Benjamin Huhle - Universität Tübingen, WSI/GRIS

Fusion of Range and Color Images for Denoising and Resolution Enhancement with a Non-Local Filter

Benjamin Huhle, Timo Schairer, Philipp Jenke and Wolfgang Straßer

Computer Vision and Image Understanding (CVIU), 114 (2010), pages 1336-1345

Abstract:

We present an integrated method for post-processing of range data which removes outliers, smoothes the depth values and enhances the lateral resolution in order to achieve visually pleasing 3D models from low-cost depth sensors with additional (registered) color images. The algorithm is based on the non-local principle and adapts the original NL-Means formulation to the characteristics of typical depth data. Explicitly handling outliers in the sensor data, our denoising approach achieves unbiased reconstructions from error-prone input data. Taking intra-patch similarity into account, we reconstruct strong discontinuities without disturbing artifacts and preserve fine detail structures, obtaining piece-wise smooth depth maps. Furthermore, we exploit the dependencies of the depth data with additionally available color information and increase the lateral resolution of the depth maps. We finally discuss how to parallelize the algorithm in order to achieve fast processing times that are adequate for post-processing of data from fast depth sensors such as time-of-flight cameras.

Paper (at ScienceDirect)

unfiltered input

noise filtered

upsampled by factor 2.0

upsampled by factor 4.0

On-the-Fly Scene Acquisition with a Handy Multisensor-System

Benjamin Huhle, Philipp Jenke and Wolfgang Straßer

International Journal of Intelligent Systems Technologies and Applications 2008 - Vol. 5, No.3/4 pp. 255 - 263
(presented at: Dynamic 3D Imaging Workshop in conjunction with DAGM, 2007)

Abstract:

We present a scene acquisition system which allows for fast and simple acquisition of arbitrarily large 3D environments. We propose a small device which acquires and processes frames consisting of depth and colour information at interactive rates. This allows the operator to control the acquisition process on the fly. However, no user input or prior knowledge of the scene is required. In each step of the processing, pipeline colour and depth data are used in combination in order to gain from different strengths of the sensors. A novel registration method is introduced that combines geometry and colour information for enhanced robustness and precision. We evaluate the performance of the system and present results from acquisition in different environments.

Paper

Colorplate

Video

Inderscience

registered scenes (about 30 frames each)

Visual Mapping with Uncertainty for Correspondence-free Localization using Gaussian Process Regression

Timo Schairer, Benjamin Huhle, Philipp Vorst, Andreas Schilling, Wolfgang Straßer

IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2011 (accepted)

Optimal Alignment of 3D Data for Spatial Discretization

Benjamin Huhle, Timo Schairer, Andreas Schilling and Wolfgang Straßer

Eighth Canadian Conference on Computer and Robot Vision (CRV), 2011

Abstract:

We present an algorithm that finds the rotation which best aligns a given configuration of directions on an unsorted set of directions. Using a cost function that we derive in the paper, we show that this algorithm efficiently finds the optimal coordinate frame for a given 3D data set in order to maximize the performance of axis-aligned bounding volumes such as octrees or occupancy grids with regard to the average storage or query cost. The optimization is independent from the initial orientation, since the whole space of rotations is explored. The evaluation becomes computationally feasible by using the Fourier transforms of spherical functions that describe the data as well as the cost function.

Paper

3D model

aligned with PCA

optimal alignment

6DoF Registration of 2D Laser Scans

Benjamin Huhle, Timo Schairer, Andreas Schilling and Wolfgang Straßer

3DIMPVT 2011: The First Joint 3DIM/3DPVT Conference
3D Imaging • Modeling • Processing • Visualization • Transmission, 2011

Abstract:

We address the problem of registering a set of 2D laser scans in 3D space with regard to six degrees of freedom. Registering single 2D scans is only possible when making strong assumptions on the structure of the scene or on the acquisition process, since only a slice of the 3D environment is captured and the information content is very limited. With a combination of two differently oriented laser scanners, however, the registration problem becomes feasible. We present a method that is based on the idea of preserving the free space represented in each of these combined scans. On realistically simulated laser range data we show that, given a sufficient sampling density, the proposed algorithm is capable to recover from large translational and moderate rotational errors in the initial configuration.

Paper

Video

initial configuration

reconstructed point cloud

reconstructed point cloud (simplified)

Learning to Localize using Gaussian Process Regression on Omnidirectional Image Data

Benjamin Huhle, Timo Schairer, Andreas Schilling and Wolfgang Straßer

IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2010

Abstract:

We present a probabilistic localization and orientation estimation method for mobile agents equipped with omnidirectional vision. In our appearance-based framework, a scene is learned in an offline step by modeling the variation of the image energy in the frequency domain via Gaussian process regression. The metric localization of novel views is then solved by maximizing the joint predictive probability of the Gaussian processes using a particle filter which allows to incorporate a motion model in the prediction step. Based on the position estimate, a synthetic view is generated and used as a reference for the orientation estimation which is also performed in the Fourier space. Using real as well as virtual data, we show that this framework allows for robust localization in 2D and 3D scenes based on very low resolution images and with competitive computational load.

