Darbe nagrinėjamas vienas iš vaizdų kokybės vertinimo metodų (metrikų) – SSIM (struktūrinio panašumo) indekso metodas bei šio metodo naudojimas tiriant didelius vaizdus. Darbo eigoje: • nustatyta kai kurių įgyvendintų SSIM indekso algoritmų problematika, vertinant aukštos raiškos vaizdus; • nustatytos gaunamų skaitinių reikšmių priklausomybės nuo tiriamų vaizdų dydžio; • pagrindžiamas vaizdo duomenų mažinimas SSIM indekso algoritmuose; • pasiūlyti tam tikri sprendimai SSIM indekso algoritmo sudarymui, skirto didelės raiškos vaizdų vertinimui; • palyginti SSIM indekso algoritmų veikimo laikai tarp skirtingų algoritmų; • sukurta programinė įranga, kuri yra pritaikyta Windows operacinei sistemai bei gali būti patogiai įdiegta kompiuteryje. Programoje: – patobulintas SSIM indekso įgyvendinimo algoritmas; – atvaizduojamas SSIM skirtumų žemėlapis; – sukurta patogi vartotojui vizualinė aplinka. Realizuota programinė įranga gali būti naudojama edukaciniais tikslais bei užsakomiesiems apdorotų vaizdų kokybės vertinimo tyrimams. / The paper analyzes one of image quality assessment methods (metrics) – SSIM (structural similarity) index method, and this method in order to analyze the large images. In work process: • problems of some SSIM index algorithms for high-resolution images have been identified; • dependence of image size and SSIM index values has been found; • some solutions for SSIM index algorithm for high-resolution images have been proposed; • the image data down sampling in SSIM index algorithms has justified; • SSIM index algorithm run times between different algorithms has been compared; • Software which is designed for MS Windows operating system and can be easily installed on the computer has been developed. In this software: – SSIM index algorithm is updated; – program Displays the SSIM index map; – User-friendly visual environment is developed. Implemented software can be used for educational purposes and commercial use for analyzing processed image quality assessment.

The significant growth in multimedia services and traffic (e.g. VoIP, video streaming and video gaming) in current and emerging mobile networks including the latest 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) networks and the rising user expectation for high Quality of Experience (QoE) for these services have posed real challenges to network operators and service providers. One of the key challenges is how to bring multimedia services to the end-user over resource-constrained mobile networks with a satisfactory QoE. Cost-effective solutions are needed for network operators to improve the bandwidth usage of these mobile networks. Therefore, scheduling schemes are of extreme importance in LTE, where scheduling algorithms are responsible for the overall efficiency of resource allocation in an LTE system. The aim of the project is to develop novel QoE-driven scheduling algorithms for improving system capacity in delivering multimedia services over downlink 3GPP LTE. This is to move away from traditional QoS-driven scheduling schemes to a QoE-driven scheme which guarantee end-user satisfaction in resource allocation. The main contributions of the thesis are threefold: 1. Performance of several existing scheduling algorithms for VoIP applications was evaluated thoroughly in terms of QoE metric (i.e. MOS), instead of QoS metrics (e.g. packet loss and delay). Using QoE metrics instead of QoS ones will facilitate the development of QoE-driven scheduling schemes in order to achieve optimised end-user experiences or optimised mobile system capacity. 2. A novel QoE-driven LTE downlink scheduling scheme for VoIP application was developed to maximize the number of users per cell at an acceptable MOS score. The proposed scheme achieved significant improvement in cell capacity at an acceptable quality (75% compared to MLWDF, and 250% compared to PF and EXP-PF in all three lower speed scenarios considered). 3. A QoE-driven LTE downlink scheduling scheme for multiservice multimedia applications was developed to improve the cell capacity with satisfactory QoE for both VoIP and video streaming services. The proposed algorithm performed well in a pedestrian scenario increasing cell capacity to double for video stream with ‘Rapid Movement’ (RM) content. For ‘Medium Movement’ (MM) video content, the capacity was increased about 20% compared to MLWDF and by 40% compared to EXP-PF. In a vehicular scenario, the proposed scheme managed to enhance the cell capacity for MM video stream case. The project has led to three publications (IEEE Globecom’12 – QoEMC Workshop, IEEE CCNC’15 and IEEE MMTC E-letter/May-2015). A journal paper is in preparation.

