Résumé of Damien Douxchamps

Damien Douxchamps (ダミアンドゥシャン) is a computer vision expert, hardware artisan and entrepreneur with a 25 years career in aerospace, automotive, augmented reality, user interaction and fundamental research. For his PhD he achieved the first on-board, in-flight detection of wake vortices using Lidar technology. He also invented a new way to monitor highway traffic using unconventional line-scan cameras. Shortly after moving to Japan, he invented the world’s most accurate and robust geometric camera calibration algorithm, a corner stone in computer vision and critical step for all camera-based measurements. He was then hired by exoskeleton pioneer Cyberdyne where he single-handedly created their second product, the world’s first true multi-touch large LCD table, beating the Microsoft Surface in every metric. He then co-founded Augumenta, a visionary company in augmented reality (AR), and developed all its computer vision algorithms. He always brought a dose of cool and common sense to sometimes heated business discussions. His interactive control panel was rated by Siemens as "the only industrial AR interaction that works". Damien is also active in the open-source community as maintainer of three major camera-control projects which were used in practically every computer vision lab in the world. He spends his free time as an electronics hacker, freelance travel photographer and scuba diver. (Linkedin)

Core competencies

Hands-on computer vision: 2D/3D measurements, camera calibration, interactive systems, laser ranging, hybrid and multi-camera systems, tracking, 3D reconstruction, high-speed video measurements. Examples: traffic monitoring, multi-touch systems, face and hand detection, augmented reality and HMI, AR markers and accurate positioning, robotics and other soft real-time applications.
Entrepreneurship: startups, fundraising & shareholder relations, board operation, conflict resolution, negotiation. Invited judge for the 2019 International Negotiation Challenge (TNC).
Electronics: R&D, prototyping, analogue/digital design, PCB design, repair, construction, integration. Test & measurement instrumentation gearhead.
Imaging: cameras and optical hardware, scientific/technical applications, camera control and video capture, active vision systems, exotic hardware such as line-san, high-speed, infrared and 3D Time-of-Flight (ToF). Several contributions to the IIDC Specifications from the 1394 Trade Association.
Software development: git, Linux systems (including contribution to the Kernel), user-space drivers and libraries, open-source software, Android.
Mechanics: basic frames and structures, metal-sheet, machining, prototyping, SolidWorks.

Selected Experience and Achievements

Dates	Role / Company	Description
2014-2023	Co-founder and Head of Research Augumenta	Co-founder, shareholder and investor in Augumenta, the augmented reality (AR) interaction company. Researched and productised all the computer vision-based AR and interaction methods launched by the company: AR control panels, AR markers, gesture interaction, palm-based user interfaces, accurate camera-based 3D positioning and 3D ToF finger detection. Real-time video processing on the limited capabilities of wearables like smartglasses. Participated in customer app development (Android) and demonstrations. Major role in sales, marketing, management, funding, project management and HR, always bringing a dose of cool and common sense to sometimes heated business discussions. Our AR control panel was rated by Siemens as "the only industrial AR interaction that works" and is protected by two patents. Sample product videos: SmartPanel 1, SmartPanel 2, SmartMarkers.
2008-2013	Senior researcher Cyberdyne (サイバーダイン)	Single-handedly researched, designed and built the world's first large multi-touch LCD table, boasting low profile, high speed, unlimited touch points and hand-print analysis capabilities. Touched all aspects of design, prototyping and production, including computer vision, optics, structural, mechanical, electronics, supplier contacts, assembly, camera control, thermal management and machining. Participated in all sales and marketing efforts. De-facto product owner. Youtube interview, product at CES2011. This role included a partial assignment as invited researcher at the Tsukuba University (筑波大学), COE Cybernics Program
2006-2007	Invited Researcher Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute (ATR), Department of Acoustics and Speech Research	Design of a real-time face detection and tracking system for semi-controlled situations using a special 360-degrees cylindrical camera. A very high detection rate (>96% typ.) was reached while keeping the false positive rate at a negligible level (<0.1%). This was used downstream for the analysis of people's non-verbal activity during meetings.
2005-2006	Postdoctoral investigator National Taiwan University (NTU), Hydrotech Research Institute	Geometric measurements of water and sediment flows using cameras and laser sheet imaging.
2004-2008	Postdoctoral investigator Assistant Professor Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST, 奈良先端科学技術大学院大学), Image Processing Laboratory	Invented the most robust and accurate geometric camera calibration algorithm, a cornerstone of precise image-based measurements. Very high accuracy was achieved (0.002 pixel RMS error) while simultaneously exhibiting an exceptionally high robustness to noise, compression and other artefacts. Also performed early pioneer work on dual-laser-line 3D reconstruction, which has is now a commercially available and common tool for scanning 3D parts.
2000-2004	Advisor and founding member Alterface S.A., Belgium	Participated in the founding of Alterface, a startup of the Université catholique de Louvain’s Telecom Laboratory which pioneered augmented reality and mixed reality interaction. Contributions to the company’s code base, included real time image processing, segmentation, MMX/SSE optimizations, as well as camera capture and control. Involved in demonstrations and customer installations.
1998-2004	Research Assistant UCL, Communications Lab	Axial on-board detection of aircraft wake vortices using an infra-red lidar and flight testing with Airbus (EU IWAKE project) Proposed a new spectral model for the Doppler return leading to the world first in-flight axial detection of wake vortices. The success of the project led to more EU-funded projects for the laboratory.
		Invented a novel road-side traffic monitoring system using high-speed line-scan cameras. This technique allows numerous measurements from a single sensor: speed, acceleration, size and even inter-vehicle distances. Accuracy suitable for law-enforcement applications.
		Design of a structure-from-motion system for road monitoring applications within the MODEST project. Responsible for camera calibration, 3D reconstruction (matching,...) and daily project management.

