Determination of the efficiency of commercially available dose calibrators for beta-emitters.
Valley, Jean-François; Bulling, Shelley; Leresche, Michel; Wastiel, Claude
2003-03-01
The goals of this investigation are to determine whether commercially available dose calibrators can be used to measure the activity of beta-emitting radionuclides used in pain palliation and to establish whether manufacturer-supplied calibration factors are appropriate for this purpose. Six types of commercially available dose calibrators were studied. Dose calibrator response was controlled for 5 gamma-emitters used for calibration or typically encountered in routine use. For the 4 most commonly used beta-emitters ((32)P, (90)Sr, (90)Y, and (169)Er) dose calibrator efficiency was determined in the syringe geometry used for clinical applications. Efficiency of the calibrators was also measured for (153)Sm and (186)Re, 2 beta-emitters with significant gamma-contributions. Source activities were traceable to national standards. All calibrators measured gamma-emitters with a precision of +/-10%, in compliance with Swiss regulatory requirements. For beta-emitters, dose calibrator intrinsic efficiency depends strongly on the maximal energy of the beta-spectrum and is notably low for (169)Er. Manufacturer-supplied calibration factors give accurate results for beta-emitters with maximal beta-energy in the middle-energy range (1 MeV) but are not appropriate for use with low-energy ((169)Er) or high-energy ((90)Y) beta-emitters. beta-emitters with significant gamma-contributions behave like gamma-emitters. Commercially available dose calibrators have an intrinsic efficiency that is sufficient for the measurement of beta-emitters, including beta-emitters with a low maximum beta-energy. Manufacturer-supplied calibration factors are reliable for gamma-emitters and beta-emitters in the middle-energy range. For low- and high-energy beta-emitters, the use of manufacturer-supplied calibration factors introduces significant measurement inaccuracy.
Micro-Dose Calibrator for Pre-clinical Radiotracer Assays | NCI Technology Transfer Center | TTC
Pre-clinical radiotracer biomedical research involves the use of compounds labeled with radioisotopes, including cell binding studies, immune cell labeling techniques, and radio-ligand bio-distribution studies. Before this Micro-Dose Calibrator, measurement of pre-clinical level dosage for small animal studies was inaccurate and unreliable. This dose calibrator is a prototype ready for manufacturing. It is designed to accurately measure radioactive doses in the range of 50 nCi (1.8 kBq) to 100 µCi (3.7 MBq) with 1% precision. The NCI seeks co-development or licensing to commercialize it. Alternative uses will be considered.
Calibrating GPS With TWSTFT For Accurate Time Transfer
2008-12-01
40th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval (PTTI) Meeting 577 CALIBRATING GPS WITH TWSTFT FOR ACCURATE TIME TRANSFER Z. Jiang1 and...primary time transfer techniques are GPS and TWSTFT (Two-Way Satellite Time and Frequency Transfer, TW for short). 83% of UTC time links are...Calibrating GPS With TWSTFT For Accurate Time Transfer 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT
Multimodal Spatial Calibration for Accurately Registering EEG Sensor Positions
Chen, Shengyong; Xiao, Gang; Li, Xiaoli
2014-01-01
This paper proposes a fast and accurate calibration method to calibrate multiple multimodal sensors using a novel photogrammetry system for fast localization of EEG sensors. The EEG sensors are placed on human head and multimodal sensors are installed around the head to simultaneously obtain all EEG sensor positions. A multiple views' calibration process is implemented to obtain the transformations of multiple views. We first develop an efficient local repair algorithm to improve the depth map, and then a special calibration body is designed. Based on them, accurate and robust calibration results can be achieved. We evaluate the proposed method by corners of a chessboard calibration plate. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve good performance, which can be further applied to EEG source localization applications on human brain. PMID:24803954
The advantages of absorbed-dose calibration factors.
Rogers, D W
1992-01-01
A formalism for clinical external beam dosimetry based on use of ion chamber absorbed-dose calibration factors is outlined in the context and notation of the AAPM TG-21 protocol. It is shown that basing clinical dosimetry on absorbed-dose calibration factors ND leads to considerable simplification and reduced uncertainty in dose measurement. In keeping with a protocol which is used in Germany, a quantity kQ is defined which relates an absorbed-dose calibration factor in a beam of quality Q0 to that in a beam of quality Q. For 38 cylindrical ion chambers, two sets of values are presented for ND/NX and Ngas/ND and for kQ for photon beams with beam quality specified by the TPR20(10) ratio. One set is based on TG-21's protocol to allow the new formalism to be used while maintaining equivalence to the TG-21 protocol. To demonstrate the magnitude of the overall error in the TG-21 protocol, the other set uses corrected versions of the TG-21 equations and the more consistent physical data of the IAEA Code of Practice. Comparisons are made to procedures based on air-kerma or exposure calibration factors and it is shown that accuracy and simplicity are gained by avoiding the determination of Ngas from NX. It is also shown that the kQ approach simplifies the use of plastic phantoms in photon beams since kQ values change by less than 0.6% compared to those in water although an overall correction factor of 0.973 is needed to go from absorbed dose in water calibration factors to those in PMMA or polystyrene. Values of kQ calculated using the IAEA Code of Practice are presented but are shown to be anomalous because of the way the effective point of measurement changes for 60Co beams. In photon beams the major difference between the IAEA Code of Practice and the corrected AAPM TG-21 protocol is shown to be the Prepl correction factor. Calculated kQ curves and three parameter equations for them are presented for each wall material and are shown to represent accurately the kQ curve
SU-F-T-274: Modified Dose Calibration Methods for IMRT QA
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Luo, W; Westlund, S
2016-06-15
Purpose: To investigate IMRT QA uncertainties caused by dose calibration and modify widely used dose calibration procedures to improve IMRT QA accuracy and passing rate. Methods: IMRT QA dose measurement is calibrated using a calibration factor (CF) that is the ratio between measured value and expected value corresponding to the reference fields delivered on a phantom. Two IMRT QA phantoms were used for this study: a 30×30×30 cm3 solid water cube phantom (Cube), and the PTW Octavius phantom. CF was obtained by delivering 100 MUs to the phantoms with different reference fields ranging from 3×3 cm2 to 20×20 cm{sup 2}.more » For Cube, CFs were obtained using the following beam arrangements: 2-AP Field - chamber at dmax, 2-AP Field - chamber at isocenter, 4-beam box - chamber at isocenter, and 8 equally spaced fields and chamber at isocenter. The same plans were delivered on Octavius and CFs were derived for the dose at the isocenter using the above beam arrangements. The Octavius plans were evaluated with PTW-VeriSoft (Gamma criteria of 3%/3mm). Results: Four head and neck IMRT plans were included in this study. For point dose measurement with Cube, the CFs with 4-Field gave the best agreement between measurement and calculation within 4% for large field plans. All the measurement results agreed within 2% for a small field plan. Compared with calibration field sizes, 5×5 to 15×15 were more accurate than other field sizes. For Octavius, 4-Field calibration increased passing rate by up to 10% compared to AP calibration. Passing rate also increased by up to 4% with the increase of field size from 3×3 to 20×20. Conclusion: IMRT QA results are correlated with calibration methods used. The dose calibration using 4-beam box with field sizes from 5×5 to 20×20 can improve IMRT QA accuracy and passing rate.« less
Method for Accurately Calibrating a Spectrometer Using Broadband Light
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Simmons, Stephen; Youngquist, Robert
2011-01-01
A novel method has been developed for performing very fine calibration of a spectrometer. This process is particularly useful for modern miniature charge-coupled device (CCD) spectrometers where a typical factory wavelength calibration has been performed and a finer, more accurate calibration is desired. Typically, the factory calibration is done with a spectral line source that generates light at known wavelengths, allowing specific pixels in the CCD array to be assigned wavelength values. This method is good to about 1 nm across the spectrometer s wavelength range. This new method appears to be accurate to about 0.1 nm, a factor of ten improvement. White light is passed through an unbalanced Michelson interferometer, producing an optical signal with significant spectral variation. A simple theory can be developed to describe this spectral pattern, so by comparing the actual spectrometer output against this predicted pattern, errors in the wavelength assignment made by the spectrometer can be determined.
21 CFR 892.1360 - Radionuclide dose calibrator.
Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR
2010-04-01
... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Radionuclide dose calibrator. 892.1360 Section 892.1360 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (CONTINUED) MEDICAL DEVICES RADIOLOGY DEVICES Diagnostic Devices § 892.1360 Radionuclide dose calibrator. (a...
Calibration Techniques for Accurate Measurements by Underwater Camera Systems
Shortis, Mark
2015-01-01
Calibration of a camera system is essential to ensure that image measurements result in accurate estimates of locations and dimensions within the object space. In the underwater environment, the calibration must implicitly or explicitly model and compensate for the refractive effects of waterproof housings and the water medium. This paper reviews the different approaches to the calibration of underwater camera systems in theoretical and practical terms. The accuracy, reliability, validation and stability of underwater camera system calibration are also discussed. Samples of results from published reports are provided to demonstrate the range of possible accuracies for the measurements produced by underwater camera systems. PMID:26690172
Calorimetry of electron beams and the calibration of dosimeters at high doses
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Humphreys, J. C.; McLaughlin, W. L.
Graphite or metal calorimeters are used to make absolute dosimetric measurements of high-energy electron beams. These calibrated beams are then used to calibrate several types of dosimeters for high-dose applications such as medical-product sterilization, polymer modification, food processing, or electronic-device hardness testing. The electron beams are produced either as continuous high-power beams at approximately 4.5 MeV by d.c. type accelerators or in the energy range of approximately 8 to 50 MeV using pulsed microwave linear accelerators (linacs). The continuous beams are generally magnetically scanned to produce a broad, uniform radiation environment for the processing of materials of extended lateral dimensions. The higher-energy pulsed beams may also be scanned for processing applications or may be used in an unscanned, tightly-focused mode to produce maximum absorbed dose rates such as may be required for electronic-device radiation hardness testing. The calorimeters are used over an absorbed dose range of 10 2 to 10 4 Gy. Intercomparison studies are reported between National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and UK National Physical Laboratory (NPL) graphite disk calorimeters at high doses, using the NPL 10-MeV linac, and agreement was found within 1.5%. It was also shown that the electron-beam responses of radiochromic film dosimeters and alanine pellet dosimeters can be accurately calibrated by comparison with calorimeter readings.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Penfold, S; Miller, A
2015-06-15
Purpose: Stoichiometric calibration of Hounsfield Units (HUs) for conversion to proton relative stopping powers (RStPs) is vital for accurate dose calculation in proton therapy. However proton dose distributions are not only dependent on RStP, but also on relative scattering power (RScP) of patient tissues. RScP is approximated from material density but a stoichiometric calibration of HU-density tables is commonly neglected. The purpose of this work was to quantify the difference in calculated dose of a commercial TPS when using HU-density tables based on tissue substitute materials and stoichiometric calibrated ICRU tissues. Methods: Two HU-density calibration tables were generated based onmore » scans of the CIRS electron density phantom. The first table was based directly on measured HU and manufacturer quoted density of tissue substitute materials. The second was based on the same CT scan of the CIRS phantom followed by a stoichiometric calibration of ICRU44 tissue materials. The research version of Pinnacle{sup 3} proton therapy was used to compute dose in a patient CT data set utilizing both HU-density tables. Results: The two HU-density tables showed significant differences for bone tissues; the difference increasing with increasing HU. Differences in density calibration table translated to a difference in calculated RScP of −2.5% for ICRU skeletal muscle and 9.2% for ICRU femur. Dose-volume histogram analysis of a parallel opposed proton therapy prostate plan showed that the difference in calculated dose was negligible when using the two different HU-density calibration tables. Conclusion: The impact of HU-density calibration technique on proton therapy dose calculation was assessed. While differences were found in the calculated RScP of bony tissues, the difference in dose distribution for realistic treatment scenarios was found to be insignificant.« less
Esquinas, Pedro L; Tanguay, Jesse; Gonzalez, Marjorie; Vuckovic, Milan; Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Cristina; Häfeli, Urs O; Celler, Anna
2016-12-01
In the nuclear medicine department, the activity of radiopharmaceuticals is measured using dose calibrators (DCs) prior to patient injection. The DC consists of an ionization chamber that measures current generated by ionizing radiation (emitted from the radiotracer). In order to obtain an activity reading, the current is converted into units of activity by applying an appropriate calibration factor (also referred to as DC dial setting). Accurate determination of DC dial settings is crucial to ensure that patients receive the appropriate dose in diagnostic scans or radionuclide therapies. The goals of this study were (1) to describe a practical method to experimentally determine dose calibrator settings using a thyroid-probe (TP) and (2) to investigate the accuracy, reproducibility, and uncertainties of the method. As an illustration, the TP method was applied to determine 188 Re dial settings for two dose calibrator models: Atomlab 100plus and Capintec CRC-55tR. Using the TP to determine dose calibrator settings involved three measurements. First, the energy-dependent efficiency of the TP was determined from energy spectra measurements of two calibration sources ( 152 Eu and 22 Na). Second, the gamma emissions from the investigated isotope ( 188 Re) were measured using the TP and its activity was determined using γ-ray spectroscopy methods. Ambient background, scatter, and source-geometry corrections were applied during the efficiency and activity determination steps. Third, the TP-based 188 Re activity was used to determine the dose calibrator settings following the calibration curve method [B. E. Zimmerman et al., J. Nucl. Med. 40, 1508-1516 (1999)]. The interobserver reproducibility of TP measurements was determined by the coefficient of variation (COV) and uncertainties associated to each step of the measuring process were estimated. The accuracy of activity measurements using the proposed method was evaluated by comparing the TP activity estimates of 99m Tc
Jangda, Abdul Qadir; Hussein, Sherali
2012-05-01
In external beam radiation therapy (EBRT), the quality assurance (QA) of the radiation beam is crucial to the accurate delivery of the prescribed dose to the patient. One of the dosimetric parameters that require monitoring is the beam output, specified as the dose rate on the central axis under reference conditions. The aim of this project was to validate dose rate calibration of megavoltage photon beams using the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)/World Health Organisation (WHO) postal audit dosimetry service. Three photon beams were audited: a 6 MV beam from the low-energy linac and 6 and 18 MV beams from a dual high-energy linac. The agreement between our stated doses and the IAEA results was within 1% for the two 6 MV beams and within 2% for the 18 MV beam. The IAEA/WHO postal audit dosimetry service provides an independent verification of dose rate calibration protocol by an international facility.
Inflatable bladder provides accurate calibration of pressure switch
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Smith, N. J.
1965-01-01
Calibration of a pressure switch is accurately checked by a thin-walled circular bladder. It is placed in the pressure switch and applies force to the switch diaphragm when expanded by an external pressure source. The disturbance to the normal operation of the switch is minimal.
The importance and attainment of accurate absolute radiometric calibration
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Slater, P. N.
1984-01-01
The importance of accurate absolute radiometric calibration is discussed by reference to the needs of those wishing to validate or use models describing the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with the atmosphere and earth surface features. The in-flight calibration methods used for the Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and the Systeme Probatoire d'Observation de la Terre, Haute Resolution visible (SPOT/HRV) systems are described and their limitations discussed. The questionable stability of in-flight absolute calibration methods suggests the use of a radiative transfer program to predict the apparent radiance, at the entrance pupil of the sensor, of a ground site of measured reflectance imaged through a well characterized atmosphere. The uncertainties of such a method are discussed.
Comparison of the uncertainties of several European low-dose calibration facilities
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Dombrowski, H.; Cornejo Díaz, N. A.; Toni, M. P.; Mihelic, M.; Röttger, A.
2018-04-01
The typical uncertainty of a low-dose rate calibration of a detector, which is calibrated in a dedicated secondary national calibration laboratory, is investigated, including measurements in the photon field of metrology institutes. Calibrations at low ambient dose equivalent rates (at the level of the natural ambient radiation) are needed when environmental radiation monitors are to be characterised. The uncertainties of calibration measurements in conventional irradiation facilities above ground are compared with those obtained in a low-dose rate irradiation facility located deep underground. Four laboratories quantitatively evaluated the uncertainties of their calibration facilities, in particular for calibrations at low dose rates (250 nSv/h and 1 μSv/h). For the first time, typical uncertainties of European calibration facilities are documented in a comparison and the main sources of uncertainty are revealed. All sources of uncertainties are analysed, including the irradiation geometry, scattering, deviations of real spectra from standardised spectra, etc. As a fundamental metrological consequence, no instrument calibrated in such a facility can have a lower total uncertainty in subsequent measurements. For the first time, the need to perform calibrations at very low dose rates (< 100 nSv/h) deep underground is underpinned on the basis of quantitative data.
An Accurate Projector Calibration Method Based on Polynomial Distortion Representation
Liu, Miao; Sun, Changku; Huang, Shujun; Zhang, Zonghua
2015-01-01
In structure light measurement systems or 3D printing systems, the errors caused by optical distortion of a digital projector always affect the precision performance and cannot be ignored. Existing methods to calibrate the projection distortion rely on calibration plate and photogrammetry, so the calibration performance is largely affected by the quality of the plate and the imaging system. This paper proposes a new projector calibration approach that makes use of photodiodes to directly detect the light emitted from a digital projector. By analyzing the output sequence of the photoelectric module, the pixel coordinates can be accurately obtained by the curve fitting method. A polynomial distortion representation is employed to reduce the residuals of the traditional distortion representation model. Experimental results and performance evaluation show that the proposed calibration method is able to avoid most of the disadvantages in traditional methods and achieves a higher accuracy. This proposed method is also practically applicable to evaluate the geometric optical performance of other optical projection system. PMID:26492247
Li, Jonathan G.; Liu, Chihray; Olivier, Kenneth R.; Dempsey, James F.
2009-01-01
The aim of this study was to investigate the relative accuracy of megavoltage photon‐beam dose calculations employing either five bulk densities or independent voxel densities determined by calibration of the CT Houndsfield number. Full‐resolution CT and bulk density treatment plans were generated for 70 lung or esophageal cancer tumors (66 cases) using a commercial treatment planning system with an adaptive convolution dose calculation algorithm (Pinnacle3, Philips Medicals Systems). Bulk densities were applied to segmented regions. Individual and population average densities were compared to the full‐resolution plan for each case. Monitor units were kept constant and no normalizations were employed. Dose volume histograms (DVH) and dose difference distributions were examined for all cases. The average densities of the segmented air, lung, fat, soft tissue, and bone for the entire set were found to be 0.14, 0.26, 0.89, 1.02, and 1.12 g/cm3, respectively. In all cases, the normal tissue DVH agreed to better than 2% in dose. In 62 of 70 DVHs of the planning target volume (PTV), agreement to better than 3% in dose was observed. Six cases demonstrated emphysema, one with bullous formations and one with a hiatus hernia having a large volume of gas. These required the additional assignment of density to the emphysemic lung and inflammatory changes to the lung, the regions of collapsed lung, the bullous formations, and the hernia gas. Bulk tissue density dose calculation provides an accurate method of heterogeneous dose calculation. However, patients with advanced emphysema may require high‐resolution CT studies for accurate treatment planning. PACS number: 87.53.Tf
Impact of dose calibrators quality control programme in Argentina
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Furnari, J. C.; de Cabrejas, M. L.; del C. Rotta, M.; Iglicki, F. A.; Milá, M. I.; Magnavacca, C.; Dima, J. C.; Rodríguez Pasqués, R. H.
1992-02-01
The national Quality Control (QC) programme for radionuclide calibrators started 12 years ago. Accuracy and the implementation of a QC programme were evaluated over all these years at 95 nuclear medicine laboratories where dose calibrators were in use. During all that time, the Metrology Group of CNEA has distributed 137Cs sealed sources to check stability and has been performing periodic "checking rounds" and postal surveys using unknown samples (external quality control). An account of the results of both methods is presented. At present, more of 65% of the dose calibrators measure activities with an error less than 10%.
Changes in deviation of absorbed dose to water among users by chamber calibration shift.
Katayose, Tetsurou; Saitoh, Hidetoshi; Igari, Mitsunobu; Chang, Weishan; Hashimoto, Shimpei; Morioka, Mie
2017-07-01
The JSMP01 dosimetry protocol had adopted the provisional 60 Co calibration coefficient [Formula: see text], namely, the product of exposure calibration coefficient N C and conversion coefficient k D,X . After that, the absorbed dose to water D w standard was established, and the JSMP12 protocol adopted the [Formula: see text] calibration. In this study, the influence of the calibration shift on the measurement of D w among users was analyzed. The intercomparison of the D w using an ionization chamber was annually performed by visiting related hospitals. Intercomparison results before and after the calibration shift were analyzed, the deviation of D w among users was re-evaluated, and the cause of deviation was estimated. As a result, the stability of LINAC, calibration of the thermometer and barometer, and collection method of ion recombination were confirmed. The statistical significance of standard deviation of D w was not observed, but that of difference of D w among users was observed between N C and [Formula: see text] calibration. Uncertainty due to chamber-to-chamber variation was reduced by the calibration shift, consequently reducing the uncertainty among users regarding D w . The result also pointed out uncertainty might be reduced by accurate and detailed instructions on the setup of an ionization chamber.
Gotanda, Tatsuhiro; Katsuda, Toshizo; Gotanda, Rumi; Kuwano, Tadao; Akagawa, Takuya; Tanki, Nobuyoshi; Tabuchi, Akihiko; Shimono, Tetsunori; Kawaji, Yasuyuki
2016-01-01
Radiochromic film dosimeters have a disadvantage in comparison with an ionization chamber in that the dosimetry process is time-consuming for creating a density-absorbed dose calibration curve. The purpose of this study was the development of a simplified method of creating a density-absorbed dose calibration curve from radiochromic film within a short time. This simplified method was performed using Gafchromic EBT3 film with a low energy dependence and step-shaped Al filter. The simplified method was compared with the standard method. The density-absorbed dose calibration curves created using the simplified and standard methods exhibited approximately similar straight lines, and the gradients of the density-absorbed dose calibration curves were -32.336 and -33.746, respectively. The simplified method can obtain calibration curves within a much shorter time compared to the standard method. It is considered that the simplified method for EBT3 film offers a more time-efficient means of determining the density-absorbed dose calibration curve within a low absorbed dose range such as the diagnostic range.
Gotanda, Tatsuhiro; Katsuda, Toshizo; Gotanda, Rumi; Kuwano, Tadao; Akagawa, Takuya; Tanki, Nobuyoshi; Tabuchi, Akihiko; Shimono, Tetsunori; Kawaji, Yasuyuki
2016-01-01
Radiochromic film dosimeters have a disadvantage in comparison with an ionization chamber in that the dosimetry process is time-consuming for creating a density-absorbed dose calibration curve. The purpose of this study was the development of a simplified method of creating a density-absorbed dose calibration curve from radiochromic film within a short time. This simplified method was performed using Gafchromic EBT3 film with a low energy dependence and step-shaped Al filter. The simplified method was compared with the standard method. The density-absorbed dose calibration curves created using the simplified and standard methods exhibited approximately similar straight lines, and the gradients of the density-absorbed dose calibration curves were −32.336 and −33.746, respectively. The simplified method can obtain calibration curves within a much shorter time compared to the standard method. It is considered that the simplified method for EBT3 film offers a more time-efficient means of determining the density-absorbed dose calibration curve within a low absorbed dose range such as the diagnostic range. PMID:28144120
Li, Rui; Ye, Hongfei; Zhang, Weisheng; Ma, Guojun; Su, Yewang
2015-10-29
Spring constant calibration of the atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilever is of fundamental importance for quantifying the force between the AFM cantilever tip and the sample. The calibration within the framework of thin plate theory undoubtedly has a higher accuracy and broader scope than that within the well-established beam theory. However, thin plate theory-based accurate analytic determination of the constant has been perceived as an extremely difficult issue. In this paper, we implement the thin plate theory-based analytic modeling for the static behavior of rectangular AFM cantilevers, which reveals that the three-dimensional effect and Poisson effect play important roles in accurate determination of the spring constants. A quantitative scaling law is found that the normalized spring constant depends only on the Poisson's ratio, normalized dimension and normalized load coordinate. Both the literature and our refined finite element model validate the present results. The developed model is expected to serve as the benchmark for accurate calibration of rectangular AFM cantilevers.
MacFarlane, Michael; Wong, Daniel; Hoover, Douglas A; Wong, Eugene; Johnson, Carol; Battista, Jerry J; Chen, Jeff Z
2018-03-01
In this work, we propose a new method of calibrating cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) data sets for radiotherapy dose calculation and plan assessment. The motivation for this patient-specific calibration (PSC) method is to develop an efficient, robust, and accurate CBCT calibration process that is less susceptible to deformable image registration (DIR) errors. Instead of mapping the CT numbers voxel-by-voxel with traditional DIR calibration methods, the PSC methods generates correlation plots between deformably registered planning CT and CBCT voxel values, for each image slice. A linear calibration curve specific to each slice is then obtained by least-squares fitting, and applied to the CBCT slice's voxel values. This allows each CBCT slice to be corrected using DIR without altering the patient geometry through regional DIR errors. A retrospective study was performed on 15 head-and-neck cancer patients, each having routine CBCTs and a middle-of-treatment re-planning CT (reCT). The original treatment plan was re-calculated on the patient's reCT image set (serving as the gold standard) as well as the image sets produced by voxel-to-voxel DIR, density-overriding, and the new PSC calibration methods. Dose accuracy of each calibration method was compared to the reference reCT data set using common dose-volume metrics and 3D gamma analysis. A phantom study was also performed to assess the accuracy of the DIR and PSC CBCT calibration methods compared with planning CT. Compared with the gold standard using reCT, the average dose metric differences were ≤ 1.1% for all three methods (PSC: -0.3%; DIR: -0.7%; density-override: -1.1%). The average gamma pass rates with thresholds 3%, 3 mm were also similar among the three techniques (PSC: 95.0%; DIR: 96.1%; density-override: 94.4%). An automated patient-specific calibration method was developed which yielded strong dosimetric agreement with the results obtained using a re-planning CT for head-and-neck patients.