Wireless technology has become the most interesting field in the area of communications and networking. Video transmission plays a major role in this area. Data transmission via wireless communications is a major task, especially to send the data without loss of packets. The digital video decoder produces dropped or repeated frames from the encoded video due to packet loss. Brief frame drops of one frame duration are referred as dips. This research work investigates how to identify these frame dips and drops and also to measure the quality of the video which contain frame dips and frame drops. A dynamic threshold estimator is implemented to identify these frame dips. The qualitative analysis of a video is performed using a No Reference metric. In this metric the quality assessment can be achieved by identification of frame dips and drops and calculating Modified Fraction of Dropped Frames. Dips and abrupt temporal variation occurring at the end of frame freezing event of a video fluidity impairment caused by frame dropping will be taken into account using this metric. The parameters which are generated from Structural Similarity Index Metric (SSIM) analysis are efficient enough to compare the video quality and estimate the metric performance objectively. Our proposed metric has predicted the SSIM with a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.99 in test1, 0.92 in test2 and 0.99 in test3. Therefore in terms of prediction accuracy the proposed metric has a good correlation with the deployed metric and obtained robustness to our approach. / Trådlös teknik har blivit den mest intressanta fältet inom kommunikation och nätverk. Videoöverföring spelar en viktig roll på detta område. Dataöverföring via trådlös kommunikation är en stor uppgift, särskilt för att skicka data utan förlust av paket. Den digitala videoavkodare producerar tappade eller upprepade bildrutor från den kodade videon grund paketförluster. Kort ram droppar en ram varaktighet kallat dips. Denna forskning undersöker hur man identifierar dessa ram dips och droppar och även att mäta kvaliteten på video som innehåller ram dips och droppar ram. En dynamisk tröskel estimatorn genomförs för att identifiera dessa ram dips. Den kvalitativa analysen av ett videoklipp utförs med hjälp av en No Reference metrisk. I denna statistik kvalitetsbedömningen kan uppnås genom identifiering av ram nedgångar och droppar och beräkning modifierad Andel bildrutor. Dips och abrupt temporal variation inträffar i slutet av ramen frysning händelse av en video flytbarhet orsakats av ram släppa kommer att beaktas med denna metrik. De parametrar som genereras från strukturell likhet Index Metric (SSIM) analys är effektiva nog att jämföra videokvalitet och uppskatta det metriska prestanda objektivt. Vår föreslagna värdet har förutspådde SSIM med Pearson korrelationskoefficient av 0,99 i test1, 0,92 i test2 och 0,99 i test3. Därför gäller förutsägelse noggrannhet föreslagna måttet har en god korrelation med utplacerade metriska och fick robusthet till vår strategi. / Vydik Mopidevi, D.No: 5-162, Sri Vijetha Public School, Tallapudi, West Godavari District, Pin Code: 534341 Phone Number: Home: 00813282979 Work: 0046734784445 Email: vydik.mopidevi@gmail.com

One of the worst wildfires in Portugal in 2017 on June17- 21 started at the central part of Pedrógão Grande and spread fast to the surrounding areas Góis, Pampilhosa da Serra and Arganil. The wildfire took 64 lives and a large smoke plume was observed. The interest in smoke plumes from wildfires is partly due to their emitting of greenhouse gases (CO2), a large source of aerosols, CO, oxides of nitrogen and other trace gases that can affect the air quality at local and regional scale. The regional scale can be affected because the smoke from wildfires can get elevated and be transported into the free troposphere and the lower stratosphere by either pyro convection or radiative driven convection and can be transported long distances, for example from Canada to Germany. This thesis investigates how the emission