Scientific
Publications
Details and downloads publications, technical reports and thesis papers.
Research Projects
Our main areas of research work are virtual reality, media processing
and web-based information systems. For details on our past and current projects,
follow the links below.
Real-time Tunneling Measurement based on Infrared Optical Tracking (2009)
RTMIOT - Real-time Tunneling Measurement based on an Infrared Optical Tracker
This project develops a system to perform tunneling measurement in real time based on optical infrared tracking. This stereo measurement system, called RTMIOT, will be able to track and determine the 3D-coordinates of several static as well as moving optical targets in real time and can be used to measure and monitor the tunnel advance.
For measurements in a tunnel it is a subtask of the tunneling
measurement system to assure the correct geometrical control of all
tunneling activities. Due to the rapidly increasing automation of the tunnel construction in the last years, tasks in the field of positioning and controlling of construction vehicles and robots must be fulfilled as well. These tasks require novel measurement systems to determine the position of targets in real time. Furthermore these systems should be capable in the future to capture multiple objects (machines, robots, construction workers) at the same time as well as moving objects.
With RTMIOT the first fundamental requirements will be fulfilled to achieve the future goal of automated positioning and control of construction vehicles.
A Framework for the Design and Development of Multimodal Interaction on Tabletops (2009)
MINT - A Framework for the Design and Development of Multimodal Interaction on Tabletops
Innerhalb des MINT-Projekts sollen neuartige Methoden zur Generalisierung komplexer Interaktionstechniken mit speziellem Fokus auf Gesten-basierte Interaktion für Multi-Touch-Computer
entwickelt werden.
Ziel dieses Unterfangens ist einerseits die Ermöglichung einer applikations-übergreifenden Wiederverwendbarkeit von Interaktionstechniken, andererseits die
Kombination simpler Interaktions-bausteine zu komplexeren Interaktionsmustern zu erleichtern.
Hierfür soll eine Schnittstelle spezifiziert werden, über welche eine Applikation die Beschreibung aller
interaktionsrelevanten Objekte, sowie deren aktuellen Zustand bereitstellt.
Basierend auf dieser Repräsentation des Applikationszustandes sollen eine Zwischenanwendung (die MINT-Middleware) passende, vordefinierte Interaktions-bausteine aus einer Datenbank auswählen
und daraus einen Datenflussgraphen konstruieren.
Desweiteren sollen Konzepte zur Visualisierung und Bearbeitung von Interaktionsbausteinen durch technisch weniger versierte Anwender (Nicht-Programmierer) geschaffen werden.
Die im Rahmen des Projektes entwickelten Konzepte sollen durch Umsetzung in einem Software-Framework und verschiedenen, simplen Anwendungen studiert werden.
Providing Fire Fighters with Technology for Excellent Work Safety (2009)
ProFiTex - Providing Fire Fighters with Technology for Excellent Work Safety
The aim of project ProFiTex is to support fire fighters in their perilous work with a system that supplies mission-relevant information without overwhelming the fire fighter.
The design approach will be user-centered with tests starting at an earlypoint in the project to gain maximum user acceptance. Professional fire fighters will be involved from the beginning of the project to ensure, that the system will be tailored to their needs. Project ProFiTex will continue the work of the successfulEU-funded project wearIT@work.
The ProFiTex system comprises electronic devices like an infrared camera, localisation sensors and a human-computer interface device integrated into the fire fighters jacket. Since wireless communication is difficult over long distances and through several walls of a building, an innovative method to transmit information will be applied. A security rope carried by fire fighters during a mission shall be equipped with data transmission capabilities. This allows information to be sent outside to the command post and back to the fire fighter.
By monitoring several parameters of the fire fighters condition like his movement pattern and stance, problems can be detected immediately. The fire fighter himself is supplied with the possibility to navigate even in smoky environments thanks to the infrared camera and the positioning system implemented into his equipment. Localized information (e.g. door, victim) can be fed into the system using the garment-integrated human-computer interface device.
Information will be displayed to the fire fighters, their group leaders and the commander outside the building. The amount and type of information supplid will be carefully chosen, considering the physical danger and psychic stress fire fighters are opposed to.
Work safety of fire fighters shall be increased, thus lowering the number of work-related accidents and casualties. Fire fighting missions will be more efficient using the system.
