helping you keep an eye on things...
Data processing, fusion, noise reduction and interpretation
The end product of the UAV survey work has to be an accurate, high resolution, multi-layer image / map, from which the user, or, a computer system, can infer sub-surface geological features, from the selective superposition of the available images and maps.
Software plays a crucial role in transforming the myriad of raw data blocks into an accurate, coherent, large scale image, or, map of the survey region.
The quantity of data can be enormous, for example, in excess of 43,000 GBytes of data per day from 10 UAVs performing stereo, multi-spectral imaging, necessitating the use of a High Performance Computing system, typically comprising from 64 to 1,024 high end 64 bit PCs, all running LINUX because of its good scalability in a multi-processor system and its reliability, to parallel process the survey data, in a reasonable time.
Although Linux has proven benefits when it comes to the scaleability of multiple processing nodes, Microsoft have introduced their Microsoft Compute Cluster Server 2003 for use in computational intensive tasks.
Example of data to be processed from multi-spectral imaging
Hewlett Packard computer cluster, shown at the SEG 2006 Conference.
In the aerial reconnaissance context, software could be used to subtract images and maps taken at different times, such as different days, to indicate the appearance or disappearance of objects and personnel. In fact, with sufficiently smart software and regular imaging of the terrain, the software should be able to indicate the movements of objects and personnel, even objects and personnel that are heavily camouflaged.
In an ongoing aerial surveillance situation, various portions of the large data sets will be updated in real time, following the receipt of the data, via a fast Free Space Optics data link and in a Network Centric infrastructure, which will then automatically be accessible by users connected to the Internet.
Indeed, once the UAV platform and sensor systems are stabilised, manufactured and used in increasing volumes, the principle development work will be in the areas of:
- High Performance Computing, with low latency data transfer between computers
- the application of High Performance Computing, to correct lens and other aberrations in the data and generally to enhance the quality of the raw data
- the fusion of the many data frames into a few large, coherent, data sets, for viewing across a Network
- the automated interpretation of the large, processed, data sets
- the integration of updated data, in a Network Centric infrastructure
The final and most impressive software element is the data interpretation software, which is able automatically to analyse all the available data and determine the location and attributes of geologically interesting features, such as mineral, oil and gas deposits.
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Computer systems |
Above from US DoD http://www.acq.osd.mil/usd/Unmanned%20Systems%20Roadmap.2007-2032.pdf
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/ccs/default.mspx
Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003, released in June 2006, is designed for high-end applications that require high performance computing clusters. It is designed to be deployed on numerous computers to be clustered together to achieve supercomputing speeds. Each computer cluster server network comprises at least one controlling head node and subordinate processing nodes that carry out most of the work. Compute Cluster Server uses the Microsoft Messaging Passing Interface v2 (MS-MPI) to administer the network.
- from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Server_2003
June 9, 2006
- from http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1974530,00.asp
Microsoft is finally ready to enter the high-performance computing market, a technology dominated by open-source Linux technology. The Redmond, Wash., software maker released Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 to manufacturing on June 9, with general availability of the product scheduled for August.
It will be sold via volume licensing and OEM licensing for an estimated price of $469 a node, but prices will vary depending on the license and volume, John Borozan, group product manager for the Windows Server Division, told eWEEK. Evaluation copies of Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003, a 64-bit operating system for industry-standard x64 processors, will be handed out to attendees of Microsoft's TechEd 2006 conference in Boston the week of June 12, he said.This is Microsoft's first software offering designed specifically to run parallel, high-performance computing applications for customers, and it provides a platform that can be deployed, operated and integrated with existing infrastructure and tools. Customers can also leverage their existing development skills using Visual Studio 2005, Borozan said.
The upcoming availability of the Windows Compute Cluster Server marks a milestone for Microsoft, which is a late-comer to a market largely dominated by Linux software.
While Microsoft will release a single 64-bit-only version of the software, it will run on all the hardware platforms supported by Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, on which it is based. All the major OEMs, including IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Dell and NEC Solutions America, as well as the major interconnect vendors, have announced support for the product.