Calibration of Safecast dose rate measurements.
Cervone, Guido; Hultquist, Carolynne
2018-10-01
A methodology is presented to calibrate contributed Safecast dose rate measurements acquired between 2011 and 2016 in the Fukushima prefecture of Japan. The Safecast data are calibrated using observations acquired by the U.S. Department of Energy at the time of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi power plant nuclear accident. The methodology performs a series of interpolations between the U.S. government and contributed datasets at specific temporal windows and at corresponding spatial locations. The coefficients found for all the different temporal windows are aggregated and interpolated using quadratic regressions to generate a time dependent calibration function. Normal background radiation, decay rates, and missing values are taken into account during the analysis. Results show that the standard Safecast static transformation function overestimates the official measurements because it fails to capture the presence of two different Cesium isotopes and their changing magnitudes with time. A model is created to predict the ratio of the isotopes from the time of the accident through 2020. The proposed time dependent calibration takes into account this Cesium isotopes ratio, and it is shown to reduce the error between U.S. government and contributed data. The proposed calibration is needed through 2020, after which date the errors introduced by ignoring the presence of different isotopes will become negligible. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Development of a correction factor for Xe-133 vials for use with a dose calibrator
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Gels, G.L.; Piltingsrud, H.V.
1982-04-01
Manufacturers of dose calibrators who give calibration settings for various radionuclies sometimes do not specify the type of radionuclide container the calibration is for. The container, moreover, may not be of the same type as those a user might purchase. When these factors are not considered, the activity administered to the patient may be significantly different from that intended. An experiment is described in which calibration factors are determined for measurement of Xe-133 activity in vials in a dose calibrator. This was accomplished by transferring the Xe-133 from the commercial vials to standard NBS calibration ampules. Based on ten suchmore » transfers, the resulting correction factor for the dose calibrator was 1.22.« less
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Feng, Yiwei; Tiedje, Henry F.; Gagnon, Katherine; Fedosejevs, Robert
2018-04-01
Radiochromic film is used extensively in many medical, industrial, and scientific applications. In particular, the film is used in analysis of proton generation and in high intensity laser-plasma experiments where very high dose levels can be obtained. The present study reports calibration of the dose response of Gafchromic EBT3 and HD-V2 radiochromic films up to high exposure densities. A 2D scanning confocal densitometer system is employed to carry out accurate optical density measurements up to optical density 5 on the exposed films at the peak spectral absorption wavelengths. Various wavelengths from 400 to 740 nm are also scanned to extend the practical dose range of such films by measuring the response at wavelengths removed from the peak response wavelengths. Calibration curves for the optical density versus exposure dose are determined and can be used for quantitative evaluation of measured doses based on the measured optical densities. It was found that blue and UV wavelengths allowed the largest dynamic range though at some trade-off with overall accuracy.
Accurate EPR radiosensitivity calibration using small sample masses
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Hayes, R. B.; Haskell, E. H.; Barrus, J. K.; Kenner, G. H.; Romanyukha, A. A.
2000-03-01
We demonstrate a procedure in retrospective EPR dosimetry which allows for virtually nondestructive sample evaluation in terms of sample irradiations. For this procedure to work, it is shown that corrections must be made for cavity response characteristics when using variable mass samples. Likewise, methods are employed to correct for empty tube signals, sample anisotropy and frequency drift while considering the effects of dose distribution optimization. A demonstration of the method's utility is given by comparing sample portions evaluated using both the described methodology and standard full sample additive dose techniques. The samples used in this study are tooth enamel from teeth removed during routine dental care. We show that by making all the recommended corrections, very small masses can be both accurately measured and correlated with measurements of other samples. Some issues relating to dose distribution optimization are also addressed.
Laedermann, Jean-Pascal; Valley, Jean-François; Bulling, Shelley; Bochud, François O
2004-06-01
The detection process used in a commercial dose calibrator was modeled using the GEANT 3 Monte Carlo code. Dose calibrator efficiency for gamma and beta emitters, and the response to monoenergetic photons and electrons was calculated. The model shows that beta emitters below 2.5 MeV deposit energy indirectly in the detector through bremsstrahlung produced in the chamber wall or in the source itself. Higher energy beta emitters (E > 2.5 MeV) deposit energy directly in the chamber sensitive volume, and dose calibrator sensitivity increases abruptly for these radionuclides. The Monte Carlo calculations were compared with gamma and beta emitter measurements. The calculations show that the variation in dose calibrator efficiency with measuring conditions (source volume, container diameter, container wall thickness and material, position of the source within the calibrator) is relatively small and can be considered insignificant for routine measurement applications. However, dose calibrator efficiency depends strongly on the inner-wall thickness of the detector.
Rastkhah, E; Zakeri, F; Ghoranneviss, M; Rajabpour, M R; Farshidpour, M R; Mianji, F; Bayat, M
2016-03-01
An in vitro study of the dose responses of human peripheral blood lymphocytes was conducted with the aim of creating calibrated dose-response curves for biodosimetry measuring up to 4 Gy (0.25-4 Gy) of gamma radiation. The cytokinesis-blocked micronucleus (CBMN) assay was employed to obtain the frequencies of micronuclei (MN) per binucleated cell in blood samples from 16 healthy donors (eight males and eight females) in two age ranges of 20-34 and 35-50 years. The data were used to construct the calibration curves for men and women in two age groups, separately. An increase in micronuclei yield with the dose in a linear-quadratic way was observed in all groups. To verify the applicability of the constructed calibration curve, MN yields were measured in peripheral blood lymphocytes of two real overexposed subjects and three irradiated samples with unknown dose, and the results were compared with dose values obtained from measuring dicentric chromosomes. The comparison of the results obtained by the two techniques indicated a good agreement between dose estimates. The average baseline frequency of MN for the 130 healthy non-exposed donors (77 men and 55 women, 20-60 years old divided into four age groups) ranged from 6 to 21 micronuclei per 1000 binucleated cells. Baseline MN frequencies were higher for women and for the older age group. The results presented in this study point out that the CBMN assay is a reliable, easier and valuable alternative method for biological dosimetry.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Muir, B. R., E-mail: Bryan.Muir@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
2015-04-15
Purpose: To analyze absorbed dose calibration coefficients, N{sub D,w}, measured at accredited dosimetry calibration laboratories (ADCLs) for client ionization chambers to study (i) variability among N{sub D,w} coefficients for chambers of the same type calibrated at each ADCL to investigate ion chamber volume fluctuations and chamber manufacturing tolerances; (ii) equivalency of ion chamber calibration coefficients measured at different ADCLs by intercomparing N{sub D,w} coefficients for chambers of the same type; and (iii) the long-term stability of N{sub D,w} coefficients for different chamber types by investigating repeated chamber calibrations. Methods: Large samples of N{sub D,w} coefficients for several chamber types measuredmore » over the time period between 1998 and 2014 were obtained from the three ADCLs operating in the United States. These are analyzed using various graphical and numerical statistical tests for the four chamber types with the largest samples of calibration coefficients to investigate (i) and (ii) above. Ratios of calibration coefficients for the same chamber, typically obtained two years apart, are calculated to investigate (iii) above and chambers with standard deviations of old/new ratios less than 0.3% meet stability requirements for accurate reference dosimetry recommended in dosimetry protocols. Results: It is found that N{sub D,w} coefficients for a given chamber type compared among different ADCLs may arise from differing probability distributions potentially due to slight differences in calibration procedures and/or the transfer of the primary standard. However, average N{sub D,w} coefficients from different ADCLs for given chamber types are very close with percent differences generally less than 0.2% for Farmer-type chambers and are well within reported uncertainties. Conclusions: The close agreement among calibrations performed at different ADCLs reaffirms the Calibration Laboratory Accreditation Subcommittee process of
Time scale controversy: Accurate orbital calibration of the early Paleogene
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Roehl, U.; Westerhold, T.; Laskar, J.
2012-12-01
Timing is crucial to understanding the causes and consequences of events in Earth history. The calibration of geological time relies heavily on the accuracy of radioisotopic and astronomical dating. Uncertainties in the computations of Earth's orbital parameters and in radioisotopic dating have hampered the construction of a reliable astronomically calibrated time scale beyond 40 Ma. Attempts to construct a robust astronomically tuned time scale for the early Paleogene by integrating radioisotopic and astronomical dating are only partially consistent. Here, using the new La2010 and La2011 orbital solutions, we present the first accurate astronomically calibrated time scale for the early Paleogene (47-65 Ma) uniquely based on astronomical tuning and thus independent of the radioisotopic determination of the Fish Canyon standard. Comparison with geological data confirms the stability of the new La2011 solution back to 54 Ma. Subsequent anchoring of floating chronologies to the La2011 solution using the very long eccentricity nodes provides an absolute age of 55.530 ± 0.05 Ma for the onset of the Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), 54.850 ± 0.05 Ma for the early Eocene ash -17, and 65.250 ± 0.06 Ma for the K/Pg boundary. The new astrochronology presented here indicates that the intercalibration and synchronization of U/Pb and 40Ar/39Ar radioisotopic geochronology is much more challenging than previously thought.
Time scale controversy: Accurate orbital calibration of the early Paleogene
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Westerhold, Thomas; RöHl, Ursula; Laskar, Jacques
2012-06-01
Timing is crucial to understanding the causes and consequences of events in Earth history. The calibration of geological time relies heavily on the accuracy of radioisotopic and astronomical dating. Uncertainties in the computations of Earth's orbital parameters and in radioisotopic dating have hampered the construction of a reliable astronomically calibrated time scale beyond 40 Ma. Attempts to construct a robust astronomically tuned time scale for the early Paleogene by integrating radioisotopic and astronomical dating are only partially consistent. Here, using the new La2010 and La2011 orbital solutions, we present the first accurate astronomically calibrated time scale for the early Paleogene (47-65 Ma) uniquely based on astronomical tuning and thus independent of the radioisotopic determination of the Fish Canyon standard. Comparison with geological data confirms the stability of the new La2011 solution back to ˜54 Ma. Subsequent anchoring of floating chronologies to the La2011 solution using the very long eccentricity nodes provides an absolute age of 55.530 ± 0.05 Ma for the onset of the Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), 54.850 ± 0.05 Ma for the early Eocene ash -17, and 65.250 ± 0.06 Ma for the K/Pg boundary. The new astrochronology presented here indicates that the intercalibration and synchronization of U/Pb and 40Ar/39Ar radioisotopic geochronology is much more challenging than previously thought.
Inoue, Yusuke; Abe, Yutaka; Kikuchi, Kei; Miyatake, Hiroki; Watanabe, Atsushi
2017-01-01
Low-energy characteristic x-rays emitted by 111 In and 123 I sources are easily absorbed by the containers of the sources, affecting radioactivity measurements using a dose calibrator. We examined the effects of different containers on the estimated activities. The radioactivities of 111 In, 123 I, 201 Tl, and 99m Tc were measured in containers frequently employed in clinical practice in Japan. The 111 In measurements were performed in the vials A and B of the 111 In-pentetreotide preparation kit and in the plastic syringe. The activities of 123 I-metaiodobenzylguanidine and 201 Tl chloride were measured in the prefilled glass syringes and plastic syringes. The milking vial, vial A, vial B, and plastic syringe were used to assay 99m Tc. For 111 In and 123 I, measurements were performed with and without a copper filter. The filter was inserted into the well of the dose calibrator to absorb low-energy x-rays. The relative estimate was defined as the ratio of the activity estimated with the dose calibrator to the standard activity. The estimated activities varied greatly depending on the container when 111 In and 123 I sources were assayed without the copper filter. The relative estimates of 111 In were 0.908, 1.072, and 1.373 in the vial A, vial B, and plastic syringe, respectively. The relative estimates of 123 I were 1.052 and 1.352 in the glass syringe and plastic syringe, respectively. Use of the copper filter eliminated the container-dependence in 111 In and 123 I measurements. Container-dependence was demonstrated in neither 201 Tl nor 99m Tc measurements. The activities of 111 In and 123 I estimated with a dose calibrator differ greatly among the containers. Accurate estimation may be attained using the container-specific correction factor or using the copper filter.
Nutbrown, R F; Duane, S; Shipley, D R; Thomas, R A S
2002-02-07
The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) provides a high-energy photon calibration service using 4-19 MV x-rays and 60Co gamma-radiation for secondary standard dosemeters in terms of absorbed dose to water. The primary standard used for this service is a graphite calorimeter and so absorbed dose calibrations must be converted from graphite to water. The conversion factors currently in use were determined prior to the launch of this service in 1988. Since then, it has been found that the differences in inherent filtration between the NPL LINAC and typical clinical machines are large enough to affect absorbed dose calibrations and, since 1992, calibrations have been performed in heavily filtered qualities. The conversion factors for heavily filtered qualities were determined by interpolation and extrapolation of lightly filtered results as a function of tissue phantom ratio 20,10 (TPR20,10). This paper aims to evaluate these factors for all mega-voltage photon energies provided by the NPL LINAC for both lightly and heavily filtered qualities and for 60Co y-radiation in two ways. The first method involves the use of the photon fluence-scaling theorem. This states that if two blocks of different material are irradiated by the same photon beam, and if all dimensions are scaled in the inverse ratio of the electron densities of the two media, then, assuming that all photon interactions occur by Compton scatter the photon attenuation and scatter factors at corresponding scaled points of measurement in the phantom will be identical. The second method involves making in-phantom measurements of chamber response at a constant target-chamber distance. Monte Carlo techniques are then used to determine the corresponding dose to the medium in order to determine the chamber calibration factor directly. Values of the ratio of absorbed dose calibration factors in water and in graphite determined in these two ways agree with each other to within 0.2% (1sigma uncertainty). The best fit
Dose Calibration of the ISS-RAD Fast Neutron Detector
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Zeitlin, C.
2015-01-01
The ISS-RAD instrument has been fabricated by Southwest Research Institute and delivered to NASA for flight to the ISS in late 2015 or early 2016. ISS-RAD is essentially two instruments that share a common interface to ISS. The two instruments are the Charged Particle Detector (CPD), which is very similar to the MSL-RAD detector on Mars, and the Fast Neutron Detector (FND), which is a boron-loaded plastic scintillator with readout optimized for the 0.5 to 10 MeV energy range. As the FND is completely new, it has been necessary to develop methodology to allow it to be used to measure the neutron dose and dose equivalent. This talk will focus on the methods developed and their implementation using calibration data obtained in quasi-monoenergetic (QMN) neutron fields at the PTB facility in Braunschweig, Germany. The QMN data allow us to determine an approximate response function, from which we estimate dose and dose equivalent contributions per detected neutron as a function of the pulse height. We refer to these as the "pSv per count" curves for dose equivalent and the "pGy per count" curves for dose. The FND is required to provide a dose equivalent measurement with an accuracy of ?10% of the known value in a calibrated AmBe field. Four variants of the analysis method were developed, corresponding to two different approximations of the pSv per count curve, and two different implementations, one for real-time analysis onboard ISS and one for ground analysis. We will show that the preferred method, when applied in either real-time or ground analysis, yields good accuracy for the AmBe field. We find that the real-time algorithm is more susceptible to chance-coincidence background than is the algorithm used in ground analysis, so that the best estimates will come from the latter.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Klostermann, U. K.; Mülders, T.; Schmöller, T.; Lorusso, G. F.; Hendrickx, E.
2010-04-01
In this paper, we discuss the performance of EUV resist models in terms of predictive accuracy, and we assess the readiness of the corresponding model calibration methodology. The study is done on an extensive OPC data set collected at IMEC for the ShinEtsu resist SEVR-59 on the ASML EUV Alpha Demo Tool (ADT), with the data set including more than thousand CD values. We address practical aspects such as the speed of calibration and selection of calibration patterns. The model is calibrated on 12 process window data series varying in pattern width (32, 36, 40 nm), orientation (H, V) and pitch (dense, isolated). The minimum measured feature size at nominal process condition is a 32 nm CD at a dense pitch of 64 nm. Mask metrology is applied to verify and eventually correct nominal width of the drawn CD. Cross-sectional SEM information is included in the calibration to tune the simulated resist loss and sidewall angle. The achieved calibration RMS is ~ 1.0 nm. We show what elements are important to obtain a well calibrated model. We discuss the impact of 3D mask effects on the Bossung tilt. We demonstrate that a correct representation of the flare level during the calibration is important to achieve a high predictability at various flare conditions. Although the model calibration is performed on a limited subset of the measurement data (one dimensional structures only), its accuracy is validated based on a large number of OPC patterns (at nominal dose and focus conditions) not included in the calibration; validation RMS results as small as 1 nm can be reached. Furthermore, we study the model's extendibility to two-dimensional end of line (EOL) structures. Finally, we correlate the experimentally observed fingerprint of the CD uniformity to a model, where EUV tool specific signatures are taken into account.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Hu, Chen; Chen, Mian-zhou; Li, Hong-bin; Zhang, Zhu; Jiao, Yang; Shao, Haiming
2018-05-01
Ordinarily electronic voltage transformers (EVTs) are calibrated off-line and the calibration procedure requires complex switching operations, which will influence the reliability of the power grid and induce large economic losses. To overcome this problem, this paper investigates a 110 kV on-site calibration system for EVTs, including a standard channel, a calibrated channel and a PC equipped with the LabView environment. The standard channel employs a standard capacitor and an analogue integrating circuit to reconstruct the primary voltage signal. Moreover, an adaptive full-phase discrete Fourier transform (DFT) algorithm is proposed to extract electrical parameters. The algorithm involves the process of extracting the frequency of the grid, adjusting the operation points, and calculating the results using DFT. In addition, an insulated automatic lifting device is designed to realize the live connection of the standard capacitor, which is driven by a wireless remote controller. A performance test of the capacitor verifies the accurateness of the standard capacitor. A system calibration test shows that the system ratio error is less than 0.04% and the phase error is below 2‧, which meets the requirement of the 0.2 accuracy class. Finally, the developed calibration system was used in a substation, and the field test data validates the availability of the system.
Dose calibrator linearity test: 99mTc versus 18F radioisotopes*
Willegaignon, José; Sapienza, Marcelo Tatit; Coura-Filho, George Barberio; Garcez, Alexandre Teles; Alves, Carlos Eduardo Gonzalez Ribeiro; Cardona, Marissa Anabel Rivera; Gutterres, Ricardo Fraga; Buchpiguel, Carlos Alberto
2015-01-01
Objective The present study was aimed at evaluating the viability of replacing 18F with 99mTc in dose calibrator linearity testing. Materials and Methods The test was performed with sources of 99mTc (62 GBq) and 18F (12 GBq) whose activities were measured up to values lower than 1 MBq. Ratios and deviations between experimental and theoretical 99mTc and 18F sources activities were calculated and subsequently compared. Results Mean deviations between experimental and theoretical 99mTc and 18F sources activities were 0.56 (± 1.79)% and 0.92 (± 1.19)%, respectively. The mean ratio between activities indicated by the device for the 99mTc source as measured with the equipment pre-calibrated to measure 99mTc and 18F was 3.42 (± 0.06), and for the 18F source this ratio was 3.39 (± 0.05), values considered constant over the measurement time. Conclusion The results of the linearity test using 99mTc were compatible with those obtained with the 18F source, indicating the viability of utilizing both radioisotopes in dose calibrator linearity testing. Such information in association with the high potential of radiation exposure and costs involved in 18F acquisition suggest 99mTc as the element of choice to perform dose calibrator linearity tests in centers that use 18F, without any detriment to the procedure as well as to the quality of the nuclear medicine service. PMID:25798005
An update on 'dose calibrator' settings for nuclides used in nuclear medicine.
Bergeron, Denis E; Cessna, Jeffrey T
2018-06-01
Most clinical measurements of radioactivity, whether for therapeutic or imaging nuclides, rely on commercial re-entrant ionization chambers ('dose calibrators'). The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) maintains a battery of representative calibrators and works to link calibration settings ('dial settings') to primary radioactivity standards. Here, we provide a summary of NIST-determined dial settings for 22 radionuclides. We collected previously published dial settings and determined some new ones using either the calibration curve method or the dialing-in approach. The dial settings with their uncertainties are collected in a comprehensive table. In general, current manufacturer-provided calibration settings give activities that agree with National Institute of Standards and Technology standards to within a few percent.
Improved patient size estimates for accurate dose calculations in abdomen computed tomography
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lee, Chang-Lae
2017-07-01
The radiation dose of CT (computed tomography) is generally represented by the CTDI (CT dose index). CTDI, however, does not accurately predict the actual patient doses for different human body sizes because it relies on a cylinder-shaped head (diameter : 16 cm) and body (diameter : 32 cm) phantom. The purpose of this study was to eliminate the drawbacks of the conventional CTDI and to provide more accurate radiation dose information. Projection radiographs were obtained from water cylinder phantoms of various sizes, and the sizes of the water cylinder phantoms were calculated and verified using attenuation profiles. The effective diameter was also calculated using the attenuation of the abdominal projection radiographs of 10 patients. When the results of the attenuation-based method and the geometry-based method shown were compared with the results of the reconstructed-axial-CT-image-based method, the effective diameter of the attenuation-based method was found to be similar to the effective diameter of the reconstructed-axial-CT-image-based method, with a difference of less than 3.8%, but the geometry-based method showed a difference of less than 11.4%. This paper proposes a new method of accurately computing the radiation dose of CT based on the patient sizes. This method computes and provides the exact patient dose before the CT scan, and can therefore be effectively used for imaging and dose control.
Wang, Fei; Dong, Hang; Chen, Yanan; Zheng, Nanning
2016-12-09
Strong demands for accurate non-cooperative target measurement have been arising recently for the tasks of assembling and capturing. Spherical objects are one of the most common targets in these applications. However, the performance of the traditional vision-based reconstruction method was limited for practical use when handling poorly-textured targets. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-sensor fusion system for measuring and reconstructing textureless non-cooperative spherical targets. Our system consists of four simple lasers and a visual camera. This paper presents a complete framework of estimating the geometric parameters of textureless spherical targets: (1) an approach to calibrate the extrinsic parameters between a camera and simple lasers; and (2) a method to reconstruct the 3D position of the laser spots on the target surface and achieve the refined results via an optimized scheme. The experiment results show that our proposed calibration method can obtain a fine calibration result, which is comparable to the state-of-the-art LRF-based methods, and our calibrated system can estimate the geometric parameters with high accuracy in real time.
Wang, Fei; Dong, Hang; Chen, Yanan; Zheng, Nanning
2016-01-01
Strong demands for accurate non-cooperative target measurement have been arising recently for the tasks of assembling and capturing. Spherical objects are one of the most common targets in these applications. However, the performance of the traditional vision-based reconstruction method was limited for practical use when handling poorly-textured targets. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-sensor fusion system for measuring and reconstructing textureless non-cooperative spherical targets. Our system consists of four simple lasers and a visual camera. This paper presents a complete framework of estimating the geometric parameters of textureless spherical targets: (1) an approach to calibrate the extrinsic parameters between a camera and simple lasers; and (2) a method to reconstruct the 3D position of the laser spots on the target surface and achieve the refined results via an optimized scheme. The experiment results show that our proposed calibration method can obtain a fine calibration result, which is comparable to the state-of-the-art LRF-based methods, and our calibrated system can estimate the geometric parameters with high accuracy in real time. PMID:27941705
Ravichandran, Ramamoorthy; Binukumar, Johnson Pichy; Davis, Cheriyathmanjiyil Antony
2013-01-01
The measured dose in water at reference point in phantom is a primary parameter for planning the treatment monitor units (MU); both in conventional and intensity modulated/image guided treatments. Traceability of dose accuracy therefore still depends mainly on the calibration factor of the ion chamber/dosimeter provided by the accredited Secondary Standard Dosimetry Laboratories (SSDLs), under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) network of laboratories. The data related to Nd,water calibrations, thermoluminescent dosimetry (TLD) postal dose validation, inter-comparison of different dosimeter/electrometers, and validity of Nd,water calibrations obtained from different calibration laboratories were analyzed to find out the extent of accuracy achievable. Nd,w factors in Gray/Coulomb calibrated at IBA, GmBH, Germany showed a mean variation of about 0.2% increase per year in three Farmer chambers, in three subsequent calibrations. Another ion chamber calibrated in different accredited laboratory (PTW, Germany) showed consistent Nd,w for 9 years period. The Strontium-90 beta check source response indicated long-term stability of the ion chambers within 1% for three chambers. Results of IAEA postal TL “dose intercomparison” for three photon beams, 6 MV (two) and 15 MV (one), agreed well within our reported doses, with mean deviation of 0.03% (SD 0.87%) (n = 9). All the chamber/electrometer calibrated by a single SSDL realized absorbed doses in water within 0.13% standard deviations. However, about 1-2% differences in absorbed dose estimates observed when dosimeters calibrated from different calibration laboratories are compared in solid phantoms. Our data therefore imply that the dosimetry level maintained for clinical use of linear accelerator photon beams are within recommended levels of accuracy, and uncertainties are within reported values. PMID:24672156
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
He, Wantao; Li, Zhongwei; Zhong, Kai; Shi, Yusheng; Zhao, Can; Cheng, Xu
2014-11-01
Fast and precise 3D inspection system is in great demand in modern manufacturing processes. At present, the available sensors have their own pros and cons, and hardly exist an omnipotent sensor to handle the complex inspection task in an accurate and effective way. The prevailing solution is integrating multiple sensors and taking advantages of their strengths. For obtaining a holistic 3D profile, the data from different sensors should be registrated into a coherent coordinate system. However, some complex shape objects own thin wall feather such as blades, the ICP registration method would become unstable. Therefore, it is very important to calibrate the extrinsic parameters of each sensor in the integrated measurement system. This paper proposed an accurate and automatic extrinsic parameter calibration method for blade measurement system integrated by different optical sensors. In this system, fringe projection sensor (FPS) and conoscopic holography sensor (CHS) is integrated into a multi-axis motion platform, and the sensors can be optimally move to any desired position at the object's surface. In order to simple the calibration process, a special calibration artifact is designed according to the characteristics of the two sensors. An automatic registration procedure based on correlation and segmentation is used to realize the artifact datasets obtaining by FPS and CHS rough alignment without any manual operation and data pro-processing, and then the Generalized Gauss-Markoff model is used to estimate the optimization transformation parameters. The experiments show the measurement result of a blade, where several sampled patches are merged into one point cloud, and it verifies the performance of the proposed method.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Carpentieri, C.; Schwarz, C.; Ludwig, J.; Ashfaq, A.; Fiederle, M.
