On the Applicability of Synthetic Data for Re-Identification

TL;DR

This paper explores using CycleGAN to generate synthetic pallet block images for re-identification tasks, demonstrating high similarity to real images and effective re-identification performance, thus aiding dataset augmentation in industrial settings.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of CycleGAN for generating synthetic pallet images that retain surface patterns, enhancing datasets for re-identification beyond traditional augmentation methods.

Findings

Synthetic images achieved 92% classification accuracy.

Re-identification accuracy was up to 88% with synthetic data.

Generated images closely resembled real images in quality.

Abstract

This contribution demonstrates the feasibility of applying Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) on images of EPAL pallet blocks for dataset enhancement in the context of re-identification. For many industrial applications of re-identification methods, datasets of sufficient volume would otherwise be unattainable in non-laboratory settings. Using a state-of-the-art GAN architecture, namely CycleGAN, images of pallet blocks rotated to their left-hand side were generated from images of visually centered pallet blocks, based on images of rotated pallet blocks that were recorded as part of a previously recorded and published dataset. In this process, the unique chipwood pattern of the pallet block surface structure was retained, only changing the orientation of the pallet block itself. By doing so, synthetic data for re-identification testing and training purposes was generated, in a manner that is distinct from ordinary data augmentation. In total, 1,004 new images of pallet blocks were generated. The quality of the generated images was gauged using a perspective classifier that was trained on the original images and then applied to the synthetic ones, comparing the accuracy between the two sets of images. The classification accuracy was 98% for the original images and 92% for the synthetic images. In addition, the generated images were also used in a re-identification task, in order to re-identify original images based on synthetic ones. The accuracy in this scenario was up to 88% for synthetic images, compared to 96% for original images. Through this evaluation, it is established, whether or not a generated pallet block image closely resembles its original counterpart.