Keywords:
Protective Clothing, Textile-based System, Emergency Responders, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Bio Sensors, Visualization, User Interfaces
VISION - Immersive interface
technologies for lifecycle
human-oriented
activities in interactive
aircraft-related virtual
products
Although Virtual Reality (VR) has demonstrated a significant potential for interactive applications in product and process development, the proven
quality of the underlying technologies is still far from satisfying the real-life needs of aerospace industrial
practice. VISION aims to specify and develop key interface features in fundamental cornerstones of VR technology, namely in immersive visualization and interaction, so as to improve the flexibility, performance and
cost efficiency of human-oriented life cycle procedures in critical aircraft-related virtual products (e.g., virtual
cockpit, virtual cabin etc.).
The upstream research roadmap of VISION will involve
a) specific human-oriented
developments in simulation features, such as visual perception, real-time rendering, markerless body tracking,
smart objects interaction, and interaction metaphors,
b) an integration of the features in a common IT platform, and
c) a validation based on test cases focused on specific aircraft-related virtual products.
The achievements of VISION will enhance the credibility of human-in-theloop
aircraft-related VR simulations. They will further enhance the engineering context of aircraft-related
virtual products by enabling their increased use for activities, such as design verification, ergonomics validation, specifications of equipment displays, operational and situational training. The VISION project aims to
develop new technology in support of the design and virtual prototyping of critical aircraft-related products.
It will improve the human-oriented functionality and usage of these virtual products along their life cycle. Thus, it addresses the Design Systems & Tools and Human Factors call topics. The consortium of VISION includes representatives of all major stakeholders, including end users, research partners and VR IT vendors. VISION is supported by the European Aeronautics Science Network
(EASN).
PlayMancer will implement a new Serious Game environment by augmenting existing 3D gaming engines with new possibilities. The objectives of the project are:
a) to construct a next generation gaming environment, mainly augmenting the gaming experience with innovative ICT modes of interaction between the player and the game world,
b) to evolve the principles of Universally Accessible Games for application into 3D-based games, following a design for all philosophy, with the ultimate goal of designing games to be equally challenging to players of different abilities,
c) to evaluate the proposed framework and gaming infrastructure by developing and testing a series of serious games modules as applied to two application domains: pain rehabilitation, and therapeutic support and lifestyle management programs for people with behavioral and addictive disorders.
Development of an Augmented-Reality Dynamic Spatial Test (2006)
ARST - development of an Augmented-Reality dynamic Spatial Test
In the project we develop a new type of test for the assessment of spatial abilities
that differs from conventional spatial ability tests in several aspects.
First, traditional spatial ability tests
(paper-pencil as well as on-screen computer versions)
assess 3-dimensional spatial abilities with 2-dimensional
means. The new test will measure the ability to visualize
and mentally manipulate 3-dimensional objects in actual
3-dimensional space, and should thus have a higher
ecological validity than previous spatial ability tests.
This will be possible through use of the augmented
reality tool Construct3D, which allows the projecting of
virtual 3-dimensional objects into real space where they
can be seen and manipulated by means of special glasses
and input devices.
Furthermore, the planned test will
be a dynamic learning test; i.e., in contrast to conventional
tests, it not only measures a person’s current
status, but also their learning potential. Performance in
conventional tests is generally, and particularly where
spatial abilities are concerned, significantly dependent
on factors such as test experience or experience with
similar tasks and materials. Gender differences, which
are still frequently found in spatial tests, can partly be
attributed to these experience-based factors. Often,
such differences can be reduced or eliminated through
a relatively short training, sometimes even through a
simple re-taking of the test. With a dynamic learning
test (usually consisting of a pre-test, a training phase,
and a post-test), the influence of short-term learning
experiences on test performance can be assessed,
which may yield higher internal consistency and predictive
power of the test scores.
