Johan Wahlström

Han Wu, Syed Yunas, Sareh Rowlands et al.

Intelligent robots rely on object detection models to perceive the environment. Following advances in deep learning security it has been revealed that object detection models are vulnerable to adversarial attacks. However, prior research primarily focuses on attacking static images or offline videos. Therefore, it is still unclear if such attacks could jeopardize real-world robotic applications in dynamic environments. This paper bridges this gap by presenting the first real-time online attack against object detection models. We devise three attacks that fabricate bounding boxes for nonexistent objects at desired locations. The attacks achieve a success rate of about 90% within about 20 iterations. The demo video is available at https://youtu.be/zJZ1aNlXsMU.

Rouhollah Ahmadian, Mehdi Ghatee, Johan Wahlström

This study introduces novel superior scoring rules called Penalized Brier Score (PBS) and Penalized Logarithmic Loss (PLL) to improve model evaluation for probabilistic classification. Traditional scoring rules like Brier Score and Logarithmic Loss sometimes assign better scores to misclassifications in comparison with correct classifications. This discrepancy from the actual preference for rewarding correct classifications can lead to suboptimal model selection. By integrating penalties for misclassifications, PBS and PLL modify traditional proper scoring rules to consistently assign better scores to correct predictions. Formal proofs demonstrate that PBS and PLL satisfy strictly proper scoring rule properties while also preferentially rewarding accurate classifications. Experiments showcase the benefits of using PBS and PLL for model selection, model checkpointing, and early stopping. PBS exhibits a higher negative correlation with the F1 score compared to the Brier Score during training. Thus, PBS more effectively identifies optimal checkpoints and early stopping points, leading to improved F1 scores. Comparative analysis verifies models selected by PBS and PLL achieve superior F1 scores. Therefore, PBS and PLL address the gap between uncertainty quantification and accuracy maximization by encapsulating both proper scoring principles and explicit preference for true classifications. The proposed metrics can enhance model evaluation and selection for reliable probabilistic classification.

Han Wu, Sareh Rowlands, Johan Wahlstrom

Object detection systems using deep learning models have become increasingly popular in robotics thanks to the rising power of CPUs and GPUs in embedded systems. However, these models are susceptible to adversarial attacks. While some attacks are limited by strict assumptions on access to the detection system, we propose a novel hardware attack inspired by Man-in-the-Middle attacks in cryptography. This attack generates a Universal Adversarial Perturbations (UAP) and injects the perturbation between the USB camera and the detection system via a hardware attack. Besides, prior research is misled by an evaluation metric that measures the model accuracy rather than the attack performance. In combination with our proposed evaluation metrics, we significantly increased the strength of adversarial perturbations. These findings raise serious concerns for applications of deep learning models in safety-critical systems, such as autonomous driving.

Han Wu, Sareh Rowlands, Johan Wahlstrom

As cloud computing becomes pervasive, deep learning models are deployed on cloud servers and then provided as APIs to end users. However, black-box adversarial attacks can fool image classification models without access to model structure and weights. Recent studies have reported attack success rates of over 95% with fewer than 1,000 queries. Then the question arises: whether black-box attacks have become a real threat against cloud APIs? To shed some light on this, our research indicates that black-box attacks are not as effective against cloud APIs as proposed in research papers due to several common mistakes that overestimate the efficiency of black-box attacks. To avoid similar mistakes, we conduct black-box attacks directly on cloud APIs rather than local models.

Fermin Orozco, Pedro Porto Buarque de Gusmão, Hongkai Wen et al.

Deep-learning based traffic prediction models require vast amounts of data to learn embedded spatial and temporal dependencies. The inherent privacy and commercial sensitivity of such data has encouraged a shift towards decentralised data-driven methods, such as Federated Learning (FL). Under a traditional Machine Learning paradigm, traffic flow prediction models can capture spatial and temporal relationships within centralised data. In reality, traffic data is likely distributed across separate data silos owned by multiple stakeholders. In this work, a cross-silo FL setting is motivated to facilitate stakeholder collaboration for optimal traffic flow prediction applications. This work introduces an FL framework, referred to as FedTPS, to generate synthetic data to augment each client's local dataset by training a diffusion-based trajectory generation model through FL. The proposed framework is evaluated on a large-scale real world ride-sharing dataset using various FL methods and Traffic Flow Prediction models, including a novel prediction model we introduce, which leverages Temporal and Graph Attention mechanisms to learn the Spatio-Temporal dependencies embedded within regional traffic flow data. Experimental results show that FedTPS outperforms multiple other FL baselines with respect to global model performance.

