EI 2023 Plenary Speakers & Highlights from EI 2023 Session

EI has always been the place to hear from those in the electronic imaging field who are pushing the limits and challenging what we know. We bring you speakers who educate and inspire.

The 2023 EI General Chairs have secured an exciting line-up of plenary speakers to share their experience and knowledge with us.

In addition, a special Symposium-wide session has been arranged highlighting the breadth of work presented at EI conferences. This is a unique opportunity to expose yourself to papers you might not see if you only attend one or two conferences. The Highlights from EI Session offers short versions of papers that are being given as full papers within their respective conferences. They have been selected by the Symposium Chairs from papers nominated by individual Conference Chairs.

• IQSP-309: Evaluation of image quality metrics designed for DRI tasks with automotive cameras, Valentine Klein et al., DXOMARK (France) [view abstract]

  Driving assistance is increasingly used in new car models. Most driving assistance systems are based on automotive cameras and computer vision. Computer Vision, regardless of the underlying algorithms and technology, requires the images to have good image quality, defined according to the task. This notion of good image quality is still to be defined in the case of computer vision as it has very different criteria than human vision: humans have a better contrast detection ability than image chains. The aim of this article is to compare three different metrics designed for detection of objects with computer vision: the Contrast Detection Probability (CDP) [1, 2, 3, 4], the Contrast Signal to Noise Ratio (CSNR) [5] and the Frequency of Correct Resolution (FCR) [6]. For this purpose, the computer vision task of reading the characters on a license plate will be used as a benchmark. The objective is to check the correlation between the objective metric and the ability of a neural network to perform this task. Thus, a protocol to test these metrics and compare them to the output of the neural network has been designed and the pros and cons of each of these three metrics have been noted.

• SD&A-224: Human performance using stereo 3D in a helmet mounted display and association with individual stereo acuity, Bonnie Posselt, RAF Centre of Aviation Medicine (United Kingdom) [view abstract]

  Binocular Helmet Mounted Displays (HMDs) are a critical part of the aircraft system, allowing information to be presented to the aviator with stereoscopic 3D (S3D) depth, potentially enhancing situational awareness and improving performance. The utility of S3D in an HMD may be linked to an individual’s ability to perceive changes in binocular disparity (stereo acuity). Though minimum stereo acuity standards exist for most military aviators, current test methods may be unable to characterise this relationship. This presentation will investigate the effect of S3D on performance when used in a warning alert displayed in an HMD. Furthermore, any effect on performance, ocular symptoms, and cognitive workload shall be evaluated in regard to individual stereo acuity measured with a variety of paper-based and digital stereo tests.

• IMAGE-281: Smartphone-enabled point-of-care blood hemoglobin testing with color accuracy-assisted spectral learning, Sang Mok Park,Purdue University , et al. [view abstract]

  We develop an mHealth technology for noninvasively measuring blood Hgb levels in patients with sickle cell anemia, using the photos of peripheral tissue acquired by the built-in camera of a smartphone. As an easily accessible sensing site, the inner eyelid (i.e., palpebral conjunctiva) is used because of the relatively uniform microvasculature and the absence of skin pigments. Color correction (color reproduction) and spectral learning (spectral super-resolution spectroscopy) algorithms are integrated for accurate and precise mHealth blood Hgb testing. First, color correction using a color reference chart with multiple color patches extracts absolute color information of the inner eyelid, compensating for smartphone models, ambient light conditions, and data formats during photo acquisition. Second, spectral learning virtually transforms the smartphone camera into a hyperspectral imaging system, mathematically reconstructing high-resolution spectra from color-corrected eyelid images. Third, color correction and spectral learning algorithms are combined with a spectroscopic model for blood Hgb quantification among sickle cell patients. Importantly, single-shot photo acquisition of the inner eyelid using the color reference chart allows straightforward, real-time, and instantaneous reading of blood Hgb levels. Overall, our mHealth blood Hgb tests could potentially be scalable, robust, and sustainable in resource-limited and homecare settings.

• AVM-118: Designing scenes to quantify the performance of automotive perception systems, Zhenyi Liu, Stanford University, et al. (United States) [view abstract]

  We implemented an end-to-end simulation for perception systems, based on cameras, that are used in automotive applications. The open-source software creates complex driving scenes and simulates cameras that acquire images of these scenes. The camera images are then used by a neural network in the perception system to identify the locations of scene objects, providing the results as input to the decision system. In this paper, we design collections of test scenes that can be used to quantify the perception system’s performance under a range of (a) environmental conditions (object distance, occlusion ratio, lighting levels), and (b) camera parameters (pixel size, lens type, color filter array). We are designing scene collections to analyze performance for detecting vehicles, traffic signs and vulnerable road users in a range of environmental conditions and for a range of camera parameters. With experience, such scene collections may serve a role similar to that of standardized test targets that are used to quantify camera image quality (e.g., acuity, color).

• VDA-403: Visualizing and monitoring the process of injection molding, Christian A. Steinparz, Johannes Kepler University, et al (Austria) [view abstract]

  In injection molding machines the molds are rarely equipped with sensor systems. The availability of non-invasive ultrasound-based in-mold sensors provides better means for guiding operators of injection molding machines throughout the production process. However, existing visualizations are mostly limited to plots of temperature and pressure over time. In this work, we present the result of a design study created in collaboration with domain experts. The resulting prototypical application uses real-world data taken from live ultrasound sensor measurements for injection molding cavities captured over multiple cycles during the injection process. Our contribution includes a definition of tasks for setting up and monitoring the machines during the process, and the corresponding web-based visual analysis tool addressing these tasks. The interface consists of a multi-view display with various levels of data aggregation that is updated live for newly streamed data of ongoing injection cycles.