2002-07-01
High precision concerning the dose calibration of X-ray sources is required when counting and integrating methods are compared. The dose calibration for a dental X-ray tube was executed with special dose calibration equipment (dosimeter) as function of exposure time and rate. Results were compared with a benchmark spectrum and agree within ±1.5%. Dead time investigations with the Medipix1 photon-counting chip (PCC) have been performed by rate variations. Two different types of dead time, paralysable and non-paralysable will be discussed. The dead time depends on settings of the front-end electronics and is a function of signal height, which might lead to systematic defects of systems. Dead time losses in excess of 30% have been found for the PCC at 200 kHz absorbed photons per pixel.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Rong Yi, E-mail: rong@humonc.wisc.ed; Smilowitz, Jennifer; Tewatia, Dinesh
2010-10-01
Precise calibration of Hounsfield units (HU) to electron density (HU-density) is essential to dose calculation. On-board kV cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) imaging is used predominantly for patients' positioning, but will potentially be used for dose calculation. The impacts of varying 3 imaging parameters (mAs, source-imager distance [SID], and cone angle) and phantom size on the HU number accuracy and HU-density calibrations for CBCT imaging were studied. We proposed a site-specific calibration method to achieve higher accuracy in CBCT image-based dose calculation. Three configurations of the Computerized Imaging Reference Systems (CIRS) water equivalent electron density phantom were used to simulatemore » sites including head, lungs, and lower body (abdomen/pelvis). The planning computed tomography (CT) scan was used as the baseline for comparisons. CBCT scans of these phantom configurations were performed using Varian Trilogy{sup TM} system in a precalibrated mode with fixed tube voltage (125 kVp), but varied mAs, SID, and cone angle. An HU-density curve was generated and evaluated for each set of scan parameters. Three HU-density tables generated using different phantom configurations with the same imaging parameter settings were selected for dose calculation on CBCT images for an accuracy comparison. Changing mAs or SID had small impact on HU numbers. For adipose tissue, the HU discrepancy from the baseline was 20 HU in a small phantom, but 5 times lager in a large phantom. Yet, reducing the cone angle significantly decreases the HU discrepancy. The HU-density table was also affected accordingly. By performing dose comparison between CT and CBCT image-based plans, results showed that using the site-specific HU-density tables to calibrate CBCT images of different sites improves the dose accuracy to {approx}2%. Our phantom study showed that CBCT imaging can be a feasible option for dose computation in adaptive radiotherapy approach if the site
Cenizo, E; García-Pareja, S; Galán, P; Bodineau, C; Caudepón, F; Casado, F J
2011-05-01
Asymmetric collimators are currently available in most of linear accelerators. They involve a lot of clinical improvements, such as the monoisocentric beam split technique that is more and more used in many external radiotherapy treatments. The tolerance established for each independent jaw positioning is 1 mm. Within this tolerance, a gap or overlap of the collimators up to 2 mm can occur in the half beams matching region, causing dose heterogeneities up to 40%. In order to solve this dosimetric problem, we propose an accurate jaw calibration method based on the Monte Carlo modeling of linac photon beams. Simulating different jaw misalignments, the dose distribution occurring in the matching region for each particular configuration is precisely known, so we can relate the misalignment of the jaws with the maximum heterogeneity produced. From experimental measurements using film dosimetry, and taking into account Monte Carlo results, we obtain the actual misalignment of each jaw. By direct inspection of the readings of the potentiometers that control the position of the jaws, high precision correction can be performed, adjusting the obtained misalignments. In the linac studied, the dose heterogeneity in the junction performed with X jaws (those farther from the source), and 6 MV photon beam was initially over 12%, although each jaw was within the tolerance in position. After jaw calibration, the heterogeneity was reduced to below 3%. With this method, we are able to reduce the positioning accuracy to 0.2 mm. Consequently, the dose distribution in the junction of abutted fields is highly smoothed, achieving the maximum dose heterogeneity to be less than 3%.
Xu, Xiuqing; Yang, Xiuhan; Martin, Steven J; Mes, Edwin; Chen, Junlan; Meunier, David M
2018-08-17
Accurate measurement of molecular weight averages (M¯ n, M¯ w, M¯ z ) and molecular weight distributions (MWD) of polyether polyols by conventional SEC (size exclusion chromatography) is not as straightforward as it would appear. Conventional calibration with polystyrene (PS) standards can only provide PS apparent molecular weights which do not provide accurate estimates of polyol molecular weights. Using polyethylene oxide/polyethylene glycol (PEO/PEG) for molecular weight calibration could improve the accuracy, but the retention behavior of PEO/PEG is not stable in THF-based (tetrahydrofuran) SEC systems. In this work, two approaches for calibration curve conversion with narrow PS and polyol molecular weight standards were developed. Equations to convert PS-apparent molecular weight to polyol-apparent molecular weight were developed using both a rigorous mathematical analysis and graphical plot regression method. The conversion equations obtained by the two approaches were in good agreement. Factors influencing the conversion equation were investigated. It was concluded that the separation conditions such as column batch and operating temperature did not have significant impact on the conversion coefficients and a universal conversion equation could be obtained. With this conversion equation, more accurate estimates of molecular weight averages and MWDs for polyether polyols can be achieved from conventional PS-THF SEC calibration. Moreover, no additional experimentation is required to convert historical PS equivalent data to reasonably accurate molecular weight results. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Apicella, B; Wang, X; Passaro, M; Ciajolo, A; Russo, C
2016-10-15
Time-of-Flight (TOF) Mass Spectrometry is a powerful analytical technique, provided that an accurate calibration by standard molecules in the same m/z range of the analytes is performed. Calibration in a very large m/z range is a difficult task, particularly in studies focusing on the detection of high molecular weight clusters of different molecules or high molecular weight species. External calibration is the most common procedure used for TOF mass spectrometric analysis in the gas phase and, generally, the only available standards are made up of mixtures of noble gases, covering a small mass range for calibration, up to m/z 136 (higher mass isotope of xenon). In this work, an accurate calibration of a Molecular Beam Time-of Flight Mass Spectrometer (MB-TOFMS) is presented, based on the use of water clusters up to m/z 3000. The advantages of calibrating a MB-TOFMS with water clusters for the detection of analytes with masses above those of the traditional calibrants such as noble gases were quantitatively shown by statistical calculations. A comparison of the water cluster and noble gases calibration procedures in attributing the masses to a test mixture extending up to m/z 800 is also reported. In the case of the analysis of combustion products, another important feature of water cluster calibration was shown, that is the possibility of using them as "internal standard" directly formed from the combustion water, under suitable experimental conditions. The water clusters calibration of a MB-TOFMS gives rise to a ten-fold reduction in error compared to the traditional calibration with noble gases. The consequent improvement in mass accuracy in the calibration of a MB-TOFMS has important implications in various fields where detection of high molecular mass species is required. In combustion products analysis, it is also possible to obtain a new calibration spectrum before the acquisition of each spectrum, only modifying some operative conditions. Copyright © 2016
Pajic, J; Rakic, B; Jovicic, D; Milovanovic, A
2014-10-01
Biological dosimetry using chromosome damage biomarkers is a valuable dose assessment method in cases of radiation overexposure with or without physical dosimetry data. In order to estimate dose by biodosimetry, any biological dosimetry service have to have its own dose response calibration curve. This paper reveals the results obtained after irradiation of blood samples from fourteen healthy male and female volunteers in order to establish biodosimetry in Serbia and produce dose response calibration curves for dicentrics and micronuclei. Taking into account pooled data from all the donors, the resultant fitted curve for dicentrics is: Ydic=0.0009 (±0.0003)+0.0421 (±0.0042)×D+0.0602 (±0.0022)×D(2); and for micronuclei: Ymn=0.0104 (±0.0015)+0.0824 (±0.0050)×D+0.0189 (±0.0017)×D(2). Following establishment of the dose response curve, a validation experiment was carried out with four blood samples. Applied and estimated doses were in good agreement. On this basis, the results reported here give us confidence to apply both calibration curves for future biological dosimetry requirements in Serbia. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Randeniya, S; Mirkovic, D; Titt, U
2014-06-01
Purpose: In intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT), energy dependent, protons per monitor unit (MU) calibration factors are important parameters that determine absolute dose values from energy deposition data obtained from Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. Purpose of this study was to assess the sensitivity of MC-computed absolute dose distributions to the protons/MU calibration factors in IMPT. Methods: A “verification plan” (i.e., treatment beams applied individually to water phantom) of a head and neck patient plan was calculated using MC technique. The patient plan had three beams; one posterior-anterior (PA); two anterior oblique. Dose prescription was 66 Gy in 30 fractions. Ofmore » the total MUs, 58% was delivered in PA beam, 25% and 17% in other two. Energy deposition data obtained from the MC simulation were converted to Gy using energy dependent protons/MU calibrations factors obtained from two methods. First method is based on experimental measurements and MC simulations. Second is based on hand calculations, based on how many ion pairs were produced per proton in the dose monitor and how many ion pairs is equal to 1 MU (vendor recommended method). Dose distributions obtained from method one was compared with those from method two. Results: Average difference of 8% in protons/MU calibration factors between method one and two converted into 27 % difference in absolute dose values for PA beam; although dose distributions preserved the shape of 3D dose distribution qualitatively, they were different quantitatively. For two oblique beams, significant difference in absolute dose was not observed. Conclusion: Results demonstrate that protons/MU calibration factors can have a significant impact on absolute dose values in IMPT depending on the fraction of MUs delivered. When number of MUs increases the effect due to the calibration factors amplify. In determining protons/MU calibration factors, experimental method should be preferred in MC dose calculations
Poster - 53: Improving inter-linac DMLC IMRT dose precision by fine tuning of MLC leaf calibration
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Nakonechny, Keith; Tran, Muoi; Sasaki, David
Purpose: To develop a method to improve the inter-linac precision of DMLC IMRT dosimetry. Methods: The distance between opposing MLC leaf banks (“gap size”) can be finely tuned on Varian linacs. The dosimetric effect due to small deviations from the nominal gap size (“gap error”) was studied by introducing known errors for several DMLC sliding gap sizes, and for clinical plans based on the TG119 test cases. The plans were delivered on a single Varian linac and the relationship between gap error and the corresponding change in dose was measured. The plans were also delivered on eight Varian 2100 seriesmore » linacs (at two institutions) in order to quantify the inter-linac variation in dose before and after fine tuning the MLC calibration. Results: The measured dose differences for each field agreed well with the predictions of LoSasso et al. Using the default MLC calibration, the variation in the physical MLC gap size was determined to be less than 0.4 mm between all linacs studied. The dose difference between the linacs with the largest and smallest physical gap was up to 5.4% (spinal cord region of the head and neck TG119 test case). This difference was reduced to 2.5% after fine tuning the MLC gap calibration. Conclusions: The inter-linac dose precision for DMLC IMRT on Varian linacs can be improved using a simple modification of the MLC calibration procedure that involves fine adjustment of the nominal gap size.« less
Study of Fricke-gel dosimeter calibration for attaining precise measurements of the absorbed dose
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Liosi, Giulia Maria; Benedini, Sara; Giacobbo, Francesca
2015-07-01
A method has been studied for attaining, with good precision, absolute measurements of the spatial distribution of the absorbed dose by means of the Fricke gelatin Xylenol Orange dosimetric system. With this aim, the dose response to subsequent irradiations was analyzed. In fact, the proposed modality is based on a pre-irradiation of each single dosimeter in a uniform field with a known dose, in order to extrapolate a calibration image for a subsequent non-uniform irradiation with an un-known dose to be measured. (authors)
Morrell, Rachel E; Rogers, Andy
2004-12-21
Kodak EDR2 film has been calibrated across the range of exposure conditions encountered in our cardiac catheterization laboratory. Its dose-response function has been successfully modelled, up to the saturation point of 1 Gy. The most important factor affecting film sensitivity is the use of beam filtration. Spectral filtration and kVp together account for a variation in dose per optical density of -10% to +25%, at 160 mGy. The use of a dynamic wedge filter may cause doses to be underestimated by up to 6%. The film is relatively insensitive to variations in batch, field size, exposure rate, time to processing and day-to-day fluctuations in processor performance. Overall uncertainty in the calibration is estimated to be -20% to +40%, at 160 mGy. However, the uncertainty increases at higher doses, as the curve saturates. Artefacts were seen on a number of films, due to faults in the light-proofing of the film packets.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Olafsdottir, Kristin B.; Mudelsee, Manfred
2013-04-01
Estimation of the Pearson's correlation coefficient between two time series to evaluate the influences of one time depended variable on another is one of the most often used statistical method in climate sciences. Various methods are used to estimate confidence interval to support the correlation point estimate. Many of them make strong mathematical assumptions regarding distributional shape and serial correlation, which are rarely met. More robust statistical methods are needed to increase the accuracy of the confidence intervals. Bootstrap confidence intervals are estimated in the Fortran 90 program PearsonT (Mudelsee, 2003), where the main intention was to get an accurate confidence interval for correlation coefficient between two time series by taking the serial dependence of the process that generated the data into account. However, Monte Carlo experiments show that the coverage accuracy for smaller data sizes can be improved. Here we adapt the PearsonT program into a new version called PearsonT3, by calibrating the confidence interval to increase the coverage accuracy. Calibration is a bootstrap resampling technique, which basically performs a second bootstrap loop or resamples from the bootstrap resamples. It offers, like the non-calibrated bootstrap confidence intervals, robustness against the data distribution. Pairwise moving block bootstrap is used to preserve the serial correlation of both time series. The calibration is applied to standard error based bootstrap Student's t confidence intervals. The performances of the calibrated confidence intervals are examined with Monte Carlo simulations, and compared with the performances of confidence intervals without calibration, that is, PearsonT. The coverage accuracy is evidently better for the calibrated confidence intervals where the coverage error is acceptably small (i.e., within a few percentage points) already for data sizes as small as 20. One form of climate time series is output from numerical models
A new apparatus for on-site calibration of gamma dose rate monitors
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Zhang, Yu; Chen, Bo; Zhao, Chao; Zhuo, Weihai
2018-01-01
In order to carry out on-site calibrations of environmental gamma dose rate monitors, a new irradiation apparatus was developed in this study. The apparatus mainly consists of a piece of 137Cs source, a set of beam attenuators, and 3 built-in laser rangefinders, and it can be remotely controlled by using a laptop through WiFi network. With an activity of 4.6 × 108 Bq of 137Cs source, the reference air kerma rate could be adjusted from 0.26 μGy h-1 to 140 μGy h-1 by changing the calibration distance from 0.5 m to 5 m and using different beam attenuators (or none), and both the reproducibility and the homogeneity of reference radiation were better than 97%. The overall uncertainty of the calibration was estimated to be 6.5% (k = 2). Both the laboratory and field experiments confirmed that the calibration method met the requirements of ISO 4037-1. As the advantages of portability and simplicity, it is considered that the new irradiation apparatus is applicable to stationary gamma radiation monitors for on-site calibration.
ARCSTONE: Accurate Calibration of Lunar Spectral Reflectance from space
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Young, C. L.; Lukashin, C.; Jackson, T.; Cooney, M.; Ryan, N.; Beverly, J.; Davis, W.; Nguyen, T.; Rutherford, G.; Swanson, R.; Kehoe, M.; Kopp, G.; Smith, P.; Woodward, J.; Carvo, J.; Stone, T.
2017-12-01
Calibration accuracy and consistency are key on-orbit performance metrics for Earth observing sensors. The accuracy and consistency of measurements across multiple instruments in low Earth and geostationary orbits are directly connected to the scientific understanding of complex systems, such as Earth's weather and climate. Recent studies have demonstrated the quantitative impacts of observational accuracy on the science data products [1] and the ability to detect climate change trends for essential climate variables (e.g., Earth's radiation budget, cloud feedback, and long-term trends in cloud parameters) [2, 3]. It is common for sensors to carry references for calibration at various wavelengths onboard, but these can be subject to degradation and increase mass and risk. The Moon can be considered a natural solar diffuser in space. Establishing the Moon as an on-orbit high-accuracy calibration reference enables broad intercalibration opportunities, as the lunar reflectance is time-invariant and can be directly measured by most Earth-observing instruments. Existing approaches to calibrate sensors against the Moon can achieve stabilities of a tenth of a percent over a decade, as demonstrated by the SeaWIFS. However, the current lunar calibration quality, with 5 - 10% bias, depends on the photometric model of the Moon [4]. Significant improvements in the lunar reference are possible and are necessary for climate-level absolute calibrations using the Moon. The ARCSTONE instrument will provide a reliable reference for high-accuracy on-orbit calibration for reflected solar instruments. An orbiting spectrometer flying on a CubeSat in low Earth orbit will provide lunar spectral reflectance with accuracy < 0.5% (k = 1), sufficient to establish an SI-traceable absolute lunar calibration standard for past, current, and future Earth weather and climate sensors. The ARCSTONE team will present the instrument design status and path forward for development, building, calibration
Calibration of X-Ray Observatories
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Weisskopf, Martin C.; L'Dell, Stephen L.
2011-01-01
Accurate calibration of x-ray observatories has proved an elusive goal. Inaccuracies and inconsistencies amongst on-ground measurements, differences between on-ground and in-space performance, in-space performance changes, and the absence of cosmic calibration standards whose physics we truly understand have precluded absolute calibration better than several percent and relative spectral calibration better than a few percent. The philosophy "the model is the calibration" relies upon a complete high-fidelity model of performance and an accurate verification and calibration of this model. As high-resolution x-ray spectroscopy begins to play a more important role in astrophysics, additional issues in accurately calibrating at high spectral resolution become more evident. Here we review the challenges of accurately calibrating the absolute and relative response of x-ray observatories. On-ground x-ray testing by itself is unlikely to achieve a high-accuracy calibration of in-space performance, especially when the performance changes with time. Nonetheless, it remains an essential tool in verifying functionality and in characterizing and verifying the performance model. In the absence of verified cosmic calibration sources, we also discuss the notion of an artificial, in-space x-ray calibration standard. 6th
Kune, Christopher; Far, Johann; De Pauw, Edwin
2016-12-06
Ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) is a gas phase separation technique, which relies on differences in collision cross section (CCS) of ions. Ionic clouds of unresolved conformers overlap if the CCS difference is below the instrumental resolution expressed as CCS/ΔCCS. The experimental arrival time distribution (ATD) peak is then a superimposition of the various contributions weighted by their relative intensities. This paper introduces a strategy for accurate drift time determination using traveling wave ion mobility spectrometry (TWIMS) of poorly resolved or unresolved conformers. This method implements through a calibration procedure the link between the peak full width at half-maximum (fwhm) and the drift time of model compounds for wide range of settings for wave heights and velocities. We modified a Gaussian equation, which achieves the deconvolution of ATD peaks where the fwhm is fixed according to our calibration procedure. The new fitting Gaussian equation only depends on two parameters: The apex of the peak (A) and the mean drift time value (μ). The standard deviation parameter (correlated to fwhm) becomes a function of the drift time. This correlation function between μ and fwhm is obtained using the TWIMS calibration procedure which determines the maximum instrumental ion beam diffusion under limited and controlled space charge effect using ionic compounds which are detected as single conformers in the gas phase. This deconvolution process has been used to highlight the presence of poorly resolved conformers of crown ether complexes and peptides leading to more accurate CCS determinations in better agreement with quantum chemistry predictions.
SU-F-T-492: The Impact of Water Temperature On Absolute Dose Calibration
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Islam, N; Podgorsak, M; Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY
Purpose: The Task Group 51 (TG 51) protocol prescribes that dose calibration of photon beams be done by irradiating an ionization chamber in a water tank at pre-defined depths. Methodologies are provided to account for variations in measurement conditions by applying correction factors. However, the protocol does not completely account for the impact of water temperature. It is well established that water temperature will influence the density of air in the ion chamber collecting volume. Water temperature, however, will also influence the size of the collecting volume via thermal expansion of the cavity wall and the density of the watermore » in the tank. In this work the overall effect of water temperature on absolute dosimetry has been investigated. Methods: Dose measurements were made using a Farmer-type ion chamber for 6 and 23 MV photon beams with water temperatures ranging from 10 to 40°C. A reference ion chamber was used to account for fluctuations in beam output between successive measurements. Results: For the same beam output, the dose determined using TG 51 was dependent on the temperature of the water in the tank. A linear regression of the data suggests that the dependence is statistically significant with p-values of the slope equal to 0.003 and 0.01 for 6 and 23 MV beams, respectively. For a 10 degree increase in water phantom temperature, the absolute dose determined with TG 51 increased by 0.27% and 0.31% for 6 and 23 MV beams, respectively. Conclusion: There is a measurable effect of water temperature on absolute dose calibration. To account for this effect, a reference temperature can be defined and a correction factor applied to account for deviations from this reference temperature during beam calibration. Such a factor is expected to be of similar magnitude to most of the existing TG 51 correction factors.« less
Obtaining Accurate Probabilities Using Classifier Calibration
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Pakdaman Naeini, Mahdi
2016-01-01
Learning probabilistic classification and prediction models that generate accurate probabilities is essential in many prediction and decision-making tasks in machine learning and data mining. One way to achieve this goal is to post-process the output of classification models to obtain more accurate probabilities. These post-processing methods are…
How accurately can the peak skin dose in fluoroscopy be determined using indirect dose metrics?
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Jones, A. Kyle, E-mail: kyle.jones@mdanderson.org; Ensor, Joe E.; Pasciak, Alexander S.
Purpose: Skin dosimetry is important for fluoroscopically-guided interventions, as peak skin doses (PSD) that result in skin reactions can be reached during these procedures. There is no consensus as to whether or not indirect skin dosimetry is sufficiently accurate for fluoroscopically-guided interventions. However, measuring PSD with film is difficult and the decision to do so must be madea priori. The purpose of this study was to assess the accuracy of different types of indirect dose estimates and to determine if PSD can be calculated within ±50% using indirect dose metrics for embolization procedures. Methods: PSD were measured directly using radiochromicmore » film for 41 consecutive embolization procedures at two sites. Indirect dose metrics from the procedures were collected, including reference air kerma. Four different estimates of PSD were calculated from the indirect dose metrics and compared along with reference air kerma to the measured PSD for each case. The four indirect estimates included a standard calculation method, the use of detailed information from the radiation dose structured report, and two simplified calculation methods based on the standard method. Indirect dosimetry results were compared with direct measurements, including an analysis of uncertainty associated with film dosimetry. Factors affecting the accuracy of the different indirect estimates were examined. Results: When using the standard calculation method, calculated PSD were within ±35% for all 41 procedures studied. Calculated PSD were within ±50% for a simplified method using a single source-to-patient distance for all calculations. Reference air kerma was within ±50% for all but one procedure. Cases for which reference air kerma or calculated PSD exhibited large (±35%) differences from the measured PSD were analyzed, and two main causative factors were identified: unusually small or large source-to-patient distances and large contributions to reference air kerma from
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Tamaru, S.; Kubota, H.; Yakushiji, K.; Fukushima, A.; Yuasa, S.