James Thomas, Johan Wahlström

Accurate estimation of rating of perceived exertion (RPE) can enhance resistance training through personalized feedback and injury prevention. This study investigates the application of machine learning models to estimate RPE during single-arm dumbbell bicep curls, using data from wearable inertial and electromyography (EMG) sensors. A custom dataset of 69 sets and over 1000 repetitions was collected, with statistical features extracted for model training. Among the models evaluated, a random forest classifier achieved the highest performance, with 41.4% exact accuracy and 85.9% $\pm1$ RPE accuracy. While the inclusion of EMG data slightly improved model accuracy over inertial sensors alone, its utility may have been limited by factors such as data quality and placement sensitivity. Feature analysis highlighted eccentric repetition time as the strongest RPE predictor. The results demonstrate the feasibility of wearable-sensor-based RPE estimation and identify key challenges for improving model generalizability.

Han Wu, Syed Yunas, Sareh Rowlands et al.

As research in deep neural networks advances, deep convolutional networks become promising for autonomous driving tasks. In particular, there is an emerging trend of employing end-to-end neural network models for autonomous driving. However, previous research has shown that deep neural network classifiers are vulnerable to adversarial attacks. While for regression tasks, the effect of adversarial attacks is not as well understood. In this research, we devise two white-box targeted attacks against end-to-end autonomous driving models. Our attacks manipulate the behavior of the autonomous driving system by perturbing the input image. In an average of 800 attacks with the same attack strength (epsilon=1), the image-specific and image-agnostic attack deviates the steering angle from the original output by 0.478 and 0.111, respectively, which is much stronger than random noises that only perturbs the steering angle by 0.002 (The steering angle ranges from [-1, 1]). Both attacks can be initiated in real-time on CPUs without employing GPUs. Demo video: https://youtu.be/I0i8uN2oOP0.

Muhamad Risqi U. Saputra, Pedro P. B. de Gusmao, Chris Xiaoxuan Lu et al.

Visual odometry shows excellent performance in a wide range of environments. However, in visually-denied scenarios (e.g. heavy smoke or darkness), pose estimates degrade or even fail. Thermal cameras are commonly used for perception and inspection when the environment has low visibility. However, their use in odometry estimation is hampered by the lack of robust visual features. In part, this is as a result of the sensor measuring the ambient temperature profile rather than scene appearance and geometry. To overcome this issue, we propose a Deep Neural Network model for thermal-inertial odometry (DeepTIO) by incorporating a visual hallucination network to provide the thermal network with complementary information. The hallucination network is taught to predict fake visual features from thermal images by using Huber loss. We also employ selective fusion to attentively fuse the features from three different modalities, i.e thermal, hallucination, and inertial features. Extensive experiments are performed in hand-held and mobile robot data in benign and smoke-filled environments, showing the efficacy of the proposed model.

Johan Wahlström, Isaac Skog, João G. P. Rodrigues et al.

We present a particle-based framework for estimating the position of a vehicle using map information and measurements of speed. Two measurement functions are considered. The first is based on the assumption that the lateral force on the vehicle does not exceed critical limits derived from physical constraints. The second is based on the assumption that the driver approaches a target speed derived from the speed limits along the upcoming trajectory. Performance evaluations of the proposed method indicate that end destinations often can be estimated with an accuracy in the order of $100\,[m]$. These results expose the sensitivity and commercial value of data collected in many of today's insurance telematics programs, and thereby have privacy implications for millions of policyholders. We end by discussing the strengths and weaknesses of different methods for anonymization and privacy preservation in telematics programs.

Johan Wahlström, Isaac Skog, Peter Händel

Just like it has irrevocably reshaped social life, the fast growth of smartphone ownership is now beginning to revolutionize the driving experience and change how we think about automotive insurance, vehicle safety systems, and traffic research. This paper summarizes the first ten years of research in smartphone-based vehicle telematics, with a focus on user-friendly implementations and the challenges that arise due to the mobility of the smartphone. Notable academic and industrial projects are reviewed, and system aspects related to sensors, energy consumption, cloud computing, vehicular ad hoc networks, and human-machine interfaces are examined. Moreover, we highlight the differences between traditional and smartphonebased automotive navigation, and survey the state-of-the-art in smartphone-based transportation mode classification, driver classification, and road condition monitoring. Future advances are expected to be driven by improvements in sensor technology, evidence of the societal benefits of current implementations, and the establishment of industry standards for sensor fusion and driver assessment