This research thesis starts off with a basic introduction to optimization and image processing. Because there are several different tools to apply optimization in image processing applications, we started researching one category of mathematical optimization techniques, namely Convex Optimization. This thesis provides a basic background consisting of mathematical concepts, as well as some challenges of employing Convex Optimization in solving problems. One major issue is to be able to identify the convexity of the problem in a potential application (Boyd). After spending a couple of months researching and learning Convex Optimization, my advisor and I decided to go on a different route. We decided to use Heuristic Optimization techniques instead, and in particular, Genetic Algorithms (GA). We also conjectured that the application of GA in image processing for the purpose of object matching could potentially yield good results. As a first step, we used MATLAB as the programming language, and we wrote the GA code from scratch. Next, we applied the GA algorithm in object matching. More specifically, we constructed specific images to demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm in identifying objects of interest. The results presented in this thesis indicate that the technique is capable of identifying objects under noise conditions.

Object appearance models are a consequence of illumination, viewing direction, camera intrinsics, and other conditions that are specific to a particular camera. As a result, a model acquired in one view is often inappropriate for use in other viewpoints. In this work we treat this appearance model distortion between two non-overlapping cameras as one in which some unknown color transfer function warps a known appearance model from one view to another. We demonstrate how to recover this function in the case where the distortion function is approximated as general affine and object appearance is represented as a mixture of Gaussians. Appearance models are brought into correspondence by searching for a bijection function that best minimizes an entropic metric for model dissimilarity. These correspondences lead to a solution for the transfer function that brings the parameters of the models into alignment in the UV chromaticity plane. Finally, a set of these transfer functions acquired from a collection of object pairs are generalized to a single camera-pair-specific transfer function via robust fitting. We demonstrate the method in the context of a video surveillance network and show that recognition of subjects in disjoint views can be significantly improved using the new color transfer approach.

Doctor of Philosophy / This thesis is based on research on financial time series analysis using pattern recognition methods. The first part of this research focuses on univariate time series analysis using different pattern recognition methods. First, probabilities of basic patterns are used to represent the features of a section of time series. This feature can remove noise from the time series by statistical probability. It is experimentally proven that this feature is successful for pattern repeated time series. Second, a multiscale Gaussian gravity as a pattern relationship measurement which can describe the direction of the pattern relationship is introduced to pattern clustering. By searching for the Gaussian-gravity-guided nearest neighbour of each pattern, this clustering method can easily determine the boundaries of the clusters. Third, a method that unsupervised pattern classification can be transformed into multiscale supervised pattern classification by multiscale supervisory time series or multiscale filtered time series is presented. The second part of this research focuses on multivariate time series analysis using pattern recognition. A systematic method is proposed to find the independent variables of a group of share prices by time series clustering, principal component analysis, independent component analysis, and object recognition. The number of dependent variables is reduced and the multivariate time series analysis is simplified by time series clustering and principal component analysis. Independent component analysis aims to find the ideal independent variables of the group of shares. Object recognition is expected to recognize those independent variables which are similar to the independent components. This method provides a new clue to understanding the stock market and to modelling a large time series database.

Doctor of Philosophy / This thesis is based on research on financial time series analysis using pattern recognition methods. The first part of this research focuses on univariate time series analysis using different pattern recognition methods. First, probabilities of basic patterns are used to represent the features of a section of time series. This feature can remove noise from the time series by statistical probability. It is experimentally proven that this feature is successful for pattern repeated time series. Second, a multiscale Gaussian gravity as a pattern relationship measurement which can describe the direction of the pattern relationship is introduced to pattern clustering. By searching for the Gaussian-gravity-guided nearest neighbour of each pattern, this clustering method can easily determine the boundaries of the clusters. Third, a method that unsupervised pattern classification can be transformed into multiscale supervised pattern classification by multiscale supervisory time series or multiscale filtered time series is presented. The second part of this research focuses on multivariate time series analysis using pattern recognition. A systematic method is proposed to find the independent variables of a group of share prices by time series clustering, principal component analysis, independent component analysis, and object recognition. The number of dependent variables is reduced and the multivariate time series analysis is simplified by time series clustering and principal component analysis. Independent component analysis aims to find the ideal independent variables of the group of shares. Object recognition is expected to recognize those independent variables which are similar to the independent components. This method provides a new clue to understanding the stock market and to modelling a large time series database.