The new item material will
assess the mental manipulation (rotation, combination,
intersection, etc.) of 3-dimensional objects. Stimuli and
instructions are presented sequentially. Hence, in contrast
to most other tests, participants need to actually
encode and manipulate mental representations of the
spatial objects. Thereby, the range of possible strategies
(e.g., comparison of single features and elimination
of possible answers) is reduced. In order to guarantee
homogeneity of the testing material and to avoid problems
such as ceiling effects, item response models will
be employed for the development of test items as well
as for the measurement of change in performance.
iotracker is a new low-cost infrared-optical pose-tracking system for room-sized virtual environments. The system consists of 4-8 shutter-synchronized 1394-cameras with an optical bandpass filter and infrared illuminator. All image-processing is done in software on an attached workstation. Preliminary results indicate low latency (20-40ms), minimal jitter (RMS less than 0.05mm/ 0.02°), submillimeter location resolution and an absolute accuracy of ±0.5cm. Currently, ten independent 6-DOF targets can be tracked in real-time with up to 60Hz.
The Invisible Train - A Handheld Augmented Reality Game (2004)
The Invisible Train is the first real multi-user Augmented Reality application for handheld devices (PDAs). Unlike other projects, in which wearable devices were merely used as thin-clients, while powerful (PC-based) servers performed a majority of the computations (such as graphics rendering), our software runs independently on off-the-shelf PDAs - eliminating the need for an expensive infractructure.
Keywords:
Augmented Reality, Mobile Devices, Wearable Devices, PDA, Games
iOrb - Unifying Command and 3D Input for Mobile Augmented Reality (2004)
Input for mobile augmented reality systems is notoriously
difficult. Three dimensional visualization would
be ideally accompanied with 3D interaction, but accurate
tracking technology usually relies on fixed infrastructure
and is not suitable for mobile use. Command input is simpler
but usually tied to devices that are not suitable for 3D
interaction and therefore require an additional mapping.
The standard mapping is to use image plane techniques relative
to the users view. We present a new concept - the
iOrb - that combines simple 3D interaction for selection and
dragging with a 2D analog input channel suitable for command
input in mobile applications.
The aim of this project is to investigate how two or more users can interact on such tasks as navigation and information browsing/display with the help of Augmented Reality in an outdoor environment. It is based on the hard- and software developed in the Mobile Collaborative Augmented Reality subproject of the Studierstube research project.
Keywords:
Studierstube, Augmented Reality, Mobile Computing, GPS
Educating Spatial Intelligence in Augmented Reality (2003)
Spatial abilities present an important component of human intelligence. Many studies have shown that spatial abilities can be improved by well-designed trainings. Geometry education has proven as one powerful means of improving these skills; recently, a number of training studies have shown the usefulness of virtual reality (VR) in training spatial ability. However, little to no work has been done towards systematic development of VR applications for practical education purposes in this field.
This project aims to introduce Augmented Reality (AR), a technology closely related to VR, to mathematics and geometry education. A comprehensive evaluation study will be conducted in order to study the general and differential effects of the training with Construct3D on several components of spatial ability.
The project webpage is currently in German only.
What does Pivy do?
Pivy allows you to write Open Inventor applications in Python.
It will be possible to interactively edit Open Inventor programs from within the Python interpreter or by using a console in the scene graph which can be switched in and away at run time.
An Open Inventor Python scripting node will allow you to incorporate nodes into your scene graph from your C++ application which will be capable of executing Python code and callback functions.
OpenTracker - An Open Software Framework for Virtual Reality Input (2001)
OpenTracker is developed to be generic solution to the different tasks involved in tracking input devices and processing tracking data for virtual environments. It provides an open software architecture based on a highly modular design and a configuration syntax based on XML, thus taking full advantage of this new technology. OpenTracker is a first attempt towards a "write once, track anywhere" approach to virtual reality application development.
Keywords:
Studierstube, Augmented Reality, Tracking, Distributed Systems
The project aims at developing the knowledge and technology for Virtual Showcases to become standard equipment for museums and other public exhibitions space. Recent and anticipated advances in computer and graphics systems, projections systems, tracking technology, input devices and network technology form the basis for realising this vision.
Mobile computing is naturally complemented by Augmented Reality (AR), which superimposes computer-generated images onto a user's perception of the real world via devices such as see-through or see-around head mounted displays (HMD). As a consequence, a portable 3D information space becomes available to the user. Such systems are often combined with position sensing devices (such as differential GPS) to yield location aware computing, which associates computer-generated images with arbitrary landmarks of the real world.