source height in a model affects the transport of the smoke plume and compares the simulations with observations. Observations of transport of emissions from wildfires are often done with satellites and in this thesis data from the second modern-era retrospective analysis for research and applications (MERRA2) is used as the observations. In this thesis the numerical model FLEXPART 10.02 is used to calculate the transportation of CO from the wildfire in Pedrógão Grande. The altitude of the emission source top height and bottom height in FLEXPART was changed to see how it affected the smoke plume in the simulation. The agreement between plumes from the observations and the simulation plumes were calculated with the structural similarity (SSIM) index and the change of SSIM index was investigated. The results were that the best similarity for horizontal images was with an emission source height of 100- 300 m, for vertical images at 40°N with an emission source height 0- 1500 m and for vertical images at 41°N with an emission source height 100- 1200. The overall best simulation was the simulation with emission source height 100- 1200 m (average of the three similarity calculations). Some uncertainty occurs in the results due to for example differences in resolutions between MERRA2 and FLEXPART and the weather condition may have contributed. To improve the results there is a need to compare simulations with more wildfires to see that the SSIM index behaves the same. / En av de värsta skogsbränderna i Portugal 2017 var den 17–21 juni och började i centrala Pedrógão Grande och spred sig snabbt till de omgivande områdena Góis, Pampilhosa da Serra och Arganil. Skogsbranden tog 64 liv och stora rökplymer observerades. Rökplymer från skogsbränder är intressanta därför att de bland annat är en källa av växthusgaser till exempel koldioxid (CO2), aerosoler, kolmonoxid (CO) och andra spårgaser som kan påverka luftkvaliteten på lokal och regional skala. Den regionala skalan kan påverkas eftersom rök från skogsbränder kan sprida sig upp till den fria troposfären och den nedre stratosfären med konvektion. Konvektion är när luften blir varm av olika skäl och stiger, luften kyls av när den stiger och blir då tyngre och till slut sjunker luften. Det som kan driva konvektion vid en brand är branden själv och strålning och kan transportera röken från branden långa avstånd, till exempel från Kanada till Tyskland. Den här uppsatsen undersöker hur utsläppshöjden (mellan vilka höjder röken släpps ut från) påverkar transporten av rök och jämför beräkningarna med observationer. Observationer av transport av utsläpp från bränder sker ofta med satelliter och i denna uppsats används data från en återanalys av en samling observationer från MERRA2 (the second modern-era retrospective analysis for research and applications) som observationer. En återanalys är ett dataset som räknas med en modell från i tid och rum oregelbundna observationer från historiska och nutida data. I denna uppsats används den numeriska transportmodellen FLEXPART 10.02 för att beräkna transport av kolmonoxid från skogsbranden i Pedrógão Grande. Höjden av utsläppskällans topphöjd och bottenhöjd i FLEXPART ändrades för att se hur det påverkat rökplymen i simuleringen. Likheten mellan rökplymen från observationerna och simuleringarna beräknades sedan med ett test kallat SSIM och förändringen av SSIM indexet undersöktes. Resultaten var att den bästa simuleringen för de horisontella bilderna med en utsläppshöjd på 100– 300 m, för de vertikala bilderna på 40°N en utsläppshöjd på 0– 1500 m och för de vertikala bilderna på 41°N en utsläppshöjd på 100– 1200 m. Totalt sett (medelvärde från de tre simuleringarna) hade emissions höjden 100- 1200 m den bästa likheten med observationerna. Det finns en osäkerhet i resultaten på grund av tillexempel att det är olika upplösning i MERRA2 och FLEXPART och att väderförhållanden kan ha påverkat beräkningarna. För att förbättra resultatet så kan man göra simuleringar av fler skogsbränder för att se om SSIM indexet uppför sig densamma.

