Autonomous vehicles have been rapidly developed as demand that provides safety and efficiency in transportation systems. As autonomous vehicles are designed based on open-source operating and computing systems, there are numerous resources aimed at building an operating platform composed of Ubuntu, Autoware, and Robot Operating System (ROS). However, no explicit guidelines exist to help scholars perform trouble-shooting due to incompatibility between the Autoware platform and Ubuntu operating systems installed in autonomous driving systems-equipped vehicles (i.e., Chrysler Pacifica). The paper presents an overview of integrating the Autoware platform into the autonomous vehicle's interface based on lessons learned from trouble-shooting processes for resolving incompatible issues. The trouble-shooting processes are presented based on resolving the incompatibility and integration issues of Ubuntu 20.04, Autoware.AI, and ROS Noetic software installed in an autonomous driving systems-equipped vehicle. Specifically, the paper focused on common incompatibility issues and code-solving protocols involving Python compatibility, Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) installation, Autoware installation, and simulation in Autoware.AI. The objective of the paper is to provide an explicit and detail-oriented presentation to showcase how to address incompatibility issues among an autonomous vehicle's operating interference. The lessons and experience presented in the paper will be useful for researchers who encountered similar issues and could follow up by performing trouble-shooting activities and implementing ADS-related projects in the Ubuntu, Autoware, and ROS operating systems.

In this work, we introduce a novel deep learning-based approach to text-in-image watermarking, a method that embeds and extracts textual information within images to enhance data security and integrity. Leveraging the capabilities of deep learning, specifically through the use of Transformer-based architectures for text processing and Vision Transformers for image feature extraction, our method sets new benchmarks in the domain. The proposed method represents the first application of deep learning in text-in-image watermarking that improves adaptivity, allowing the model to intelligently adjust to specific image characteristics and emerging threats. Through testing and evaluation, our method has demonstrated superior robustness compared to traditional watermarking techniques, achieving enhanced imperceptibility that ensures the watermark remains undetectable across various image contents.

Smart Digital twins (SDTs) are being increasingly used to virtually replicate and predict the behaviors of complex physical systems through continual data assimilation enabling the optimization of the performance of these systems by controlling the actions of systems. Recently, deep learning (DL) models have significantly enhanced the capabilities of SDTs, particularly for tasks such as predictive maintenance, anomaly detection, and optimization. In many domains, including medicine, engineering, and education, SDTs use image data (image-based SDTs) to observe and learn system behaviors and control their behaviors. This paper focuses on various approaches and associated challenges in developing image-based SDTs by continually assimilating image data from physical systems. The paper also discusses the challenges involved in designing and implementing DL models for SDTs, including data acquisition, processing, and interpretation. In addition, insights into the future directions and opportunities for developing new image-based DL approaches to develop robust SDTs are provided. This includes the potential for using generative models for data augmentation, developing multi-modal DL models, and exploring the integration of DL with other technologies, including 5G, edge computing, and IoT. In this paper, we describe the image-based SDTs, which enable broader adoption of the digital twin DT paradigms across a broad spectrum of areas and the development of new methods to improve the abilities of SDTs in replicating, predicting, and optimizing the behavior of complex systems.

During the last decades, many studies have been dedicated to improving the performance of neural networks, for example, the network architectures, initialization, and activation. However, investigating the importance and effects of learnable padding methods in deep learning remains relatively open. To mitigate the gap, this paper proposes a novel trainable Padding Module that can be placed in a deep learning model. The Padding Module can optimize itself without requiring or influencing the model's entire loss function. To train itself, the Padding Module constructs a ground truth and a predictor from the inputs by leveraging the underlying structure in the input data for supervision. As a result, the Padding Module can learn automatically to pad pixels to the border of its input images or feature maps. The padding contents are realistic extensions to its input data and simultaneously facilitate the deep learning model's downstream task. Experiments have shown that the proposed Padding Module outperforms the state-of-the-art competitors and the baseline methods. For example, the Padding Module has 1.23% and 0.44% more classification accuracy than the zero padding when tested on the VGG16 and ResNet50.