Personal projects

Dates	Role / Company	Description
1999 - present	Developer and maintainer Open Source projects	Main coder and maintainer for three open-source projects related to industrial camera control: libvisca, libdc1394 and coriander, leading to becoming well known in the computer vision community. Active participation in the Linux drivers development for IEEE1394 cameras, including patch submissions to the Linux Kernel. Important contacts with hardware manufacturers and participation in the evolution of the IIDC standard. Also created visashot, a screenshot capture script in Python for vintage test & measurement equipment.
2010 - present	Freelance photographer Lonely Planet Images, Getty Images and Robert Harding	Travel and editorial photography focusing on Japanese gardens, festivals and other sights of Kyoto. Deep understanding of the technical aspects of photography, a decisive asset for computer vision.
August 2001	Sonar Technician CERES and Deep Sea Exploration PLC	Participated in the search for a 16th century Spanish galleon wreck in the English Channel, an expedition led by Robert Stenuit.
1994-1999	Designer Collège Saint Pierre, Uccle	Design of a low-cost, high accuracy pH-meter for college use. Modular system, all in SMD technology. 30 devices built, several sold to other schools. Also designed of a push-first-to-win system for a local quiz-show. The system displays order of pushes and is based on high-speed asychronous pulses.
1997-1998	Lead Designer Junior Ingenieur Conseil (JIC ASBL)	Design of a modernized control system for an multi-batch automated migro-gram pharmaceutical pill balance. Reverse engineering of the older control system and re-implementation in a mode modern (for the time) CPLD. Some pictures are available here.
1994	Software Developer HP-Club Belgium	Design of a numeric solver (MeNu) and a statistical solver ($martStat) for the Hewlett-Packard HP48 series calculators, both related to BA courses. Head of the Club in 1995.

Education

Dates	Degree Earned	Comments
2000-2004	Ph.D	Thesis title: ''Multidimensional Photogrammetry of Short-Lived Events''
1993-1998	Electrical Engineer	BA Studies aimed at image processing and electronics. Master thesis: ''Stereometric Reconstruction of the Free Surface Associated to a Flow over Three-Dimensional Antidunes''.
1981-1993	''Diplôme d'humanités supérieures''	Elementary school and high school

Publications and patents

See my publications page.

Languages

French (native speaker), English (fluent) and Japanese (limited working proficiency)