2017-11-01
This work presents a technique to calibrate the spin torque oscillator (STO) measurement system by utilizing the whiteness of shot noise. The raw shot noise spectrum in a magnetic tunnel junction based STO in the microwave frequency range is obtained by first subtracting the baseline noise, and then excluding the field dependent mag-noise components reflecting the thermally excited spin wave resonances. As the shot noise is guaranteed to be completely white, the total gain of the signal path should be proportional to the shot noise spectrum obtained by the above procedure, which allows for an accurate gain calibration of the system and a quantitative determination of each noise power. The power spectral density of the shot noise as a function of bias voltage obtained by this technique was compared with a theoretical calculation, which showed excellent agreement when the Fano factor was assumed to be 0.99.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Rana, V K; Vijayan, S; Rudin, S R
Purpose: To determine the appropriate calibration factor to use when calculating skin dose with our real-time dose-tracking system (DTS) during neuro-interventional fluoroscopic procedures by evaluating the difference in backscatter from different phantoms and as a function of entrance-skin field area. Methods: We developed a dose-tracking system to calculate and graphically display the cumulative skin-dose distribution in real time. To calibrate the DTS for neuro-interventional procedures, a phantom is needed that closely approximates the scattering properties of the head. We compared the x-ray backscatter from eight phantoms: 20-cm-thick solid water, 16-cm diameter water-filled container, 16-cm CTDI phantom, modified-ANSI head phantom, 20-cm-thickmore » PMMA, Kyoto-Kagaku PBU- 50 head, Phantom-Labs SK-150 head, and RSD RS-240T head. The phantoms were placed on the patient table with the entrance surface at 15 cm tube-side from the isocenter of a Toshiba Infinix C-arm, and the entrance-skin exposure was measured with a calibrated 6-cc PTW ionization chamber. The measurement included primary radiation, backscatter from the phantom and forward scatter from the table and pad. The variation in entrance-skin exposure was also measured as a function of the skin-entrance area for a 30x30 cm by 20-cm-thick PMMA phantom and the SK-150 head phantom using four different added beam filters. Results: The entranceskin exposure values measured for eight different phantoms differed by up to 12%, while the ratio of entrance exposure of all phantoms relative to solid water showed less than 3% variation with kVp. The change in entrance-skin exposure with entrance-skin area was found to differ for the SK-150 head compared to the 20-cm PMMA phantom and the variation with field area was dependent on the added beam filtration. Conclusion: To accurately calculate skin dose for neuro-interventional procedures with the DTS, the phantom for calibration should be carefully chosen since
SU-E-J-85: Leave-One-Out Perturbation (LOOP) Fitting Algorithm for Absolute Dose Film Calibration
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Chu, A; Ahmad, M; Chen, Z
2014-06-01
Purpose: To introduce an outliers-recognition fitting routine for film dosimetry. It cannot only be flexible with any linear and non-linear regression but also can provide information for the minimal number of sampling points, critical sampling distributions and evaluating analytical functions for absolute film-dose calibration. Methods: The technique, leave-one-out (LOO) cross validation, is often used for statistical analyses on model performance. We used LOO analyses with perturbed bootstrap fitting called leave-one-out perturbation (LOOP) for film-dose calibration . Given a threshold, the LOO process detects unfit points (“outliers”) compared to other cohorts, and a bootstrap fitting process follows to seek any possibilitiesmore » of using perturbations for further improvement. After that outliers were reconfirmed by a traditional t-test statistics and eliminated, then another LOOP feedback resulted in the final. An over-sampled film-dose- calibration dataset was collected as a reference (dose range: 0-800cGy), and various simulated conditions for outliers and sampling distributions were derived from the reference. Comparisons over the various conditions were made, and the performance of fitting functions, polynomial and rational functions, were evaluated. Results: (1) LOOP can prove its sensitive outlier-recognition by its statistical correlation to an exceptional better goodness-of-fit as outliers being left-out. (2) With sufficient statistical information, the LOOP can correct outliers under some low-sampling conditions that other “robust fits”, e.g. Least Absolute Residuals, cannot. (3) Complete cross-validated analyses of LOOP indicate that the function of rational type demonstrates a much superior performance compared to the polynomial. Even with 5 data points including one outlier, using LOOP with rational function can restore more than a 95% value back to its reference values, while the polynomial fitting completely failed under the same
Calibration of entrance dose measurement for an in vivo dosimetry programme.
Ding, W; Patterson, W; Tremethick, L; Joseph, D
1995-11-01
An increasing number of cancer treatment centres are using in vivo dosimetry as a quality assurance tool for verifying dosimetry as either the entrance or exit surface of the patient undergoing external beam radiotherapy. Equipment is usually limited to either thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD) or semiconductor detectors such as p-type diodes. The semiconductor detector is more popular than the TLD due to the major advantage of real time analysis of the actual dose delivered. If a discrepancy is observed between the calculated and the measured entrance dose, it is possible to eliminate several likely sources of errors by immediately verifying all treatment parameters. Five Scanditronix EDP-10 p-type diodes were investigated to determine their calibration and relevant correction factors for entrance dose measurements using a Victoreen White Water-RW3 tissue equivalent phantom and a 6 MV photon beam from a Varian Clinac 2100C linear accelerator. Correction factors were determined for individual diodes for the following parameters: source to surface distance (SSD), collimator size, wedge, plate (tray) and temperature. The directional dependence of diode response was also investigated. The SSD correction factor (CSSD) was found to increase by approximately 3% over the range of SSD from 80 to 130 cm. The correction factor for collimator size (Cfield) also varied by approximately 3% between 5 x 5 and 40 x 40 cm2. The wedge correction factor (Cwedge) and plate correction factor (Cplate) were found to be a function of collimator size. Over the range of measurement, these factors varied by a maximum of 1 and 1.5%, respectively. The Cplate variation between the solid and the drilled plates under the same irradiation conditions was a maximum of 2.4%. The diode sensitivity demonstrated an increase with temperature. A maximum of 2.5% variation for the directional dependence of diode response was observed for angle of +/- 60 degrees. In conclusion, in vivo dosimetry is an
Ultraviolet Radiation Dose National Standard of México
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Cardoso, R.; Rosas, E.
2006-09-01
We present the Ultraviolet (UV) Radiation Dose National Standard for México. The establishment of this measurement reference at Centro Nacional de Metrología (CENAM) eliminates the need of contacting foreign suppliers in the search for traceability towards the SI units when calibrating instruments at 365 nm. Further more, the UV Radiation Dose National Standard constitutes a highly accurate and reliable source for the UV radiation dose measurements performed in medical and cosmetic treatments as in the the food and pharmaceutics disinfection processes, among other.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kitahara, M.; Katoh, Y.; Hikishima, M.; Kasahara, Y.; Matsuda, S.; Kojima, H.; Ozaki, M.; Yagitani, S.
2017-12-01
The Plasma Wave Experiment (PWE) is installed on board the ARASE satellite to measure the electric field in the frequency range from DC to 10 MHz, and the magnetic field in the frequency range from a few Hz to 100 kHz using two dipole wire-probe antennas (WPT) and three magnetic search coils (MSC), respectively. In particular, the Waveform Capture (WFC), one of the receivers of the PWE, can detect electromagnetic field waveform in the frequency range from a few Hz to 20 kHz. The Software-type Wave Particle Interaction Analyzer (S-WPIA) is installed on the ARASE satellite to measure the energy exchange between plasma waves and particles. Since S-WPIA uses the waveform data measured by WFC to calculate the relative phase angle between the wave magnetic field and velocity of energetic electrons, the high-accuracy is required to calibration of both amplitude and phase of the waveform data. Generally, the calibration procedure of the signal passed through a receiver consists of three steps; the transformation into spectra, the calibration by the transfer function of a receiver, and the inverse transformation of the calibrated spectra into the time domain. Practically, in order to reduce the side robe effect, a raw data is filtered by a window function in the time domain before applying Fourier transform. However, for the case that a first order differential coefficient of the phase transfer function of the system is not negligible, the phase of the window function convoluted into the calibrated spectra is shifted differently at each frequency, resulting in a discontinuity in the time domain of the calibrated waveform data. To eliminate the effect of the phase shift of a window function, we suggest several methods to calibrate a waveform data accurately and carry out simulations assuming simple sinusoidal waves as an input signal and using transfer functions of WPT, MSC, and WFC obtained in pre-flight tests. In consequence, we conclude that the following two methods can
A New More Accurate Calibration for TIMED/GUVI
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Schaefer, R. K.; Aiello, J.; Wolven, B. C.; Paxton, L. J.; Romeo, G.; Zhang, Y.
2017-12-01
The Global UltraViolet Imager (GUVI - http://guvi.jhuapl.edu) on NASA's TIMED spacecraft has the longest continuous set of observations of the Earth's ionosphere and thermosphere, spanning more than one solar cycle (2001-2017). As such, it represents an important dataset for understanding the dynamics of the Ionosphere-Thermosphere system. The entire dataset has been reprocessed and released as a new version (13) of GUVI data products. This is a complete re-examination of the calibration elements, including better calibrated radiances, better geolocation, and better background subtraction. Details can be found on the GUVI website: http://guvitimed.jhuapl.edu/guvi-Calib_Prod The radiances (except for the LBH long band) in version 13 are within 10% of the original archival radiances and so most of the derived products are little changed from their original versions. The LBH long band was redefined in on-board instrument color tables on Nov., 2, 2004 to better limit contamination from Nitric Oxide emission but this was not updated in ground processing until now. Version 13 LBH Long has 19% smaller radiances than the old calibrated products for post 11/2/2004 data. GUVI auroral products are the only ones that use LBHL - (LBH long)/(LBH short) is used to gauge the amount of intervening oxygen absorption. We will show several examples of the difference between new and old auroral products. Overall version 13 represents a big improvement in the calibration, geolocation, and background of the GUVI UV data products, allowing for the cleanest UV data for analysis of the ionosphere-thermosphere-aurora. An updated "Using GUVI Data Tutorial" will be available from the GUVI webpage to help you navigate to the data you need. Data products are displayed as daily summary and Google Earth files that can be browsed through the Cesium tool on the GUVI website or the image files can be downloaded and viewed through the Google Earth app. The image below shows gridded 135.6 nm radiances
Advancing Absolute Calibration for JWST and Other Applications
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Rieke, George; Bohlin, Ralph; Boyajian, Tabetha; Carey, Sean; Casagrande, Luca; Deustua, Susana; Gordon, Karl; Kraemer, Kathleen; Marengo, Massimo; Schlawin, Everett; Su, Kate; Sloan, Greg; Volk, Kevin
2017-10-01
We propose to exploit the unique optical stability of the Spitzer telescope, along with that of IRAC, to (1) transfer the accurate absolute calibration obtained with MSX on very bright stars directly to two reference stars within the dynamic range of the JWST imagers (and of other modern instrumentation); (2) establish a second accurate absolute calibration based on the absolutely calibrated spectrum of the sun, transferred onto the astronomical system via alpha Cen A; and (3) provide accurate infrared measurements for the 11 (of 15) highest priority stars with no such data but with accurate interferometrically measured diameters, allowing us to optimize determinations of effective temperatures using the infrared flux method and thus to extend the accurate absolute calibration spectrally. This program is integral to plans for an accurate absolute calibration of JWST and will also provide a valuable Spitzer legacy.
A simplified approach to characterizing a kilovoltage source spectrum for accurate dose computation.
Poirier, Yannick; Kouznetsov, Alexei; Tambasco, Mauro
2012-06-01
%. The HVL and kVp are sufficient for characterizing a kV x-ray source spectrum for accurate dose computation. As these parameters can be easily and accurately measured, they provide for a clinically feasible approach to characterizing a kV energy spectrum to be used for patient specific x-ray dose computations. Furthermore, these results provide experimental validation of our novel hybrid dose computation algorithm. © 2012 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.
Lopez-Rendon, Xochitl; Zhang, Guozhi; Coudyzer, Walter; Develter, Wim; Bosmans, Hilde; Zanca, Federica
2017-11-01
To compare the lung and breast dose associated with three chest protocols: standard, organ-based tube current modulation (OBTCM) and fast-speed scanning; and to estimate the error associated with organ dose when modelling the longitudinal (z-) TCM versus the 3D-TCM in Monte Carlo simulations (MC) for these three protocols. Five adult and three paediatric cadavers with different BMI were scanned. The CTDI vol of the OBTCM and the fast-speed protocols were matched to the patient-specific CTDI vol of the standard protocol. Lung and breast doses were estimated using MC with both z- and 3D-TCM simulated and compared between protocols. The fast-speed scanning protocol delivered the highest doses. A slight reduction for breast dose (up to 5.1%) was observed for two of the three female cadavers with the OBTCM in comparison to the standard. For both adult and paediatric, the implementation of the z-TCM data only for organ dose estimation resulted in 10.0% accuracy for the standard and fast-speed protocols, while relative dose differences were up to 15.3% for the OBTCM protocol. At identical CTDI vol values, the standard protocol delivered the lowest overall doses. Only for the OBTCM protocol is the 3D-TCM needed if an accurate (<10.0%) organ dosimetry is desired. • The z-TCM information is sufficient for accurate dosimetry for standard protocols. • The z-TCM information is sufficient for accurate dosimetry for fast-speed scanning protocols. • For organ-based TCM schemes, the 3D-TCM information is necessary for accurate dosimetry. • At identical CTDI vol , the fast-speed scanning protocol delivered the highest doses. • Lung dose was higher in XCare than standard protocol at identical CTDI vol .
Calibrating page sized Gafchromic EBT3 films
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Crijns, W.; Maes, F.; Heide, U. A. van der
2013-01-15
Purpose: The purpose is the development of a novel calibration method for dosimetry with Gafchromic EBT3 films. The method should be applicable for pretreatment verification of volumetric modulated arc, and intensity modulated radiotherapy. Because the exposed area on film can be large for such treatments, lateral scan errors must be taken into account. The correction for the lateral scan effect is obtained from the calibration data itself. Methods: In this work, the film measurements were modeled using their relative scan values (Transmittance, T). Inside the transmittance domain a linear combination and a parabolic lateral scan correction described the observed transmittancemore » values. The linear combination model, combined a monomer transmittance state (T{sub 0}) and a polymer transmittance state (T{sub {infinity}}) of the film. The dose domain was associated with the observed effects in the transmittance domain through a rational calibration function. On the calibration film only simple static fields were applied and page sized films were used for calibration and measurements (treatment verification). Four different calibration setups were considered and compared with respect to dose estimation accuracy. The first (I) used a calibration table from 32 regions of interest (ROIs) spread on 4 calibration films, the second (II) used 16 ROIs spread on 2 calibration films, the third (III), and fourth (IV) used 8 ROIs spread on a single calibration film. The calibration tables of the setups I, II, and IV contained eight dose levels delivered to different positions on the films, while for setup III only four dose levels were applied. Validation was performed by irradiating film strips with known doses at two different time points over the course of a week. Accuracy of the dose response and the lateral effect correction was estimated using the dose difference and the root mean squared error (RMSE), respectively. Results: A calibration based on two films was the
Method and Apparatus for Accurately Calibrating a Spectrometer
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Youngquist, Robert C. (Inventor); Simmons, Stephen M. (Inventor)
2013-01-01
A calibration assembly for a spectrometer is provided. The assembly includes a spectrometer having n detector elements, where each detector element is assigned a predetermined wavelength value. A first source emitting first radiation is used to calibrate the spectrometer. A device is placed in the path of the first radiation to split the first radiation into a first beam and a second beam. The assembly is configured so that one of the first and second beams travels a path-difference distance longer than the other of the first and second beams. An output signal is generated by the spectrometer when the first and second beams enter the spectrometer. The assembly includes a controller operable for processing the output signal and adapted to calculate correction factors for the respective predetermined wavelength values assigned to each detector element.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Zafiropoulos, Demetre; Facco, E.; Sarchiapone, Lucia
2016-09-01
In case of a radiation accident, it is well known that in the absence of physical dosimetry biological dosimetry based on cytogenetic methods is a unique tool to estimate individual absorbed dose. Moreover, even when physical dosimetry indicates an overexposure, scoring chromosome aberrations (dicentrics and rings) in human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) at metaphase is presently the most widely used method to confirm dose assessment. The analysis of dicentrics and rings in PBLs after Giemsa staining of metaphase cells is considered the most valid assay for radiation injury. This work shows that applying the fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) technique, using telomeric/centromeric peptide nucleic acid (PNA) probes in metaphase chromosomes for radiation dosimetry, could become a fast scoring, reliable and precise method for biological dosimetry after accidental radiation exposures. In both in vitro methods described above, lymphocyte stimulation is needed, and this limits the application in radiation emergency medicine where speed is considered to be a high priority. Using premature chromosome condensation (PCC), irradiated human PBLs (non-stimulated) were fused with mitotic CHO cells, and the yield of excess PCC fragments in Giemsa stained cells was scored. To score dicentrics and rings under PCC conditions, the necessary centromere and telomere detection of the chromosomes was obtained using FISH and specific PNA probes. Of course, a prerequisite for dose assessment in all cases is a dose-effect calibration curve. This work illustrates the various methods used; dose response calibration curves, with 95% confidence limits used to estimate dose uncertainties, have been constructed for conventional metaphase analysis and FISH. We also compare the dose-response curve constructed after scoring of dicentrics and rings using PCC combined with FISH and PNA probes. Also reported are dose response curves showing scored dicentrics and rings per cell, combining
An accurate system for onsite calibration of electronic transformers with digital output.
Zhi, Zhang; Li, Hong-Bin
2012-06-01
Calibration systems with digital output are used to replace conventional calibration systems because of principle diversity and characteristics of digital output of electronic transformers. But precision and unpredictable stability limit their onsite application even development. So fully considering the factors influencing accuracy of calibration system and employing simple but reliable structure, an all-digital calibration system with digital output is proposed in this paper. In complicated calibration environments, precision and dynamic range are guaranteed by A/D converter with 24-bit resolution, synchronization error limit is nanosecond by using the novelty synchronization method. In addition, an error correction algorithm based on the differential method by using two-order Hanning convolution window has good inhibition of frequency fluctuation and inter-harmonics interference. To verify the effectiveness, error calibration was carried out in the State Grid Electric Power Research Institute of China and results show that the proposed system can reach the precision class up to 0.05. Actual onsite calibration shows that the system has high accuracy, and is easy to operate with satisfactory stability.
An accurate system for onsite calibration of electronic transformers with digital output
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Zhi Zhang; Li Hongbin; State Key Laboratory of Advanced Electromagnetic Engineering and Technology, Wuhan 430074
Calibration systems with digital output are used to replace conventional calibration systems because of principle diversity and characteristics of digital output of electronic transformers. But precision and unpredictable stability limit their onsite application even development. So fully considering the factors influencing accuracy of calibration system and employing simple but reliable structure, an all-digital calibration system with digital output is proposed in this paper. In complicated calibration environments, precision and dynamic range are guaranteed by A/D converter with 24-bit resolution, synchronization error limit is nanosecond by using the novelty synchronization method. In addition, an error correction algorithm based on the differentialmore » method by using two-order Hanning convolution window has good inhibition of frequency fluctuation and inter-harmonics interference. To verify the effectiveness, error calibration was carried out in the State Grid Electric Power Research Institute of China and results show that the proposed system can reach the precision class up to 0.05. Actual onsite calibration shows that the system has high accuracy, and is easy to operate with satisfactory stability.« less
An accurate system for onsite calibration of electronic transformers with digital output
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Zhi, Zhang; Li, Hong-Bin
2012-06-01
Calibration systems with digital output are used to replace conventional calibration systems because of principle diversity and characteristics of digital output of electronic transformers. But precision and unpredictable stability limit their onsite application even development. So fully considering the factors influencing accuracy of calibration system and employing simple but reliable structure, an all-digital calibration system with digital output is proposed in this paper. In complicated calibration environments, precision and dynamic range are guaranteed by A/D converter with 24-bit resolution, synchronization error limit is nanosecond by using the novelty synchronization method. In addition, an error correction algorithm based on the differential method by using two-order Hanning convolution window has good inhibition of frequency fluctuation and inter-harmonics interference. To verify the effectiveness, error calibration was carried out in the State Grid Electric Power Research Institute of China and results show that the proposed system can reach the precision class up to 0.05. Actual onsite calibration shows that the system has high accuracy, and is easy to operate with satisfactory stability.
Commissioning a passive-scattering proton therapy nozzle for accurate SOBP delivery.
Engelsman, M; Lu, H M; Herrup, D; Bussiere, M; Kooy, H M
2009-06-01
Proton radiotherapy centers that currently use passively scattered proton beams do field specific calibrations for a non-negligible fraction of treatment fields, which is time and resource consuming. Our improved understanding of the passive scattering mode of the IBA universal nozzle, especially of the current modulation function, allowed us to re-commission our treatment control system for accurate delivery of SOBPs of any range and modulation, and to predict the output for each of these fields. We moved away from individual field calibrations to a state where continued quality assurance of SOBP field delivery is ensured by limited system-wide measurements that only require one hour per week. This manuscript reports on a protocol for generation of desired SOBPs and prediction of dose output.
Commissioning a passive-scattering proton therapy nozzle for accurate SOBP delivery
Engelsman, M.; Lu, H.-M.; Herrup, D.; Bussiere, M.; Kooy, H. M.
2009-01-01
Proton radiotherapy centers that currently use passively scattered proton beams do field specific calibrations for a non-negligible fraction of treatment fields, which is time and resource consuming. Our improved understanding of the passive scattering mode of the IBA universal nozzle, especially of the current modulation function, allowed us to re-commission our treatment control system for accurate delivery of SOBPs of any range and modulation, and to predict the output for each of these fields. We moved away from individual field calibrations to a state where continued quality assurance of SOBP field delivery is ensured by limited system-wide measurements that only require one hour per week. This manuscript reports on a protocol for generation of desired SOBPs and prediction of dose output. PMID:19610306
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Doty, Keith L
1992-01-01
The author has formulated a new, general model for specifying the kinematic properties of serial manipulators. The new model kinematic parameters do not suffer discontinuities when nominally parallel adjacent axes deviate from exact parallelism. From this new theory the author develops a first-order, lumped-parameter, calibration-model for the ARID manipulator. Next, the author develops a calibration methodology for the ARID based on visual and acoustic sensing. A sensor platform, consisting of a camera and four sonars attached to the ARID end frame, performs calibration measurements. A calibration measurement consists of processing one visual frame of an accurately placed calibration image and recording four acoustic range measurements. A minimum of two measurement protocols determine the kinematics calibration-model of the ARID for a particular region: assuming the joint displacements are accurately measured, the calibration surface is planar, and the kinematic parameters do not vary rapidly in the region. No theoretical or practical limitations appear to contra-indicate the feasibility of the calibration method developed here.
Calibration of an x-ray cabinet unit for radiobiology use
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
McKerracher, Carolyn; Thwaites, David I.
2006-07-01
A Faxitron sealed x-ray cabinet, operated at 100 kV, was modified to irradiate monkey testicles, to a uniform, accurately calibrated dose, for work aimed at investigating spermatogenesis in children undergoing radiotherapy. An aluminium filter was added to increase the beam quality and a lead collimating system manufactured to reduce the beam size to between 1 and 4 cm diameter. Percentage depth doses and profiles were analysed and relative in-air outputs measured with a selection of small (0.2 cc, 0.015 cc) ion chambers. The absolute calibration of the unit was carried out in a 10 × 10 cm2 beam with a 0.6 cc chamber. Backscatter factors were based on standard tables, but then modified according to experimental results with thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD) in a phantom to account for reduced scatter in the irradiation situations. A suitable irradiation set-up was devised for the monkeys, to ensure accuracy of delivered dose to the target volume and minimize the dose to the surrounding healthy tissue. The homogeneity throughout the testes was calculated to be well within ±5%, using a parallel-opposed irradiation technique. The TLD measured doses to the testes on three monkeys were lower than the calculated doses by 3 to 6%. Following modifications to the standard percentage depth doses to account for changes in scatter conditions, these differences became ±3%. The uncertainties on both calculated and measured dose were estimated to be approximately ±3.2% at 1 SD.
Tanguay, J; Hou, X; Esquinas, P; Vuckovic, M; Buckley, K; Schaffer, P; Bénard, F; Ruth, T J; Celler, A
2015-11-07
Cyclotron production of 99mTc through the (100)Mo(p,2n)99mTc reaction channel is actively being investigated as an alternative to reactor-based (99)Mo generation by nuclear fission of (235)U. Like most radioisotope production methods, cyclotron production of 99mTc will result in creation of unwanted impurities, including Tc and non-Tc isotopes. It is important to measure the amounts of these impurities for release of cyclotron-produced 99mTc (CPTc) for clinical use. Detection of radioactive impurities will rely on measurements of their gamma (γ) emissions. Gamma spectroscopy is not suitable for this purpose because the overwhelming presence of 99mTc and the count-rate limitations of γ spectroscopy systems preclude fast and accurate measurement of small amounts of impurities. In this article we describe a simple and fast method for measuring γ emission rates from radioactive impurities in CPTc. The proposed method is similar to that used to identify (99)Mo breakthrough in generator-produced 99mTc: one dose calibrator (DC) reading of a CPTc source placed in a lead shield is followed by a second reading of the same source in air. Our experimental and theoretical analysis show that the ratio of DC readings in lead to those in air are linearly related to γ emission rates from impurities per MBq of 99mTc over a large range of clinically-relevant production conditions. We show that estimates of the γ emission rates from Tc impurities per MBq of 99mTc can be used to estimate increases in radiation dose (relative to pure 99mTc) to patients injected with CPTc-based radiopharmaceuticals. This enables establishing dosimetry-based clinical-release criteria that can be tested using commercially-available dose calibrators. We show that our approach is highly sensitive to the presence of 93gTc, 93mTc, 94gTc, 94mTc, 95mTc, 95gTc, and 96gTc, in addition to a number of non-Tc impurities.
