scholarly journals Elastic Downsampling: An Adaptive Downsampling Technique to Preserve Image Quality

Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 400
Author(s):  
Jose J. García Aranda ◽  
Manuel Alarcón Granero ◽  
Francisco Jose Juan Quintanilla ◽  
Gabriel Caffarena ◽  
Rodrigo García-Carmona

This paper presents a new adaptive downsampling technique called elastic downsampling, which enables high compression rates while preserving the image quality. Adaptive downsampling techniques are based on the idea that image tiles can use different sampling rates depending on the amount of information conveyed by each block. However, current approaches suffer from blocking effects and artifacts that hinder the user experience. To bridge this gap, elastic downsampling relies on a Perceptual Relevance analysis that assigns sampling rates to the corners of blocks. The novel metric used for this analysis is based on the luminance fluctuations of an image region. This allows a gradual transition of the sampling rate within tiles, both horizontally and vertically. As a result, the block artifacts are removed and fine details are preserved. Experimental results (using the Kodak and USC Miscelanea image datasets) show a PSNR improvement of up to 15 dB and a superior SSIM (Structural Similarity) when compared with other techniques. More importantly, the algorithms involved are computationally cheap, so it is feasible to implement them in low-cost devices. The proposed technique has been successfully implemented using graphics processors (GPU) and low-power embedded systems (Raspberry Pi) as target platforms.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markos Avlonitis ◽  
Spiridon Krokidis ◽  
Ioannis Vlachos ◽  
Vasileios Karakostas ◽  
Anastasios Kostoglou

<p>The low cost seismograph under study consists of low cost open source hardware and software microprocessor boards (Arduino Uno R3  and Raspberry Pi 3 B+ ), customized low noise design signal amplifiers, low power dissipation sophisticated power supply, two (2) kinds of earth ground shaking sensors a) Ceramic Accelerometer with cutoff frequency fc=0.15Hz and b) moving coil geophone with cutoff frequency fc=4.5Hz. The signals from the two sensors are amplified independently, while an active second order low-pass anti-alias filter and an 8th order active low-pass anti-alias filter have been used. Finally, a low-cost microprocessor board is responsible for digitizing the analog data from the amplified signal of the sensors with a frequency sampling rate of 345Hz. The aim of the present work is to design and test a systemic protocol in order to evaluate the performance of the proposed low cost seismograph for monitoring local to regional seismicity and micro seismicity. The proposed low-cost system was installed in an area of high seismic activity (Lefkada Island – Village Evgiros) and the recordings are transmitted to the database continuously from the day of its installation up today. Thus have create an amount of data for more than 280 days and all of those data have been stored to our database. Collocated with a high resolution 24 bits digitizer equipped with a broad band seismometer give us the opportunity to compare the recordings. To this end, a testing list of 15 local events has been created with different epicenters and magnitudes. For each event the recording signals have been analyzed in terms of a) power spectrum analysis, b) estimation of first arrival times of both P and S waves, c) signal amplitudes and d) earthquake duration. The choice of those specific measures was done in order to evaluate the performance of the low-cost seismograph in terms of certain seismic parameters such as magnitude, epicenter and source properties. Initial results in terms of the proposed protocol are also presented showing an adequate performance of the propose low cost seismograph.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Keywords:<br></strong>low-cost instruments, Ionian islands, performance protocol</p><p><strong>Acknowledgements<br></strong>«Telemachus – Innovative Seismic Risk Management Operational System of the Ionian Islands» which is part of the Operational Program «Ionian Islands 2014-2020» and is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (National Strategic Reference Framework - NSRF 2014-20).</p>


Author(s):  
C. R. Chen

Abstract Conventional FIB ex-situ lift-out is the most common technique for precise TEM sample preparation. But this method has some limitations and so in-situ lift-out technique was developed to overcome these drawbacks. The in-situ lift-out technique lifts-out the sample and then attaches the sample to a half-cut copper grid inside the FIB chamber by mini-probing system. This paper introduces a novel and simple technique that can overcome the above problems and a wide application of TEM samples preparation. The examples highlighted here demonstrate the novel method of low cost and high image quality TEM sample preparation. The method can reduce the amorphous phenomenon on the sidewall of specimen; no shield effect was found during the reprocess of thinning by ion-miller; and no contamination induced by the ion-miller sputtering was formed.