Paper

Video

SIFT vs. SOFT - A Comparison Of Feature And Correlation Based Rotation Estimation For Panoramic Images

Timo Schairer, Sebastian Herholz, Benjamin Huhle and Wolfgang Straßer

3DTV CON - The True Vision, 2010

more...

Application of Particle Filters to Vision-Based Orientation Estimation using Harmonic Analysis

Timo Schairer, Benjamin Huhle and Wolfgang Straßer

IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2010

more...

particle distribution on the sphere

estimated rotation sequence

Realistic Depth Blur for Images with Range Data

Benjamin Huhle, Timo Schairer, Philipp Jenke and Wolfgang Straßer

Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS), 2009
(Proceedings of the Dynamic 3D Imaging Workshop in conjunction with DAGM, 2009)

Paper

Video

original image

focus: 5.0m

focus: 2.0m, small aperture

focus: 2.0m, wide aperture

Normalized Cross-Correlation using SOFT

Benjamin Huhle, Timo Schairer and Wolfgang Straßer

International Workshop on Local and Non-Local Approximation in Image Processing (LNLA), 2009

Paper

more...

template to be tracked

estimated position highlighted

Increased Accuracy Orientation Estimation from Omnidirectional Images using the Spherical Fourier Transform

Timo Schairer, Benjamin Huhle and Wolfgang Straßer

3DTV CON - The True Vision, 2009

Paper

more...

Statistical Reconstruction of Indoor Scenes

Philipp Jenke, Benjamin Huhle and Wolfgang Straßer

International Conferences in Central Europe on Computer Graphics, Visualization and Computer Vision (WSCG), 2009

more... (Philipp Jenke)

Parallel Non-Local Denoising of Depth Maps

Timo Schairer, Benjamin Huhle, Philipp Jenke and Wolfgang Straßer

International Workshop on Local and Non-Local Approximation in Image Processing (EUSIPCO Satellite Event), 2008

Paper

Robust Non-Local Denoising of Colored Depth Data

Benjamin Huhle, Timo Schairer, Philipp Jenke and Wolfgang Straßer

IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR),
Workshop on Time of Flight Camera based Computer Vision (TOF-CV), 2008

Paper

Slides

point cloud from input depth map (raw data from our SAD, see below)

resulting point cloud from denoised depth map

Why HDR is Important for 3DTV Model Acquisition

Benjamin Huhle, Ossi Pirinen, Sven Fleck, Atanas Gotchev and Wolfgang Straßer

3DTV CON - The True Vision, 2008

Paper

Registration of Colored 3D Point Clouds with a Kernel-Based Extension to the Normal Distributions Transform

Benjamin Huhle, Martin Magnusson, Wolfgang Straßer and Achim J. Lilienthal

IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2008, pp. 4025-4030

Paper

Slides

two scans with small fov and few geometric features: initial poses (left), registered using Color NDT (right)

dataset consisting of 21 sequentially registered frames: using standard NDT (left) and Color NDT (right)

SAD – A novel Multisensor Scene Acquisition Device

Benjamin Huhle, Philipp Jenke and Wolfgang Straßer

10th Tübingen Perception Conference (TWK), 2007

Poster

Using Time-of-Flight Range Data for Occlusion Handling in Augmented Reality

Jan Fischer, Benjamin Huhle and Andreas Schilling

Eurographics Symposium on Virtual Environments (EGVE), 2007

more... (janfischer.com)

Integrating 3D Time-of-Flight Camera Data and High Resolution Images for 3DTV Applications

Benjamin Huhle, Sven Fleck and Andreas Schilling

3DTV CON - The True Vision, 2007

Paper

two-camera-system, resulting high-resolution textured 3D model
raw sensor data (color image, depth map), optimized depth map (right)

Self-Localization in Scanned 3DTV Sets

Philipp Jenke, Benjamin Huhle and Wolfgang Straßer

3DTV CON - The True Vision, 2007

Paper

Robot Guidance Navigation with Stereo-Vision and a Limited Field of View

André Treptow, Benjamin Huhle and Andreas Zell

19th Autonomous Mobile Systems (AMS), Stuttgart, Germany, 2005

Paper (SpringerLink)

		Benjamin Huhle
		research assistant/phd student at WSI/GRIS, Universität Tübingen (for contact data, see my official webpage)
		my research interests include: 3D scene acquisition computer vision mobile robotics