SU-F-E-19: A Novel Method for TrueBeam Jaw Calibration
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Corns, R; Zhao, Y; Huang, V
2016-06-15
Purpose: A simple jaw calibration method is proposed for Varian TrueBeam using an EPID-Encoder combination that gives accurate fields sizes and a homogeneous junction dose. This benefits clinical applications such as mono-isocentric half-beam block breast cancer or head and neck cancer treatment with junction/field matching. Methods: We use EPID imager with pixel size 0.392 mm × 0.392 mm to determine the radiation jaw position as measured from radio-opaque markers aligned with the crosshair. We acquire two images with different symmetric field sizes and record each individual jaw encoder values. A linear relationship between each jaw’s position and its encoder valuemore » is established, from which we predict the encoder values that produce the jaw positions required by TrueBeam’s calibration procedure. During TrueBeam’s jaw calibration procedure, we move the jaw with the pendant to set the jaw into position using the predicted encoder value. The overall accuracy is under 0.1 mm. Results: Our in-house software analyses images and provides sub-pixel accuracy to determine field centre and radiation edges (50% dose of the profile). We verified the TrueBeam encoder provides a reliable linear relationship for each individual jaw position (R{sup 2}>0.9999) from which the encoder values necessary to set jaw calibration points (1 cm and 19 cm) are predicted. Junction matching dose inhomogeneities were improved from >±20% to <±6% using this new calibration protocol. However, one technical challenge exists for junction matching, if the collimator walkout is large. Conclusion: Our new TrueBeam jaw calibration method can systematically calibrate the jaws to crosshair within sub-pixel accuracy and provides both good junction doses and field sizes. This method does not compensate for a larger collimator walkout, but can be used as the underlying foundation for addressing the walkout issue.« less
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Habte, Aron; Sengupta, Manajit; Andreas, Afshin
Accurate solar radiation measured by radiometers depends on instrument performance specifications, installation method, calibration procedure, measurement conditions, maintenance practices, location, and environmental conditions. This study addresses the effect of different calibration methodologies and resulting differences provided by radiometric calibration service providers such as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and manufacturers of radiometers. Some of these methods calibrate radiometers indoors and some outdoors. To establish or understand the differences in calibration methodologies, we processed and analyzed field-measured data from radiometers deployed for 10 months at NREL's Solar Radiation Research Laboratory. These different methods of calibration resulted in a difference ofmore » +/-1% to +/-2% in solar irradiance measurements. Analyzing these differences will ultimately assist in determining the uncertainties of the field radiometer data and will help develop a consensus on a standard for calibration. Further advancing procedures for precisely calibrating radiometers to world reference standards that reduce measurement uncertainties will help the accurate prediction of the output of planned solar conversion projects and improve the bankability of financing solar projects.« less
Psychophysical contrast calibration
To, Long; Woods, Russell L; Goldstein, Robert B; Peli, Eli
2013-01-01
Electronic displays and computer systems offer numerous advantages for clinical vision testing. Laboratory and clinical measurements of various functions and in particular of (letter) contrast sensitivity require accurately calibrated display contrast. In the laboratory this is achieved using expensive light meters. We developed and evaluated a novel method that uses only psychophysical responses of a person with normal vision to calibrate the luminance contrast of displays for experimental and clinical applications. Our method combines psychophysical techniques (1) for detection (and thus elimination or reduction) of display saturating nonlinearities; (2) for luminance (gamma function) estimation and linearization without use of a photometer; and (3) to measure without a photometer the luminance ratios of the display’s three color channels that are used in a bit-stealing procedure to expand the luminance resolution of the display. Using a photometer we verified that the calibration achieved with this procedure is accurate for both LCD and CRT displays enabling testing of letter contrast sensitivity to 0.5%. Our visual calibration procedure enables clinical, internet and home implementation and calibration verification of electronic contrast testing. PMID:23643843
A proposed standard method for polarimetric calibration and calibration verification
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Persons, Christopher M.; Jones, Michael W.; Farlow, Craig A.; Morell, L. Denise; Gulley, Michael G.; Spradley, Kevin D.
2007-09-01
Accurate calibration of polarimetric sensors is critical to reducing and analyzing phenomenology data, producing uniform polarimetric imagery for deployable sensors, and ensuring predictable performance of polarimetric algorithms. It is desirable to develop a standard calibration method, including verification reporting, in order to increase credibility with customers and foster communication and understanding within the polarimetric community. This paper seeks to facilitate discussions within the community on arriving at such standards. Both the calibration and verification methods presented here are performed easily with common polarimetric equipment, and are applicable to visible and infrared systems with either partial Stokes or full Stokes sensitivity. The calibration procedure has been used on infrared and visible polarimetric imagers over a six year period, and resulting imagery has been presented previously at conferences and workshops. The proposed calibration method involves the familiar calculation of the polarimetric data reduction matrix by measuring the polarimeter's response to a set of input Stokes vectors. With this method, however, linear combinations of Stokes vectors are used to generate highly accurate input states. This allows the direct measurement of all system effects, in contrast with fitting modeled calibration parameters to measured data. This direct measurement of the data reduction matrix allows higher order effects that are difficult to model to be discovered and corrected for in calibration. This paper begins with a detailed tutorial on the proposed calibration and verification reporting methods. Example results are then presented for a LWIR rotating half-wave retarder polarimeter.
Simultaneous calibration phantom commission and geometry calibration in cone beam CT
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Xu, Yuan; Yang, Shuai; Ma, Jianhui; Li, Bin; Wu, Shuyu; Qi, Hongliang; Zhou, Linghong
2017-09-01
Geometry calibration is a vital step for describing the geometry of a cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) system and is a prerequisite for CBCT reconstruction. In current methods, calibration phantom commission and geometry calibration are divided into two independent tasks. Small errors in ball-bearing (BB) positioning in the phantom-making step will severely degrade the quality of phantom calibration. To solve this problem, we propose an integrated method to simultaneously realize geometry phantom commission and geometry calibration. Instead of assuming the accuracy of the geometry phantom, the integrated method considers BB centers in the phantom as an optimized parameter in the workflow. Specifically, an evaluation phantom and the corresponding evaluation contrast index are used to evaluate geometry artifacts for optimizing the BB coordinates in the geometry phantom. After utilizing particle swarm optimization, the CBCT geometry and BB coordinates in the geometry phantom are calibrated accurately and are then directly used for the next geometry calibration task in other CBCT systems. To evaluate the proposed method, both qualitative and quantitative studies were performed on simulated and realistic CBCT data. The spatial resolution of reconstructed images using dental CBCT can reach up to 15 line pair cm-1. The proposed method is also superior to the Wiesent method in experiments. This paper shows that the proposed method is attractive for simultaneous and accurate geometry phantom commission and geometry calibration.
Calibration method for spectroscopic systems
Sandison, David R.
1998-01-01
Calibration spots of optically-characterized material placed in the field of view of a spectroscopic system allow calibration of the spectroscopic system. Response from the calibration spots is measured and used to calibrate for varying spectroscopic system operating parameters. The accurate calibration achieved allows quantitative spectroscopic analysis of responses taken at different times, different excitation conditions, and of different targets.
Calibration method for spectroscopic systems
Sandison, D.R.
1998-11-17
Calibration spots of optically-characterized material placed in the field of view of a spectroscopic system allow calibration of the spectroscopic system. Response from the calibration spots is measured and used to calibrate for varying spectroscopic system operating parameters. The accurate calibration achieved allows quantitative spectroscopic analysis of responses taken at different times, different excitation conditions, and of different targets. 3 figs.
On the calibration process of film dosimetry: OLS inverse regression versus WLS inverse prediction.
Crop, F; Van Rompaye, B; Paelinck, L; Vakaet, L; Thierens, H; De Wagter, C
2008-07-21
The purpose of this study was both putting forward a statistically correct model for film calibration and the optimization of this process. A reliable calibration is needed in order to perform accurate reference dosimetry with radiographic (Gafchromic) film. Sometimes, an ordinary least squares simple linear (in the parameters) regression is applied to the dose-optical-density (OD) curve with the dose as a function of OD (inverse regression) or sometimes OD as a function of dose (inverse prediction). The application of a simple linear regression fit is an invalid method because heteroscedasticity of the data is not taken into account. This could lead to erroneous results originating from the calibration process itself and thus to a lower accuracy. In this work, we compare the ordinary least squares (OLS) inverse regression method with the correct weighted least squares (WLS) inverse prediction method to create calibration curves. We found that the OLS inverse regression method could lead to a prediction bias of up to 7.3 cGy at 300 cGy and total prediction errors of 3% or more for Gafchromic EBT film. Application of the WLS inverse prediction method resulted in a maximum prediction bias of 1.4 cGy and total prediction errors below 2% in a 0-400 cGy range. We developed a Monte-Carlo-based process to optimize calibrations, depending on the needs of the experiment. This type of thorough analysis can lead to a higher accuracy for film dosimetry.
DICOM organ dose does not accurately represent calculated dose in mammography
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Suleiman, Moayyad E.; Brennan, Patrick C.; McEntee, Mark F.
2016-03-01
This study aims to analyze the agreement between the mean glandular dose estimated by the mammography unit (organ dose) and mean glandular dose calculated using Dance et al published method (calculated dose). Anonymised digital mammograms from 50 BreastScreen NSW centers were downloaded and exposure information required for the calculation of dose was extracted from the DICOM header along with the organ dose estimated by the system. Data from quality assurance annual tests for the included centers were collected and used to calculate the mean glandular dose for each mammogram. Bland-Altman analysis and a two-tailed paired t-test were used to study the agreement between calculated and organ dose and the significance of any differences. A total of 27,869 dose points from 40 centers were included in the study, mean calculated dose and mean organ dose (+/- standard deviation) were 1.47 (+/-0.66) and 1.38 (+/-0.56) mGy respectively. A statistically significant 0.09 mGy bias (t = 69.25; p<0.0001) with 95% limits of agreement between calculated and organ doses ranging from -0.34 and 0.52 were shown by Bland-Altman analysis, which indicates a small yet highly significant difference between the two means. The use of organ dose for dose audits is done at the risk of over or underestimating the calculated dose, hence, further work is needed to identify the causal agents for differences between organ and calculated doses and to generate a correction factor for organ dose.
Vadrucci, M; Esposito, G; Ronsivalle, C; Cherubini, R; Marracino, F; Montereali, R M; Picardi, L; Piccinini, M; Pimpinella, M; Vincenti, M A; De Angelis, C
2015-08-01
To study EBT3 GafChromic film in low-energy protons, and for comparison purposes, in a reference (60)Co beam in order to use it as a calibrated dosimetry system in the proton irradiation facility under construction within the framework of the Oncological Therapy with Protons (TOP)-Intensity Modulated Proton Linear Accelerator for RadioTherapy (IMPLART) Project at ENEA-Frascati, Italy. EBT3 film samples were irradiated at the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare-Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Italy, with a 5 MeV proton beam generated by a 7 MV Van de Graaff CN accelerator. The nominal dose rates used were 2.1 Gy/min and 40 Gy/min. The delivered dose was determined by measuring the particle fluence and the energy spectrum in air with silicon surface barrier detector monitors. A preliminary study of the EBT3 film beam quality dependence in low-energy protons was conducted by passively degrading the beam energy. EBT3 films were also irradiated at ENEA-National Institute of Ionizing Radiation Metrology with gamma radiation produced by a (60)Co source characterized by an absorbed dose to water rate of 0.26 Gy/min as measured by a calibrated Farmer type ionization chamber. EBT3 film calibration curves were determined by means of a set of 40 film pieces irradiated to various doses ranging from 0.5 Gy to 30 Gy absorbed dose to water. An EPSON Expression 11000XL color scanner in transmission mode was used for film analysis. Scanner response stability, intrafilm uniformity, and interfilm reproducibility were verified. Optical absorption spectra measurements were performed on unirradiated and irradiated EBT3 films to choose the most sensitive color channel to the dose range used. EBT3 GafChromic films show an under response up to about 33% for low-energy protons with respect to (60)Co gamma radiation, which is consistent with the linear energy transfer dependence already observed with higher energy protons, and a negligible dose-rate dependence in the 2-40 Gy/min range
Trattner, Sigal; Prinsen, Peter; Wiegert, Jens; Gerland, Elazar-Lars; Shefer, Efrat; Morton, Tom; Thompson, Carla M; Yagil, Yoad; Cheng, Bin; Jambawalikar, Sachin; Al-Senan, Rani; Amurao, Maxwell; Halliburton, Sandra S; Einstein, Andrew J
2017-12-01
measurement was shown to be proportional to the square root of the voltage V: σV=cV where c = 0.11 mV. A main contributor to the error in the calibration factor was the ionization chamber reading error with 5% error. The usage of a single calibration factor for all MOSFETs introduced an additional error of about 5-7%, depending on the number of MOSFETs that were used to determine the single calibration factor. The expected overall error in a high-dose region (~30 mGy) was estimated to be about 8%, compared to 6% when an individual MOSFET calibration was performed. For a low-dose region (~3 mGy), these values were 13% and 12%. A MOSFET calibration method was developed using a 100-mm pencil ion chamber and a CTDI phantom, accompanied by an absorbed dose error analysis reflecting multiple sources of measurement error. When using a single calibration factor, per tube potential, for different MOSFETs, only a small error was introduced into absorbed dose determinations, thus supporting the use of a single calibration factor for experiments involving many MOSFETs, such as those required to accurately estimate radiation effective dose. © 2017 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.
Fast skin dose estimation system for interventional radiology
Takata, Takeshi; Kotoku, Jun’ichi; Maejima, Hideyuki; Kumagai, Shinobu; Arai, Norikazu; Kobayashi, Takenori; Shiraishi, Kenshiro; Yamamoto, Masayoshi; Kondo, Hiroshi; Furui, Shigeru
2018-01-01
Abstract To minimise the radiation dermatitis related to interventional radiology (IR), rapid and accurate dose estimation has been sought for all procedures. We propose a technique for estimating the patient skin dose rapidly and accurately using Monte Carlo (MC) simulation with a graphical processing unit (GPU, GTX 1080; Nvidia Corp.). The skin dose distribution is simulated based on an individual patient’s computed tomography (CT) dataset for fluoroscopic conditions after the CT dataset has been segmented into air, water and bone based on pixel values. The skin is assumed to be one layer at the outer surface of the body. Fluoroscopic conditions are obtained from a log file of a fluoroscopic examination. Estimating the absorbed skin dose distribution requires calibration of the dose simulated by our system. For this purpose, a linear function was used to approximate the relation between the simulated dose and the measured dose using radiophotoluminescence (RPL) glass dosimeters in a water-equivalent phantom. Differences of maximum skin dose between our system and the Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS) were as high as 6.1%. The relative statistical error (2 σ) for the simulated dose obtained using our system was ≤3.5%. Using a GPU, the simulation on the chest CT dataset aiming at the heart was within 3.49 s on average: the GPU is 122 times faster than a CPU (Core i7–7700K; Intel Corp.). Our system (using the GPU, the log file, and the CT dataset) estimated the skin dose more rapidly and more accurately than conventional methods. PMID:29136194
Fast skin dose estimation system for interventional radiology.
Takata, Takeshi; Kotoku, Jun'ichi; Maejima, Hideyuki; Kumagai, Shinobu; Arai, Norikazu; Kobayashi, Takenori; Shiraishi, Kenshiro; Yamamoto, Masayoshi; Kondo, Hiroshi; Furui, Shigeru
2018-03-01
To minimise the radiation dermatitis related to interventional radiology (IR), rapid and accurate dose estimation has been sought for all procedures. We propose a technique for estimating the patient skin dose rapidly and accurately using Monte Carlo (MC) simulation with a graphical processing unit (GPU, GTX 1080; Nvidia Corp.). The skin dose distribution is simulated based on an individual patient's computed tomography (CT) dataset for fluoroscopic conditions after the CT dataset has been segmented into air, water and bone based on pixel values. The skin is assumed to be one layer at the outer surface of the body. Fluoroscopic conditions are obtained from a log file of a fluoroscopic examination. Estimating the absorbed skin dose distribution requires calibration of the dose simulated by our system. For this purpose, a linear function was used to approximate the relation between the simulated dose and the measured dose using radiophotoluminescence (RPL) glass dosimeters in a water-equivalent phantom. Differences of maximum skin dose between our system and the Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS) were as high as 6.1%. The relative statistical error (2 σ) for the simulated dose obtained using our system was ≤3.5%. Using a GPU, the simulation on the chest CT dataset aiming at the heart was within 3.49 s on average: the GPU is 122 times faster than a CPU (Core i7-7700K; Intel Corp.). Our system (using the GPU, the log file, and the CT dataset) estimated the skin dose more rapidly and more accurately than conventional methods.
Robinson, Andrew P; Tipping, Jill; Cullen, David M; Hamilton, David; Brown, Richard; Flynn, Alex; Oldfield, Christopher; Page, Emma; Price, Emlyn; Smith, Andrew; Snee, Richard
2016-12-01
Patient-specific absorbed dose calculations for molecular radiotherapy require accurate activity quantification. This is commonly derived from Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) imaging using a calibration factor relating detected counts to known activity in a phantom insert. A series of phantom inserts, based on the mathematical models underlying many clinical dosimetry calculations, have been produced using 3D printing techniques. SPECT/CT data for the phantom inserts has been used to calculate new organ-specific calibration factors for (99m) Tc and (177)Lu. The measured calibration factors are compared to predicted values from calculations using a Gaussian kernel. Measured SPECT calibration factors for 3D printed organs display a clear dependence on organ shape for (99m) Tc and (177)Lu. The observed variation in calibration factor is reproduced using Gaussian kernel-based calculation over two orders of magnitude change in insert volume for (99m) Tc and (177)Lu. These new organ-specific calibration factors show a 24, 11 and 8 % reduction in absorbed dose for the liver, spleen and kidneys, respectively. Non-spherical calibration factors from 3D printed phantom inserts can significantly improve the accuracy of whole organ activity quantification for molecular radiotherapy, providing a crucial step towards individualised activity quantification and patient-specific dosimetry. 3D printed inserts are found to provide a cost effective and efficient way for clinical centres to access more realistic phantom data.
New approach based on tetrahedral-mesh geometry for accurate 4D Monte Carlo patient-dose calculation
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Han, Min Cheol; Yeom, Yeon Soo; Kim, Chan Hyeong; Kim, Seonghoon; Sohn, Jason W.
2015-02-01
In the present study, to achieve accurate 4D Monte Carlo dose calculation in radiation therapy, we devised a new approach that combines (1) modeling of the patient body using tetrahedral-mesh geometry based on the patient’s 4D CT data, (2) continuous movement/deformation of the tetrahedral patient model by interpolation of deformation vector fields acquired through deformable image registration, and (3) direct transportation of radiation particles during the movement and deformation of the tetrahedral patient model. The results of our feasibility study show that it is certainly possible to construct 4D patient models (= phantoms) with sufficient accuracy using the tetrahedral-mesh geometry and to directly transport radiation particles during continuous movement and deformation of the tetrahedral patient model. This new approach not only produces more accurate dose distribution in the patient but also replaces the current practice of using multiple 3D voxel phantoms and combining multiple dose distributions after Monte Carlo simulations. For routine clinical application of our new approach, the use of fast automatic segmentation algorithms is a must. In order to achieve, simultaneously, both dose accuracy and computation speed, the number of tetrahedrons for the lungs should be optimized. Although the current computation speed of our new 4D Monte Carlo simulation approach is slow (i.e. ~40 times slower than that of the conventional dose accumulation approach), this problem is resolvable by developing, in Geant4, a dedicated navigation class optimized for particle transportation in tetrahedral-mesh geometry.
An accurate model for the computation of the dose of protons in water.
Embriaco, A; Bellinzona, V E; Fontana, A; Rotondi, A
2017-06-01
The accurate and fast calculation of the dose in proton radiation therapy is an essential ingredient for successful treatments. We propose a novel approach with a minimal number of parameters. The approach is based on the exact calculation of the electromagnetic part of the interaction, namely the Molière theory of the multiple Coulomb scattering for the transversal 1D projection and the Bethe-Bloch formula for the longitudinal stopping power profile, including a gaussian energy straggling. To this e.m. contribution the nuclear proton-nucleus interaction is added with a simple two-parameter model. Then, the non gaussian lateral profile is used to calculate the radial dose distribution with a method that assumes the cylindrical symmetry of the distribution. The results, obtained with a fast C++ based computational code called MONET (MOdel of ioN dosE for Therapy), are in very good agreement with the FLUKA MC code, within a few percent in the worst case. This study provides a new tool for fast dose calculation or verification, possibly for clinical use. Copyright © 2017 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Billard, Hélène; Simon, Laure; Desnots, Emmanuelle; Sochard, Agnès; Boscher, Cécile; Riaublanc, Alain; Alexandre-Gouabau, Marie-Cécile; Boquien, Clair-Yves
2016-08-01
Human milk composition analysis seems essential to adapt human milk fortification for preterm neonates. The Miris human milk analyzer (HMA), based on mid-infrared methodology, is convenient for a unique determination of macronutrients. However, HMA measurements are not totally comparable with reference methods (RMs). The primary aim of this study was to compare HMA results with results from biochemical RMs for a large range of protein, fat, and carbohydrate contents and to establish a calibration adjustment. Human milk was fractionated in protein, fat, and skim milk by covering large ranges of protein (0-3 g/100 mL), fat (0-8 g/100 mL), and carbohydrate (5-8 g/100 mL). For each macronutrient, a calibration curve was plotted by linear regression using measurements obtained using HMA and RMs. For fat, 53 measurements were performed, and the linear regression equation was HMA = 0.79RM + 0.28 (R(2) = 0.92). For true protein (29 measurements), the linear regression equation was HMA = 0.9RM + 0.23 (R(2) = 0.98). For carbohydrate (15 measurements), the linear regression equation was HMA = 0.59RM + 1.86 (R(2) = 0.95). A homogenization step with a disruptor coupled to a sonication step was necessary to obtain better accuracy of the measurements. Good repeatability (coefficient of variation < 7%) and reproducibility (coefficient of variation < 17%) were obtained after calibration adjustment. New calibration curves were developed for the Miris HMA, allowing accurate measurements in large ranges of macronutrient content. This is necessary for reliable use of this device in individualizing nutrition for preterm newborns. © The Author(s) 2015.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Tanguay, J.; Hou, X.; Esquinas, P.; Vuckovic, M.; Buckley, K.; Schaffer, P.; Bénard, F.; Ruth, T. J.; Celler, A.
2015-11-01
Cyclotron production of {{}99\\text{m}} Tc through the 100Mo(p,2n){{}99\\text{m}} Tc reaction channel is actively being investigated as an alternative to reactor-based 99Mo generation by nuclear fission of 235U. Like most radioisotope production methods, cyclotron production of {{}99\\text{m}} Tc will result in creation of unwanted impurities, including Tc and non-Tc isotopes. It is important to measure the amounts of these impurities for release of cyclotron-produced {{}99\\text{m}} Tc (CPTc) for clinical use. Detection of radioactive impurities will rely on measurements of their gamma (γ) emissions. Gamma spectroscopy is not suitable for this purpose because the overwhelming presence of {{}99\\text{m}} Tc and the count-rate limitations of γ spectroscopy systems preclude fast and accurate measurement of small amounts of impurities. In this article we describe a simple and fast method for measuring γ emission rates from radioactive impurities in CPTc. The proposed method is similar to that used to identify 99Mo breakthrough in generator-produced {{}99\\text{m}} Tc: one dose calibrator (DC) reading of a CPTc source placed in a lead shield is followed by a second reading of the same source in air. Our experimental and theoretical analysis show that the ratio of DC readings in lead to those in air are linearly related to γ emission rates from impurities per MBq of {{}99\\text{m}} Tc over a large range of clinically-relevant production conditions. We show that estimates of the γ emission rates from Tc impurities per MBq of {{}99\\text{m}} Tc can be used to estimate increases in radiation dose (relative to pure {{}99\\text{m}} Tc) to patients injected with CPTc-based radiopharmaceuticals. This enables establishing dosimetry-based clinical-release criteria that can be tested using commercially-available dose calibrators. We show that our approach is highly sensitive to the presence of {{}93\\text{g}} Tc, {{}93\\text{m}} Tc, {{}94\\text{g}} Tc, {{}94\\text{m}} Tc
A Novel Simple Phantom for Verifying the Dose of Radiation Therapy
Lee, J. H.; Chang, L. T.; Shiau, A. C.; Chen, C. W.; Liao, Y. J.; Li, W. J.; Lee, M. S.; Hsu, S. M.
2015-01-01
A standard protocol of dosimetric measurements is used by the organizations responsible for verifying that the doses delivered in radiation-therapy institutions are within authorized limits. This study evaluated a self-designed simple auditing phantom for use in verifying the dose of radiation therapy; the phantom design, dose audit system, and clinical tests are described. Thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) were used as postal dosimeters, and mailable phantoms were produced for use in postal audits. Correction factors are important for converting TLD readout values from phantoms into the absorbed dose in water. The phantom scatter correction factor was used to quantify the difference in the scattered dose between a solid water phantom and homemade phantoms; its value ranged from 1.084 to 1.031. The energy-dependence correction factor was used to compare the TLD readout of the unit dose irradiated by audit beam energies with 60Co in the solid water phantom; its value was 0.99 to 1.01. The setup-condition factor was used to correct for differences in dose-output calibration conditions. Clinical tests of the device calibrating the dose output revealed that the dose deviation was within 3%. Therefore, our homemade phantoms and dosimetric system can be applied for accurately verifying the doses applied in radiation-therapy institutions. PMID:25883980
Simple Parametric Model for Intensity Calibration of Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer Data
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Brasunas, J.; Mamoutkine, A.; Gorius, N.