A avaliação objetiva da qualidade de imagens é de especial importância em diversas aplicações, por exemplo na compressão de imagens, onde pode ser utilizada para regular a taxa que deve ser empregada para que haja a máxima compressão (permitindo perda de dados) sem comprometer a qualidade final; outro exemplo é na inserção de marcas dágua, isto é, introdução de informações descritivas utilizadas para atestar a autenticidade de uma imagem, que devem ser invisíveis para o observador. O SSIM (Structural SIMilarity) é uma métrica de avaliação objetiva da qualidade de imagens de referência completa projetada para imagens em tons de cinza. Esta dissertação investiga sua aplicação na avaliação de imagens coloridas. Para tanto, inicialmente é feito um estudo do SSIM utilizando quatro diferentes espaços de cores RGB, YCbCr, Lαβ e CIELAB. O SSIM é primeiramente calculado nos canais individuais desses espaços de cores. Em seguida, com inspiração no trabalho desenvolvido em (1) são testadas formas de se combinar os valores SSIM obtidos para cada canal em um valor único os chamados SSIM Compostos. Finalmente, a fim de buscar melhores correlações entre SSIM e avaliação subjetiva, propomos a utilização da mínima diferença de cor perceptível, calculada utilizando o espaço de cores CIELAB, conjuntamente com o SSIM. Para os testes são utilizados três bancos de dados de imagens coloridas, LIVE, IVC e TID, a fim de se conferir consistência aos resultados. A avaliação dos resultados é feita utilizando as métricas empregadas pelo VQEG (Video Quality Experts Group) para a avaliação da qualidade de vídeos, com uma adaptação. As conclusões do trabalho sugerem que os melhores resultados para avaliação da qualidade de imagens coloridas usando o SSIM são obtidas usando os canais de luminância dos espaços de cores YCbCr, Lαβ e especialmente o CIELAB. Também se concluiu que a utilização da mínima diferença de cor perceptível contribui para o melhoramento dos resultados da avaliação objetiva. / Objective image quality evaluation is of special interest in many image applications, for example for image compression, where it can be used to control the rate in order to keep a tradeoff between lost of data and image quality; another example is in the application of watermarks, i.e., introduction of descriptive information used to guarantee the authenticity of an image, that must be invisible to the observer who looks at the image. SSIM (Structural SIMilarity) index is a full-reference image quality assessment metric developed to evaluate gray images. This work investigates the application of SSIM in the evaluation of color images. Therefore, four different color spaces are tested RGB, YCbCr, Lαβ e CIELAB. Initially SSIM is calculated individually for each one of color spaces channels. Then, inspired in (1), the results of the SSIM in the individual channels are combined in a unique result the so called Composite SSIM. Finally, in order to improve the correlations between, calculated using CIELAB color space, together with SSIM. Three color image databases, LIVE, IVC and TID, were employed in the tests in order to confer solidity to the results. The evaluation of the results is made using VQEG (Video Quality Experts Group) methodology, developed for video quality evaluation with an adaptation regarding the time dimension that does not exist in the image domain. The conclusions from the work were that SSIM performs better in the evaluation of color images when applied to luminance channel of YCbCr, Lαβ and especially to CIELAB color spaces. It was also concluded that the use of just noticeable difference concept improve objective assessment results.

A avaliação objetiva da qualidade de imagens é de especial importância em diversas aplicações, por exemplo na compressão de imagens, onde pode ser utilizada para regular a taxa que deve ser empregada para que haja a máxima compressão (permitindo perda de dados) sem comprometer a qualidade final; outro exemplo é na inserção de marcas dágua, isto é, introdução de informações descritivas utilizadas para atestar a autenticidade de uma imagem, que devem ser invisíveis para o observador. O SSIM (Structural SIMilarity) é uma métrica de avaliação objetiva da qualidade de imagens de referência completa projetada para imagens em tons de cinza. Esta dissertação investiga sua aplicação na avaliação de imagens coloridas. Para tanto, inicialmente é feito um estudo do SSIM utilizando quatro diferentes espaços de cores RGB, YCbCr, Lαβ e CIELAB. O SSIM é primeiramente calculado nos canais individuais desses espaços de cores. Em seguida, com inspiração no trabalho desenvolvido em (1) são testadas formas de se combinar os valores SSIM obtidos para cada canal em um valor único os chamados SSIM Compostos. Finalmente, a fim de buscar melhores correlações entre SSIM e avaliação subjetiva, propomos a utilização da mínima diferença de cor perceptível, calculada utilizando o espaço de cores CIELAB, conjuntamente com o SSIM. Para os testes são utilizados três bancos de dados de imagens coloridas, LIVE, IVC e TID, a fim de se conferir consistência aos resultados. A avaliação dos resultados é feita utilizando as métricas empregadas pelo VQEG (Video Quality Experts Group) para a avaliação da qualidade de vídeos, com uma adaptação. As conclusões do trabalho sugerem que os