Author(s):  
Kholilatul Wardani ◽  
Aditya Kurniawan

 The ROI (Region of Interest) Image Quality Assessment is an image quality assessment model based on the SSI (Structural Similarity Index) index used in the specific image region desired to be assessed. Output assessmen value used by this image assessment model is 1 which means identical and -1 which means not identical. Assessment model of ROI Quality Assessment in this research is used to measure image quality on Kinect sensor capture result used in Mobile HD Robot after applied Multiple Localized Filtering Technique. The filter is applied to each capture sensor depth result on Kinect, with the aim to eliminate structural noise that occurs in the Kinect sensor. Assessment is done by comparing image quality before filter and after filter applied to certain region. The kinect sensor will be conditioned to capture a square black object measuring 10cm x 10cm perpendicular to a homogeneous background (white with RGB code 255,255,255). The results of kinect sensor data will be taken through EWRF 3022 by visual basic 6.0 program periodically 10 times each session with frequency 1 time per minute. The results of this trial show the same similar index (value 1: identical) in the luminance, contrast, and structural section of the edge region or edge region of the specimen. The value indicates that the Multiple Localized Filtering Technique applied to the noise generated by the Kinect sensor, based on the ROI Image Quality Assessment model has no effect on the image quality generated by the sensor.


Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 915
Author(s):  
Gözde Dursun ◽  
Muhammad Umer ◽  
Bernd Markert ◽  
Marcus Stoffel

(1) Background: Bioreactors mimic the natural environment of cells and tissues by providing a controlled micro-environment. However, their design is often expensive and complex. Herein, we have introduced the development of a low-cost compression bioreactor which enables the application of different mechanical stimulation regimes to in vitro tissue models and provides the information of applied stress and strain in real-time. (2) Methods: The compression bioreactor is designed using a mini-computer called Raspberry Pi, which is programmed to apply compressive deformation at various strains and frequencies, as well as to measure the force applied to the tissue constructs. Besides this, we have developed a mobile application connected to the bioreactor software to monitor, command, and control experiments via mobile devices. (3) Results: Cell viability results indicate that the newly designed compression bioreactor supports cell cultivation in a sterile environment without any contamination. The developed bioreactor software plots the experimental data of dynamic mechanical loading in a long-term manner, as well as stores them for further data processing. Following in vitro uniaxial compression conditioning of 3D in vitro cartilage models, chondrocyte cell migration was altered positively compared to static cultures. (4) Conclusion: The developed compression bioreactor can support the in vitro tissue model cultivation and monitor the experimental information with a low-cost controlling system and via mobile application. The highly customizable mold inside the cultivation chamber is a significant approach to solve the limited customization capability of the traditional bioreactors. Most importantly, the compression bioreactor prevents operator- and system-dependent variability between experiments by enabling a dynamic culture in a large volume for multiple numbers of in vitro tissue constructs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yehe Liu ◽  
Andrew M. Rollins ◽  
Richard M. Levenson ◽  
Farzad Fereidouni ◽  
Michael W. Jenkins

AbstractSmartphone microscopes can be useful tools for a broad range of imaging applications. This manuscript demonstrates the first practical implementation of Microscopy with Ultraviolet Surface Excitation (MUSE) in a compact smartphone microscope called Pocket MUSE, resulting in a remarkably effective design. Fabricated with parts from consumer electronics that are readily available at low cost, the small optical module attaches directly over the rear lens in a smartphone. It enables high-quality multichannel fluorescence microscopy with submicron resolution over a 10× equivalent field of view. In addition to the novel optical configuration, Pocket MUSE is compatible with a series of simple, portable, and user-friendly sample preparation strategies that can be directly implemented for various microscopy applications for point-of-care diagnostics, at-home health monitoring, plant biology, STEM education, environmental studies, etc.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 240-257
Author(s):  
Akula Suneetha ◽  
E. Srinivasa Reddy