2016-01-01
Accurate intensity calibration of a linear Fourier-transform spectrometer typically requires the unknown science target and the two calibration targets to be acquired under identical conditions. We present a simple model suitable for vector calibration that enables accurate calibration via adjustments of measured spectral amplitudes and phases when these three targets are recorded at different detector or optics temperatures. Our model makes calibration more accurate both by minimizing biases due to changing instrument temperatures that are always present at some level and by decreasing estimate variance through incorporating larger averages of science and calibration interferogram scans.
A calibration method for patient specific IMRT QA using a single therapy verification film
Shukla, Arvind Kumar; Oinam, Arun S.; Kumar, Sanjeev; Sandhu, I.S.; Sharma, S.C.
2013-01-01
Aim The aim of the present study is to develop and verify the single film calibration procedure used in intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) quality assurance. Background Radiographic films have been regularly used in routine commissioning of treatment modalities and verification of treatment planning system (TPS). The radiation dosimetery based on radiographic films has ability to give absolute two-dimension dose distribution and prefer for the IMRT quality assurance. However, the single therapy verification film gives a quick and significant reliable method for IMRT verification. Materials and methods A single extended dose rate (EDR 2) film was used to generate the sensitometric curve of film optical density and radiation dose. EDR 2 film was exposed with nine 6 cm × 6 cm fields of 6 MV photon beam obtained from a medical linear accelerator at 5-cm depth in solid water phantom. The nine regions of single film were exposed with radiation doses raging from 10 to 362 cGy. The actual dose measurements inside the field regions were performed using 0.6 cm3 ionization chamber. The exposed film was processed after irradiation using a VIDAR film scanner and the value of optical density was noted for each region. Ten IMRT plans of head and neck carcinoma were used for verification using a dynamic IMRT technique, and evaluated using the gamma index method with TPS calculated dose distribution. Results Sensitometric curve has been generated using a single film exposed at nine field region to check quantitative dose verifications of IMRT treatments. The radiation scattered factor was observed to decrease exponentially with the increase in the distance from the centre of each field region. The IMRT plans based on calibration curve were verified using the gamma index method and found to be within acceptable criteria. Conclusion The single film method proved to be superior to the traditional calibration method and produce fast daily film calibration for highly
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Drury, Anna Joy; Westerhold, Thomas; Frederichs, Thomas; Tian, Jun; Wilkens, Roy; Channell, James E. T.; Evans, Helen; John, Cédric M.; Lyle, Mitch; Röhl, Ursula
2017-10-01
Accurate age control of the late Tortonian to early Messinian (8.3-6.0 Ma) is essential to ascertain the origin of benthic foraminiferal δ18O trends and the late Miocene carbon isotope shift (LMCIS), and to examine temporal relationships between the deep-sea, terrasphere and cryosphere. The current Tortonian-Messinian Geological Time Scale (GTS2012) is based on astronomically calibrated Mediterranean sections; however, no comparable non-Mediterranean stratigraphies exist for 8-6 Ma suitable for testing the GTS2012. Here, we present the first high-resolution, astronomically tuned benthic stable isotope stratigraphy (1.5 kyr resolution) and magnetostratigraphy from a single deep-sea location (IODP Site U1337, equatorial Pacific Ocean), which provides unprecedented insight into climate evolution from 8.3-6.0 Ma. The astronomically calibrated magnetostratigraphy provides robust ages, which differ by 2-50 kyr relative to the GTS2012 for polarity Chrons C3An.1n to C4r.1r, and eliminates the exceptionally high South Atlantic spreading rates based on the GTS2012 during Chron C3Bn. We show that the LMCIS was globally synchronous within 2 kyr, and provide astronomically calibrated ages anchored to the GPTS for its onset (7.537 Ma; 50% from base Chron C4n.1n) and termination (6.727 Ma; 11% from base Chron C3An.2n), confirming that the terrestrial C3:C4 shift could not have driven the LMCIS. The benthic records show that the transition into the 41-kyr world, when obliquity strongly influenced climate variability, already occurred at 7.7 Ma and further strengthened at 6.4 Ma. Previously unseen, distinctive, asymmetric saw-tooth patterns in benthic δ18O imply that high-latitude forcing played an important role in late Miocene climate dynamics from 7.7-6.9 Ma. This new integrated deep-sea stratigraphy from Site U1337 can act as a new stable isotope and magnetic polarity reference section for the 8.3-6.0 Ma interval.
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Bate, T.; Calkins, D. E.; Price, P.; Veikins, O.
1971-01-01
Calibrator generates accurate flow velocities over wide range of gas pressure, temperature, and composition. Both pressure and flow velocity can be maintained within 0.25 percent. Instrument is essentially closed loop hydraulic system containing positive displacement drive.
Self-calibration of cone-beam CT geometry using 3D–2D image registration
Ouadah, S; Stayman, J W; Gang, G J; Ehtiati, T; Siewerdsen, J H
2016-01-01
Robotic C-arms are capable of complex orbits that can increase field of view, reduce artifacts, improve image quality, and/or reduce dose; however, it can be challenging to obtain accurate, reproducible geometric calibration required for image reconstruction for such complex orbits. This work presents a method for geometric calibration for an arbitrary source-detector orbit by registering 2D projection data to a previously acquired 3D image. It also yields a method by which calibration of simple circular orbits can be improved. The registration uses a normalized gradient information similarity metric and the covariance matrix adaptation-evolution strategy optimizer for robustness against local minima and changes in image content. The resulting transformation provides a ‘self-calibration’ of system geometry. The algorithm was tested in phantom studies using both a cone-beam CT (CBCT) test-bench and a robotic C-arm (Artis Zeego, Siemens Healthcare) for circular and non-circular orbits. Self-calibration performance was evaluated in terms of the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the point spread function in CBCT reconstructions, the reprojection error (RPE) of steel ball bearings placed on each phantom, and the overall quality and presence of artifacts in CBCT images. In all cases, self-calibration improved the FWHM—e.g. on the CBCT bench, FWHM = 0.86 mm for conventional calibration compared to 0.65 mm for self-calibration (p < 0.001). Similar improvements were measured in RPE—e.g. on the robotic C-arm, RPE = 0.73 mm for conventional calibration compared to 0.55 mm for self-calibration (p < 0.001). Visible improvement was evident in CBCT reconstructions using self-calibration, particularly about high-contrast, high-frequency objects (e.g. temporal bone air cells and a surgical needle). The results indicate that self-calibration can improve even upon systems with presumably accurate geometric calibration and is applicable to situations where conventional
Calibration of Photon Sources for Brachytherapy
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Rijnders, Alex
Source calibration has to be considered an essential part of the quality assurance program in a brachytherapy department. Not only it will ensure that the source strength value used for dose calculation agrees within some predetermined limits to the value stated on the source certificate, but also it will ensure traceability to international standards. At present calibration is most often still given in terms of reference air kerma rate, although calibration in terms of absorbed dose to water would be closer to the users interest. It can be expected that in a near future several standard laboratories will be able to offer this latter service, and dosimetry protocols will have to be adapted in this way. In-air measurement using ionization chambers (e.g. a Baldwin—Farmer ionization chamber for 192Ir high dose rate HDR or pulsed dose rate PDR sources) is still considered the method of choice for high energy source calibration, but because of their ease of use and reliability well type chambers are becoming more popular and are nowadays often recommended as the standard equipment. For low energy sources well type chambers are in practice the only equipment available for calibration. Care should be taken that the chamber is calibrated at the standard laboratory for the same source type and model as used in the clinic, and using the same measurement conditions and setup. Several standard laboratories have difficulties to provide these calibration facilities, especially for the low energy seed sources (125I and 103Pd). Should a user not be able to obtain properly calibrated equipment to verify the brachytherapy sources used in his department, then at least for sources that are replaced on a regular basis, a consistency check program should be set up to ensure a minimal level of quality control before these sources are used for patient treatment.
An Accurate Temperature Correction Model for Thermocouple Hygrometers 1
Savage, Michael J.; Cass, Alfred; de Jager, James M.
1982-01-01
Numerous water relation studies have used thermocouple hygrometers routinely. However, the accurate temperature correction of hygrometer calibration curve slopes seems to have been largely neglected in both psychrometric and dewpoint techniques. In the case of thermocouple psychrometers, two temperature correction models are proposed, each based on measurement of the thermojunction radius and calculation of the theoretical voltage sensitivity to changes in water potential. The first model relies on calibration at a single temperature and the second at two temperatures. Both these models were more accurate than the temperature correction models currently in use for four psychrometers calibrated over a range of temperatures (15-38°C). The model based on calibration at two temperatures is superior to that based on only one calibration. The model proposed for dewpoint hygrometers is similar to that for psychrometers. It is based on the theoretical voltage sensitivity to changes in water potential. Comparison with empirical data from three dewpoint hygrometers calibrated at four different temperatures indicates that these instruments need only be calibrated at, e.g. 25°C, if the calibration slopes are corrected for temperature. PMID:16662241
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Gliese, U.; Avanov, L. A.; Barrie, A.; Kujawski, J. T.; Mariano, A. J.; Tucker, C. J.; Chornay, D. J.; Cao, N. T.; Zeuch, M.; Pollock, C. J.; Jacques, A. D.
2013-12-01
The Fast Plasma Investigation (FPI) of the NASA Magnetospheric MultiScale (MMS) mission employs 16 Dual Electron Spectrometers (DESs) and 16 Dual Ion Spectrometers (DISs) with 4 of each type on each of 4 spacecraft to enable fast (30ms for electrons; 150ms for ions) and spatially differentiated measurements of full the 3D particle velocity distributions. This approach presents a new and challenging aspect to the calibration and operation of these instruments on ground and in flight. The response uniformity and reliability of their calibration and the approach to handling any temporal evolution of these calibrated characteristics all assume enhanced importance in this application, where we attempt to understand the meaning of particle distributions within the ion and electron diffusion regions. Traditionally, the micro-channel plate (MCP) based detection systems for electrostatic particle spectrometers have been calibrated by setting a fixed detection threshold and, subsequently, measuring a detection system count rate plateau curve to determine the MCP voltage that ensures the count rate has reached a constant value independent of further variation in the MCP voltage. This is achieved when most of the MCP pulse height distribution (PHD) is located at higher values (larger pulses) than the detection amplifier threshold. This method is adequate in single-channel detection systems and in multi-channel detection systems with very low crosstalk between channels. However, in dense multi-channel systems, it can be inadequate. Furthermore, it fails to fully and individually characterize each of the fundamental parameters of the detection system. We present a new detection system calibration method that enables accurate and repeatable measurement and calibration of MCP gain, MCP efficiency, signal loss due to variation in gain and efficiency, crosstalk from effects both above and below the MCP, noise margin, and stability margin in one single measurement. The fundamental
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Zhen, X; Chen, H; Liao, Y
Purpose: To study the feasibility of employing deformable registration methods for accurate rectum dose volume parameters calculation and their potentials in revealing rectum dose-toxicity between complication and non-complication cervical cancer patients with brachytherapy treatment. Method and Materials: Data from 60 patients treated with BT including planning images, treatment plans, and follow-up clinical exam were retrospectively collected. Among them, 12 patients complained about hematochezia were further examined with colonoscopy and scored as Grade 1–3 complication (CP). Meanwhile, another 12 non-complication (NCP) patients were selected as a reference group. To seek for potential gains in rectum toxicity prediction when fractional anatomical deformationsmore » are account for, the rectum dose volume parameters D0.1/1/2cc of the selected patients were retrospectively computed by three different approaches: the simple “worstcase scenario” (WS) addition method, an intensity-based deformable image registration (DIR) algorithm-Demons, and a more accurate, recent developed local topology preserved non-rigid point matching algorithm (TOP). Statistical significance of the differences between rectum doses of the CP group and the NCP group were tested by a two-tailed t-test and results were considered to be statistically significant if p < 0.05. Results: For the D0.1cc, no statistical differences are found between the CP and NCP group in all three methods. For the D1cc, dose difference is not detected by the WS method, however, statistical differences between the two groups are observed by both Demons and TOP, and more evident in TOP. For the D2cc, the CP and NCP cases are statistically significance of the difference for all three methods but more pronounced with TOP. Conclusion: In this study, we calculated the rectum D0.1/1/2cc by simple WS addition and two DIR methods and seek for gains in rectum toxicity prediction. The results favor the claim that
A method of calibrating wind velocity sensors with a modified gas flow calibrator
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Stump, H. P.
1978-01-01
A procedure was described for calibrating air velocity sensors in the exhaust flow of a gas flow calibrator. The average velocity in the test section located at the calibrator exhaust was verified from the mass flow rate accurately measured by the calibrator's precision sonic nozzles. Air at elevated pressures flowed through a series of screens, diameter changes, and flow straighteners, resulting in a smooth flow through the open test section. The modified system generated air velocities of 2 to 90 meters per second with an uncertainty of about two percent for speeds below 15 meters per second and four percent for the higher speeds. Wind tunnel data correlated well with that taken in the flow calibrator.
Improvement of Gaofen-3 Absolute Positioning Accuracy Based on Cross-Calibration
Deng, Mingjun; Li, Jiansong
2017-01-01
The Chinese Gaofen-3 (GF-3) mission was launched in August 2016, equipped with a full polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensor in the C-band, with a resolution of up to 1 m. The absolute positioning accuracy of GF-3 is of great importance, and in-orbit geometric calibration is a key technology for improving absolute positioning accuracy. Conventional geometric calibration is used to accurately calibrate the geometric calibration parameters of the image (internal delay and azimuth shifts) using high-precision ground control data, which are highly dependent on the control data of the calibration field, but it remains costly and labor-intensive to monitor changes in GF-3’s geometric calibration parameters. Based on the positioning consistency constraint of the conjugate points, this study presents a geometric cross-calibration method for the rapid and accurate calibration of GF-3. The proposed method can accurately calibrate geometric calibration parameters without using corner reflectors and high-precision digital elevation models, thus improving absolute positioning accuracy of the GF-3 image. GF-3 images from multiple regions were collected to verify the absolute positioning accuracy after cross-calibration. The results show that this method can achieve a calibration accuracy as high as that achieved by the conventional field calibration method. PMID:29240675
A spectrally tunable LED sphere source enables accurate calibration of tristimulus colorimeters
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Fryc, I.; Brown, S. W.; Ohno, Y.
2006-02-01
The Four-Color Matrix method (FCM) was developed to improve the accuracy of chromaticity measurements of various display colors. The method is valid for each type of display having similar spectra. To develop the Four-Color correction matrix, spectral measurements of primary red, green, blue, and white colors of a display are needed. Consequently, a calibration facility should be equipped with a number of different displays. This is very inconvenient and expensive. A spectrally tunable light source (STS) that can mimic different display spectral distributions would eliminate the need for maintaining a wide variety of displays and would enable a colorimeter to be calibrated for a number of different displays using the same setup. Simulations show that an STS that can create red, green, blue and white distributions that are close to the real spectral power distribution (SPD) of a display works well with the FCM for the calibration of colorimeters.
Radiometric calibration updates to the Landsat collection
Micijevic, Esad; Haque, Md. Obaidul; Mishra, Nischal
2016-01-01
The Landsat Project is planning to implement a new collection management strategy for Landsat products generated at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. The goal of the initiative is to identify a collection of consistently geolocated and radiometrically calibrated images across the entire Landsat archive that is readily suitable for time-series analyses. In order to perform an accurate land change analysis, the data from all Landsat sensors must be on the same radiometric scale. Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) is calibrated to a radiance standard and all previous sensors are cross-calibrated to its radiometric scale. Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) is calibrated to both radiance and reflectance standards independently. The Landsat 8 OLI reflectance calibration is considered to be most accurate. To improve radiometric calibration accuracy of historical data, Landsat 1-7 sensors also need to be cross-calibrated to the OLI reflectance scale. Results of that effort, as well as other calibration updates including the absolute and relative radiometric calibration and saturated pixel replacement for Landsat 8 OLI and absolute calibration for Landsat 4 and 5 Thematic Mappers (TM), will be implemented into Landsat products during the archive reprocessing campaign planned within the new collection management strategy. This paper reports on the planned radiometric calibration updates to the solar reflective bands of the new Landsat collection.
Calibration of EBT2 film by the PDD method with scanner non-uniformity correction.
Chang, Liyun; Chui, Chen-Shou; Ding, Hueisch-Jy; Hwang, Ing-Ming; Ho, Sheng-Yow
2012-09-21
The EBT2 film together with a flatbed scanner is a convenient dosimetry QA tool for verification of clinical radiotherapy treatments. However, it suffers from a relatively high degree of uncertainty and a tedious film calibration process for every new lot of films, including cutting the films into several small pieces, exposing with different doses, restoring them back and selecting the proper region of interest (ROI) for each piece for curve fitting. In this work, we present a percentage depth dose (PDD) method that can accurately calibrate the EBT2 film together with the scanner non-uniformity correction and provide an easy way to perform film dosimetry. All films were scanned before and after the irradiation in one of the two homemade 2 mm thick acrylic frames (one portrait and the other landscape), which was located at a fixed position on the scan bed of an Epson 10 000XL scanner. After the pre-irradiated scan, the film was placed parallel to the beam central axis and sandwiched between six polystyrene plates (5 cm thick each), followed by irradiation of a 20 × 20 cm² 6 MV photon beam. Two different beams on times were used on two different films to deliver a dose to the film ranging from 32 to 320 cGy. After the post-irradiated scan, the net optical densities for a total of 235 points on the beam central axis on the films were auto-extracted and compared with the corresponding depth doses that were calculated through the measurement of a 0.6 cc farmer chamber and the related PDD table to perform the curve fitting. The portrait film location was selected for routine calibration, since the central beam axis on the film is parallel to the scanning direction, where non-uniformity correction is not needed (Ferreira et al 2009 Phys. Med. Biol. 54 1073-85). To perform the scanner non-uniformity calibration, the cross-beam profiles of the film were analysed by referencing the measured profiles from a Profiler™. Finally, to verify our method, the films were
Dependency of EBT2 film calibration curve on postirradiation time
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Chang, Liyun, E-mail: liyunc@isu.edu.tw; Ding, Hueisch-Jy; Ho, Sheng-Yow
2014-02-15
Purpose: The Ashland Inc. product EBT2 film model is a widely used quality assurance tool, especially for verification of 2-dimensional dose distributions. In general, the calibration film and the dose measurement film are irradiated, scanned, and calibrated at the same postirradiation time (PIT), 1-2 days after the films are irradiated. However, for a busy clinic or in some special situations, the PIT for the dose measurement film may be different from that of the calibration film. In this case, the measured dose will be incorrect. This paper proposed a film calibration method that includes the effect of PIT. Methods: Themore » dose versus film optical density was fitted to a power function with three parameters. One of these parameters was PIT dependent, while the other two were found to be almost constant with a standard deviation of the mean less than 4%. The PIT-dependent parameter was fitted to another power function of PIT. The EBT2 film model was calibrated using the PDD method with 14 different PITs ranging from 1 h to 2 months. Ten of the fourteen PITs were used for finding the fitting parameters, and the other four were used for testing the model. Results: The verification test shows that the differences between the delivered doses and the film doses calculated with this modeling were mainly within 2% for delivered doses above 60 cGy, and the total uncertainties were generally under 5%. The errors and total uncertainties of film dose calculation were independent of the PIT using the proposed calibration procedure. However, the fitting uncertainty increased with decreasing dose or PIT, but stayed below 1.3% for this study. Conclusions: The EBT2 film dose can be modeled as a function of PIT. For the ease of routine calibration, five PITs were suggested to be used. It is recommended that two PITs be located in the fast developing period (1∼6 h), one in 1 ∼ 2 days, one around a week, and one around a month.« less
In vivo urethral dose measurements: a method to verify high dose rate prostate treatments.
Brezovich, I A; Duan, J; Pareek, P N; Fiveash, J; Ezekiel, M
2000-10-01
Radiation doses delivered in high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy are susceptible to many inaccuracies and errors, including imaging, planning and delivery. Consequently, the dose delivered to the patient may deviate substantially from the treatment plan. We investigated the feasibility of using TLD measurements in the urethra to estimate the discrepancy in treatments for prostate cancer. The dose response of the 1 mm diam, 6 mm long LiF rods that we used for the in vivo measurements was calibrated with the 192Ir HDR source, as well as a 60Co teletherapy unit. A train of 20 rods contained in a sterile plastic tube was inserted into the urethral (Foley) catheter for the duration of a treatment fraction, and the measured doses were compared to the treatment plan. Initial results from a total of seven treatments in four patients show good agreement between theory and experiment. Analysis of any one treatment showed agreement within 11.7% +/- 6.2% for the highest dose encountered in the central prostatic urethra, and within 10.4% +/- 4.4% for the mean dose. Taking the average over all seven treatments shows agreement within 1.7% for the maximum urethral dose, and within 1.5% for the mean urethral dose. Based on these initial findings it seems that planned prostate doses can be accurately reproduced in the clinic.
Calibration factors for the SNOOPY NP-100 neutron dosimeter
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Moscu, D. F.; McNeill, F. E.; Chase, J.
2007-10-01
Within CANDU nuclear power facilities, only a small fraction of workers are exposed to neutron radiation. For these individuals, roughly 4.5% of the total radiation equivalent dose is the result of exposure to neutrons. When this figure is considered across all workers receiving external exposure of any kind, only 0.25% of the total radiation equivalent dose is the result of exposure to neutrons. At many facilities, the NP-100 neutron dosimeter, manufactured by Canberra Industries Incorporated, is employed in both direct and indirect dosimetry methods. Also known as "SNOOPY", these detectors undergo calibration, which results in a calibration factor relating the neutron count rate to the ambient dose equivalent rate, using a standard Am-Be neutron source. Using measurements presented in a technical note, readings from the dosimeter for six different neutron fields in six source-detector orientations were used, to determine a calibration factor for each of these sources. The calibration factor depends on the neutron energy spectrum and the radiation weighting factor to link neutron fluence to equivalent dose. Although the neutron energy spectra measured in the CANDU workplace are quite different than that of the Am-Be calibration source, the calibration factor remains constant - within acceptable limits - regardless of the neutron source used in the calibration; for the specified calibration orientation and current radiation weighting factors. However, changing the value of the radiation weighting factors would result in changes to the calibration factor. In the event of changes to the radiation weighting factors, it will be necessary to assess whether a change to the calibration process or resulting calibration factor is warranted.
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Gliese, U.; Avanov, L. A.; Barrie, A. C.; Kujawski, J. T.; Mariano, A. J.; Tucker, C. J.; Chornay, D. J.; Cao, N. T.; Gershman, D. J.; Dorelli, J. C.;
2015-01-01
system calibration method that enables accurate and repeatable measurement and calibration of MCP gain, MCP efficiency, signal loss due to variation in gain and efficiency, crosstalk from effects both above and below the MCP, noise margin, and stability margin in one single measurement. More precise calibration is highly desirable as the instruments will produce higher quality raw data that will require less post-acquisition data correction using results from in-flight pitch angle distribution measurements and ground calibration measurements. The detection system description and the fundamental concepts of this new calibration method, named threshold scan, will be presented. It will be shown how to derive all the individual detection system parameters and how to choose the optimum detection system operating point. This new method has been successfully applied to achieve a highly accurate calibration of the DESs and DISs of the MMS mission. The practical application of the method will be presented together with the achieved calibration results and their significance. Finally, it will be shown that, with further detailed modeling, this method can be extended for use in flight to achieve and maintain a highly accurate detection system calibration across a large number of instruments during the mission.
Self-calibration of cone-beam CT geometry using 3D-2D image registration
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Ouadah, S.; Stayman, J. W.; Gang, G. J.; Ehtiati, T.; Siewerdsen, J. H.
2016-04-01
Robotic C-arms are capable of complex orbits that can increase field of view, reduce artifacts, improve image quality, and/or reduce dose; however, it can be challenging to obtain accurate, reproducible geometric calibration required for image reconstruction for such complex orbits. This work presents a method for geometric calibration for an arbitrary source-detector orbit by registering 2D projection data to a previously acquired 3D image. It also yields a method by which calibration of simple circular orbits can be improved. The registration uses a normalized gradient information similarity metric and the covariance matrix adaptation-evolution strategy optimizer for robustness against local minima and changes in image content. The resulting transformation provides a ‘self-calibration’ of system geometry. The algorithm was tested in phantom studies using both a cone-beam CT (CBCT) test-bench and a robotic C-arm (Artis Zeego, Siemens Healthcare) for circular and non-circular orbits. Self-calibration performance was evaluated in terms of the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the point spread function in CBCT reconstructions, the reprojection error (RPE) of steel ball bearings placed on each phantom, and the overall quality and presence of artifacts in CBCT images. In all cases, self-calibration improved the FWHM—e.g. on the CBCT bench, FWHM = 0.86 mm for conventional calibration compared to 0.65 mm for self-calibration (p < 0.001). Similar improvements were measured in RPE—e.g. on the robotic C-arm, RPE = 0.73 mm for conventional calibration compared to 0.55 mm for self-calibration (p < 0.001). Visible improvement was evident in CBCT reconstructions using self-calibration, particularly about high-contrast, high-frequency objects (e.g. temporal bone air cells and a surgical needle). The results indicate that self-calibration can improve even upon systems with presumably accurate geometric calibration and is
McCabe, Bradley P.; Speidel, Michael A.; Pike, Tina L.; Van Lysel, Michael S.
