Non-Parametric Modelling of Motion and Depth fields with Boundary Geometry for Scalable Compression and Dissemination. Applications for large format video surveillance are about to grow rapidly, starting with military applications and then moving into the civilian arena, highlighting the importance of compression for interactive dissemination, so as to make best use of limited communication channels. This project will develop an innovative representation for motion and depth/elevation maps, whi ....Non-Parametric Modelling of Motion and Depth fields with Boundary Geometry for Scalable Compression and Dissemination. Applications for large format video surveillance are about to grow rapidly, starting with military applications and then moving into the civilian arena, highlighting the importance of compression for interactive dissemination, so as to make best use of limited communication channels. This project will develop an innovative representation for motion and depth/elevation maps, which addresses a key obstacle in the deployment of technology for efficient interactive access to large format video and geospatial imagery. These applications are relevant to Australia's defence and infrastructure for smart information use. Moreover, this is a strategic proposal to strengthen Australia's existing lead in aspects of interactive media dissemination.Read moreRead less
Highly Scalable Video Compression with Finely Embedded Motion Signalling. Highly scalable video compression is critical to the emergence of new applications in video distribution and management. Examples include interactive remote browsing of video and robust video surveillance over shared networks. Previous ARC funding produced fundamental breakthroughs in scalable video compression, resulting in a new paradigm which has been adopted by leading researchers in the field. The present project a ....Highly Scalable Video Compression with Finely Embedded Motion Signalling. Highly scalable video compression is critical to the emergence of new applications in video distribution and management. Examples include interactive remote browsing of video and robust video surveillance over shared networks. Previous ARC funding produced fundamental breakthroughs in scalable video compression, resulting in a new paradigm which has been adopted by leading researchers in the field. The present project addresses the two most important problems which currently limit the potential of this paradigm. Inspired by the applicant's recent discoveries, the outcomes of this project are likely to represent significant scientific breakthroughs and contribute to a new international video coding standard.Read moreRead less
Assistive micro-navigation for vision impaired people. This project aims to develop novel algorithms to transform a simple camera into a smart sensor, that can enable a vision-impaired person to navigate freely and without additional aids in a crowded area. Such a smart sensor will be endowed with the capability to detect and locate obstacles, identify the walking path, recognise objects and traffic signs and convey step-by-step instructions to the user. The project outcomes are expected to impr ....Assistive micro-navigation for vision impaired people. This project aims to develop novel algorithms to transform a simple camera into a smart sensor, that can enable a vision-impaired person to navigate freely and without additional aids in a crowded area. Such a smart sensor will be endowed with the capability to detect and locate obstacles, identify the walking path, recognise objects and traffic signs and convey step-by-step instructions to the user. The project outcomes are expected to improve the well-being and accessibility to public areas for vision-impaired people and reduce physical access disparities for this disadvantaged and vulnerable group. Furthermore, technologies developed in this project can potentially be adapted for use in related special navigation applications such as road safety, self-driving vehicles, and autonomous robots.Read moreRead less
Dynamic Visual Scene Gist Recognition using a Probabilistic Inference Framework. How can we see the forest without intentionally looking for the trees? How can we tell traffic is flowing smoothly on a busy highway without identifying vehicles or measuring their speed? These are the questions that inspire this research project. Humans are endowed with the ability to grasp the ‘gist’ or overall meaning of a complex visual scene from a single glance and without attention to details. The aim of this ....Dynamic Visual Scene Gist Recognition using a Probabilistic Inference Framework. How can we see the forest without intentionally looking for the trees? How can we tell traffic is flowing smoothly on a busy highway without identifying vehicles or measuring their speed? These are the questions that inspire this research project. Humans are endowed with the ability to grasp the ‘gist’ or overall meaning of a complex visual scene from a single glance and without attention to details. The aim of this project is to develop new computational vision models that combine biological visual processing with probabilistic inference for gist recognition. The developed models will be able to mimic human vision by analysing a complex dynamic scene rapidly and classifying its semantic categories, without identifying individual objects.Read moreRead less
Extreme events: mining the radio sky for gamma-ray bursts with intelligent algorithms. Gamma-ray bursts and supernova explosions are some of the most extreme events in the Universe, and working out what causes them, and other transient phenomena, will give us new physical insights. The project will search, using next generation telescopes and intelligent algorithms, to find these 'needles in a haystack'.
