A hierarchical classification system for object recognition inunderwater environments

In this paper, a hierarchical system, in which each level is composed by a neural-based classifier, is proposed to recognize objects in underwater images. The system has been designed to help an autonomous underwater vehicle in sea-bottom survey operations, like pipeline inspections. The input image is divided into square regions (macro-pixels) and a neural tree is used to classify each region into different object classes (pipeline, sea-bottom, or anodes). Each macro-pixel is then analyzed according to some geometric and environment constraints: macro-pixels with doubt classification are divided into four parts and re-classified. The process is iterated until the desired accuracy is reached. Experimental results, which have been performed on a large set of real underwater images acquired in different sea environments, demonstrate the robustness and the accuracy of the proposed system     

3-D underwater object recognition

In this paper, we propose an automatic supervised classification of objects lying on the sea floor or buried in sediment layers. This pattern recognition provides a way to distinguish natural and manufactured objects and then should be helpful to detect mine, pipe-line, or wreckage. Proposed methods combine different techniques: pattern information extraction, relevant parameter search, and supervised classifier. Parameters are automatically selected using a principal component analysis to reduce misclassification rate and to simplify classifier structure. Performances of different parameters (two-dimensional and three-dimensional) are compared and discussed from testing on synthetic and real data bases.     

Methods of array element localization for a towed underwateracoustic array

The location of the hydrophones on a towed underwater acoustic array as a function of time (array element localization) is needed for signal processing. Methods to perform this localization using least squares polynomial fitting to data from depth sensors, heading sensors, and sensors detecting a ping from a single source are discussed. Arc distance along the array is used as the independent parameter so that all solutions are constrained to be space curves. Examples of application to real data are presented, and techniques to discriminate against bad sensor data are discussed     

A physical approach for the observation of oil spills in SAR images

In this paper, a physical approach to support oil spills observation over synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images is presented. Electromagnetic model is based on an enhanced damping model that takes into account oil viscoelastic properties and wind speed. As a matter of fact, a multisensor approach is considered and a constant false alarm rate (CFAR) filter is used to minimize speckle effect. A set of experiments is presented and discussed. They show that oil spill processing is effective over single-look SAR images using mean input data.     

Self-initiating MUSIC-based direction finding in underwateracoustic particle velocity-field beamspace

This paper introduces a novel blind MUSIC-based (MUltiple SIgnal Classification) source localization algorithm applicable to an arbitrarily spaced three-dimensional array of vector hydrophones, each of which comprises two or more co-located and orthogonally oriented velocity hydrophones plus an optional pressure hydrophone. This proposed algorithm: (1) exploits the incident sources' angular diversity in the underwater acoustic particle velocity field; (2) adaptively forms velocity-field beams at each vector-hydrophone; (3) uses ESPRIT to self-generate coarse estimates of the sources' arrival angles to start off its MUSIC-based iterative search with no a priori source information; and (4) automatically pairs the x-axis direction-cosine estimates with the y-axis direction-cosine estimates. Simulation results verify the efficacy of this proposed scheme     

A fast,edge-preserving,distance-regularized model with bilateral filtering for oil spill segmentation of SAR images

Marine oil spills are among the most significant sources of marine pollution. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has been used to improve oil spill observations bec...     

A simple waterline approach for tidelands using multi-temporal satellite images: A case study in the Yangtze Delta

Waterline technique based on satellite remote sensing is potentially one of the most effective tools for studying changes in tidal flat environment and coastlines. However, multi-temporal waterlines obtained from satellite images are often difficult to compare directly because fluctuant tidal conditions may produce different elevation of waterlines. To overcome the difficulty, this study developed a comparable waterline solution to estimate active lateral evolutions using TM satellite images at different tide conditions. Owing to the dynamic properties, the Yangtze River mouth was selected as the case example to test the suitability of the approach, and totally four time slices were partitioned during 1987–2004 for investigating coastline changes. The first step of this technique is to digitize waterlines with various elevations labeling in a time slice. In the second step, the waterlines were merged to generate DEMs and contour maps using the linear gridding interpolation method. In the last step, any interested contour line may be extracted from DEMs and used for comparison of tideland changes. To evaluate the errors in digitizing and interpolation process, quantitative checks were examined after the DEMs were constructed. In order to monitoring the rate of coastline spread, a proposed approach for estimating mean coastline spread distance between two time spans is developed in this paper. To conclude, this work demonstrates the importance of TM/ETM images to provide high-frequency historical topography and morphodynamics information for coastal monitoring and evaluation.     