2011-01-01
Purpose: In this study, newly formulated XR-RV3 GafChromic® film was calibrated with National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) traceability for measurement of patient skin dose during fluoroscopically guided interventional procedures. Methods: The film was calibrated free-in-air to air kerma levels between 15 and 1100 cGy using four moderately filtered x-ray beam qualities (60, 80, 100, and 120 kVp). The calibration films were scanned with a commercial flatbed document scanner. Film reflective density-to-air kerma calibration curves were constructed for each beam quality, with both the orange and white sides facing the x-ray source. A method to correct for nonuniformity in scanner response (up to 25% depending on position) was developed to enable dose measurement with large films. The response of XR-RV3 film under patient backscattering conditions was examined using on-phantom film exposures and Monte Carlo simulations. Results: The response of XR-RV3 film to a given air kerma depended on kVp and film orientation. For a 200 cGy air kerma exposure with the orange side of the film facing the source, the film response increased by 20% from 60 to 120 kVp. At 500 cGy, the increase was 12%. When 500 cGy exposures were performed with the white side facing the x-ray source, the film response increased by 4.0% (60 kVp) to 9.9% (120 kVp) compared to the orange-facing orientation. On-phantom film measurements and Monte Carlo simulations show that using a NIST-traceable free-in-air calibration curve to determine air kerma in the presence of backscatter results in an error from 2% up to 8% depending on beam quality. The combined uncertainty in the air kerma measurement from the calibration curves and scanner nonuniformity correction was ±7.1% (95% C.I.). The film showed notable stability. Calibrations of film and scanner separated by 1 yr differed by 1.0%. Conclusions: XR-RV3 radiochromic film response to a given air kerma shows dependence on beam quality and film
McCabe, Bradley P; Speidel, Michael A; Pike, Tina L; Van Lysel, Michael S
2011-04-01
In this study, newly formulated XR-RV3 GafChromic film was calibrated with National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) traceability for measurement of patient skin dose during fluoroscopically guided interventional procedures. The film was calibrated free-in-air to air kerma levels between 15 and 1100 cGy using four moderately filtered x-ray beam qualities (60, 80, 100, and 120 kVp). The calibration films were scanned with a commercial flatbed document scanner. Film reflective density-to-air kerma calibration curves were constructed for each beam quality, with both the orange and white sides facing the x-ray source. A method to correct for nonuniformity in scanner response (up to 25% depending on position) was developed to enable dose measurement with large films. The response of XR-RV3 film under patient backscattering conditions was examined using on-phantom film exposures and Monte Carlo simulations. The response of XR-RV3 film to a given air kerma depended on kVp and film orientation. For a 200 cGy air kerma exposure with the orange side of the film facing the source, the film response increased by 20% from 60 to 120 kVp. At 500 cGy, the increase was 12%. When 500 cGy exposures were performed with the white side facing the x-ray source, the film response increased by 4.0% (60 kVp) to 9.9% (120 kVp) compared to the orange-facing orientation. On-phantom film measurements and Monte Carlo simulations show that using a NIST-traceable free-in-air calibration curve to determine air kerma in the presence of backscatter results in an error from 2% up to 8% depending on beam quality. The combined uncertainty in the air kerma measurement from the calibration curves and scanner nonuniformity correction was +/- 7.1% (95% C.I.). The film showed notable stability. Calibrations of film and scanner separated by 1 yr differed by 1.0%. XR-RV3 radiochromic film response to a given air kerma shows dependence on beam quality and film orientation. The presence of
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Guillot, Mathieu; Gingras, Luc; Archambault, Louis
2011-04-15
Purpose: The purposes of this work were: (1) To determine if a spectral method can accurately correct the Cerenkov light effect in plastic scintillation detectors (PSDs) for situations where the Cerenkov light is dominant over the scintillation light and (2) to develop a procedural guideline for accurately determining the calibration factors of PSDs. Methods: The authors demonstrate, by using the equations of the spectral method, that the condition for accurately correcting the effect of Cerenkov light is that the ratio of the two calibration factors must be equal to the ratio of the Cerenkov light measured within the two differentmore » spectral regions used for analysis. Based on this proof, the authors propose two new procedures to determine the calibration factors of PSDs, which were designed to respect this condition. A PSD that consists of a cylindrical polystyrene scintillating fiber (1.6 mm{sup 3}) coupled to a plastic optical fiber was calibrated by using these new procedures and the two reference procedures described in the literature. To validate the extracted calibration factors, relative dose profiles and output factors for a 6 MV photon beam from a medical linac were measured with the PSD and an ionization chamber. Emphasis was placed on situations where the Cerenkov light is dominant over the scintillation light and on situations dissimilar to the calibration conditions. Results: The authors found that the accuracy of the spectral method depends on the procedure used to determine the calibration factors of the PSD and on the attenuation properties of the optical fiber used. The results from the relative dose profile measurements showed that the spectral method can correct the Cerenkov light effect with an accuracy level of 1%. The results obtained also indicate that PSDs measure output factors that are lower than those measured with ionization chambers for square field sizes larger than 25x25 cm{sup 2}, in general agreement with previously
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Polf, J; Chung, H; Langen, K
Purpose: To validate the stoichiometric calibration of the Hounsfield Unit (HU) to Stopping Power Ratio (SPR) calibration used to commission a commercial treatment planning system (TPS) for proton radiotherapy dose calculation. Methods and Materials: The water equivalent thickness (WET) of several individual pig tissues (lung, fat, muscle, liver, intestine, rib, femur), mixed tissue samples (muscle/rib, ice/femur, rib/air cavity/muscle), and an intact pig head were measured with a multi-layer ionization chamber (MLIC). A CT scan of each sample was obtained and imported into a commercial TPS. The WET calculated by the TPS for each tissue sample was compared to the measuredmore » WET value to determine the accuracy of the HU-to-SPR calibration curve used by the TPS to calculate dose. Results: The WET values calculated by the TPS showed good agreement (< 2.0%) with the measured values for bone and all soft tissues except fat (3.1% difference). For the mixed tissue samples and the intact pig head measurements, the difference in the TPS and measured WET values all agreed to within 3.5%. In addition, SPR values were calculated from the measured WET of each tissue, and compared to SPR values of reference tissues from ICRU 46 used to generate the HU-to-SPR calibration for the TPS. Conclusion: For clinical scenarios where the beam passes through multiple tissue types and its path is dominated by soft tissues, we believe using an uncertainty of 3.5% of the planned beam range is acceptable to account for uncertainties in the TPS WET determination.« less
Approaches on calibration of bolometer and establishment of bolometer calibration device
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Xia, Ming; Gao, Jianqiang; Ye, Jun'an; Xia, Junwen; Yin, Dejin; Li, Tiecheng; Zhang, Dong
2015-10-01
Bolometer is mainly used for measuring thermal radiation in the field of public places, labor hygiene, heating and ventilation and building energy conservation. The working principle of bolometer is under the exposure of thermal radiation, temperature of black absorbing layer of detector rise after absorption of thermal radiation, which makes the electromotive force produced by thermoelectric. The white light reflective layer of detector does not absorb thermal radiation, so the electromotive force produced by thermoelectric is almost zero. A comparison of electromotive force produced by thermoelectric of black absorbing layer and white reflective layer can eliminate the influence of electric potential produced by the basal background temperature change. After the electromotive force which produced by thermal radiation is processed by the signal processing unit, the indication displays through the indication display unit. The measurement unit of thermal radiation intensity is usually W/m2 or kW/m2. Its accurate and reliable value has important significance for high temperature operation, labor safety and hygiene grading management. Bolometer calibration device is mainly composed of absolute radiometer, the reference light source, electric measuring instrument. Absolute radiometer is a self-calibration type radiometer. Its working principle is using the electric power which can be accurately measured replaces radiation power to absolutely measure the radiation power. Absolute radiometer is the standard apparatus of laser low power standard device, the measurement traceability is guaranteed. Using the calibration method of comparison, the absolute radiometer and bolometer measure the reference light source in the same position alternately which can get correction factor of irradiance indication. This paper is mainly about the design and calibration method of the bolometer calibration device. The uncertainty of the calibration result is also evaluated.
Dynamic Pressure Calibration Standard
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Schutte, P. C.; Cate, K. H.; Young, S. D.
1986-01-01
Vibrating columns of fluid used to calibrate transducers. Dynamic pressure calibration standard developed for calibrating flush diaphragm-mounted pressure transducers. Pressures up to 20 kPa (3 psi) accurately generated over frequency range of 50 to 1,800 Hz. System includes two conically shaped aluminum columns one 5 cm (2 in.) high for low pressures and another 11 cm (4.3 in.) high for higher pressures, each filled with viscous fluid. Each column mounted on armature of vibration exciter, which imparts sinusoidally varying acceleration to fluid column. Signal noise low, and waveform highly dependent on quality of drive signal in vibration exciter.
Research on camera on orbit radial calibration based on black body and infrared calibration stars
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Wang, YuDu; Su, XiaoFeng; Zhang, WanYing; Chen, FanSheng
2018-05-01
Affected by launching process and space environment, the response capability of a space camera must be attenuated. So it is necessary for a space camera to have a spaceborne radiant calibration. In this paper, we propose a method of calibration based on accurate Infrared standard stars was proposed for increasing infrared radiation measurement precision. As stars can be considered as a point target, we use them as the radiometric calibration source and establish the Taylor expansion method and the energy extrapolation model based on WISE catalog and 2MASS catalog. Then we update the calibration results from black body. Finally, calibration mechanism is designed and the technology of design is verified by on orbit test. The experimental calibration result shows the irradiance extrapolation error is about 3% and the accuracy of calibration methods is about 10%, the results show that the methods could satisfy requirements of on orbit calibration.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Williamson, Jeffrey F.
2006-09-01
This paper briefly reviews the evolution of brachytherapy dosimetry from 1900 to the present. Dosimetric practices in brachytherapy fall into three distinct eras: During the era of biological dosimetry (1900-1938), radium pioneers could only specify Ra-226 and Rn-222 implants in terms of the mass of radium encapsulated within the implanted sources. Due to the high energy of its emitted gamma rays and the long range of its secondary electrons in air, free-air chambers could not be used to quantify the output of Ra-226 sources in terms of exposure. Biological dosimetry, most prominently the threshold erythema dose, gained currency as a means of intercomparing radium treatments with exposure-calibrated orthovoltage x-ray units. The classical dosimetry era (1940-1980) began with successful exposure standardization of Ra-226 sources by Bragg-Gray cavity chambers. Classical dose-computation algorithms, based upon 1-D buildup factor measurements and point-source superposition computational algorithms, were able to accommodate artificial radionuclides such as Co-60, Ir-192, and Cs-137. The quantitative dosimetry era (1980- ) arose in response to the increasing utilization of low energy K-capture radionuclides such as I-125 and Pd-103 for which classical approaches could not be expected to estimate accurate correct doses. This led to intensive development of both experimental (largely TLD-100 dosimetry) and Monte Carlo dosimetry techniques along with more accurate air-kerma strength standards. As a result of extensive benchmarking and intercomparison of these different methods, single-seed low-energy radionuclide dose distributions are now known with a total uncertainty of 3%-5%.
Polarization effects on hard target calibration of lidar systems
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Kavaya, Michael J.
1987-01-01
The theory of hard target calibration of lidar backscatter data, including laboratory measurements of the pertinent target reflectance parameters, is extended to include the effects of polarization of the transmitted and received laser radiation. The bidirectional reflectance-distribution function model of reflectance is expanded to a 4 x 4 matrix allowing Mueller matrix and Stokes vector calculus to be employed. Target reflectance parameters for calibration of lidar backscatter data are derived for various lidar system polarization configurations from integrating sphere and monostatic reflectometer measurements. It is found that correct modeling of polarization effects is mandatory for accurate calibration of hard target reflectance parameters and, therefore, for accurate calibration of lidar backscatter data.
Chen, Haibin; Zhong, Zichun; Liao, Yuliang; Pompoš, Arnold; Hrycushko, Brian; Albuquerque, Kevin; Zhen, Xin; Zhou, Linghong; Gu, Xuejun
2016-02-07
GEC-ESTRO guidelines for high dose rate cervical brachytherapy advocate the reporting of the D2cc (the minimum dose received by the maximally exposed 2cc volume) to organs at risk. Due to large interfractional organ motion, reporting of accurate cumulative D2cc over a multifractional course is a non-trivial task requiring deformable image registration and deformable dose summation. To efficiently and accurately describe the point-to-point correspondence of the bladder wall over all treatment fractions while preserving local topologies, we propose a novel graphic processing unit (GPU)-based non-rigid point matching algorithm. This is achieved by introducing local anatomic information into the iterative update of correspondence matrix computation in the 'thin plate splines-robust point matching' (TPS-RPM) scheme. The performance of the GPU-based TPS-RPM with local topology preservation algorithm (TPS-RPM-LTP) was evaluated using four numerically simulated synthetic bladders having known deformations, a custom-made porcine bladder phantom embedded with twenty one fiducial markers, and 29 fractional computed tomography (CT) images from seven cervical cancer patients. Results show that TPS-RPM-LTP achieved excellent geometric accuracy with landmark residual distance error (RDE) of 0.7 ± 0.3 mm for the numerical synthetic data with different scales of bladder deformation and structure complexity, and 3.7 ± 1.8 mm and 1.6 ± 0.8 mm for the porcine bladder phantom with large and small deformation, respectively. The RDE accuracy of the urethral orifice landmarks in patient bladders was 3.7 ± 2.1 mm. When compared to the original TPS-RPM, the TPS-RPM-LTP improved landmark matching by reducing landmark RDE by 50 ± 19%, 37 ± 11% and 28 ± 11% for the synthetic, porcine phantom and the patient bladders, respectively. This was achieved with a computational time of less than 15 s in all cases
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Chen, Haibin; Zhong, Zichun; Liao, Yuliang; Pompoš, Arnold; Hrycushko, Brian; Albuquerque, Kevin; Zhen, Xin; Zhou, Linghong; Gu, Xuejun
2016-02-01
GEC-ESTRO guidelines for high dose rate cervical brachytherapy advocate the reporting of the D2cc (the minimum dose received by the maximally exposed 2cc volume) to organs at risk. Due to large interfractional organ motion, reporting of accurate cumulative D2cc over a multifractional course is a non-trivial task requiring deformable image registration and deformable dose summation. To efficiently and accurately describe the point-to-point correspondence of the bladder wall over all treatment fractions while preserving local topologies, we propose a novel graphic processing unit (GPU)-based non-rigid point matching algorithm. This is achieved by introducing local anatomic information into the iterative update of correspondence matrix computation in the ‘thin plate splines-robust point matching’ (TPS-RPM) scheme. The performance of the GPU-based TPS-RPM with local topology preservation algorithm (TPS-RPM-LTP) was evaluated using four numerically simulated synthetic bladders having known deformations, a custom-made porcine bladder phantom embedded with twenty one fiducial markers, and 29 fractional computed tomography (CT) images from seven cervical cancer patients. Results show that TPS-RPM-LTP achieved excellent geometric accuracy with landmark residual distance error (RDE) of 0.7 ± 0.3 mm for the numerical synthetic data with different scales of bladder deformation and structure complexity, and 3.7 ± 1.8 mm and 1.6 ± 0.8 mm for the porcine bladder phantom with large and small deformation, respectively. The RDE accuracy of the urethral orifice landmarks in patient bladders was 3.7 ± 2.1 mm. When compared to the original TPS-RPM, the TPS-RPM-LTP improved landmark matching by reducing landmark RDE by 50 ± 19%, 37 ± 11% and 28 ± 11% for the synthetic, porcine phantom and the patient bladders, respectively. This was achieved with a computational time of less than 15 s in all cases
Temporal transferability of soil moisture calibration equations
USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database
Several large-scale field campaigns have been conducted over the last 20 years that require accurate estimates of soil moisture conditions. These measurements are manually conducted using soil moisture probes which require calibration. The calibration process involves the collection of hundreds of...
Accurate tissue characterization in low-dose CT imaging with pure iterative reconstruction.
Murphy, Kevin P; McLaughlin, Patrick D; Twomey, Maria; Chan, Vincent E; Moloney, Fiachra; Fung, Adrian J; Chan, Faimee E; Kao, Tafline; O'Neill, Siobhan B; Watson, Benjamin; O'Connor, Owen J; Maher, Michael M
2017-04-01
We assess the ability of low-dose hybrid iterative reconstruction (IR) and 'pure' model-based IR (MBIR) images to maintain accurate Hounsfield unit (HU)-determined tissue characterization. Standard-protocol (SP) and low-dose modified-protocol (MP) CTs were contemporaneously acquired in 34 Crohn's disease patients referred for CT. SP image reconstruction was via the manufacturer's recommendations (60% FBP, filtered back projection; 40% ASiR, Adaptive Statistical iterative Reconstruction; SP-ASiR40). MP data sets underwent four reconstructions (100% FBP; 40% ASiR; 70% ASiR; MBIR). Three observers measured tissue volumes using HU thresholds for fat, soft tissue and bone/contrast on each data set. Analysis was via SPSS. Inter-observer agreement was strong for 1530 datapoints (rs > 0.9). MP-MBIR tissue volume measurement was superior to other MP reconstructions and closely correlated with the reference SP-ASiR40 images for all tissue types. MP-MBIR superiority was most marked for fat volume calculation - close SP-ASiR40 and MP-MBIR Bland-Altman plot correlation was seen with the lowest average difference (336 cm 3 ) when compared with other MP reconstructions. Hounsfield unit-determined tissue volume calculations from MP-MBIR images resulted in values comparable to SP-ASiR40 calculations and values that are superior to MP-ASiR images. Accuracy of estimation of volume of tissues (e.g. fat) using segmentation software on low-dose CT images appears optimal when reconstructed with pure IR. © 2016 The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists.
40 CFR 86.519-90 - Constant volume sampler calibration.
Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR
2013-07-01
... 40 Protection of Environment 19 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Constant volume sampler calibration... Regulations for 1978 and Later New Motorcycles; Test Procedures § 86.519-90 Constant volume sampler calibration. (a) The CVS (Constant Volume Sampler) is calibrated using an accurate flowmeter and restrictor...
40 CFR 86.519-90 - Constant volume sampler calibration.
Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR
2012-07-01
... 40 Protection of Environment 19 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Constant volume sampler calibration... Regulations for 1978 and Later New Motorcycles; Test Procedures § 86.519-90 Constant volume sampler calibration. (a) The CVS (Constant Volume Sampler) is calibrated using an accurate flowmeter and restrictor...
40 CFR 86.519-90 - Constant volume sampler calibration.
Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR
2011-07-01
... 40 Protection of Environment 18 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Constant volume sampler calibration... Regulations for 1978 and Later New Motorcycles; Test Procedures § 86.519-90 Constant volume sampler calibration. (a) The CVS (Constant Volume Sampler) is calibrated using an accurate flowmeter and restrictor...
40 CFR 86.519-90 - Constant volume sampler calibration.
Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR
2014-07-01
... 40 Protection of Environment 19 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Constant volume sampler calibration... Regulations for 1978 and Later New Motorcycles; Test Procedures § 86.519-90 Constant volume sampler calibration. (a) The CVS (Constant Volume Sampler) is calibrated using an accurate flowmeter and restrictor...
40 CFR 86.519-90 - Constant volume sampler calibration.
Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR
2010-07-01
... 40 Protection of Environment 18 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Constant volume sampler calibration... Regulations for 1978 and Later New Motorcycles; Test Procedures § 86.519-90 Constant volume sampler calibration. (a) The CVS (Constant Volume Sampler) is calibrated using an accurate flowmeter and restrictor...
Bache, Steven T; Juang, Titania; Belley, Matthew D; Koontz, Bridget F; Adamovics, John; Yoshizumi, Terry T; Kirsch, David G; Oldham, Mark
2015-02-01
Sophisticated small animal irradiators, incorporating cone-beam-CT image-guidance, have recently been developed which enable exploration of the efficacy of advanced radiation treatments in the preclinical setting. Microstereotactic-body-radiation-therapy (microSBRT) is one technique of interest, utilizing field sizes in the range of 1-15 mm. Verification of the accuracy of microSBRT treatment delivery is challenging due to the lack of available methods to comprehensively measure dose distributions in representative phantoms with sufficiently high spatial resolution and in 3 dimensions (3D). This work introduces a potential solution in the form of anatomically accurate rodent-morphic 3D dosimeters compatible with ultrahigh resolution (0.3 mm(3)) optical computed tomography (optical-CT) dose read-out. Rodent-morphic dosimeters were produced by 3D-printing molds of rodent anatomy directly from contours defined on x-ray CT data sets of rats and mice, and using these molds to create tissue-equivalent radiochromic 3D dosimeters from Presage. Anatomically accurate spines were incorporated into some dosimeters, by first 3D printing the spine mold, then forming a high-Z bone equivalent spine insert. This spine insert was then set inside the tissue equivalent body mold. The high-Z spinal insert enabled representative cone-beam CT IGRT targeting. On irradiation, a linear radiochromic change in optical-density occurs in the dosimeter, which is proportional to absorbed dose, and was read out using optical-CT in high-resolution (0.5 mm isotropic voxels). Optical-CT data were converted to absolute dose in two ways: (i) using a calibration curve derived from other Presage dosimeters from the same batch, and (ii) by independent measurement of calibrated dose at a point using a novel detector comprised of a yttrium oxide based nanocrystalline scintillator, with a submillimeter active length. A microSBRT spinal treatment was delivered consisting of a 180° continuous arc at 225 k
Bache, Steven T.; Juang, Titania; Belley, Matthew D.; Koontz, Bridget F.; Adamovics, John; Yoshizumi, Terry T.; Kirsch, David G.; Oldham, Mark
2015-01-01
Purpose: Sophisticated small animal irradiators, incorporating cone-beam-CT image-guidance, have recently been developed which enable exploration of the efficacy of advanced radiation treatments in the preclinical setting. Microstereotactic-body-radiation-therapy (microSBRT) is one technique of interest, utilizing field sizes in the range of 1–15 mm. Verification of the accuracy of microSBRT treatment delivery is challenging due to the lack of available methods to comprehensively measure dose distributions in representative phantoms with sufficiently high spatial resolution and in 3 dimensions (3D). This work introduces a potential solution in the form of anatomically accurate rodent-morphic 3D dosimeters compatible with ultrahigh resolution (0.3 mm3) optical computed tomography (optical-CT) dose read-out. Methods: Rodent-morphic dosimeters were produced by 3D-printing molds of rodent anatomy directly from contours defined on x-ray CT data sets of rats and mice, and using these molds to create tissue-equivalent radiochromic 3D dosimeters from Presage. Anatomically accurate spines were incorporated into some dosimeters, by first 3D printing the spine mold, then forming a high-Z bone equivalent spine insert. This spine insert was then set inside the tissue equivalent body mold. The high-Z spinal insert enabled representative cone-beam CT IGRT targeting. On irradiation, a linear radiochromic change in optical-density occurs in the dosimeter, which is proportional to absorbed dose, and was read out using optical-CT in high-resolution (0.5 mm isotropic voxels). Optical-CT data were converted to absolute dose in two ways: (i) using a calibration curve derived from other Presage dosimeters from the same batch, and (ii) by independent measurement of calibrated dose at a point using a novel detector comprised of a yttrium oxide based nanocrystalline scintillator, with a submillimeter active length. A microSBRT spinal treatment was delivered consisting of a 180
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Bache, Steven T.; Juang, Titania; Belley, Matthew D.
Purpose: Sophisticated small animal irradiators, incorporating cone-beam-CT image-guidance, have recently been developed which enable exploration of the efficacy of advanced radiation treatments in the preclinical setting. Microstereotactic-body-radiation-therapy (microSBRT) is one technique of interest, utilizing field sizes in the range of 1–15 mm. Verification of the accuracy of microSBRT treatment delivery is challenging due to the lack of available methods to comprehensively measure dose distributions in representative phantoms with sufficiently high spatial resolution and in 3 dimensions (3D). This work introduces a potential solution in the form of anatomically accurate rodent-morphic 3D dosimeters compatible with ultrahigh resolution (0.3 mm{sup 3}) opticalmore » computed tomography (optical-CT) dose read-out. Methods: Rodent-morphic dosimeters were produced by 3D-printing molds of rodent anatomy directly from contours defined on x-ray CT data sets of rats and mice, and using these molds to create tissue-equivalent radiochromic 3D dosimeters from Presage. Anatomically accurate spines were incorporated into some dosimeters, by first 3D printing the spine mold, then forming a high-Z bone equivalent spine insert. This spine insert was then set inside the tissue equivalent body mold. The high-Z spinal insert enabled representative cone-beam CT IGRT targeting. On irradiation, a linear radiochromic change in optical-density occurs in the dosimeter, which is proportional to absorbed dose, and was read out using optical-CT in high-resolution (0.5 mm isotropic voxels). Optical-CT data were converted to absolute dose in two ways: (i) using a calibration curve derived from other Presage dosimeters from the same batch, and (ii) by independent measurement of calibrated dose at a point using a novel detector comprised of a yttrium oxide based nanocrystalline scintillator, with a submillimeter active length. A microSBRT spinal treatment was delivered consisting of a
Gamma-H2AX-based dose estimation for whole and partial body radiation exposure.