• COIMG-155: Commissioning the James Webb Space Telescope, Joseph M. Howard, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (United States) [view abstract]

  Astronomy is arguably in a golden age, where current and future NASA space telescopes are expected to contribute to this rapid growth in understanding of our universe. The most recent addition to our space-based telescopes dedicated to astronomy and astrophysics is the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which launched on 25 December 2021. This talk will discuss the first six months in space for JWST, which were spent commissioning the observatory with many deployments, alignments, and system and instrumentation checks. These engineering activities help verify the proper working of the telescope prior to commencing full science operations. For the session: Computational Imaging using Fourier Ptychography and Phase Retrieval.

• HVEI-223: Critical flicker frequency (CFF) at high luminance levels, Alexandre Chapiro, Meta (United States), et al. [view abstract]

  The critical flicker fusion (CFF) is the frequency of changes at which a temporally periodic light will begin to appear completely steady to an observer. This value is affected by several visual factors, such as the luminance of the stimulus or its location on the retina. With new high dynamic range (HDR) displays, operating at higher luminance levels, and virtual reality (VR) displays, presenting at wide fields-of-view, the effective CFF may change significantly from values expected for traditional presentation. In this work we use a prototype HDR VR display capable of luminances up to 20,000 cd/m^2 to gather a novel set of CFF measurements for never before examined levels of luminance, eccentricity, and size. Our data is useful to study the temporal behavior of the visual system at high luminance levels, as well as setting useful thresholds for display engineering.

• HPCI-228: Physics guided machine learning for image-based material decomposition of tissues from simulated breast models with calcifications, Muralikrishnan Gopalakrishnan Meena, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, et al. (United States) [view abstract]

  Material decomposition of Computed Tomography (CT) scans using projection-based approaches, while highly accurate, poses a challenge for medical imaging researchers and clinicians due to limited or no access to projection data. We introduce a deep learning image-based material decomposition method guided by physics and requiring no access to projection data. The method is demonstrated to decompose tissues from simulated dual-energy X-ray CT scans of virtual human phantoms containing four materials - adipose, fibroglandular, calcification, and air. The method uses a hybrid unsupervised and supervised learning technique to tackle the material decomposition problem. We take advantage of the unique X-ray absorption rate of calcium compared to body tissues to perform a preliminary segmentation of calcification from the images using unsupervised learning. We then perform supervised material decomposition using a deep learned UNET model which is trained using GPUs in the high-performant systems at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility. The method is demonstrated on simulated breast models to decompose calcification, adipose, fibroglandular, and air.

• 3DIA-104: Layered view synthesis for general images, Loïc Dehan et al., Katholieke University Leuven (Belgium) [view abstract]

  We describe a novel method for monocular view synthesis. The goal of our work is to create a visually pleasing set of horizontally spaced views based on a single image. This can be applied in view synthesis for virtual reality and glasses-free 3D displays. Previous methods produce realistic results on images that show a clear distinction between a foreground object and the background. We aim to create novel views in more general, crowded scenes in which there is no clear distinction. Our main contributions are a computationally efficient method for realistic occlusion inpainting and blending, especially in complex scenes. Our method can be effectively applied to any image, which is shown both qualitatively and quantitatively on a large dataset of stereo images. Our method performs natural disocclusion inpainting and maintains the shape and edge quality of foreground objects.

• ISS-329: A self-powered asynchronous image sensor with independent in-pixel harvesting and sensing operations, Ruben Gomez-Merchan, University of Seville (Spain), et al. [view abstract]

  A new self-powered asynchronous sensor with a novel pixel architecture is presented. Pixels are autonomous and can harvest or sense energy independently. During the image acquisition, pixels toggle to a harvesting operation mode once they have sensed their local illumination level. With the proposed pixel architecture, most illuminated pixels provide an early contribution to power the sensor, while low illuminated ones spend more time sensing their local illumination. Thus, the equivalent frame rate is higher than the offered by conventional self-powered sensors that harvest and sense illumination in independient phases. The proposed sensor uses a Time-to-First-Spike readout that allows trading between image quality and data and bandwidth consumption. The sensor has HDR operation with a dynamic range of 80 dB. Pixel power consumption is only 70 pW. In the article, we describe the sensor’s and pixel’s architectures in detail. Experimental results are provided and discussed. Sensor specifications are benchmarked against the art.

• COLOR-184: Color blindness and modern board games, Alessandro Rizzi, Università degli Studi di Milano, et al. [view abstract]

  Board game industry is experiencing a strong renewed interest. In the last few years, about 4000 new board games have been designed and distributed each year. Board game players gender balance is reaching the equality, but nowadays the male component is a slight majority. This means that (at least) around 10% of board game players are color blind. How does the board game industry deal with this ? Recently, a raising of awareness in the board game design has started but so far there is a big gap compared with (e.g.) the computer game industry. This paper presents some data about the actual situation, discussing exemplary cases of successful board games.