrammetry or black coloration for laser scanners led to missing features and model distortions.Yet despite the abnormalities, the majority of the test environment was successfully re-created. An evaluation of the created environments was performed, which list and illustrate with tables and figures the attributes, strengths and weaknesses of each technique. Moreover, technique specific limitations and a spatial analysis was carried out. With the result, seemingly illustrating that photogrammetry creates more visually accurate 3D models in comparison to the laser scanner, yet the laser scanner produces a more spatially accurate result. As such, a selective combination of the techniques can be suggested.Observations and interviews seem to point towards the full scale application, in which an accurate 3D model is re-created without much effort, to currently not exist. As both photogrammetry and static laser scanning require great effort, skill and time in order to create a seemingly perfect solid model. Yet, utilizing either, or both techniques as a template for 3D object creation could reduce the time to create an environment significantly.Furthermore, methods such as digital 3D sculpting could be used in order to remove imperfections and create what is missing from the digitally constructed 3D models. Thereby achieving an accurate result.