Keywords:
Studierstube, Augmented Reality, Distributed Systems, Mobile Computing
Construct3D - An Augmented Reality System for Mathematics and Geometry Education (1999)
Construct3D is a three dimensional geometric construction tool based on the collaborative augmented reality system "Studierstube". Our setup uses a stereoscopic head mounted display (HMD) and the Personal Interaction Panel (PIP) - a two-handed 3D interaction tool that simplifies 3D model interaction. Means of application in mathematics and geometry education at high school as well as university level are being discussed. A pilot study summarizes the strengths and possible extensions of our system. Anecdotal evidence supports our claim that the use of Construct3D is easy to learn and encourages experimentation with geometric constructions.
Studierstube - A Collaborative Augmented Reality System (1996)
Studierstube is the study room where Goethe's famous character, Faust, tries to acquire knowledge and enlightenment. We chose this term as the working title for our efforts to develop user interfaces for future work environments based on collaborative augmented reality.
Keywords:
Studierstube, Augmented Reality, Distributed Systems, User Interfaces
Automatic Analysis of Elephant Vocalizations (2011)
The decline of habitat for elephants as a result of expanding human activity combined with increasing elephant numbers in spatially separated clusters of conservation areas is a serious conservation problem in Africa. Nearly 80% of the distributional range of elephants in Southern Africa stretches beyond the borders of officially protected areas. Future management plans aim to connect separated clusters to Megaparks through corridors necessitating a proper, area wide monitoring of elephant populations and their migration patterns.
Today, automatic monitoring systems mainly employ GPS- and satellite tracking, which give detailed data of individual elephant’s migration routes, but at the same time, are expensive and invasive and therefore cannot be applied area-wide. There is no automatic non-invasive elephant detection and in situ monitoring system so far.
The goal of this project is to investigate scientific methods for a future automatic in situ monitoring system for African savannah elephants and to test their feasibility. We propose automatic multimodal methods for field research on vocal behavior, basic activities, and migration patterns. We aim at establishing the scientific foundations for a low-cost and non-invasive automatic monitoring system.
A long-standing goal in the field of Computer Vision is the recovery of 3D geometry from ordinary photographs of real-world scenes. Although significant progress has been made over the last decades, the automatic recovery of parts of the scene not adequately observed in the available images remains a challenge. The aim of this project is improve upon earlier work by carrying out joint estimation of a variety of aspects of the scene, potentially including (but not limited to) geometric primitives, light source and camera position.
Temporal-Consistent Stereo Matting for High-Quality Novel View Synthesis and Visual Effects (2009)
This project develops new image processing techniques for the emerging field of 3D television. Given two videos that are recorded by slightly displaced cameras, we aim to extract (1) the opacity values of individual pixels, (2) a depth reconstruction of the scene and (3) the temporal relationship between the images of a sequence. The computed information can serve as the input for an autostereoscopic display that exploits our results to provide the user with temporal-smooth depth impression. Moreover, our results offer the exciting possibility for free-viewpoint video where the user has control over a virtual camera and can select the preferred viewpoint. To suit the needs of these applications, our focus lies on generating results of high-quality that outperform the current state-of-the-art. Due to addressing the image matting problem, we will also be able to handle fuzzy and hairy objects that are traditionally difficult in image processing.
Intelligent Video Annotation and Retrieval Techniques (2009)
This project intends to improve the state of the art for video retrieval within specific video domains. To achieve this, a novel video annotation approach will be developed where automatically detected objects-of-interest can be annotated by a user in an easy and comfortable way. Different techniques to model, collect, and use the visual appearance of objects within videos and the relations of objects in specific video domains will be investigated.
Keywords:
Video Processing, Visual Information Retrieval, Computer Vision, Object Of Interest Detection
Digital Formalism: The Vienna Vertov-Collection (2007)
Digital Formalism: The Vienna Vertov Collection focuses on the computer-aided digital analysis of the “senses of
cinema”. On the foundation of theoretical basic research on digital formalism we will develop the technical tools to
digitally analyse the principal cinematic elements in the films by Russian Avant-Garde film maker Dziga Vertov (1896 – 1954)
Keywords:
Video Processing, Dziga Vertov, Visual Information Retrieval, Feature Extraction, User Interface Design
Evaluation and Design of Energy Functions for Global Stereo Matching (2007)
This project investigates and improves the modelling component of energy minimization techniques for stereo matching. One major contribution is a competitive performance evaluation among energy functions that have been proposed in the literature. In the second phase of the project, we use the knowledge gained in our evaluation study to develop novel energy functions. These energy functions are designed to deliver high-quality disparity maps that improve over the current state-of-the-art. These high-quality disparity maps are vital for a variety of applications, ranging from quality assurance, robotics and virtual reality to modern applications in the entertainment industry such as novel view synthesis.