Customer demand for HPC is being driven by increased performance in processors per compute node, the low acquisition price per node and the overall price/performance of compute clusters. These trends are driving new customers to adopt HPC to replace or supplement live, physical experiments with computer-simulated modeling, tests and analysis, Borozan said.
Analyst firm IDC says it expects unit shipments for HPC to expand by more than 12 percent annually over the next five years, and that high-performance computing clusters will see substantial customer adoption in the lower-end capacity segments of the market.
Uses of the Windows Compute Cluster Server by early adopters span oil and gas reservoir simulation and seismic processing; life sciences use for simulations of enzyme catalysis and protein folding; and vehicle design and safety improvements.
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Image data processing software |
from http://www.emrsdtc.com/trans_embed.htm
Another important factor which is crucial to the effective use of processing within sensor systems is to have a good understanding of processing requirements and the likely availability of processing capability. The well-known Moore's Law, expressing the growth in available computing capacity, currently shows no signs of reaching its limits, but it is less well understood that whilst the growth in processing power per unit volume continues unabated, the growth in processing power per unit of power consumption is modest, indeed, very modest. This fact has major implications for many military sensor applications, as most military platforms are severely constrained in availability of power and cooling. This means that processing cannot be regarded as an inexhaustible resource for future systems, and this places a premium on developing processing algorithms and software implementations which are highly efficient.
It is arguable indeed that the greatest barrier to progress in the collection of data for military intelligence is neither the inadequacy of sensor technology, nor the shortage of processing power to crunch the numbers, but, rather, the lack of understanding about what to do with the data. Military intelligence is neither sensor-limited nor processor power limited, but it is algorithm limited.
This is perhaps best illustrated by the failure so far to capitalise on the richest, most extensive source of free data that exists most of the time in most places - the data that most informs human and animal systems. Computer vision is the key to machine intelligence. It is very difficult and remains an infant technology, but there have been significant advances in both 3D generic vision for structure analysis, and scene interpretation in terms of 3D model-based processes, which are promising real capabilities in autonomy.
As military thinking turns increasingly towards the use of autonomous platforms, the development of computer vision is becoming a matter of urgency.
The above is true, in our opinion, for both military and civilian Unmanned Aircraft systems.
from http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html
Autostitch™ is the world's first fully automatic 2D image stitcher. Capable of stitching full view panoramas without any user input whatsoever, Autostitch is a breakthrough technology for panoramic photography, VR and visualisation applications. This is the first solution to stitch any panorama completely automatically, whether 1D (horizontal) or 2D (horizontal and vertical).
Autostitch is built using cutting edge research from the AI lab at UBC, but it's incredibly simple to use! Just select a set of photos, and Autostitch does the rest: digital photos in, panoramas out. Try the free demo (for Windows):
25 of 57 images aligned
all 57 images aligned
final result
Download the FREE demo version
- from http://labs.live.com/photosynth/
The Photosynth Technology Preview is a taste of the newest - and, we hope, most exciting - way to view photos on a computer. Our software takes a large collection of photos of a place or an object, analyzes them for similarities, and then displays the photos in a reconstructed three-dimensional space, showing you how each one relates to the next.
In our collections, you can access gigabytes of photos in seconds, view a scene from nearly any angle, find similar photos with a single click, and zoom in to make the smallest detail as big as your monitor.
Photosynth is a collaboration between Microsoft and the University of Washington based on the groundbreaking research of Noah Snavely (UW), Steve Seitz (UW), and Richard Szeliski (Microsoft Research).
Photosynth is an amazing new technology from Microsoft Live Labs that will change forever the way you think about digital photos.
Our software takes a large collection of photos of a place or an object, analyzes them for similarities, and displays them in a reconstructed three-dimensional space.
With Photosynth you can:
- Walk or fly through a scene to see photos from any angle.
- Seamlessly zoom in or out of a photo whether it's megapixels or gigapixels in size.
- See where pictures were taken in relation to one another.
- Find similar photos to the one you're currently viewing.
- Send a collection - or a particular view of one - to a friend.
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