Abstract In the data collection phase, the digital images are captured using sensors that often contaminated by noise (undesired random signal). In digital image processing task, enhancing the image quality and reducing the noise is a central process. Image denoising effectively preserves the image edges to a higher extend in the flat regions. Several adaptive filters (median filter, Gaussian filter, fuzzy filter, etc.) have been utilized to improve the smoothness of digital image, but these filters failed to preserve the image edges while removing noise. In this paper, a modified fuzzy set filter has been proposed to eliminate noise for restoring the digital image. Usually in fuzzy set filter, sixteen fuzzy rules are generated to find the noisy pixels in the digital image. In modified fuzzy set filter, a set of twenty-four fuzzy rules are generated with additional four pixel locations for determining the noisy pixels in the digital image. The additional eight fuzzy rules ease the process of finding the image pixels,whether it required averaging or not. In this scenario, the input digital images were collected from the underwater photography fish dataset. The efficiency of the modified fuzzy set filter was evaluated by varying degrees of Gaussian noise (0.01, 0.03, and 0.1 levels of Gaussian noise). For performance evaluation, Structural Similarity (SSIM), Mean Structural Similarity (MSSIM), Mean Square Error (MSE), Normalized Mean Square Error (NMSE), Universal Image Quality Index (UIQI), Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), and Visual Information Fidelity (VIF) were used. The experimental results showed that the modified fuzzy set filter improved PSNR value up to 2-3 dB, MSSIM up to 0.12-0.03, and NMSE value up to 0.38-0.1 compared to the traditional filtering techniques.


Author(s):  
Jiaqi Xu ◽  
Wei Sun ◽  
Kannan Srinivasan

RFID techniques have been extensively used in sensing systems due to their low cost. However, limited by the structural simplicity, collision is one key issue which is inevitable in RFID systems, thus limiting the accuracy and scalability of such sensing systems. Existing anti-collision techniques try to enable parallel decoding without sensing based applications in mind, which can not operate on COTS RFID systems. To address the issue, we propose COFFEE, which enables parallel channel estimation of COTS passive tags by harnessing the collision. We revisit the physical layer design of current standard. By exploiting the characteristics of low sampling rate and channel diversity of RFID tags, we separate the collided data and extract the channels of the collided tags. We also propose a tag identification algorithm which explores history channel information and identify the tags without decoding. COFFEE is compatible with current COTS RFID standards which can be applied to all RFID-based sensing systems without any modification on tag side. To evaluate the real world performance of our system, we build a prototype and conduct extensive experiments. The experimental results show that we can achieve up to 7.33x median time resolution gain for the best case and 3.42x median gain on average.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 432
Author(s):  
Guenther Retscher ◽  
Alexander Leb

A guidance and information service for a University library based on Wi-Fi signals using fingerprinting as chosen localization method is under development at TU Wien. After a thorough survey of suitable location technologies for the application it was decided to employ mainly Wi-Fi for localization. For that purpose, the availability, performance, and usability of Wi-Fi in selected areas of the library are analyzed in a first step. These tasks include the measurement of Wi-Fi received signal strengths (RSS) of the visible access points (APs) in different areas. The measurements were carried out in different modes, such as static, kinematic and in stop-and-go mode, with six different smartphones. A dependence on the positioning and tracking modes is seen in the tests. Kinematic measurements pose much greater challenges and depend significantly on the duration of a single Wi-Fi scan. For the smartphones, the scan durations differed in the range of 2.4 to 4.1 s resulting in different accuracies for kinematic positioning, as fewer measurements along the trajectories are available for a device with longer scan duration. The investigations indicated also that the achievable localization performance is only on the few meter level due to the small number of APs of the University own Wi-Fi network deployed in the library. A promising solution for performance improvement is the foreseen usage of low-cost Raspberry Pi units serving as Wi-Fi transmitter and receiver.


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