Edge detection is the process that attempts to characterize the intensity changes in the image in terms of the physical processes that have originated them. A critical, intermediate goal of edge detection is the detection and characterization of significant intensity changes. This paper discusses this part fo the edge detection problem. To characterize the types of intensity changes derivatives of different types, and possibly different scales, are needed. Thus we consider this part of edge detection as a problem in numerical differentiation. We show that numerical differentiation of images is an ill-posed problem in the sense of Hadamard. Differentiation needs to be regularized by a regularizing filtering operation before differentiation. This shows that his part of edge detection consists of two steps, a filtering step and differentiation step.

An analysis of the use of complex-step differentiation (CSD) in optimization problems is presented. Complex-step differentiation is a numerical approximation of the derivative of a function valid for any real-valued analytic function. The primary benefit of this method is that the approximation does not depend on a difference term; therefore round-off error is reduced to the machine word-length. A suitably small choice of the perturbation length, h, then results in the virtual elimination of truncation error in the series approximation. The theoretical basis for this method is derived highlighting its merits and limitations. The Lunar Ascent Problem is used to compare CSD to traditional forward differencing in applications useful to the solution of optimization problems. Complex-step derivatives are shown to sufficiently apply in various interpolation and integration methods, and, in fact, consistently outperform traditional methods. Further, the Optimal Orbit Transfer Problem is used to test the accuracy, robustness, and runtime of CSD in comparison to central differencing. It is shown that CSD is a considerably more accurate derivative approximation which results in an increased robustness and decreased optimization time. Also, it is shown that each approximation is computed in less time using CSD than central differences. Overall, complex-step derivatives are shown to be a fast, accurate, and easy to implement differentiation method ideally suited for most optimization problems. / text

Thesis (MSc)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) provides an opportunity for qualifying coastal signatory states to claim extended maritime estate. The opportunity to claim rests on the precept that in certain cases a continental shelf extends beyond the traditionally demarcated two hundred nautical mile (200M) Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) mark. In these cases a successful claim results in states having sovereign rights to the living and non-living resources of the seabed and subsoil, as well as the sedentary species, of the area claimed. Where the continental shelf extends beyond the 200M mark, the Foot of the Continental Slope (FoS) has to be determined as one of the qualifying criteria. Article 76 of UNCLOS de nes the FoS as ". . . the point of maximum change in the gradient at its base." Currently Caris Lots is the most widely used software which incorporates public domain data to determine the FoS as a step towards defining the offshore extent of an extended continental shelf. In this software, existing methods to compute the FoS are often subjective, typically involving an operator choosing the best perceived foot point during consideration of a two dimensional profile of the continental slope. These foot points are then joined by straight lines to form the foot line to be used in the desk top study (feasibility study). The purpose of this thesis is to establish a semi-automated and mathematically based three dimensional method for determination of the FoS using South African data as a case study. Firstly, a general background of UNCLOS is given (with emphasis on Article 76), including a brief discussion of the geological factors that influence the characteristics of a continental shelf and thus factors that could influence the determination of the FoS. Secondly, a mathematical method for determination of the surfaces of extremal curvature (on three dimensional data), originally proposed by Vanicek and Ou in 1994, is detailed and applied to two smooth, hypothetical sample surfaces. A discussion of the bathymetric data to be used for application introduces the factors to be taken into account when using extensive survey data as well as methods to process the raw data for