Cookies Policy
The website need some cookies and similar means to function. If you permit us, we will use those means to collect data on your visits for aggregated statistics to improve our service. Find out More
Accept Reject
  • Menu
Publications

Publications by Luís Filipe Pádua

2015

Cost-effective and lightweight mobile units for MixAR: a comparative trial among different setups

Authors
Padua, L; Narciso, D; Adao, T; Cunha, A; Peres, E; Magalhaes, L;

Publication
CONFERENCE ON ENTERPRISE INFORMATION SYSTEMS/INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT/CONFERENCE ON HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES, CENTERIS/PROJMAN / HCIST 2015

Abstract
Cultural heritage has arousing the interest of the general public (e.g. tourists), resulting in the increasing number of visitations to archaeological sites. However, many buildings and monuments are severely damaged or completely destroyed, which doesn't allow to get a full experience of "travelling in time". Over the years, several Augmented Reality (AR) approaches were proposed to overcome these issues by providing three-dimensional visualization of reconstructed ancient structures in situ. However, most of these systems were made available through heavy and expensive technological bundles. Alternatively, MixAR intends to be a lightweight and cost-effective Mixed Reality system which aims to provide the visualization of virtual ancient buildings reconstructions in situ, properly superimposed and aligned with real-world ruins. This paper proposes and compares different AR mobile units setups to be used in the MixAR system, with low-cost and lightweight requirements in mind, providing different levels of immersion. It was propounded four different mobile units, based on: a laptop computer, a single-board computer (SBC), a tablet and a smartphone, which underwent a set of tests to evaluate their performances. The results show that mobile units based on laptop computer and SBC reached a good overall performance while mobile units based on tablet and smartphone did not meet such a satisfactory result even though they are acceptable for the intended use. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

2015

MixAR Mobile Prototype: Visualizing Virtually Reconstructed Ancient Structures In Situ

Authors
Narciso, D; Padua, L; Adao, T; Peres, E; Magalhaes, L;

Publication
CONFERENCE ON ENTERPRISE INFORMATION SYSTEMS/INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT/CONFERENCE ON HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES, CENTERIS/PROJMAN / HCIST 2015

Abstract
Archeology and related areas have a special interest on cultural heritage sites since they provide valuable information about past civilizations. However, the ancient buildings present in these sites are commonly found in an advanced state of degradation which difficult the professional/expert analysis. Virtual reconstructions of such buildings aim to provide a digital insight of how these historical places could have been in ancient times. Moreover, the visualization of such models has been explored by some Augmented Reality (AR) systems capable of providing support to experts. Their compelling and appealing environments have also been applied to promote the social and cultural participation of general public. The existing AR solutions regarding this thematic rarely explore the potential of realism, due to the following lacks: the exploration of mixed environments is usually only supported for indoors or outdoors, not both in the same system; the adaptation of the illumination conditions to the reconstructed structures is rarely addressed causing a decrease of credibility. MixAR [1] is a system concerned with those challenges, aiming to provide the visualization of virtual buildings augmented upon real ruins, allowing soft transitions among its interiors and exteriors and using relighting techniques for a faithful interior illumination, while the user freely moves in a given cultural heritage site, carrying a mobile unit. Regarding the focus of this paper, we intend to report the current state of MixAR mobile unit prototype, which allows visualizing virtual buildings - properly aligned with real-world structures - based on user's location, during outdoor navigation. In order to evaluate the prototype performance, a set of tests were made using virtual models with different complexities. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

2017

Hyperspectral Imaging: A Review on UAV-Based Sensors, Data Processing and Applications for Agriculture and Forestry

Authors
Adao, T; Hruska, J; Padua, L; Bessa, J; Peres, E; Morais, R; Sousa, JJ;

Publication
REMOTE SENSING

Abstract
Traditional imageryprovided, for example, by RGB and/or NIR sensorshas proven to be useful in many agroforestry applications. However, it lacks the spectral range and precision to profile materials and organisms that only hyperspectral sensors can provide. This kind of high-resolution spectroscopy was firstly used in satellites and later in manned aircraft, which are significantly expensive platforms and extremely restrictive due to availability limitations and/or complex logistics. More recently, UAS have emerged as a very popular and cost-effective remote sensing technology, composed of aerial platforms capable of carrying small-sized and lightweight sensors. Meanwhile, hyperspectral technology developments have been consistently resulting in smaller and lighter sensors that can currently be integrated in UAS for either scientific or commercial purposes. The hyperspectral sensors' ability for measuring hundreds of bands raises complexity when considering the sheer quantity of acquired data, whose usefulness depends on both calibration and corrective tasks occurring in pre- and post-flight stages. Further steps regarding hyperspectral data processing must be performed towards the retrieval of relevant information, which provides the true benefits for assertive interventions in agricultural crops and forested areas. Considering the aforementioned topics and the goal of providing a global view focused on hyperspectral-based remote sensing supported by UAV platforms, a survey including hyperspectral sensors, inherent data processing and applications focusing both on agriculture and forestrywherein the combination of UAV and hyperspectral sensors plays a center roleis presented in this paper. Firstly, the advantages of hyperspectral data over RGB imagery and multispectral data are highlighted. Then, hyperspectral acquisition devices are addressed, including sensor types, acquisition modes and UAV-compatible sensors that can be used for both research and commercial purposes. Pre-flight operations and post-flight pre-processing are pointed out as necessary to ensure the usefulness of hyperspectral data for further processing towards the retrieval of conclusive information. With the goal of simplifying hyperspectral data processingby isolating the common user from the processes' mathematical complexityseveral available toolboxes that allow a direct access to level-one hyperspectral data are presented. Moreover, research works focusing the symbiosis between UAV-hyperspectral for agriculture and forestry applications are reviewed, just before the paper's conclusions.

