RNDr. Jan Blažek, Ph.D.

research fellow

Jan Blažek
Research interests: Nuclear energetics, nuclear fuel inspection, Mulitmodal data processing, artificial intelligence, neural networks, genetic algorithms

Biography

Publication list

Jan Blažek is a researcher at the Institute of Information Theory and Automation of the Czech Academy of Sciences, where he focuses on interdisciplinary research with strong applications in industry. His work bridges digital image processing, artificial intelligence, and photogrammetry, contributing to projects in both cultural heritage and nuclear energy sectors. With a Ph.D. in image analysis from Charles University, he combines academic rigor with practical innovation, leading development of technologies for high-precision measurement, inspection systems, and deep learning models. His research is firmly oriented toward commercial applications and solving real-world industrial challenges.

Curriculum-Vitae: here

Projects with CVŘ:

During years 2019-2021 we were successful in starting some projects with the department of material research in Center of Research Řež, which generates two patents where ÚTIA has a share:

  • PV 2021-549 Metoda měření deformace palivového souboru pomocí digitálního zpracování obrazu z videozáznamů
  • PV 2022-289 Zařízení k přesnému 3D měření rozměrů a opotřebení komponent jaderných elektráren

In 2022 we presented our solution for visual fuel inspection as invited talk at conference: EPRI - AI and Electric Power Summit (Enabling the Energy Transformation).

The cooperation continues with other projects.

PhD students:

  • Tomáš Karella (since 2020) - Transformation Robustness in Computer Vision: Invariant & Equivariant Neural Networks
  • Jaroslav Knotek (since 2022) - Pattern recognition in material research in nuclear energetics

Diploma theses (finalized):

  • Matyáš Lamprecht (2022) - Sequential analysis of transaction data
  • Ondřej Novák (2022) - Registration and determination of deformed point cloud errors
  • Jan Palášek (2021) - Detection of grids on nuclear fuel set images
  • Adam Harmanec (2021) - Registration of images of nuclear fuel assembly
  • Jaroslav Knotek (2020) - Automation of nuclear fuel visual inspection
  • Jakub Tuček (2019) - CLI for grid network MetaCentrum
  • Hubert Kindermann (2014) - Optical Character Recognition at Camera Captured Images
  • Radek Fürbach (2013) - Methods for Localization of Image Differences in Different Modalities of Paintings

Bachelor theses (finalized):

  • Gregorii Sirotenko (2023) - Image processing for concrete cracks analysis
  • Adam Harmanec (2019) - Traffic sign classification by deep learning
  • Petr Bambušek (2015) - Agent for playing Texas Hold’em poker
  • Lukáš Machalík (2015) - Application for on-line tracking of racers during a race
  • Jakub Hajič (2014) - Extracting Control Points from Image Pairs for Perspective Transformation
  • Jiří Mareš (2012) - Classification of earth colours
  • Hubert Kindermann (2011) - Character recognition of machine-written documents

 

Journal articles

  1. Knotek Jaroslav, Blažek Jan, Kopeć M.: Simulating nuclear fuel inspections: Enhancing reliability through synthetic data, Nuclear Engineering and Technology 57 Download Download DOI: 10.1016/j.net.2025.103571 [2025]
  2. Plašienka D., Knotek Jaroslav, Kopeć M., Malá M., Blažek Jan: Measurement of nuclear fuel assembly’s bow from visual inspection’s video record, Nuclear Engineering and Technology 55 4 (2023), p. 1485-1494 Download Download DOI: 10.1016/j.net.2022.12.033 [2023]
  3. Karella Tomáš, Blažek Jan, Striová J.: Convolutional neural network exploiting pixel surroundings to reveal hidden features in artwork NIR reflectograms, Journal of Cultural Heritage 58, p. 186-198 Download DOI: 10.1016/j.culher.2022.09.022 [2022]
  4. Striová J., Ruberto C., Barucci M., Blažek Jan, Kunzelman D., Dal Fovo A., Pampaloni E., Fontana R.: Spectral imaging and archival data in analyzing the Madonna of the Rabbit painting by Manet and Titian, Angewandte Chemie - International Edition 57 25 (2018), p. 7408-7412 Download DOI: 10.1002/anie.201800624 [2018]
  5. Blažek Jan, Striová J., Fontana R., Zitová Barbara: Improvement of the visibility of concealed features in artwork NIR reflectograms by information separation, Digital Signal Processing 60 1 (2017), p. 140-151 Download DOI: 10.1016/j.dsp.2016.09.007 [2017]
  6. Čermáková Zdeňka, Švarcová Silvie, Hradilová J., Bezdička Petr, Lančok Adriana, Vašutová V., Blažek Jan, Hradil David: Temperature-related degradation and colour changes of historic paintings containing vivianite, Spectrochimica Acta Part A-Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy 140, p. 101-110 DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2014.12.082 [2015]
  7. Čermáková Zdeňka, Bezdička Petr, Němec I., Hradilová J., Šrein V., Blažek Jan, Hradil David: Naturally irradiated fluorite as a historic violet pigment: Raman spectroscopic and X-ray diffraction study, Journal of Raman Spectroscopy 46 2 (2015), p. 236-243 DOI: 10.1002/jrs.4627 [2015]