use. The method is then applied to two sets of gridded bathymetric data of differing resolution for four separate regions around the South African coast. The ridges formed on the resulting surfaces of maximum curvature are then traced in order to obtain a foot line definition for each region and each resolution. The results obtained from application of the method are compared with example foot points provided by the subjective two dimensional method of computation within the Caris Lots software suite. A comparison of the results for the different resolutions of data is included to provide insight as to the effectiveness of the method with differing spatial coarseness of data. Finally, an indication of further work is provided in the conclusion to this thesis, in the form of a number of recommendations for possible adaptations of the mathematical and tracing methods, and improvements thereof. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die Verenigde Nasies se Konvensie oor die Wet van die See (UNCLOS) bied 'n geleentheid aan kwalifiserende state wat ondertekenaars van die Konvensie is om aanspraak te maak op uitgebreide maritieme gebied. Die geleentheid om op uitgebreide gebied aanspraak te maak berus op die veronderstelling dat 'n kontinentale tafel in sekere gevalle tot buite die tradisioneel afgebakende 200 seemyl eksklusiewe ekonomiese zone (EEZ) strek. In sulke gevalle het 'n suksesvolle aanspraak die gevolg dat die staat soewereine reg oor die lewende en nie-lewende bronne van die seevloer en ondergrond verkry, sowel as die inwonende spesies van die gebied buite die EEZ waarop aanspraak gemaak word. Die voet van die kontinentale tafel (FoS) moet vasgestel word as een van die bepalende kriteria vir afbakening van die aanspraak waar die kontinentale tafel tot buite die EEZ strek. Artikel 76 van UNCLOS defineer die FoS as ". . . die punt van maksimale verandering in die helling by sy basis." Die mees algemeen gebruikte rekenaar sagteware wat openbare domein data aanwend om die voet van die helling te bepaal, is tans "Caris Lots." Die metodes wat in die program gebruik word om die voet van die helling te bepaal, is dikwels subjektief en berus tipies op 'n operateur se keuse van die beste afgeskatte punt van die voet van die helling uit 'n oorweging van 'n twee dimensionele profiel van die kontinentale tafel. Die berekende voet-punte word dan deur middel van reguit lyne verbind om 'n hellingsvoetlyn te vorm. Hierdie voetlyn kan dan in die Suid-Afrikaanse lessenaarstudie (doenlikheidstudie) oor die bepaling van die voet van die kontinentale tafel gebruik word. Die doel van hierdie verhandeling is om 'n semi-outomatiese en wiskundig gebaseerde drie-dimensionele metode te beskryf vir die vasstelling van die FoS, deur as 'n gevallestudie van Suid-Afrikaanse data gebruik te maak. 'n Algemene agtergrond van UNCLOS, met beklemtoning van Artikel 76, word eerstens gegee. 'n Kort bespreking van die geologiese faktore wat die kontinentale tafel beïnvloed en wat gevolglik 'n invloed kan hê op die vasstelling van die voet van die helling, is ingesluit. Tweedens word 'n wiskundige metode, wat oorspronklik in 1994 deur Vanicek en Ou voorgestel is, vir bepaling van die oppervlaktes van maksimale kromming (gebaseer op drie-dimensionele data) in detail bespreek en 'n voorbeeld van 'n toepassing op twee gladde, denkbeeldige oppervaktes word beskryf. Die faktore wat in ag geneem moet word wanneer omvattende dieptemeting data gebruik word, en die metodes wat gebruik word om die rou data te verwerk, word ingelei deur 'n bespreking van die aard van die dieptemeting data wat gebruik is. Die metode word dan toegepas op twee stelle geruite dieptemeting data van verskillende resolusies vir vier afsonderlike streke om die Suid-Afrikaanse kus. Die riwwe wat op die resulterende oppervlaktes van maksimale kromming gevorm word, word dan nagetrek ten einde 'n lyndefinisie van die voet van die kontinentale tafel vir elke streek teen elke resolusie te bepaal. Die resultate verkry uit toepassings van die metode word vergelyk met hellingsvoetpunte soos bepaal deur die subjektiewe twee dimensionele berekeningsmetode in die "Caris Lots" rekenaar-program. 'n Vergelyking van die resultate vir die verskillende data resolusies word ingesluit om die doeltreffendheid van die metode met betrekking tot die hantering van verskillende ruimtelike data resolusies te ondersoek. 'n Aanduiding van verdere werk, bestaande uit 'n aantal aanbevelings vir moontlike aanpassings en verbeterings van die wiskundige en natrek metodes, word ten slotte in die gevolgtrekking van die verhandeling verskaf.