melhores resultados para avaliação da qualidade de imagens coloridas usando o SSIM são obtidas usando os canais de luminância dos espaços de cores YCbCr, Lαβ e especialmente o CIELAB. Também se concluiu que a utilização da mínima diferença de cor perceptível contribui para o melhoramento dos resultados da avaliação objetiva. / Objective image quality evaluation is of special interest in many image applications, for example for image compression, where it can be used to control the rate in order to keep a tradeoff between lost of data and image quality; another example is in the application of watermarks, i.e., introduction of descriptive information used to guarantee the authenticity of an image, that must be invisible to the observer who looks at the image. SSIM (Structural SIMilarity) index is a full-reference image quality assessment metric developed to evaluate gray images. This work investigates the application of SSIM in the evaluation of color images. Therefore, four different color spaces are tested RGB, YCbCr, Lαβ e CIELAB. Initially SSIM is calculated individually for each one of color spaces channels. Then, inspired in (1), the results of the SSIM in the individual channels are combined in a unique result the so called Composite SSIM. Finally, in order to improve the correlations between, calculated using CIELAB color space, together with SSIM. Three color image databases, LIVE, IVC and TID, were employed in the tests in order to confer solidity to the results. The evaluation of the results is made using VQEG (Video Quality Experts Group) methodology, developed for video quality evaluation with an adaptation regarding the time dimension that does not exist in the image domain. The conclusions from the work were that SSIM performs better in the evaluation of color images when applied to luminance channel of YCbCr, Lαβ and especially to CIELAB color spaces. It was also concluded that the use of just noticeable difference concept improve objective assessment results.

Streaming 360° video has become more commonplace with content delivery services such as YouTube having support for it. By its nature, 360° video requires more bandwidth as only a fraction of the image is actually in view, while the user is expecting the same "in view" quality as with a regular video. Several studies and lots of work have been done to mitigate this higher demand for bandwidth. One solution is advanced algorithms that take in to account the direction that the user is looking when fetching the video from the server; e.g., by fetching content that is not in the user’s view at a lower quality or by not fetching this data at all. Developing these algorithms is a timely process, especially in the later stages where tweaking one parameter might require the video to be re-encoded, and therefore taking up time that could otherwise be spent on getting results and continued iteration on the algorithm. The viewer should also be considered as the best experience might not correlate with the mathematically best solution calculated by the algorithm. This thesis presents a modular emulator that allows for easy implementation of fetching algorithms that make use of state-of-the-art techniques. It intends to reduce the time it takes to iterate over an algorithm through removing the need to set up a server and encode the video in all of the wanted quality levels when a parameter change would require it. It also makes it easy to include the viewer in the process so that the subjective performance is taken into consideration. The emulator is evaluated through the implementation and evaluation of two algorithms, one serving as a baseline to the second one, which is based on an algorithm developed by another group of researchers. These algorithms are tested on two different types of 360° videos, under four different network conditions and with two values for the maximum buffer size. The results from the evaluation of the two algorithms suggest that the emulator functions as intended from a technical point of view, and as such fulfills its purpose. There is, however, future work that would further prove the emulators performance in regards to replicating real scenarios and a few examples are suggested.

Cette thèse à publications décrit plusieurs travaux en imagerie, aussi bien au niveau de l'acquisition des images que du post-traitement des images. Le premier concerne un algorithme de redimensionnement d'images dans lequel le pixel n'est pas considéré comme un point, mais comme une unité surfacique exprimée par une fonction mathématique. L'intensité d'un pixel est déterminée par interpolation à l'aide des outils du calcul intégral. Le deuxième travail concerne un autre algorithme de redimensionnement d'images dans lequel les dérivées de l'image sont mises à contribution pour augmenter le contraste et rehausser les hautes fréquences lors du processus de redimensionnement. Pour combiner l'image et ses dérivées, nous utilisons le théorème d'échantillonnage généralisé de Papoulis. Dans ce deuxième travail et dans la suite de la thèse, le pixel est considéré comme un point. Dans le troisième travail, nous proposons une équation de diffusion aux dérivées partielles afin de réduire le crénelage qui apparaît régulièrement dans de nombreux algorithmes de redimensionnement d'images. L'équation que nous