Profile

The Vision and Fusion Laboratory (IES) was established at the Department of Informatics in 2004. The chair is assigned to the Institute for Anthropomatics and Robotics (IAR), which was founded at the beginning of 2009. The chair is held by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Beyerer, who also heads the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation (IOSB).

Competences and Research Topics

The Vision and Fusion Laboratory (IES) deals with current issues in information and signal processing. Pictorial data is a constant in the research activities of the IES. From the physical formation of images to their evaluation, we research novel methods. We are also interested in how the information obtained can be represented and linked in formal models. Aspects of data security and data protection are dealt with in a separate research field. In doing so, methods of automatic visual inspection, pattern recognition, signal, image and information processing, new methods of control technology for monitoring and controlling industrial processes as well as statistical methods are applied. IES cooperates closely with the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation (IOSB). Important research focuses are in the following areas:

  • Automatic Visual Inspection
    • Ellipsometry
    • Spectroscopy
    • Confocal microscopy
    • Deflectometry
    • Laser triangulation
    • Light field attachments
    • Underwater Vision
    • Programmable lighting systems for automatic visual inspection
    • Camera array for multivariate scene capture
    • Stochastic planning methods for deflectometry and laser triangulation
    • Infrared deflectometry
    • Stereo camera system for side impact detection
  • Image Exploitation and Machine Learning
    • Automatic evaluation of aesthetic defects on reflective surfaces (MID-Wave)
    • Texture analysis
    • Knowledge-based character recognition with Smart Cameras
    • Pose-estimation in crowds
    • Evaluation of aerial photographs
    • Efficient search strategies for large video databases
    • Face recognition in case of low resolution image data
    • Superresolution on pictures
    • 3D estimation of faces based on short video sequences
    • Learning and cooperating multimodal robots
    • Agile production system by means of mobile, learning robot
  • Semantic Environmental Modelling
    • Navigation of exploring deep-sea vehicles
    • Open adaptive environmental modelling for artificial cognitive systems
    • Object-oriented environmental modelling for humanoid robots
    • Situation analysis in maritime surveillance systems
    • Object classification in reconnaissance and surveillance with imaging sensors
    • Distributed cooperation of cognitive automobiles
    • Bayesian fusion for mobile robot localization
    • Adaptivity and semantic interoperability of Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) for subsystems in production systems
    • Probabilistic modelling of work processes
  • Security and Privacy
    • Privacy and security in "smart" surveillance systems
    • Anomaly detection in industrial production systems
    • Anomaly detection in maritime traffic
    • Technical solutions for data sharing with integrated and verifiable data protection
    • Game Theoretical Methods for Information Security
    • Data protection and data sovereignty in distributed systems
    • Data sovereignty in the context of interactive assistance systems of the future

Resources

  • Multivariate camera array: Simultaneous image acquisition by several cameras that are operated with different acquisition parameters (e.g. using spectral filters).
  • Deflectometric sensor systems for the inspection of (partially) reflecting surfaces
  • Lighting test laboratory for the evaluation of lighting strategies for preliminary investigations

Services Offered

  • Research and development of methods and processes in the above research areas
  • Preliminary investigations and feasibility studies
  • Consulting and system analysis
  • Implementation of scientific findings to problem adapted solutions
  • Cooperation with industrial and institutional partners in joint projects (also publicly funded)