Jorge Posada

Interactive visualization of volumetric data with WebGL in real-time

This article presents and discusses the implementation of a direct volume rendering system for the Web, which articulates a large portion of the rendering task in the client machine. By placing the rendering emphasis in the local client, our system takes advantage of its power, while at the same time eliminates processing from unreliable bottlenecks (e.g. network). The system developed articulates in efficient manner the capabilities of the recently released WebGL standard, which makes available the accelerated graphic pipeline (formerly unusable). The dependency on specially customized hardware is eliminated, and yet efficient rendering rates are achieved. The Web increasingly competes against desktop applications in many scenarios, but the graphical demands of some of the applications (e.g. interactive scientific visualization by volume rendering), have impeded their successful settlement in Web scenarios. Performance, scalability, accuracy, security are some of the many challenges that must be solved before visual Web applications popularize. In this publication we discuss both performance and scalability of the volume rendering by WebGL ray-casting in two different but challenging application domains: medical imaging and radar meteorology.

REFLEXIVE ONTOLOGIES: ENHANCING ONTOLOGIES WITH SELF-CONTAINED QUERIES

In this article, we introduce the concept of reflexive ontologies. A reflexive ontology is a description of the concepts and relations in a domain with self-contained queries. This approach presents several advantages; (1) the speeding of the query process; (2) the addition of extra knowledge about the domain extending it with queries and answers; and (3), the self-containment of the knowledge structure. We present a framework that can be used to extend any existing ontology with the reflexivity approach. Additionally, as case study, we test the architecture with a previously presented knowledge structure called Set of Experience Knowledge Structure (SOEKS).

Virtual characters facial and body animation through the edition and interpretation of mark-up languages

The virtual characters are starting to be widely used in user interfaces in order to improve the human-computer communication. However, the design of avatar animation is still largely restricted to specialized users, revealing a current lack of intuitive and easy-to-use editing tools. In this paper, we propose to develop a graphic editor based on mark-up language. After analyzing the main existing mark-up languages, we decided to follow the specifications of the virtual human mark-up language (VHML). In this paper, we present the development of the graphic editor based on this mark-up language and its interpreter for generating the real-time avatar animation.

Knowledge based industrial maintenance using portable devices and augmented reality

In this paper we present a framework and a system implementation for the exploitation of embedded knowledge in the domain of industrial maintenance in a mobile context, using Augmented Reality techniques. We base our approach in the SOUPA group of ontologies (Standard Ontology for Ubiquitous and Pervasive Applications). Our approach extends SOUPA with two new ontologies (i) the Set of Experience Knowledge Structure, used to model the users experience and (ii) the AR ontology which models an Augmented Reality environment that is used to enhance the maintenance experience through virtual elements. As test case, we implemented our approach in different portable devices with video input capabilities such as UMPCs, PDAs and Tablet PCs.

A Perspective on Knowledge Based and Intelligent Systems Implementation in Industrie 4.0

Abstract A worldwide trend in advanced manufacturing countries is defining Industrie 4.0, Industrial Internet and Factories of the Future as a new wave that can revolutionize the production and its associated services. Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) are central to this vision and are entitled to be part of smart machines, storage systems and production facilities able to exchange information with autonomy and intelligence. Such systems should be able to decide and trigger actions, and control each other independently and for such reason it is required the use of Knowledge based and intelligent information approaches. In this paper we present our perspective on how to support Industrie 4.0 with Knowledge based and intelligent systems. We focus in the conceptual model, architecture and necessary elements we believe are required for a real world implementation. We base our conceptualization in the experiences gathered during the participation in different ongoing research projects where the presented architecture is being implemented.

Knowledge sharing by information retrieval in the semantic web

Effective and efficient information retrieval, knowledge sharing and combining has become an essential part of more and more professional tasks and work flows in different kinds of projects. Our aim is to investigate the use of emerging Semantic Web technologies, tools, and standards in the support of effective information retrieval in real multi-disciplinary activities, such as innovative product design. This paper presents an approach to knowledge sharing and information support that has been developed and adopted, the information system architecture that is being developed to test both this approach, and the Semantic Web techniques that are used in its implementation, some early results, and a discussion of related work in information systems and Semantic Web techniques and tools.

Ontology supported semantic simplification of large data sets of industrial plant CAD models for design review visualization

We present in this article a semantic compression system for design review visualization of large data sets in the domain of industrial plant design. This system introduces semantic aspects that improve traditional Computer Graphics techniques used for interactive walkthroughs. We complement previous works introducing new modules and algorithms for the automatic categorization, simplification and user-oriented adaptation of engineering components in the model, and base directly our work on a full Ontology based on international standards for product data in this domain (ISO-STEP 10303-AP227).

Interactive Urban and Forest Fire Simulation with Extinguishment Support

Fires and other related disasters provoke great destruction of high valuable environments and economical losses, especially when they are located in urban areas. In this work, we present a combined urban and forest fire spreading algorithm to be used in real time and interactive virtual simulations. The algorithm is pedagogical oriented and its purpose is not focused in achieving precise results that could be used to predict the fire evolution. The main objective is to obtain a fast, interactive and quasi-realistic virtual simulation to be used in the simulation of virtual scenarios where firefighters and controllers will be trained. The algorithm supports the main variables involved in the fire spreading (slope and wind) and the radiation effect. An additional method has been added to extinguish the fire.

Domain Modeling Based on Engineering Standards

In this paper we present a new methodology for Domain modeling based on Engineering Standards. We discuss some benefits of standards as guidelines for a Knowledge Based Domain modeling, potential challenges and approaches to overcome them. The benefits of using Standards as models for Domain ontologies have been shown as valid in related work and, as proof of concept, we present a case study where our methodology was successfully applied.

An architecture for fast semantic retrieval in the film heritage domain

How to best perform a search over a dataset is a common field of research in the scientific community. Query engines are used when the information is handled by an ontology in order to obtain structured information semantically. A common issue that arises is when the same query is performed several times, as the query engine must check the domain every time in order to retrieve the information. In this paper, we propose an architecture that takes advantage of the concept of Reflexive Ontologies (RO) in order to achieve timely semantic retrieval. The proposed architecture is illustrated by a case study in the Film Heritage domain, showing a performance improvement and providing ground for further research and discussion.