Non-iterative object detection methods in electrical tomography for robotic applications

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the usability of the non-iterative monotonicity approach for electrical capacitance tomography (ECT)-based object detection. This is of particular importance with respect to object detection in robotic applications. Design/methodology/approach With respect to the detection problem, the authors propose a precomputed threshold value for the exclusion test to speed up the algorithm. Furthermore, they show that the use of an inhomogeneous split-up strategy of the region of interest (ROI) improves the performance of the object detection. Findings The proposed split-up strategy enables to use the monotonicity approach for robotic applications, where the spatial placement of the electrodes is constrained to a planar geometry. Additionally, owing to the improvements in the exclusion tests, the selection of subregions in the ROI allows for avoiding self-detection. Furthermore, the computational costs of the algorithm are reduced owing to the use of a predefined threshold, while the detection capabilities are not significantly influenced. Originality/value The presented simulation results show that the adapted split-up strategies for the ROI improve significantly the detection performance in comparison to the traditional ROI split-up strategy. Thus, the monotonicity approach becomes applicable for ECT-based object detection for applications, where only a reduced number of electrodes with constrained spatial placement can be used, such as in robotics.