基于视觉的水雷目标识别方法研究

水下目标识别一直是目标识别领域的研究热点,为此,以水雷目标识别为需求背景提出了一种基于视觉的水雷目标识别方法。该方法从水雷目标形状的本质特征出发,根据几何矩的物理意义,结合区域特征和边界特征构造了三个适合于水雷目标形状描述子,采用阈值判决的方法,实现水雷目标的识别。实验结果表明,该方法比基于不变矩的方法识别率更高,具有较好的稳定性,尤其适用于水下特定形状的目标识别和目标受到部分遮挡的情况。其中水下图像处理和特征的定义方法对水下目标识别具有指导和借鉴意义。     

基于卫星云图的轮廓法自动识别热带气旋研究

以卫星云图的热带气旋云系为研究对象,基于Canny边缘检测、Contour轮廓提取等方法,研究了通过图像的形状特征和范围大小对热带气旋云系进行自动识别,得到了较好的效果。这种方法有助于提高热带气旋云系识别的自动化程度,实现热带气旋的自动跟踪,从而为热带气旋的预报提供了便利。     

A fast convolution approach to the transformation of surface gravity waves: Linear waves in 1DH

The transformation of irrotational surface gravity waves in an inviscid fluid can be studied by time stepping the kinematic and dynamic surface boundary conditions. This requires a closure providing the normal surface particle velocity in terms of the surface velocity potential or its tangential derivative. A convolution integral giving this closure as an explicit expression is derived for linear 1D waves over a mildly sloping bottom. The model has exact linear dispersion and shoaling properties. A discrete numerical model is developed for a spatially staggered uniform grid. The model involves a spatial derivative which is discretized by an arbitrary-order finite-difference scheme. Error control is attained by solving the discrete dispersion relation a priori and model results make a perfect match to this prediction. A procedure is developed by which the computational effort is minimized for a specific physical problem while adapting the numerical parameters under the constraint of a predefined tolerance of damping and dispersion error. Two computational examples show that accurate irregular-wave transformation on the kilometre scale can be computed in seconds. Thus, the method makes up a highly efficient basis for a forthcoming extension that includes nonlinearity at arbitrary order. The relation to Boussinesq equations, mild-slope wave equations, boundary integral equations and spectral methods is briefly discussed.     

A fast responding temperature measurement system for CTD applications

The temperature measurement system of the standard Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution/Neil Brown Instrument Systems conductivity-temperature-depth microprofiler consists of a platinum thermometer, which has stable calibration characteristics but response time of order 200 ms combined with a fast response thermistor designed to sample the higher frequency temperature fluctuations. The calibration characteristics and temporal response of the individual sensors relative to the conductivity cell were studied using a modified instrument which digitized these data channels separately. The relative responses of the individual sensors were found to be fairly well modeled by a single pole filter, but the response of the standard temperature signal, which is an analog combination of the two temperature sensor outputs, exhibited a complicated behavior. Several methods for obtaining a well-calibrated fast-responding temperature signal from the digitized platinum thermometer and thermistor records are discussed. Preliminary results suggest that thermohaline features on scales of less than a meter in the vertical are resolvable.     

A model for obliquely incident wave interacting with a multi-layered object

This paper presents an analytical solution for scattering of oblique incident, small amplitude, monochromatic wave trains by a stationary rigid multi-layered objects with rectangular cross-section. The object is infinite long and consists of multilayers, which can be either solid or permeable. This paper extends the previous work by Hu and Liu [1] from normal incident wave condition with a special object configuration to oblique incident waves with multi-layered object. The present model is validated with several existing solutions for normal/oblique waves interacting with a single object; excellent agreement is observed. New numerical results are presented to investigate the effects of incidence angle on reflection, transmission and energy loss coefficients for a combined floating and bottom-mounted permeable breakwater. A new floating board-cage breakwater is developed from the present model and its solutions are discussed in detail. A computer program, AWAS-P, has been updated so that it is applicable for both oblique and normal incident waves, while the object is multi-layered.     

A fast indicator for detecting gross pollution by hazardous chemicals

Median survival, 10% mortality, and 10% turnover times of rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri Richardson, were compared in solutions containing copper or cyanide ions. For all concentrations of poisons (0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 g.nr³ of copper as Cu²⁺ and 0.3, 0.5, 1.0, and 5.0 g.m³ of cyanide, as KCN), the times for turnover were the least. These were short enough (4.5–96 min) to be of use in monitoring waters which are being abstracted by water treatment plants; the method may be generally applicable for detection of gross forms of pollution by hazardous chemicals.     

