Search results for "Geometric algebra"
showing 9 items of 29 documents
Fixed-size Quadruples for a New, Hardware-Oriented Representation of the 4D Clifford Algebra
2010
Clifford algebra (geometric algebra) offers a natural and intuitive way to model geometry in fields as robotics, machine vision and computer graphics. This paper proposes a new representation based on fixed-size elements (quadruples) of 4D Clifford algebra and demonstrates that this choice leads to an algorithmic simplification which in turn leads to a simpler and more compact hardware implementation of the algebraic operations. In order to prove the advantages of the new, quadruple-based representation over the classical representation based on homogeneous elements, a coprocessing core supporting the new fixed-size Clifford operands, namely Quad-CliffoSor (Quadruple-based Clifford coproces…
Accelerating Clifford Algebra Operations using GPUs and an OpenCL Code Generator
2015
Clifford Algebra (CA) is a powerful mathematical language that allows for a simple and intuitive representation of geometric objects and their transformations. It has important applications in many research fields, such as computer graphics, robotics, and machine vision. Direct hardware support of Clifford data types and operators is needed to accelerate applications based on Clifford Algebra. This paper proposes a mixed software-hardware system that exploits the computational power of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) to accelerate Clifford operations. A code generator, namely OpenCLifford, is presented that automatically generates Java and C libraries for the direct support of Clifford ele…
An FPGA Implementation of a Quadruple-Based Multiplier for 4D Clifford Algebra
2008
Geometric or Clifford algebra is an interesting paradigm for geometric modeling in fields as computer graphics, machine vision and robotics. In these areas the research effort is actually aimed at finding an efficient implementation of geometric algebra. The best way to exploit the symbolic computing power of geometric algebra is to support its data types and operators directly in hardware. However the natural representation of the algebra elements as variable-length objects causes some problems in the case of a hardware implementation. This paper proposes a 4D Clifford algebra in which the variable-length elements are mapped into fixed-length elements (quadruples). This choice leads to a s…
Embedded Coprocessors for Native Execution of Geometric Algebra Operations
2016
Clifford algebra or geometric algebra (GA) is a simple and intuitive way to model geometric objects and their transformations. Operating in high-dimensional vector spaces with significant computational costs, the practical use of GA requires dedicated software and/or hardware architectures to directly support Clifford data types and operators. In this paper, a family of embedded coprocessors for the native execution of GA operations is presented. The paper shows the evolution of the coprocessor family focusing on the latest two architectures that offer direct hardware support to up to five-dimensional Clifford operations. The proposed coprocessors exploit hardware-oriented representations o…
CliffoSor: A Parallel Embedded Architecture for Geometric Algebra and Computer Graphics
2006
Geometric object representation and their transformations are the two key aspects in computer graphics applications. Traditionally, compute-intensive matrix calculations are involved to model and render 3D scenery. Geometric algebra (a.k.a. Clifford algebra) is gaining growing attention for its natural way to model geometric facts coupled with its being a powerful analytical tool for symbolic calculations. In this paper, the architecture of CliffoSor (Clifford Processor) is introduced. ClifforSor is an embedded parallel coprocessing core that offers direct hardware support to Clifford algebra operators. A prototype implementation on an FPGA board is detailed. Initial test results show more …
Calibration of the Norwegian motion laboratory using conformal geometric algebra
2017
This paper applies Conformal Geometric Algebra (CGA) as a tool for calibrating the robotic equipment found in the Norwegian Motion Laboratory. By using the inner product of CGA to measure the distance between a point and the surface of a plane/sphere, the least-squares method can be used to solve for the unknown parameters describing the plane/sphere in an efficient and intuitive way given n measured points. Positional data samples were acquired from using a high precision Laser tracker (FARO Xi), and the overall calibration error was found to be no more than 4.90mm, and the maximum standard deviation 3.25mm. In addition, the applied least-squares algorithm using CGA was twice as fast, when…
The non-degenerate Dupin cyclides in the space of spheres using Geometric Algebra
2012
International audience; Dupin cyclides are algebraic surfaces of degree 4 discovered by the French mathematician Pierre-Charles Dupin early in the 19th century and \textcolor{black}{were} introduced in CAD by R. Martin in 1982. A Dupin cyclide can be defined, in two different ways, as the envelope of a one-parameter family of oriented spheres. So, it is very interesting to model the Dupin cyclides in the space of spheres, space wherein each family of spheres can be seen as a conic curve. In this paper, we model the non-degenerate Dupin cyclides and the space of spheres using Conformal Geometric Algebra. This new approach permits us to benefit from the advantages of the use of Geometric Alge…
An Optimized Architecture for CGA Operations and Its Application to a Simulated Robotic Arm
2022
Conformal geometric algebra (CGA) is a new geometric computation tool that is attracting growing attention in many research fields, such as computer graphics, robotics, and computer vision. Regarding the robotic applications, new approaches based on CGA have been proposed to efficiently solve problems as the inverse kinematics and grasping of a robotic arm. The hardware acceleration of CGA operations is required to meet real-time performance requirements in embedded robotic platforms. In this paper, we present a novel embedded coprocessor for accelerating CGA operations in robotic tasks. Two robotic algorithms, namely, inverse kinematics and grasping of a human-arm-like kinematics chain, ar…
Implementation and evaluation of medical imaging techniques based on conformal geometric algebra
2020
Medical imaging tasks, such as segmentation, 3D modeling, and registration of medical images, involve complex geometric problems, usually solved by standard linear algebra and matrix calculations. In the last few decades, conformal geometric algebra (CGA) has emerged as a new approach to geometric computing that offers a simple and efficient representation of geometric objects and transformations. However, the practical use of CGA-based methods for big data image processing in medical imaging requires fast and efficient implementations of CGA operations to meet both real-time processing constraints and accuracy requirements. The purpose of this study is to present a novel implementation of …