proposons résulte d'un raffinement de l'équation de diffusion de la chaleur utilisée par Perona et Malik. Pour cela, nous introduisons la diffusivité inverse afin de réduire considérablement le crénelage sur les contours nets. Le rehaussement du contraste pendant le processus de diffusion se fait par l'intégration d'un filtre passe-haut, en l'occurrence le Laplacien, dans notre équation de diffusion. Un modèle de réduction efficace du crénelage sur les lignés, basé sur les valeurs propres de la matrice hessienne, est également proposé. Le quatrième travail est un algorithme de dématriçage (ou demosaïçage) permettant de reconstruire une image couleur à partir d'une image acquise par une matrice de filtres couleurs (color filter array, CFA). Sachant que dans un CFA une seule couleur primaire rouge, vert ou bleu est disponible à chaque position de pixel, nous proposons un modèle d'interpolation permettant d'estimer les couleurs manquantes à chaque position de pixel. Notre algorithme peut être utilisé pour divers modèles de CFA. Il s'inspire de l'algorithme de dématriçage universel de Lukac et al. et y apporte diverses améliorations. La première amélioration est la mise en oeuvre d'une détection de contours ou de zones uniformes dans une image acquise d'un CFA. La deuxième amélioration concerne l'utilisation complète du modèle de différence des couleurs, qui est un modèle bien connu dans les algorithmes de dématriçage. La troisième amélioration est l'utilisation d'un modèle d'interpolation spectrale permettant d'interpoler la couleur d'un pixel à l'aide de la couleur et de la position de ses voisins. Dans le cinquième et dernier travail, nous abordons une problématique liée à la qualité des images, notion importante en imagerie pour la validation des algorithmes et des modèles. Dans notre travail, nous faisons une étude analytique et expérimentale pour comparer le PSNR (Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio) et le SSIM (Structural Similarity Index Measure), qui sont deux mesures de qualité largement utilisés en traitement d'images. L'étude analytique fait ressortir l'existence d'une relation de type logarithmique entre ces deux mesures. Les nombreux tests expérimentaux réalisés avec différentes images donnent davantage de précisions sur l'efficacité de ces deux mesures à évaluer la qualité des images ayant subi certaines dégradations ou traitements tels que la compression Jpeg, la compression Jpeg 2000, le flou gaussien ou le bruit additif gaussien.

Human fingerprints are rich in details called the minutiae, which can be used as identification marks for fingerprint verification. To get the details, the fingerprint capturing techniques are to be improved. Since when we the fingerprint is captured, the noise from outside adds to it. The goal of this thesis is to remove the noise present in the fingerprint image. To achieve a good quality fingerprint image, this noise has to be removed or suppressed and here it is done by using an algorithm or technique called ’Spectral Subtraction’, where the algorithm is based on subtraction of estimated noise spectrum from noisy signal spectrum. The performance of the algorithm is assessed by comparing the original fingerprint image and image obtained after spectral subtraction several parameters like PSNR, SSIM and also for different fingerprints on the database. Finally, performance matching was done using NIST matching software, and the obtained results were presented in the form of Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC)graphs, using MATLAB, and the experimental results were presented.

Video codec compresses the input video source to reduce storage and transmission bandwidth requirements while maintaining the quality. It is an essential technology for applications, to name a few such as digital television, DVD-Video, mobile TV, videoconferencing and internet video streaming. There are different video codecs used in the industry today and understanding their operation to target certain video applications is the key to optimization. The latest advanced video codec standards have become of great importance in multimedia industries which provide cost-effective encoding and decoding of video and contribute for high compression and efficiency. Currently, H.264 AVC, AVS, and DIRAC are used in the industry to compress video. H.264 codec standard developed by the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) together with the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). Audio-video coding standard (AVS) is a working group of audio and video coding standard in China. VC-2, also known as Dirac Pro developed by BBC, is a royalty free technology that anyone can use and has been standardized through the SMPTE as VC-2. H.264 AVC, Dirac Pro, Dirac and AVS-P2 are dedicated to High Definition Video, while AVS-P7 is to mobile video. Out of many standards, this work performs a comparative analysis for the H.264 AVC, DIRAC PRO/SMPTE-VC-2 and AVS-P7 standards in low bitrate region and high bitrate region. Bitrate control and constant QP are the methods which are employed for analysis. Evaluation parameters like Compression Ratio, PSNR and SSIM are used for quality comparison. Depending on target application and available bitrate, order of performance is mentioned to show the preferred codec.