Hybrid optimisation for automatic large-scale video annotation. Optimization is the basis for solving many problems in Computer Vision, such as three-dimensional geometry recovery, image segmentation, scene labeling and object recognition. This project will develop new optimisation techniques and demonstrate their suitability for large-scale video annotation, which is key to visual data mining and scene understanding.
Biomimetic Ultra-Thin Compound-Eye Vision Sensor. With the recent advances in microelectronic fabrication technology, it becomes possible today to fabricate paper-thin imaging systems. The proposed research will target the development of such systems to enable the concept of 'stick-on cameras'. Examples of potential applications for this new imaging technology include head-mounted camera patches for rescue workers, smart credit card capable of identifying its user by fingerprint technology, disc ....Biomimetic Ultra-Thin Compound-Eye Vision Sensor. With the recent advances in microelectronic fabrication technology, it becomes possible today to fabricate paper-thin imaging systems. The proposed research will target the development of such systems to enable the concept of 'stick-on cameras'. Examples of potential applications for this new imaging technology include head-mounted camera patches for rescue workers, smart credit card capable of identifying its user by fingerprint technology, discrete monitoring of venues, preventing driver's drowsiness inside a car but also assisting in medical diagnosis and minimally invasive surgery. This leading edge research will enhance the reputation of Australia as a leader in frontier technologies.Read moreRead less
Filters reveal what flicker conceals: temporal processing in the human visual system. I have recently discovered a new form of camouflage using 10Hz luminance flicker. This project will quantify this effect and examine the extent to which it generalises across colour and spatial dimensions and to video sequences depicting natural scenes. This information is expected to provide foundational information to technologies relating to national security that rely on visual concealment. This research wi ....Filters reveal what flicker conceals: temporal processing in the human visual system. I have recently discovered a new form of camouflage using 10Hz luminance flicker. This project will quantify this effect and examine the extent to which it generalises across colour and spatial dimensions and to video sequences depicting natural scenes. This information is expected to provide foundational information to technologies relating to national security that rely on visual concealment. This research will examine the extent to which filtering out these camouflaging frequencies enhances our sensitivity to low temporal frequency information. This decamouflaging aspect of my research is expected to improve the clarity of digital video-based technologies including ultrasound, educational, info-tainment and defence applicationsRead moreRead less
Advanced Processing for Through-the-Wall Radar Imaging. There is currently considerable interest around the world in imaging systems that can 'see' through-the-walls. This project is at the cutting edge of through-the-wall radar imaging research and technology. It will benefit both the defence and security industries, and position Australia among the leading countries in this technology, as only a handful of research teams around the world have the necessary background and expertise in this area ....Advanced Processing for Through-the-Wall Radar Imaging. There is currently considerable interest around the world in imaging systems that can 'see' through-the-walls. This project is at the cutting edge of through-the-wall radar imaging research and technology. It will benefit both the defence and security industries, and position Australia among the leading countries in this technology, as only a handful of research teams around the world have the necessary background and expertise in this area. The research outcomes will enhance the capability of the military, law enforcement, counter-terrorism, and search and rescue personnel. It will play a vital role in protecting and safeguarding Australia from terrorism and crime.Read moreRead less
Detecting, Locating and Tracking Human Faces using Skin Colour. With growing concerns for national security and public safety, government agencies in Australia and around the world are taking strong measures to introduce biometric-enhanced official identification documents such as passports, visas, and ID cards. The proposed face detection and tracking system will play a key role in personal identification and human activity monitoring. The developed system will have a huge potential in surveill ....Detecting, Locating and Tracking Human Faces using Skin Colour. With growing concerns for national security and public safety, government agencies in Australia and around the world are taking strong measures to introduce biometric-enhanced official identification documents such as passports, visas, and ID cards. The proposed face detection and tracking system will play a key role in personal identification and human activity monitoring. The developed system will have a huge potential in surveillance, security, law enforcement, and ICT. This project will contribute to building a knowledge economy in Australia and help safeguard and protect Australia from terrorism and crime. Furthermore, its outcomes will enhance the reputation of Australia as a leader in frontier technologies and smart information use.Read moreRead less