Christoph Gerhardt

Christoph Gerhardt

PhD Researcher · Computer Vision & Deep Learning
Technische Universität Ilmenau

About

I am a doctoral researcher in the Virtual Worlds and Digital Games Group at Technische Universität Ilmenau, supervised by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Broll.

My research focuses on comprehensive outdoor scene understanding through multi-scale neural networks. I work on semantic segmentation of natural outdoor environments, 360° panoramic image analysis, sky and cloud segmentation, traffic sign detection in equirectangular imagery, and weather-robust perception through advanced data augmentation strategies.

Computer Vision Semantic Segmentation 360° Image Processing Weather Robustness Data Augmentation Deep Learning Outdoor Scene Understanding Panoramic Imaging

Education

Dr.-Ing. (PhD) in Computer Science 2019 — 2026 (expected)
Technische Universität Ilmenau · Virtual Worlds and Digital Games Group
Comprehensive Outdoor Scene Understanding Through Multi-Scale Neural Networks: From 360° Object Detection to Panoramic Segmentation and Weather-Robust Augmentation
M.Sc. Computer Engineering (Ingenieurinformatik) 2014 — 2017
Technische Universität Ilmenau · Grade: 1.5 (very good)
Specialisation: Multimedia Information and Communication Systems
B.Sc. Computer Engineering (Ingenieurinformatik) 2010 — 2014
Technische Universität Ilmenau · Grade: 1.8 (good)

Experience

Research Associate Feb 2019 — present
Technische Universität Ilmenau · Virtual Worlds and Digital Games Group
  • Research on neural-network-based semantic segmentation of outdoor scenes
  • Development of weather-robust augmentation frameworks (AWARE / SWIFT / PRISM / PROVE)
  • 360° panoramic image analysis for traffic sign detection and sky/cloud segmentation
  • Co-supervision of student theses; teaching in VR/AR and computer vision
  • Industry collaboration with NOVASIB GmbH (TT-SIB INFOSYS® road inventory)
Software Developer Feb 2017 — Jan 2019
Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology (IDMT) · Virtual Acoustics
Software development for spatial audio processing and rendering systems.
Student Research Assistant Jul 2016 — Jan 2017
Fraunhofer IDMT · Media Distribution and Security

Selected Publications

First-author publications from my dissertation research. See the full list for all 15 publications.

  1. C. Gerhardt and W. Broll, "SkyCloud360: Sky and Cloud Segmentation in Equirectangular Images," Proc. 10th ICIVC, Chengdu, China, 2025, pp. 48–58. 1st author
    doi:10.1109/ICIVC66358.2025.11200399
  2. C. Gerhardt, F. Weidner, and W. Broll, "SkyCloud: Neural Network-Based Sky and Cloud Segmentation from Natural Images," Proc. 8th ICIVC, Dalian, China, 2023. 1st author
    doi:10.1109/ICIVC58118.2023.10270450
  3. C. Gerhardt, F. Weidner, and W. Broll, "OUTSIDE: Multi-Scale Semantic Segmentation of Universal Outdoor Scenes," Proc. IEEE 23rd MMSP, Tampere, Finland, 2021, pp. 1–6. 1st author
    doi:10.1109/MMSP53017.2021.9733652
  4. C. Gerhardt and W. Broll, "Neural Network-Based Traffic Sign Recognition in 360° Images for Semi-Automatic Road Maintenance Inventory," Proc. IEEE 23rd ITSC, 2020. 1st author
    doi:10.1109/ITSC45102.2020.9294610
  5. C. Gerhardt, M. M. Salman, and W. Broll, "AWARE: Augmentation for Weather-Adverse Robustness Evaluation," IEEE Access, 2025. 1st author under review

All publications

Technical Skills

Programming
Python · C/C++/C# · Java · MATLAB/Octave · SQL
ML / Deep Learning
PyTorch · TensorFlow · Keras · scikit-learn · OpenCV · ONNX
Tools & Platforms
Git · Docker · Linux · Bash · Jupyter · W&B · Slurm · LaTeX
Languages
German (native) · English (fluent) · French (basic) · Serbian (basic)

Teaching & Supervision

Courses

Virtual and Augmented Reality Winter semesters · 2019 — 2025
Technische Universität Ilmenau · Teaching Assistant
Hands-on exercises and lab sessions covering VR/AR fundamentals, 3D rendering pipelines, tracking systems, and immersive interaction design. Assisted with grading and student project mentoring.
Virtuelle Welten Summer semesters · 2020 — 2025
Technische Universität Ilmenau · Teaching Assistant
Supervision of practical sessions on virtual world creation, real-time rendering, game engine development, and 3D modelling. Guided student teams through semester projects.
Computer Vision & Deep Learning Seminars Ongoing
Technische Universität Ilmenau · Seminar Supervisor
Supervising student seminars on topics including semantic segmentation, object detection, image augmentation, and neural network architectures for visual perception.

Thesis Supervision

Student Thesis Co-Supervision 2020 — present
Co-supervised 4+ Bachelor's and Master's theses in the areas of computer vision, deep learning, VR/AR, and outdoor scene understanding. Topics include weather-robust segmentation, panoramic image analysis, and avatar rendering.