Abstract: A switched reluctance electrical motor comprises a rotor having a substantially circular cylindrical envelope with a diameter in a range of 50 mm to 300 mm and a length in the range of 20 mm to 250 mm. The rotor comprises a plurality of radially extending rotor teeth. A switched reluctance electrical motor further comprises a stator surrounding the rotor and comprising a plurality of stator poles. The rotor teeth are circumferentially-spaced apart from each other to define slots between adjacent teeth that, expressed in normalised angular and radial coordinates, have a cross-sectional profile transverse to an axis of rotation of the rotor, lying within a well-defined polygonal region.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method of simulating operation of an electric drive unit to predict one or more performance parameters of the electric drive unit is provided. The electric drive unit comprises at least an electric motor. The method comprises obtaining parameters defining physical properties of the electric motor, obtaining parameters defining drive currents for driving the electric motor, processing the obtained parameters using a machine learning module trained a priori to predict a spatially varying electromagnetic and/or mechanical and/or thermal profile within the electric motor during operation, and providing as output a predicted profile for the electric motor, and using the predicted profile to compute the one or more performance parameters of the electric drive unit.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method of simulating operation of an electric drive unit to predict one or more performance parameters of the electric drive unit is provided. The electric drive unit includes at least an electric motor. The method includes obtaining parameters defining physical properties of the electric motor, obtaining parameters defining drive currents for driving the electric motor, processing the obtained parameters using a machine learning module trained a priori to predict a spatially varying electromagnetic and/or mechanical and/or thermal profile within the electric motor during operation, and providing as output a predicted profile for the electric motor, and using the predicted profile to compute the one or more performance parameters of the electric drive unit.

Abstract: Method for blending a foreground object of a first image into a second image in which the transition boundary region between the foreground object and the background comprises a linear color transition based on the colors of the foreground object and the background, respectively.

Abstract: A method and system for segmenting a digital image, the digital image comprising at least some mixed pixels whose visual characteristics are determined by a mixture of the visual characteristics of part of two or more portions of the image A method comprises the steps of: selecting one or more pixels within a first portion of the image to define a first pixel selection; expanding the first pixel selection to define a second pixel selection corresponding to a first portion of the image; selecting one or more pixels within a second portion of the image to define a third pixel selection; expanding the third pixel selection to define a fourth pixel selection corresponding to a second portion of the image; making a determination as to how close together the second pixel selection and the fourth pixel selection are; and indicating to a user whether or not the second pixel selection and fourth pixel selection are sufficiently close that the pixels occurring in between the second pixel selection and the fourth pixel

Abstract: A method and system for segmenting a digital image is presented allowing manipulation of an image, for example by extracting a foreground portion of the image and overlaying the extracted foreground onto a new background. The invention provides an automated process requiring only a single user selection of an area of an image from which two or more image segments are automatically derived. The image segments typically include foreground, background and mixed portions of the image. In this way the invention allows a single selection within one of the foreground or background portions of the image to be made to define foreground, background and edge image segments. The process uses a technique of expanding a selected area, determining a complementary region and eroding then expanding the complementary region so as to derive the desired image segments. An image mask based on the image segments may be generated by assigning opacity values to each pixel allowing blending calculations to be applied to mixed pixels.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are disclosed for manipulating digital images. The methods comprise the steps of: providing input data including image data specifying one or more digital images and template data comprising one or more masks, each mask specifying a region of the images having a predetermined status; and modifying each image using the masks. The apparatus comprises at least one user interface element for providing input data including image data specifying one or more digital images and template data comprising one or more masks, each mask specifying a region of the images having a predetermined status; and a data processor for modifying each image using the masks.