Cette thèse présente une méthode de détection et de correction des intersections visuelles et singulières entre courbes B-splines adaptée à la généralisation des cartes marines. Dans une première partie, nous nous intéressons à la détection des intersections. La méthode proposée effectue d'abord un partitionnement du plan. Les courbes sont reparties dans les cellules sans calcul numérique. Le partitionnement est donc rapide et robuste. Ensuite, les intersections sont calculées à l'aide de schémas de subdivision. La deuxième partie concerne la correction des conflits par déformation respectant les contraintes cartographiques. Nous présentons une première méthode où le polygone de contrôle est assimilé à un réseau de barres déformé par l'application de forces externes. Une deuxième méthode est ensuite présentée où le déplacement est représenté par un snake soumis a des énergies définies en fonction des conflits. Les paramètres de forme sont réglés automatiquement.

In this thesis we present a hybrid control methodology using Artificial Potential Fields (APF) integrated with a modified Simulated Annealing (SA) optimization algorithm for motion planning of a multi-link robots team. The principle of this work is based on the locomotion of a snake where subsequent links follow the trace of the head. The proposed algorithm uses the APF method which provides simple, efficient and effective path planning and the modified SA is applied in order for the robots to recover from a local minima. Modifications to the SA algorithm improve the performance of the algorithm and reduce convergence time. Validation on a three-link snake robot shows that the derived control laws from the motion planning algorithm that combine APF and SA can successfully navigate the robot to reach its destination, while avoiding collisions with multiple obstacles and other robots in its path as well as recover from local minima. To improve the performance of the algorithm, the gradient descent method is replaced by Newton’s method which helps in reducing the zigzagging phenomenon in gradient descent method while the robot moves in the vicinity of an obstacle. / UOIT

Snake populations in the North American tallgrass prairie appear to be declining, yet data unavailability impedes the development of enhanced ecological understanding of snake species-habitat relationships and also hinders snake conservation efforts. This study addresses both issues for the snakes of Illinois in two steps. In a two-year mark-recapture study at twenty-two sites within six northern Illinois prairie preserves, I investigated snake species-habitat relationships using habitat variables at three scales: microhabitat (< 100 m), landscape (1 - 10 km), and regional (> 10 km). A total of 120 snakes representing seven species was captured using drift fence arrays associated with funnel traps and sheet metal cover. The low numbers and diversity of snakes captured, when compared to historic evidence, indicate that Illinois snake populations have declined. At the microhabitat scale, non-metric multidimensional scaling and Mantel tests revealed a relationship between snake species composition and elevation. At the landscape-scale, snake species composition varied along an agricultural-urban cover gradient. Classification and regression trees and maximum entropy models (Maxent) were used to identify the scales at which snake species-habitat relationships were strongest. Six of seven regression trees for individual snakes species contained habitat variables at the landscape scale. Important landscape characteristics included patch size, isolation, and land cover, metrics that strongly covary with habitat loss. Microhabitat features only appeared in the regression trees of two species and in three Maxent models. This study indicates that habitat loss has shaped the current distribution of snake species in Illinois's remnant prairies and that snake conservation efforts should emphasize the landscape-scale. Finally, I developed a risk ranking system based on natural and life history characteristics to assess the conservation status of Illinois's 38 snake species. Cluster analysis identified eight groups of snakes, similar in terms of risk factors, with high risk species sharing characteristics such as large body size, long life span, limited habitat breadth, and a high anthropogenic threat ranking. Here, I emphasize the need for basic demographic studies on snakes and suggest that ranking systems be used with population data (when available) and expert opinion to identify snake species of conservation concern in other regions. / Dissertation

A DSP-based system is developed in this thesis for tracking ¡§an arbitrary-shaped object¡¨. It uses CCD camera to capture images, and detects in the video sequence. When we want to track a target that we interest, we can make the target in the view of camera. If the target move, the system will lock it and extract its contour by using active contour model. After extracting contour, the system will start to track target and shows the locked image on the LCD screen. The tracking system includes three sub-systems : ¡§Moving Object Detection¡¨, ¡§Active Contour Model¡¨, and ¡§Contour Matching¡¨. From the results of experiment, it can meet the expectation and gain good performance and robustness.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boise State University, 2009. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-60).