2015

Towards Modern Cost-effective and Lightweight Augmented Reality Setups

Authors
Pádua, L; Adão, T; Narciso, D; Cunha, A; Magalhães, L; Peres, E;

Publication
IJWP

Abstract
Augmented Reality (AR) has been widely used in areas such as medicine, education, entertainment and cultural heritage to enhance activities that include (but are not limited to) teaching, training and amusement, through the completion of the real world with viewable and usually interactive virtual data (e.g. 3D models, geo-markers and labels). Despite the already confrmed AR benefts in the referred areas, many of the existing AR systems rely on heavy and obsolete hardware bundles composed of several devices and numerous cables that usually culminate in considerably expensive solutions. This issue is about to be tackled through the recent technological developments which currently enable the production of small-sized boards with remarkable capabilities - such as processing, visualization and storage - at relatively low prices. Following this line of reasoning, this paper proposes and compares fve different multi-purpose AR mobile units, running Windows or Android operating systems, having in mind low-cost and lightweight requirements and different levels of immersion: a laptop computer, two tablets, a smartphone and smartglasses. A set of tests was carried out to evaluate the proposed unit performance. Moreover, a set of users' assessments was also conducted, highlighting an overall acceptance regarding the use of the proposed units in AR applications. This paper is an extension of a previous work (Pádua et al., 2015) in which a conceptual architecture for mobile units - complying with AR requirements (including visualization, processing, location and communication) for indoor or outdoor utilization - was presented, along with a shorter set of lightweight and cost-effective AR mobile units and respective performance tests. Copyright © 2015,.

2017

Very high resolution aerial data to support multi-temporal precision agriculture information management

Authors
Padua, L; Adao, T; Hruska, J; Sousa, JJ; Peres, E; Morais, R; Sousa, A;

Publication
CENTERIS 2017 - INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENTERPRISE INFORMATION SYSTEMS / PROJMAN 2017 - INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT / HCIST 2017 - INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES, CENTERI

Abstract
The usage of small-sized unmanned aerial systems (UAS) has increased in the last years, in many different areas, being agriculture and forestry those who benefit the most from this relatively new remote sensing platform. Leaf area index, canopy and plant volume are among the parameters that can be determined using the very high resolution aerial data obtained by sensors coupled in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). This remote sensing technology affords the possibility of monitoring the vegetative development, identifying different types of issues, enabling the application of the most appropriated treatments in the affected areas. In this paper, a methodology allowing to perform multi-temporal UAS-based data analysis obtained by different sensors is proposed. A case study in vineyards and chestnuts is used to prove the benefits of continuous crop monitoring in its management and productivity of agroforestry parcels/activities. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

2018

Multi-Temporal Analysis of Forestry and Coastal Environments Using UASs

Authors
Padua, L; Hruska, J; Bessa, J; Adao, T; Martins, LM; Goncalves, JA; Peres, E; Sousa, AMR; Castro, JP; Sousa, JJ;

Publication
REMOTE SENSING

Abstract
Due to strong improvements and developments achieved in the last decade, it is clear that applied research using remote sensing technology such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can provide a flexible, efficient, non-destructive, and non-invasive means of acquiring geoscientific data, especially aerial imagery. Simultaneously, there has been an exponential increase in the development of sensors and instruments that can be installed in UAV platforms. By combining the aforementioned factors, unmanned aerial system (UAS) setups composed of UAVs, sensors, and ground control stations, have been increasingly used for remote sensing applications, with growing potential and abilities. This paper's overall goal is to identify advantages and challenges related to the use of UAVs for aerial imagery acquisition in forestry and coastal environments for preservation/prevention contexts. Moreover, the importance of monitoring these environments over time will be demonstrated. To achieve these goals, two case studies using UASs were conducted. The first focuses on phytosanitary problem detection and monitoring of chestnut tree health (Padrela region, Valpacos, Portugal). The acquired high-resolution imagery allowed for the identification of tree canopy cover decline by means of multi-temporal analysis. The second case study enabled the rigorous and non-evasive registry process of topographic changes that occurred in the sandspit of Cabedelo (Douro estuary, Porto, Portugal) in different time periods. The obtained results allow us to conclude that the UAS constitutes a low-cost, rigorous, and fairly autonomous form of remote sensing technology, capable of covering large geographical areas and acquiring high precision data to aid decision support systems in forestry preservation and coastal monitoring applications. Its swift evolution makes it a potential big player in remote sensing technologies today and in the near future.

  • 1
  • 10