Two important physical aspects that determine the performance of a running train are the total running resistance that acts on the whole train moving forward, and the available adhesion (utilizable wheel-rail-friction) for propulsion and breaking. Using the measured and available signals, online identification of the current running resistance and available adhesion and also prediction of future values for a distance ahead of the train, is desired. With the aim to enhance the precision of those calculations, this thesis investigates the potential of online identification and prediction utilizing the Extended Kalman Filter. The conclusions are that problems with observability and sensitivity arise, which result in a need for sophisticated methods to numerically derive the acceleration from the velocity signal. The smoothing spline approximation is shown to provide the best results for this numerical differentiation. Sensitivity and its need for high accuracy, especially in the acceleration signal, results in a demand of higher sample frequency. A desire for other profound ways of collecting further information, or to enhance the models, arises with possibilities of future work in the field. / Två viktiga fysikaliska aspekter som bestämmer prestandan för ett tåg i drift är det totala gångmotståndet som verkar på hela tåget, samt den tillgängliga adhesionen (användbara hjul-räl-friktionen) för framdrivning och bromsning. Från de tillgängliga signalerna önskas identifiering, samt prediktering, av dessa två storheter, under drift. Med målet att förbättra precisionen av dessa skattningar undersöker detta examensarbete potentialen av skattning och prediktering av gångmotstånd och adhesion med hjälp av Extended KalmanFiltering. Slutsatsen är att problem med observerbarhet och känslighet uppstår, vilket resulterar i ett behov av sofistikerade metoder att numeriskt beräkna acceleration från en hastighetssignal. Metoden smoothing spline approximation visar sig ge de bästa resultaten för denna numeriska derivering. Känsligheten och dess medförda krav på hög precision, speciellt på accelerationssignalen, resulterar i ett behov av högre samplingsfrekvens. Ett behov av andra adekvata metoder att tillföra ytterligare information, eller att förbättra modellerna, ger upphov till möjliga framtida utredningar inom området.

Ce travail étudie l'apport de l'algèbre différentielle à deux problématiques principales de la robotique mobile à roues, la localisation et la navigation. La première problématique consiste à être capable de dire où le robot se situe dans son environnement. Nous supposons ici que nous possédons un certain nombre de points d'intérêt de l'espace dont les coordonnées dans cette espace sont connues. En fonction du nombre de points d'intérêt, il est possible ou non de localiser le robot. Cette notion de localisabilité est définie et étudiée dans le cadre algébrique. Nous montrons que ce cadre d'étude est plus intéressant que le cadre géométrique en ce sens que non seulement il permet l'étude de la localisabilité mais en plus il permet de construire des estimateurs d'états permettant de reconstruire la posture du robot. Cette étude est effectuée dans cinq cas d'études pour quatre des cinq classes de robots mobiles à roues. La deuxième problématique étudiée est celle de la navigation d'une flottille décentralisée de robots dans un environnement complexe. Ce travail présente une architecture pouvant être utilisée dans une large classe de problème et bénéficiant des avantages des approches discrètes et des approches continues. En effet, à haut niveau, un bloc stratégie spécifie l'objectif, les contraintes et leurs paramètres ainsi que la fonction coût utilisée, à bas niveau, une trajectoire est calculée afin de minimiser la fonction coût en respectant l'objectif et les contraintes du problème. Cette minimisation est faite sur un horizon glissant de manière à pouvoir prendre en compte des modifications de l'environnement ou de la mission en cours de navigation / This work investigates the contribution of differential algebra to two main issues of wheel mobile robotics, localization and navigation. The first issue is to be able to tell where the robot is in its environment. We assume that we have a number of landmarks in space whose coordinates are known in this area. Depending on the number of landmarks, it is possible or not to localize the robot. This notion of localizability is defined and studied in the algebraic framework. We show that this framework is more interesting than the geometric framework in the sense that it not only allows the study of localizability, but it also allows us to construct estimators states to reconstruct the posture of the robot. This study was conducted in five cases study for four of the five classes of wheeled mobile robots. The second problem studied is that of a robot decentralized swarm navigation in a complex environment. This work presents an architecture that can be used in a wide class of problems and enjoying the benefits of discrete approaches and continuous approaches. Indeed, high-level block strategy specifies the goal, constraints and parameters as well as the cost function, a low-level block is used to compute a trajectory that minimize the cost function in accordance with the objective and the problem constraints. This minimization is done on a sliding window so it is possible to take changes in the environment or mission during navigation into account