Το αντικείμενο της παρούσας διπλωματικής είναι η μοντελοποίηση, ο έλεγχος και η κατασκευή ενός επίπεδου ρομποτικού φιδιού βασισμένο σε υπολογιστικώς ανεξάρτητα μέρη τα οποία επικοινωνούν μέσω ασύρματου δικτύου \eng{Wifi} μεταξύ τους, καθώς και με εξωτερικές συσκευές για σκοπούς τηλεχειρισμού. Η κατασκευή βασίζεται στα ενσωματωμένα υπολογιστικά συστήματα \eng{Overo} της εταιρίας \eng{Gumstix}. Στόχος της διπλωματικής είναι η υλοποίηση της κίνησης του πλευρικού κυματισμού του φιδιού στο επίπεδο και η μελέτη της αποδοτικότητας του καθώς και η αντιμετώπιση του προβλήματος ελέγχου του. Στο πρώτο κεφάλαιο γίνεται μια αναφορά στην ανάγκη της ανάπτυξης ρομπότ εμπνευσμένα απο βιολογικούς οργανισμούς, συγκεκριμένα φιδιών, τις εφαρμογές τους στον πραγματικό κόσμο, την σχετική δουλειά καθώς και την συνεισφορά της παρούσας εργασίας. Στο δεύτερο κεφάλαιο παρουσιάζεται η ανάλυση της δυναμικής του επίπεδου φιδιού και επεξηγείται η σημαντική εξάρτηση από τα διάφορα μοντέλα τριβής για την κίνηση του ρομπότ στο επίπεδο. Στο τρίτο κεφάλαιο αναλύεται το πρόβλημα ελέγχου και παρουσιάζονται προτεινόμενοι ελεγκτές για την κίνηση της πλευρικής κυμάτωσης, επεκταμένοι για σύγκλισης τροχίας καθώς και τα αποτελέσματα της προσωμείωσης με βάση τους συγκεκριμένους νόμους ελέγχου. Στη συνέχεια στο τέταρτο κεφάλαιο παρουσιάζονται τα διάφορα στάδια κατασκευής του ρομπότ από τον σχεδιασμό του σκελετού, στη λογική των ανεξάρτητων μελών,τα κατασκευαστικά μέρη κάθε μέλους, μέχρι την αρχιτεκτονική του προγραμματισμού του και του χειρισμού του. Τέλος,στο πέμπτο κεφάλαιο παρατίθονται τα πειραματικά αποτελέσματα και σχολιάζεται η απόδοση της κατασκευής. / The subject of this thesis is the modelling, control and development of a planar snake-like robot based on modular links that communicate to each other via a Wifi network, as well as to other devices in order to remote control it. The links are based on the embedded computer-on-module Overo from the company Gumstix. The aim of this thesis is the implementation of the lateral undulation locomotion of snakes on a planar surface and the study of its efficiency as well as to present a control method for it. The first chapter points out the need of developing robots based on various existing biological organisms, specifically snakes ,their applications to real-world problems, the related work and the contribution of the current thesis. The second chapter contains the dynamic analysis of planar snake robots and explains the strong dependence on friction models for the movement of snakes on planar surfaces. In the third chapter, a control law is proposed to achieve lateral undulation as well as an extension of it to achieve trajectory tracking and the simulation results based on these control laws are presented. The fourth chapter contains the various stages of the development of the snake robot, from the design of its body, to the concept of modular links, to the programming architecture of them and their remote control. Finally, the fifth chapter presents the experimental results and comments on the efficiency of the developed robot.

Honeybees have a rich genetic diversity in Anatolia. This is reflected in the presence of numerous subspecies of honeybee in Turkey. In METU, Department of Biology, honeybee populations of different regions in Turkey are investigated in order to characterize population variation in these regions. A total of 23 length and angle features belonging to the honeybee hindlegs and forewings are measured in these studies using a microscope and a monitor. These measurements are carried out by placing rulers on the monitor that shows the honeybee image and getting the length and angle features. However, performing measurements in this way is a time consuming process and is open to human-dependent errors. In this thesis, a &ldquo / semi-automated honeybee feature extraction system&rdquo / is presented. The aim is to increase the efficiency by decreasing the time spent on handling these measurements and by increasing the accuracy of measured hindleg and forewing features. The problem is studied from the acquisition of the microscope images, to the feature extraction of the honeybee features. In this scope, suitable methods are developed for segmentation of honeybee hindleg and forewing images. Within intermediate steps, blob analysis is utilized, and edges of the forewing and hindlegs are thinned using skeletonization. Templates that represent the forewing and hindleg edges are formed by either Bezier Curves or Polynomial Interpolation. In the feature extraction phase, Active Contour (Snake) algorithm is applied to the images in order to find the critical points using these templates.

Zugl.: Aachen, Techn. Hochsch., Diss., 2007.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boise State University, 2009. / Title from t.p. of PDF file (viewed Apr. 22, 2010). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-60).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of California, Dec. 1924. / Typewritten (carbon copy). Bibliography: p. 353-405.