Recent advances in technology have increased awareness of the necessity for automated systems in people’s everyday lives. Artificial systems are more frequently being introduced into environments previously thought to be too perilous for humans to operate in. Some robots can be used to extract potentially hazardous materials from sites inaccessible to humans, while others are being developed to aid humans with laborious tasks. A crucial aspect of all artificial systems is the manner in which they interact with their immediate surroundings. Developing such a deceivingly simply aspect has proven to be significantly challenging, as it not only entails the methods through which the system perceives its environment, but also its ability to perform critical tasks. These undertakings often involve the coordination of numerous subsystems, each performing its own complex duty. To complicate matters further, it is nowadays becoming increasingly important for these artificial systems to be able to perform their tasks in real-time. The task of object recognition is typically described as the process of retrieving the object in a database that is most similar to an unknown, or query, object. Pose estimation, on the other hand, involves estimating the position and orientation of an object in three-dimensional space, as seen from an observer’s viewpoint. These two tasks are regarded as vital to many computer vision techniques and and regularly serve as input to more complex perception algorithms. An approach is presented which regards the object recognition and pose estimation procedures as mutually dependent. The core idea is that dissimilar objects might appear similar when observed from certain viewpoints. A feature-based conceptualisation, which makes use of a database, is implemented and used to perform simultaneous object recognition and pose estimation. The design incorporates data compression techniques, originally suggested by the image-processing community, to facilitate fast processing of large databases. System performance is quantified primarily on object recognition, pose estimation and execution time characteristics. These aspects are investigated under ideal conditions by exploiting three-dimensional models of relevant objects. The performance of the system is also analysed for practical scenarios by acquiring input data from a structured light implementation, which resembles that obtained from many commercial range scanners. Practical experiments indicate that the system was capable of performing simultaneous object recognition and pose estimation in approximately 230 ms once a novel object has been sensed. An average object recognition accuracy of approximately 73% was achieved. The pose estimation results were reasonable but prompted further research. The results are comparable to what has been achieved using other suggested approaches such as Viewpoint Feature Histograms and Spin Images. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted

Recent advances in technology have increased awareness of the necessity for automated systems in people’s everyday lives. Artificial systems are more frequently being introduced into environments previously thought to be too perilous for humans to operate in. Some robots can be used to extract potentially hazardous materials from sites inaccessible to humans, while others are being developed to aid humans with laborious tasks. A crucial aspect of all artificial systems is the manner in which they interact with their immediate surroundings. Developing such a deceivingly simply aspect has proven to be significantly challenging, as it not only entails the methods through which the system perceives its environment, but also its ability to perform critical tasks. These undertakings often involve the coordination of numerous subsystems, each performing its own complex duty. To complicate matters further, it is nowadays becoming increasingly important for these artificial systems to be able to perform their tasks in real-time. The task of object recognition is typically described as the process of retrieving the object in a database that is most similar to an unknown, or query, object. Pose estimation, on the other hand, involves estimating the position and orientation of an object in three-dimensional space, as seen from an observer’s viewpoint. These two tasks are regarded as vital to many computer vision techniques and regularly serve as input to more complex perception algorithms. An approach is presented which regards the object recognition and pose estimation procedures as mutually dependent. The core idea is that dissimilar objects might appear similar when observed from certain viewpoints. A feature-based conceptualisation, which makes use of a database, is implemented and used to perform simultaneous object recognition and pose estimation. The design incorporates data compression techniques, originally suggested by the image-processing community, to facilitate fast processing of large databases. System performance is quantified primarily on object recognition, pose estimation and execution time characteristics. These aspects are investigated under ideal conditions by exploiting three-dimensional models of relevant objects. The performance of the system is also analysed for practical scenarios by acquiring input data from a structured light implementation, which resembles that obtained from many commercial range scanners. Practical experiments indicate that the system was capable of performing simultaneous object recognition and pose estimation in approximately 230 ms once a novel object has been sensed. An average object recognition accuracy of approximately 73% was achieved. The pose estimation results were reasonable but prompted further research. The results are comparable to what has been achieved using other suggested approaches such as Viewpoint Feature Histograms and Spin Images. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted

Detection of objects based on color is not commonly used method of computer vision. There are many methods thats deals with the detection of significant points, but the color information has been omitted. The goal of this thesis is to design method of the detection significant color image areas and these areas match up with areas detected in another image. I analyzed features of detectors required to identify the reciprocal correspondence of images, defined the color significance concept, described basic color models and their properties, and a design of statistically compiled data - based method was described. Algorithms for the detection of color use color models RGB and HSV. Correspondence of areas detected in different images is performedy Kohonen neural network. The first input vector can teach Kohonen neural network and the second vector is classified by this network. To remove erroneous classifications RANSAC method is used. As a result, the method can be used for basic and rapid determination of correspondence between images, or to speed up commonly used methods for detection of significant points. At the end of the thesis are presented programs, showing functionality and options of design methods. The designed algorithms have been developed in MATLAB.