Keywords:
Stereo, 3D Reconstruction, Computer Vision, Scene Modeling, Energy Function, Optimization
Alpha Matting from Single and Multiple Images (2006)
This project aims to make a step forward in image matting, by developing novel algorithms and user interaction techniques that meet the requirements to quickly extract high quality objects from natural images. This research project is funded by Microsoft Research through its PhD Scholarship Programme.
In our "High-resolution matting framework (CVPR 2008)", we developed a new interactive approach for single image matting which splits the task of extracting a foreground object from a single background into two steps: Interactive trimap extraction and trimap-based alpha matting. By doing this we gain considerably in terms of speed and quality and in contrast to previous work are able to deal with high resolution images.
A number of matting algorithms rely on modeling the color of the user marked foreground and background regions to infer the optimal alpha value for every pixel. In our "Improved color model matting" paper (BMVC 2008), we exploit information from global color models to find better local estimates for the true fore- and background colors to finally estimate better alpha mattes.
The focus of this project lies on the parallelization of video coding algorithms. The high computational complexity and the memory transfers of modern video standards such as H.264/AVC in single-core systems currently represent a limiting factor for high resolution videos such as 1080p60. Multi-core architectures and parallel video encoders/decoders provide an efficient way to tackle this problem.
In this project, we focus on finding efficient splitting approaches of the major coding algorithms (e.g. H.264/AVC, VC-1, AVS) and on the design process of multi-core video coding architectures.
An efficient methodology has been developed that supports:
Design-space explorations of virtual coding architectures
Optimization of multi-core video coding architectures
Analysis of partitionings of video coding algorithms and software
This methodology aims at reducing the development costs of modern video coding architectures. The risk of designing an underperforming system is minimized. This results in an application-optimized video coding solution.
Image and Video Analysis for Artistic Rendering (VideoArt) (2004)
The Hochschuljubiläumsstiftung der Stadt Wien recently granted a project entitled "Bild- und Videoverarbeitung zur Erzeugung künstlerischer Effekte", which focuses on the development of algorithms for non-photorealistic rendering of real images and video scenes. The project will start in January 2004.
With the VizIR project we would like
to provide a set of methods for visual
information retrieval. These include
methods for feature extraction,
similarity definition, query processing
and user interfaces for querying and
refinement. VizIR will implement most
of the visual descriptors in the
MPEG-7 standard.
Keywords:
Visual Information Retrieval, Feature Extraction, Similarity Measurement, User Interface Design
imsNUKE - PostNuke and Document Juggler Combined (2001)
imsNUKE is a content management system concentrating on structured, documentbased content. It combines the webportal-feature of Post-Nuke with the document-feature of Document Juggler.
Mit der virtuellen Ausstellung Bhutan: Festung der Götter wurde ein bisher einzigartiges, preisgekröntes Projekt verwirklicht, in dem neue Wege im technischen und gestalterischen Bereich eine Auseinandersetzung mit geisteswissenschaftlichen Inhalten in neuer Form erlauben: Komplexe Vernetzungen kultureller Erscheinungen werden als solche dargestellt und ermöglichen eine neue Sichtweise des musealen Gegenstandes. Ziel des Projektes war sowohl die Entwicklung einer funktionstüchtigen Website, die - über den üblichen Status eines Forschungsprototyps hinaus - allen Anforderungen an ein Produktionssystems gewachsen ist, als auch die Untersuchung innovativer Hypermedien zur Gestaltung virtueller Ausstellungen im Allgemeinen.
Use the form below to show only the research projects matching the customizing
options you selected. A complete list of all research projects can be found
at the Research Projects page.
Print
this Page
Display a printer-friendly version of this page.
Interactive Media Systems Group
Institute for Software Technology and Interactive Systems
Vienna University of Technology
Favoritenstrasse 9-11/188/2
A-1040 Vienna, Austria