Other publications

  1. Brom J., Assmann L., Kopeć M., Karella Tomáš, Blažek Jan: Způsob přesného 3D měření rozměrů a opotřebení komponent jaderných elektráren a zařízení k provádění tohoto způsobu (2024) Download [2024]
  2. Blažek Jan, Kopeć M., Malá M., Pašta O.: Metoda měření deformace palivového souboru pomocí digitálního zpracování obrazu z videozáznamů z inspekcí paliva (2023) Download [2023]
  3. Karella Tomáš, Šroubek Filip, Blažek Jan, Flusser Jan, Košík Václav: H-NeXt: The next step towards roto-translation invariant networks, 34th British Machine Vision Conference 2023, p. 1-14 Download [2023]
  4. Hlaváč Z., Blažek Jan, Sirotenko G.: Changes in Concrete Subjected to Neutron Irradiation, Modern Building Materials, Structures and Techniques : MBMST 2023, p. 99-108 Download DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-44603-0_9 [2023]
  5. Lébl Matěj, Blažek Jan, Striová J., Fontana R., Zitová Barbara: Subpixel precision in registration of multimodal datasets, International Conference Florence Heri-tech: the Future of Heritage Science and Technologies 2020, Online Edition, IOP Publishing (2020) Download DOI: 10.1088/1757-899x/949/1/012007 [2020]
  6. Blažek Jan, Zitová Barbara: Information separation in art investigation - a survey, PROCEEDINGS of the sixth International workshop on Image Processing for Art Investigation (IP4AI 2018), p. 18-20 Download [2018]
  7. Blažek Jan, Vlašic O., Zitová Barbara: Improvement of the visibility of concealed features in misregistered NIR reflectograms by deep learning, Florence Heri-Tech - The Future of Heritage Science and Technologies Download DOI: 10.1088/1757-899X/364/1/012058 [2018]
  8. Blažek Jan, Zitová Barbara, Tichý T., Vašutová V.: Optical properties of historical paint pigments under near infrared (NIR) radiation, ACTA ARTIS ACADEMICA 2014, p. 35-41, Eds: Hradil David, Hradilová Janka Download [2014]
  9. Blažek Jan, Soukup Jindřich, Zitová Barbara, Flusser Jan, Hradilová J., Hradil David, Tichý T.: M3art: A Database of Models of Canvas Paintings, Digital Heritage. Progress in Cultural Heritage: Documentation, Preservation, and Protection. EuroMed 2014, p. 176-185 Download DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-13695-0_17 [2014]
  10. Kuneš Michal, Blažek Jan: Pole LED v matici 8x8, Ústav teorie informace a automatizace, AV ČR (Praha, 2013) Download [2013]
  11. Blažek Jan, Soukup Jindřich, Zitová Barbara, Flusser Jan, Tichý T., Hradilová J.: Low-cost mobile system for multispectral cultural heritage data acquisition, Digital Heritage International Congress, p. 73-79 Download [2013]
  12. Blažek Jan, Zitová Barbara, Flusser Jan: Image Fusion for Difference Visualization in Art Analysis, Digital Heritage International Congress, p. 653-656 Download [2013]
  13. Blažek Jan, Hradilová J., Zitová Barbara, Kamenický Jan: Odhalování kopií pomocí matematického zpracování obrazu, část I: teoretická východiska a princip metody, ACTA ARTIS ACADEMICA 2012: KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE IN THE FINE ART, p. 141-147 [2012]
  14. Beneš Miroslav, Zitová Barbara, Blažek Jan, Hradilová J., Hradil David: Removing the Artifacts from Artwork Cross-section Images, Proceedings of the 18th IEEE International Conference on Image Processing, p. 3598-3601 Download [2011]
  15. Zitová Barbara, Beneš Miroslav, Blažek Jan: Image fusion for art analysis, Proceedings of SPIE , p. 786908-1-786908-9 Download DOI: 10.1117/12.872420 [2011]
  16. Blažek Jan, Zitová Barbara, Beneš Miroslav, Hradilová J.: Fresco restoration: digital image processing approach, Proceedings of the 17th European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO 2009, p. 1210-1214 Download [2009]