Abstract-In this paper we propose a novel volumetric multi-resolution mapping system for RGB-D images that runs on a standard CPU in real-time. Our approach generates a textured triangle mesh from a signed distance function that it continuously updates as new RGB-D images arrive.We propose to use an octree as the primary data structure which allows us to represent the scene at multiple scales. Furthermore, it allows us to grow the reconstruction volume dynamically. As most space is either free or unknown, we allocate and update only those voxels that are located in a narrow band around the observed surface. In contrast to a regular grid, this approach saves enormous amounts of memory and computation time. The major challenge is to generate and maintain a consistent triangle mesh, as neighboring cells in the octree are more difficult to find and may have different resolutions. To remedy this, we present in this paper a novel algorithm that keeps track of these dependencies, and efficiently updates corresponding parts of the triangle mesh. In our experiments, we demonstrate the real-time capability on a large set of RGB-D sequences. As our approach does not require a GPU, it is well suited for applications on mobile or flying robots with limited computational resources.

This paper presents an efficient algorithm for the least-squares problem using the point-to-plane cost, which aims to jointly optimize depth sensor poses and plane parameters for 3D reconstruction. We call this least-squares problem Planar Bundle Adjustment (PBA), due to the similarity between this problem and the original Bundle Adjustment (BA) in visual reconstruction. As planes ubiquitously exist in the man-made environment, they are generally used as landmarks in SLAM algorithms for various depth sensors. PBA is important to reduce drift and improve the quality of the map. However, directly adopting the well-established BA framework in visual reconstruction will result in a very inefficient solution for PBA. This is because a 3D point only has one observation at a camera pose. In contrast, a depth sensor can record hundreds of points in a plane at a time, which results in a very large nonlinear least-squares problem even for a small-scale space. Fortunately, we find that there exist a special structure of the PBA problem. We introduce a reduced Jacobian matrix and a reduced residual vector, and prove that they can replace the original Jacobian matrix and residual vector in the generally adopted Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) algorithm. This significantly reduces the computational cost. Besides, when planes are combined with other features for 3D reconstruction, the reduced Jacobian matrix and residual vector can also replace the corresponding parts derived from planes. Our experimental results verify that our algorithm can significantly reduce the computational time compared to the solution using the traditional BA framework. Besides, our algorithm is faster, more accuracy, and more robust to initialization errors compared to the start-of-the-art solution using the plane-to-plane cost [4].

Motion-induced artifacts represent a major problem in detection and diagnosis of breast cancer in dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the performance of a new nonrigid motion correction algorithm based on the optical flow method. For each of the small lesions, we extracted morphological and dynamical features describing both global and local shape, and kinetics behavior. In this paper, we compare the performance of each extracted feature set under consideration of several 2D or 3D motion compensation parameters for the differential diagnosis of enhancing lesions in breast MRI. Based on several simulation results, we determined the optimal motion compensation parameters. Our results have shown that motion compensation can improve the classification results. The results suggest that the computerized analysis system based on the non-rigid motion compensation technique and spatiotemporal features has the potential to increase the diagnostic accuracy of MRI mammography for small lesions and can be used as a basis for computer-aided diagnosis of breast cancer with MR mammography.

Automated detection and diagnosis of small lesions in breast MRI represents a challenge for the traditional computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems. The goal of the present research was to compare and determine the optimal feature sets describing the morphology and the enhancement kinetic features for a set of small lesions and to determine their diagnostic performance. For each of the small lesions, we extracted morphological and dynamical features describing both global and local shape, and kinetics behavior. In this paper, we compare the performance of each extracted feature set for the differential diagnosis of enhancing lesions in breast MRI. Based on several simulation results, we determined the optimal feature number and tested different classification techniques. The results suggest that the computerized analysis system based on spatiotemporal features has the potential to increase the diagnostic accuracy of MRI mammography for small lesions and can be used as a basis for computer-aided diagnosis of breast cancer with MR mammography.

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