In this paper, a novel data augmentation method for time-series classification is proposed. In the introduced method, a new time-series is obtained in warped space between suboptimally aligned input examples of different lengths. Specifically, the alignment is carried out constraining the warping path and reducing its flexibility. It is shown that the resultant synthetic time-series can form new class boundaries and enrich the training dataset. In this work, the comparative evaluation of the proposed augmentation method against related techniques on representative multivariate time-series datasets is presented. The performance of methods is examined using the nearest neighbor classifier with the dynamic time warping (NN-DTW), LogDet divergence-based metric learning with triplet constraints (LDMLT), and the recently introduced time-series cluster kernel (NN-TCK). The impact of the augmentation on the classification performance is investigated, taking into account entire datasets and cases with a small number of training examples. The extensive evaluation reveals that the introduced method outperforms related augmentation algorithms in terms of the obtained classification accuracy.

We focus on gesture recognition based on 3D information in the form of a point cloud of the observed scene. A descriptor of the scene is built on the basis of a Viewpoint Feature Histogram (VFH). To increase the distinctiveness of the descriptor the scene is divided into smaller 3D cells and VFH is calculated for each of them. A verification of the method on publicly available Polish and American sign language datasets containing dynamic gestures as well as hand postures acquired by a time-of-flight (ToF) camera or Kinect is presented. Results of cross-validation test are given. Hand postures are recognized using a nearest neighbour classifier with city-block distance. For dynamic gestures two types of classifiers are applied: (i) the nearest neighbour technique with dynamic time warping and (ii) hidden Markov models. The results confirm the usefulness of our approach.

The paper presents a method for recognizing sequences of static letters of the Polish finger alphabet using the point cloud descriptors: viewpoint feature histogram, eigenvalues-based descriptors, ensemble of shape functions, and global radius-based surface descriptor. Each sequence is understood as quick highly coarticulated motions, and the classification is performed by networks of hidden Markov models trained by transitions between postures corresponding to particular letters. Three kinds of the left-to-right Markov models of the transitions, two networks of the transition models—independent and dependent on a dictionary—as well as various combinations of point cloud descriptors are examined on a publicly available dataset of 4200 executions (registered as depth map sequences) prepared by the authors. The hand shape representation proposed in our method can also be applied for recognition of hand postures in single frames. We confirmed this using a known, challenging American finger alphabet dataset with about 60,000 depth images.

Purpose: This paper aims to present a vision-based method for determination of the position of a fixed-wing aircraft that is approaching a runway.Design methodology/approach: The method determines the location of an aircraft based on positions of precision approach path indicator lights and approach light system with sequenced flashing lights in the image captured by an on-board camera.Findings: As the relation of the lighting systems to the touchdown area on the considered runway is known in advance, the detected lights, seen as glowing lines or highlighted areas, in the image can be mapped onto the real-world coordinates and then used to estimate the position of the aircraft. Furthermore, the colours of lights are detected and can be used as auxiliary information.Practical implications: The presented method can be considered as a potential source of flight data for autonomous approach and for augmentation of manual approach.Originality/value: In this paper, a feasibility study of this concept is presented and primarily validated.

The paper addresses the recognition of dynamic Polish Sign Language expressions in an experimental system supporting deaf people in an office when applying for an ID card. A method of processing a continuous stream of RGB-D data and a feature vector are proposed. The classification is carried out using the k-nearest neighbors algorithm with dynamic time warping, hidden Markov models, and bidirectional long short-term memory. The leave-one-subject-out protocol is used for the dataset containing 121 Polish Sign Language sentences performed five times by four deaf people. A data augmentation method is also proposed and tested. Preliminary observations and conclusions from the use of the system in a laboratory, as well as in real conditions with an experimental installation in the Office of Civil Affairs are given.