A real-time algorithm for human action recognition in RGB and thermal video

Monitoring the movement and actions of humans in video in real-time is an important task. We present a deep learning based algorithm for human action recognition for both RGB and thermal cameras. It is able to detect and track humans and recognize four basic actions (standing, walking, running, lying) in real-time on a notebook with a NVIDIA GPU. For this, it combines state of the art components for object detection (Scaled YoloV4), optical flow (RAFT) and pose estimation (EvoSkeleton). Qualitative experiments on a set of tunnel videos show that the proposed algorithm works robustly for both RGB and thermal video.

FastHebb: Scaling Hebbian Training of Deep Neural Networks to ImageNet Level

Learning algorithms for Deep Neural Networks are typically based on supervised end-to-end Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) training with error backpropagation (backprop). Backprop algorithms require a large number of labelled training samples to achieve high performance. However, in many realistic applications, even if there is plenty of image samples, very few of them are labelled, and semi-supervised sample-efficient training strategies have to be used. Hebbian learning represents a possible approach towards sample efficient training; however, in current solutions, it does not scale well to large datasets. In this paper, we present FastHebb, an efficient and scalable solution for Hebbian learning which achieves higher efficiency by 1) merging together update computation and aggregation over a batch of inputs, and 2) leveraging efficient matrix multiplication algorithms on GPU. We validate our approach on different computer vision benchmarks, in a semi-supervised learning scenario. FastHebb outperforms previous solutions by up to 50 times in terms of training speed, and notably, for the first time, we are able to bring Hebbian algorithms to ImageNet scale.

A qualitative investigation of optical flow algorithms for video denoising

A good optical flow estimation is crucial in many video analysis and restoration algorithms employed in application fields like media industry, industrial inspection and automotive. In this work, we investigate how well optical flow algorithms perform qualitatively when integrated into a state of the art video denoising algorithm. Both classic optical flow algorithms (e.g. TV-L1) as well as recent deep learning based algorithm (like RAFT or BMBC) will be taken into account. For the qualitative investigation, we will employ realistic content with challenging characteristic (noisy content, large motion etc.) instead of the standard images used in most publications.

AdaFamily: A family of Adam-like adaptive gradient methods

We propose AdaFamily, a novel method for training deep neural networks. It is a family of adaptive gradient methods and can be interpreted as sort of a blend of the optimization algorithms Adam, AdaBelief and AdaMomentum. We perform experiments on standard datasets for image classification, demonstrating that our proposed method outperforms these algorithms.

Some like it tough: Improving model generalization via progressively increasing the training difficulty

In this work, we propose to progressively increase the training difficulty during learning a neural network model via a novel strategy which we call mini-batch trimming. This strategy makes sure that the optimizer puts its focus in the later training stages on the more difficult samples, which we identify as the ones with the highest loss in the current mini-batch. The strategy is very easy to integrate into an existing training pipeline and does not necessitate a change of the network model. Experiments on several image classification problems show that mini-batch trimming is able to increase the generalization ability (measured via final test error) of the trained model.

Detecting speaking persons in video

We present a novel method for detecting speaking persons in video, by extracting facial landmarks with a neural network and analysing these landmarks statistically over time

Hyper360 -- a Next Generation Toolset for Immersive Media

Spherical 360{\deg} video is a novel media format, rapidly becoming adopted in media production and consumption of immersive media. Due to its novelty, there is a lack of tools for producing highly engaging interactive 360{\deg} video for consumption on a multitude of platforms. In this work, we describe the work done so far in the Hyper360 project on tools for mixed 360{\deg} video and 3D content. Furthermore, the first pilots which have been produced with the Hyper360 tools and results of the audience assessment of the produced pilots are presented.

Automatic cinematography for 360 video

We describe our method for automatic generation of a visually interesting camera path (automatic cinematography)from a 360 video. Based on the information from the scene objects, multiple shot hypotheses for different shot types are constructed and the best one is rendered.

OmniTrack: Real-time detection and tracking of objects, text and logos in video

The automatic detection and tracking of general objects (like persons, animals or cars), text and logos in a video is crucial for many video understanding tasks, and usually real-time processing as required. We propose OmniTrack, an efficient and robust algorithm which is able to automatically detect and track objects, text as well as brand logos in real-time. It combines a powerful deep learning based object detector (YoloV3) with high-quality optical flow methods. Based on the reference YoloV3 C++ implementation, we did some important performance optimizations which will be described. The major steps in the training procedure for the combined detector for text and logo will be presented. We will describe then the OmniTrack algorithm, consisting of the phases preprocessing, feature calculation, prediction, matching and update. Several performance optimizations have been implemented there as well, like doing the object detection and optical flow calculation asynchronously. Experiments show that the proposed algorithm runs in real-time for standard definition ($720x576$) video on a PC with a Quadro RTX 5000 GPU.

Adapting Computer Vision Algorithms for Omnidirectional Video

Omnidirectional (360{\deg}) video has got quite popular because it provides a highly immersive viewing experience. For computer vision algorithms, it poses several challenges, like the special (equirectangular) projection commonly employed and the huge image size. In this work, we give a high-level overview of these challenges and outline strategies how to adapt computer vision algorithm for the specifics of omnidirectional video.