A fast multipole boundary element method for three-dimensional potential flow problems

A fast multipole methodology (FMM) is developed as a numerical approach to reduce the computational cost and memory requirements in solving large-scale problems. It is applied to the boundary element method (BEM) for three-dimensional potential flow problems. The algorithm based on mixed multipole expansion and numeric, al integration is implemented in combination with an iterative solver. Numerical examinations, on Dirichlet and Neumann problems, are carried out to demonstrate the capability and accuracy of the present method. It has been shown that the method has evident advantages in saving memory and computing time when used to solve huge-scale problems which may be prohibitive for the traditional BEM implementation.     

深水中极限波峰下速度场快速算法

基于五阶斯托克斯规则波理论,提出了一种快速求解深水极限波峰下速度场的数学模型.研究中,按照上跨零点和下跨零点的方法由计算或实测的极限波浪波面时间历程确定包含极限波峰的相邻两个周期的平均值为五阶斯托克斯规则波的波浪周期,然后根据极限波峰反推确定波浪入射波幅.通过与已有的数值结果和实验数据对比,验证了所建立的数值模型可以快速准确的计算出极限波峰下的速度场,相比其他模型,更适合于工程应用.     

A nearest neighbor algorithm for fast matched-field processing witha vertical line array

Selection of replica fields that are most like the data, i.e., the nearest neighbors (NNs) to the data, offers a way of reducing the computational search space in matched-field processing, thereby making larger physical search spaces or a larger number of frequencies practical. To enable selection of NNs a vector basis for the search space is required. The authors use the large eigenvectors of the covariance matrix for uncorrelated sources spread over the search region. This is not only a suitable vector basis of the search space, but also results in a dimensional reduction from the full set of eigenvectors, with a further computational saving. The replica vectors for the search region are partitioned by finding their projection on this vector basis. One can then select for matching only those replicas with similar squared projections on the vector basis. This selection process carries a modest cost in computing overhead, provided that the code, the partitioning, and the replica selection parameters are optimized. The detection performance and false alarm probability for the Bartlett beamformer, with and without selection of the replicas, were estimated from simulations of noisy data received on a vertical line array at practical time-bandwidth products. An order of magnitude speedup was obtained     

无人船监视图像反光区域检测与去除方法及实验验证

受海上环境、太阳高度角和无人船航向等因素的影响,无人船监控图像中海面反光现象不可避免,进而干扰后续视频处理,例如海天线的提取和运动目标的跟踪等。本文提出了一种无人船视频监控海面反光区域的检测及去除方法。首先,利用RGB颜色通道中的最大值与最小值获取像素点的亮度比例关系,检测海面反光区域中的高亮像素点。然后,针对检测到的高亮像素点进行形态学膨胀操作,获取较完整的海面反光区域。最后,结合反光区域中像素点亮度值随其位置分布的变化特点,使用加权后的邻域像素进行高亮成分抑制,实现反光区域的去除,并完成了无人船监视图像处理实验验证。实验结果显示,所提出的方法可有效检测并去除海面反光区域。     

A fast algorithm for high-accuracy frequency measurement:application to ultrasonic Doppler sonar

In an attempt to investigate the technical feasibility of a CW Doppler sonar, we have examined a method of measuring low velocities with a high-velocity resolution, or frequency resolution, by use of a simple circuit configuration employing digital signal processing technique. The following discussion presents the results of the investigation. In the measuring method described, the fast Fourier transform (FFT) of undersampled data is calculated and the Doppler shift is obtained by searching for a peak frequency of the power spectrum. To achieve the intended frequency resolution of 1 Hz by FFT operation, measurement of data for a minimum measuring period of 1 s is essential. If the sampling frequency is set to 50 kHz, the number of samples obtained during the minimum measuring period of I s would amount to 50000. This is not practical in light of the time required for the FFT operation. To overcome this problem, our new measuring method employs a decimation technique for reducing the number of samples down to 1024 while maintaining a frequency resolution of about 1 Hz. This paper describes how the processing time can be drastically reduced to about 1/300th compared to the conventional technique by a combination of complex exponential functions, filtering and decimation, and thereby indicates the possibility of real-time CW Doppler data processing     

一种修正的SeaWinds散射计圆中数滤波法

利用最大似然法(MLE)对SeaWinds散射计数据反演得出的风矢量一般存在2—4个模糊解,而且第1模糊解构成的风场在轨道外侧区域容易出现块状模糊,所以不能像SASS和NSCAT等散射计那样,以第1模糊解初始化风场后用圆中数滤波法进行模糊去除。文章根据SeaWinds散射计第1模糊解的空间分布特性,对传统圆中数滤波法进行了修正,使之适合SeaWinds散射计的模糊去除,即在缺乏参考数据进行初始化的前提下,能够有效去除块状模糊问题。