Riccardo Raheli

Veronica Mattioli, Davide Alinovi, Riccardo Raheli

Video processing solutions for motion analysis are key tasks in many computer vision applications, ranging from human activity recognition to object detection. In particular, speed estimation algorithms may be relevant in contexts such as street monitoring and environment surveillance. In most realistic scenarios, the projection of a framed object of interest onto the image plane is likely to be affected by dynamic changes mainly related to perspectival transformations or periodic behaviours. Therefore, advanced speed estimation techniques need to rely on robust algorithms for object detection that are able to deal with potential geometrical modifications. The proposed method is composed of a sequence of pre-processing operations, that aim to reduce or neglect perspetival effects affecting the objects of interest, followed by the estimation phase based on the Maximum Likelihood (ML) principle, where the speed of the foreground objects is estimated. The ML estimation method represents, indeed, a consolidated statistical tool that may be exploited to obtain reliable results. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated on a set of real video recordings and compared with a block-matching motion estimation algorithm. The obtained results indicate that the proposed method shows good and robust performance.

Fabrizio Carpi, Christian Häger, Marco Martalò et al.

In this paper, we use reinforcement learning to find effective decoding strategies for binary linear codes. We start by reviewing several iterative decoding algorithms that involve a decision-making process at each step, including bit-flipping (BF) decoding, residual belief propagation, and anchor decoding. We then illustrate how such algorithms can be mapped to Markov decision processes allowing for data-driven learning of optimal decision strategies, rather than basing decisions on heuristics or intuition. As a case study, we consider BF decoding for both the binary symmetric and additive white Gaussian noise channel. Our results show that learned BF decoders can offer a range of performance-complexity trade-offs for the considered Reed-Muller and BCH codes, and achieve near-optimal performance in some cases. We also demonstrate learning convergence speed-ups when biasing the learning process towards correct decoding decisions, as opposed to relying only on random explorations and past knowledge.

Davide Alinovi, Gianluigi Ferrari, Francesco Pisani et al.

The lack of large video databases obtained from real patients with respiratory disorders makes the design and optimization of video-based monitoring systems quite critical. The purpose of this study is the development of suitable models and simulators of breathing behaviors and disorders, such as respiratory pauses and apneas, in order to allow efficient design and test of video-based monitoring systems. More precisely, a novel Continuous-Time Markov Chain (CTMC) statistical model of breathing patterns is presented. The Respiratory Rate (RR) pattern, estimated by measured vital signs of hospital-monitored patients, is approximated as a CTMC, whose states and parameters are selected through an appropriate statistical analysis. Then, two simulators, software- and hardware-based, are proposed. After validation of the CTMC model, the proposed simulators are tested with previously developed video-based algorithms for the estimation of the RR and the detection of apnea events. Examples of application to assess the performance of systems for video-based RR estimation and apnea detection are presented. The results, in terms of Kullback-Leibler divergence, show that realistic breathing patterns, including specific respiratory disorders, can be accurately described by the proposed model; moreover, the simulators are able to reproduce practical breathing patterns for video analysis. The presented CTMC statistical model can be strategic to describe realistic breathing patterns and devise simulators useful to develop and test novel and effective video processing-based monitoring systems.