Horn, Simon; Barnard, Stephen; Rothkamm, Kai
2011-01-01
Most human exposures to ionising radiation are partial body exposures. However, to date only limited tools are available for rapid and accurate estimation of the dose distribution and the extent of the body spared from the exposure. These parameters are of great importance for emergency triage and clinical management of exposed individuals. Here, measurements of γ-H2AX immunofluorescence by microscopy and flow cytometry were compared as rapid biodosimetric tools for whole and partial body exposures. Ex vivo uniformly X-irradiated blood lymphocytes from one donor were used to generate a universal biexponential calibration function for γ-H2AX foci/intensity yields per unit dose for time points up to 96 hours post exposure. Foci--but not intensity--levels remained significantly above background for 96 hours for doses of 0.5 Gy or more. Foci-based dose estimates for ex vivo X-irradiated blood samples from 13 volunteers were in excellent agreement with the actual dose delivered to the targeted samples. Flow cytometric dose estimates for X-irradiated blood samples from 8 volunteers were in excellent agreement with the actual dose delivered at 1 hour post exposure but less so at 24 hours post exposure. In partial body exposures, simulated by mixing ex vivo irradiated and unirradiated lymphocytes, foci/intensity distributions were significantly over-dispersed compared to uniformly irradiated lymphocytes. For both methods and in all cases the estimated fraction of irradiated lymphocytes and dose to that fraction, calculated using the zero contaminated Poisson test and γ-H2AX calibration function, were in good agreement with the actual mixing ratios and doses delivered to the samples. In conclusion, γ-H2AX analysis of irradiated lymphocytes enables rapid and accurate assessment of whole body doses while dispersion analysis of foci or intensity distributions helps determine partial body doses and the irradiated fraction size in cases of partial body exposures.
Demidecki, A J; Williams, L E; Wong, J Y; Wessels, B W; Yorke, E D; Strandh, M; Strand, S E
1993-01-01
An investigation has been carried out on the factors which affect the absolute calibration of thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) used in beta particle absorbed dose evaluations. Four effects on light output (LO) were considered: decay of detector sensitivity with time, finite TLD volume, dose linearity, and energy dependence. Most important of these was the decay of LO with time in culture medium, muscle tissue, and gels. This permanent loss of sensitivity was as large as an order of magnitude over a 21-day interval for the nominally 20-microns-thick disc-shaped CaSO4(Dy) TLDs in gel. Associated leaching of the dosimeter crystals out of the Teflon matrix was observed using scanning electron microscopy. Large channels leading from the outside environment into the TLDs were identified using SEM images. A possibility of batch dependence of fading was indicated. The second most important effect was the apparent reduction of light output due to finite size and increased specific gravity of the dosimeter (volume effect). We estimated this term by calculations as 10% in standard "mini" rods for beta particles from 90Y, but nearly a factor of 3 for 131I beta particles in the same geometry. No significant nonlinearity of the log (light output) with log (absorbed dose) over the range 0.05-20.00 Gy was discovered. Energy dependence of the LO was found to be not detectable, within measurement errors, over the range of 0.60-6.0 MeV mean energy electrons. With careful understanding of these effects, calibration via gel phantom would appear to be an acceptable strategy for mini TLDs used in beta absorbed dose evaluations in media.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Direct megavoltage photon calibration service in Australia
Ramanathan, G.; Oliver, C.; Cole, A.; Lye, J.; Harty, P. D.; Wright, T.; Webb, D. V.; Followill, D. S.
2014-01-01
The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) maintains the Australian primary standard of absorbed dose. Until recently, the standard was used to calibrate ionisation chambers only in 60Co gamma rays. These chambers are then used by radiotherapy clinics to determine linac output, using a correction factor (kQ) to take into account the different spectra of 60Co and the linac. Over the period 2010–2013, ARPANSA adapted the primary standard to work in megavoltage linac beams, and has developed a calibration service at three photon beams (6, 10 and 18 MV) from an Elekta Synergy linac. We describe the details of the new calibration service, the method validation and the use of the new calibration factors with the International Atomic Energy Agency’s TRS-398 dosimetry Code of Practice. The expected changes in absorbed dose measurements in the clinic when shifting from 60Co to the direct calibration are determined. For a Farmer chamber (model 2571), the measured chamber calibration coefficient is expected to be reduced by 0.4, 1.0 and 1.1 % respectively for these three beams when compared to the factor derived from 60Co. These results are in overall agreement with international absorbed dose standards and calculations by Muir and Rogers in 2010 of kQ factors using Monte Carlo techniques. The reasons for and against moving to the new service are discussed in the light of the requirements of clinical dosimetry. PMID:25146559
Li, Zhengqiang; Li, Kaitao; Li, Donghui; Yang, Jiuchun; Xu, Hua; Goloub, Philippe; Victori, Stephane
2016-09-20
The Cimel new technologies allow both daytime and nighttime aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements. Although the daytime AOD calibration protocols are well established, accurate and simple nighttime calibration is still a challenging task. Standard lunar-Langley and intercomparison calibration methods both require specific conditions in terms of atmospheric stability and site condition. Additionally, the lunar irradiance model also has some known limits on its uncertainty. This paper presents a simple calibration method that transfers the direct-Sun calibration constant, V0,Sun, to the lunar irradiance calibration coefficient, CMoon. Our approach is a pure calculation method, independent of site limits, e.g., Moon phase. The method is also not affected by the lunar irradiance model limitations, which is the largest error source of traditional calibration methods. Besides, this new transfer calibration approach is easy to use in the field since CMoon can be obtained directly once V0,Sun is known. Error analysis suggests that the average uncertainty of CMoon over the 440-1640 nm bands obtained with the transfer method is 2.4%-2.8%, depending on the V0,Sun approach (Langley or intercomparison), which is comparable with that of lunar-Langley approach, theoretically. In this paper, the Sun-Moon transfer and the Langley methods are compared based on site measurements in Beijing, and the day-night measurement continuity and performance are analyzed.
Radiometrically accurate scene-based nonuniformity correction for array sensors.
Ratliff, Bradley M; Hayat, Majeed M; Tyo, J Scott
2003-10-01
A novel radiometrically accurate scene-based nonuniformity correction (NUC) algorithm is described. The technique combines absolute calibration with a recently reported algebraic scene-based NUC algorithm. The technique is based on the following principle: First, detectors that are along the perimeter of the focal-plane array are absolutely calibrated; then the calibration is transported to the remaining uncalibrated interior detectors through the application of the algebraic scene-based algorithm, which utilizes pairs of image frames exhibiting arbitrary global motion. The key advantage of this technique is that it can obtain radiometric accuracy during NUC without disrupting camera operation. Accurate estimates of the bias nonuniformity can be achieved with relatively few frames, which can be fewer than ten frame pairs. Advantages of this technique are discussed, and a thorough performance analysis is presented with use of simulated and real infrared imagery.
Fractional labelmaps for computing accurate dose volume histograms
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Sunderland, Kyle; Pinter, Csaba; Lasso, Andras; Fichtinger, Gabor
2017-03-01
PURPOSE: In radiation therapy treatment planning systems, structures are represented as parallel 2D contours. For treatment planning algorithms, structures must be converted into labelmap (i.e. 3D image denoting structure inside/outside) representations. This is often done by triangulated a surface from contours, which is converted into a binary labelmap. This surface to binary labelmap conversion can cause large errors in small structures. Binary labelmaps are often represented using one byte per voxel, meaning a large amount of memory is unused. Our goal is to develop a fractional labelmap representation containing non-binary values, allowing more information to be stored in the same amount of memory. METHODS: We implemented an algorithm in 3D Slicer, which converts surfaces to fractional labelmaps by creating 216 binary labelmaps, changing the labelmap origin on each iteration. The binary labelmap values are summed to create the fractional labelmap. In addition, an algorithm is implemented in the SlicerRT toolkit that calculates dose volume histograms (DVH) using fractional labelmaps. RESULTS: We found that with manually segmented RANDO head and neck structures, fractional labelmaps represented structure volume up to 19.07% (average 6.81%) more accurately than binary labelmaps, while occupying the same amount of memory. When compared to baseline DVH from treatment planning software, DVH from fractional labelmaps had agreement acceptance percent (1% ΔD, 1% ΔV) up to 57.46% higher (average 4.33%) than DVH from binary labelmaps. CONCLUSION: Fractional labelmaps promise to be an effective method for structure representation, allowing considerably more information to be stored in the same amount of memory.
Device accurately measures and records low gas-flow rates
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Branum, L. W.
1966-01-01
Free-floating piston in a vertical column accurately measures and records low gas-flow rates. The system may be calibrated, using an adjustable flow-rate gas supply, a low pressure gage, and a sequence recorder. From the calibration rates, a nomograph may be made for easy reduction. Temperature correction may be added for further accuracy.
Self-calibrating multiplexer circuit
Wahl, Chris P.
1997-01-01
A time domain multiplexer system with automatic determination of acceptable multiplexer output limits, error determination, or correction is comprised of a time domain multiplexer, a computer, a constant current source capable of at least three distinct current levels, and two series resistances employed for calibration and testing. A two point linear calibration curve defining acceptable multiplexer voltage limits may be defined by the computer by determining the voltage output of the multiplexer to very accurately known input signals developed from predetermined current levels across the series resistances. Drift in the multiplexer may be detected by the computer when the output voltage limits, expected during normal operation, are exceeded, or the relationship defined by the calibration curve is invalidated.
Air data position-error calibration using state reconstruction techniques
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Whitmore, S. A.; Larson, T. J.; Ehernberger, L. J.
1984-01-01
During the highly maneuverable aircraft technology (HiMAT) flight test program recently completed at NASA Ames Research Center's Dryden Flight Research Facility, numerous problems were experienced in airspeed calibration. This necessitated the use of state reconstruction techniques to arrive at a position-error calibration. For the HiMAT aircraft, most of the calibration effort was expended on flights in which the air data pressure transducers were not performing accurately. Following discovery of this problem, the air data transducers of both aircraft were wrapped in heater blankets to correct the problem. Additional calibration flights were performed, and from the resulting data a satisfactory position-error calibration was obtained. This calibration and data obtained before installation of the heater blankets were used to develop an alternate calibration method. The alternate approach took advantage of high-quality inertial data that was readily available. A linearized Kalman filter (LKF) was used to reconstruct the aircraft's wind-relative trajectory; the trajectory was then used to separate transducer measurement errors from the aircraft position error. This calibration method is accurate and inexpensive. The LKF technique has an inherent advantage of requiring that no flight maneuvers be specially designed for airspeed calibrations. It is of particular use when the measurements of the wind-relative quantities are suspected to have transducer-related errors.
Kim, Jae-Hwan; Park, Saet-Byul; Roh, Hyo-Jeong; Park, Sunghoon; Shin, Min-Ki; Moon, Gui Im; Hong, Jin-Hwan; Kim, Hae-Yeong
2015-06-01
With the increasing number of genetically modified (GM) events, unauthorized GMO releases into the food market have increased dramatically, and many countries have developed detection tools for them. This study described the qualitative and quantitative detection methods of unauthorized the GM wheat MON71800 with a reference plasmid (pGEM-M71800). The wheat acetyl-CoA carboxylase (acc) gene was used as the endogenous gene. The plasmid pGEM-M71800, which contains both the acc gene and the event-specific target MON71800, was constructed as a positive control for the qualitative and quantitative analyses. The limit of detection in the qualitative PCR assay was approximately 10 copies. In the quantitative PCR assay, the standard deviation and relative standard deviation repeatability values ranged from 0.06 to 0.25 and from 0.23% to 1.12%, respectively. This study supplies a powerful and very simple but accurate detection strategy for unauthorized GM wheat MON71800 that utilizes a single calibrator plasmid. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Method for Ground-to-Space Laser Calibration System
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Lukashin, Constantine (Inventor); Wielicki, Bruce A. (Inventor)
2014-01-01
The present invention comprises an approach for calibrating the sensitivity to polarization, optics degradation, spectral and stray light response functions of instruments on orbit. The concept is based on using an accurate ground-based laser system, Ground-to-Space Laser Calibration (GSLC), transmitting laser light to instrument on orbit during nighttime substantially clear-sky conditions. To minimize atmospheric contribution to the calibration uncertainty the calibration cycles should be performed in short time intervals, and all required measurements are designed to be relative. The calibration cycles involve ground operations with laser beam polarization and wavelength changes.
Method for Ground-to-Satellite Laser Calibration System
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Lukashin, Constantine (Inventor); Wielicki, Bruce A. (Inventor)
2015-01-01
The present invention comprises an approach for calibrating the sensitivity to polarization, optics degradation, spectral and stray light response functions of instruments on orbit. The concept is based on using an accurate ground-based laser system, Ground-to-Space Laser Calibration (GSLC), transmitting laser light to instrument on orbit during nighttime substantially clear-sky conditions. To minimize atmospheric contribution to the calibration uncertainty the calibration cycles should be performed in short time intervals, and all required measurements are designed to be relative. The calibration cycles involve ground operations with laser beam polarization and wavelength changes.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Juang, T; Adamovics, J; Oldham, M
Purpose: Presage-Def, a deformable radiochromic 3D dosimeter, has been previously shown to have potential for validating deformable image registration algorithms. This work extends this effort to investigate the feasibility of using Presage-Def to validate dose-accumulation algorithms in deforming structures. Methods: Two cylindrical Presage-Def dosimeters (8cm diameter, 4.5cm length) were irradiated in a water-bath with a simple 4-field box treatment. Isocentric dose was 20Gy. One dosimeter served as control (no deformation) while the other was laterally compressed during irradiation by 21%. Both dosimeters were imaged before and after irradiation with a fast (∼10 minutes for 1mm isotropic resolution), broad beam, highmore » resolution optical-CT scanner. Measured dose distributions were compared to corresponding distributions calculated by a commissioned Eclipse planning system. Accuracy in the control was evaluated with 3D gamma (3%/3mm). The dose distribution calculated for the compressed dosimeter in the irradiation geometry cannot be directly compared via profiles or 3D gamma to the measured distribution, which deforms with release from compression. Thus, accuracy under deformation was determined by comparing integral dose within the high dose region of the deformed dosimeter distribution versus calculated dose. Dose profiles were used to study temporal stability of measured dose distributions. Results: Good dose agreement was demonstrated in the control with a 3D gamma passing rate of 96.6%. For the dosimeter irradiated under compression, the measured integral dose in the high dose region (518.0Gy*cm3) was within 6% of the Eclipse-calculated integral dose (549.4Gy*cm3). Elevated signal was noted on the dosimeter edge in the direction of compression. Change in dosimeter signal over 1.5 hours was ≤2.7%, and the relative dose distribution remained stable over this period of time. Conclusion: Presage-Def is promising as a 3D dosimeter capable of accurately
Calibration of satellite sensors after launch
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Fraser, R. S.; Kaufman, Y. J.
1986-01-01
A simple and accurate method for the postflight calibration of satellite Visible Infrared Spin-Scan Radiometers (VISSR) is presented, and the results of inflight testing are reported. The calibration source for the VISSR with its effective wavelength of 610 nm is the radiance of sunlight, measured in calibrated reflectance units, scattered by the atmospheric gas above ocean which is far from land. Only the lowest 20 percent of the full-scale VISSR response is calibrated. VISSR testing aboard two geostationary operational evironmental satellites between 1980 and 1983 showed significant calibration coefficient variations of only + or - 12 percent and + or - 2 percent. Good agreement was found between values of aerosol optical thickness measured by VISSR and those measured from the ground.
NOTE: Dose area product evaluations with Gafchromic® XR-R films and a flat-bed scanner
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Rampado, O.; Garelli, E.; Deagostini, S.; Ropolo, R.
2006-12-01
Gafchromic® XR-R films are a useful tool to evaluate entrance skin dose in interventional radiology. Another dosimetric quantity of interest in diagnostic and interventional radiology is the dose area product (DAP). In this study, a method to evaluate DAP using Gafchromic® XR-R films and a flat-bed scanner was developed and tested. Film samples were exposed to an x-ray beam of 80 kVp over a dose range of 0 10 Gy. DAP measurements with films were obtained from the digitalization of a film sample positioned over the x-ray beam window during the exposure. DAP values obtained with this method were compared for 23 cardiological interventional procedures with DAP values displayed by the equipment. The overall one-sigma dose measurement uncertainty depended on the absorbed dose, with values below 6% for doses above 1 Gy. A maximum discrepancy of 16% was found, which is of the order of the differences in the DAP measurements that may occur with different calibration procedures. Based on the results presented, after an accurate calibration procedure and a thorough inspection of the relationship between the actual dose and the direct measured quantity (net optical density or net pixel value variation), Gafchromic® XR-R films can be used to assess the DAP.
SU-F-T-568: QA of a Multi-Target Multi-Dose VMAT SRS
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Roa, D; Kuo, J; Gonzales, A
2016-06-15
Purpose: To, experimentally, corroborated the prescribed doses utilizing dosimeters (e.g. films and TLDs) that can provide high spatial resolution, allow dose measurement of multiple targets at once, and provide accurate dosimetric results. Methods: A single-isocenter 6FFF SRS VMAT plan consisting of one 358° arc at 0° couch angle and four 179° arcs at 30°, 60°, 330° and 300° couch angles respectively, was generated in ECLIPSE v.11 using a Rando-Alderson anthropomorphic head phantom CT study. This plan was a reproduction of a clinical plan generated for a stage-IV melanoma patient diagnosed with 19 intracranial lesions. The phantom was loaded with axiallymore » mounted (between phantom slabs) Gafchromic EBT3 film and TLDs strategically positioned within various target volumes. Film and TLDS were calibrated according to established protocols. Target prescription doses were 16 Gy (3cc≤, 3 lesions), 18 Gy (∼1–3cc, 10 lesions) and 20 Gy (≤1cc, 6 lesions). Phantom setup was verified through CBCT imaging prior to irradiation. Gafchromic films were scanned in transmission mode and TLDs were read, respectively, ∼24 hrs after irradiation. Results: Dose calibrated Gafchromic film data were compared to the ECLIPSE calculated data using a 3% / 3mm gamma function analysis. Results for the gamma values were 96–99% in agreement with the calculated data and with 84–90% of the film pixels within the 3% dose difference. TLD data showed a dose difference of 0.4–8% while the film data for those same locations yielded a difference of 0.4–4%. It was observed that the highest dose discrepancies correlated with the location of the small volume targets. Conclusion: Overall this study corroborated that a VMAT SRS treatment, employing various treatment table rotations and arcs, to multiple intracranial lesions with multiple dose prescriptions can be delivered accurately with the existing radiotherapy technology.« less
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Nishizawa, Yukiyasu; Sugita, Takeshi; Sanada, Yukihisa; Torii, Tatsuo
2015-04-01
Since 2011, MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan) have been conducting aerial monitoring to investigate the distribution of radioactive cesium dispersed into the atmosphere after the accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP), Tokyo Electric Power Company. Distribution maps of the air dose-rate at 1 m above the ground and the radioactive cesium deposition concentration on the ground are prepared using spectrum obtained by aerial monitoring. The radioactive cesium deposition is derived from its dose rate, which is calculated by excluding the dose rate of the background radiation due to natural radionuclides from the air dose-rate at 1 m above the ground. The first step of the current method of calculating the dose rate due to natural radionuclides is calculate the ratio of the total count rate of areas where no radioactive cesium is detected and the count rate of regions with energy levels of 1,400 keV or higher (BG-Index). Next, calculate the air dose rate of radioactive cesium by multiplying the BG-Index and the integrated count rate of 1,400 keV or higher for the area where the radioactive cesium is distributed. In high dose-rate areas, however, the count rate of the 1,365-keV peak of Cs-134, though small, is included in the integrated count rate of 1,400 keV or higher, which could cause an overestimation of the air dose rate of natural radionuclides. We developed a method for accurately evaluating the distribution maps of natural air dose-rate by excluding the effect of radioactive cesium, even in contaminated areas, and obtained the accurate air dose-rate map attributed the radioactive cesium deposition on the ground. Furthermore, the natural dose-rate distribution throughout Japan has been obtained by this method.
Comparison of Calibration Methods for Tristimulus Colorimeters.
Gardner, James L
2007-01-01
Uncertainties in source color measurements with a tristimulus colorimeter are estimated for calibration factors determined, based on a known source spectral distribution or on accurate measurements of the spectral responsivities of the colorimeter channels. Application is to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) colorimeter and an International Commission on Illumination (CIE) Illuminant A calibration. Detector-based calibration factors generally have lower uncertainties than source-based calibration factors. Uncertainties are also estimated for calculations of spectral mismatch factors. Where both spectral responsivities of the colorimeter channels and the spectral power distributions of the calibration and test sources are known, uncertainties are lowest if the colorimeter calibration factors are recalculated for the test source; this process also avoids correlations between the CIE Source A calibration factors and the spectral mismatch factors.
Comparison of Calibration Methods for Tristimulus Colorimeters
Gardner, James L.
2007-01-01
Uncertainties in source color measurements with a tristimulus colorimeter are estimated for calibration factors determined, based on a known source spectral distribution or on accurate measurements of the spectral responsivities of the colorimeter channels. Application is to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) colorimeter and an International Commission on Illumination (CIE) Illuminant A calibration. Detector-based calibration factors generally have lower uncertainties than source-based calibration factors. Uncertainties are also estimated for calculations of spectral mismatch factors. Where both spectral responsivities of the colorimeter channels and the spectral power distributions of the calibration and test sources are known, uncertainties are lowest if the colorimeter calibration factors are recalculated for the test source; this process also avoids correlations between the CIE Source A calibration factors and the spectral mismatch factors. PMID:27110460
Comparison of TLD calibration methods for 192Ir dosimetry
Butler, Duncan J.; Wilfert, Lisa; Ebert, Martin A.; Todd, Stephen P.; Hayton, Anna J.M.; Kron, Tomas
2013-01-01
For the purpose of dose measurement using a high‐dose rate 192Ir source, four methods of thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD) calibration were investigated. Three of the four calibration methods used the 192Ir source. Dwell times were calculated to deliver 1 Gy to the TLDs irradiated either in air or water. Dwell time calculations were confirmed by direct measurement using an ionization chamber. The fourth method of calibration used 6 MV photons from a medical linear accelerator, and an energy correction factor was applied to account for the difference in sensitivity of the TLDs in 192Ir and 6 M V. The results of the four TLD calibration methods are presented in terms of the results of a brachytherapy audit where seven Australian centers irradiated three sets of TLDs in a water phantom. The results were in agreement within estimated uncertainties when the TLDs were calibrated with the 192Ir source. Calibrating TLDs in a phantom similar to that used for the audit proved to be the most practical method and provided the greatest confidence in measured dose. When calibrated using 6 MV photons, the TLD results were consistently higher than the 192Ir−calibrated TLDs, suggesting this method does not fully correct for the response of the TLDs when irradiated in the audit phantom. PACS number: 87 PMID:23318392
Hand-eye calibration using a target registration error model.
Chen, Elvis C S; Morgan, Isabella; Jayarathne, Uditha; Ma, Burton; Peters, Terry M
2017-10-01
Surgical cameras are prevalent in modern operating theatres and are often used as a surrogate for direct vision. Visualisation techniques (e.g. image fusion) made possible by tracking the camera require accurate hand-eye calibration between the camera and the tracking system. The authors introduce the concept of 'guided hand-eye calibration', where calibration measurements are facilitated by a target registration error (TRE) model. They formulate hand-eye calibration as a registration problem between homologous point-line pairs. For each measurement, the position of a monochromatic ball-tip stylus (a point) and its projection onto the image (a line) is recorded, and the TRE of the resulting calibration is predicted using a TRE model. The TRE model is then used to guide the placement of the calibration tool, so that the subsequent measurement minimises the predicted TRE. Assessing TRE after each measurement produces accurate calibration using a minimal number of measurements. As a proof of principle, they evaluated guided calibration using a webcam and an endoscopic camera. Their endoscopic camera results suggest that millimetre TRE is achievable when at least 15 measurements are acquired with the tracker sensor ∼80 cm away on the laparoscope handle for a target ∼20 cm away from the camera.
Teran, Anthony; Ghebremedhin, Abiel; Johnson, Matt; Patyal, Baldev
2015-01-01
dose was reproducible within 10%. These large discrepancies were identified to have been contributed by film processor uncertainty across a layer of film and the misalignment of film edge to the frontal phantom surface. The deviations could drop from 5 to 2 mm in SOBP and from 10% to 4.5% at 5 cm depth in a well‐controlled processor condition (i.e., warm up). In addition to the validation of the calibration method done by the DD measurements, the concurrent film and IC measurement independently validated the model by showing the constancy of depth‐dependent calibration factors. For profile measurement, the film showed good agreement with ion chamber measurement. In agreement with the experimental findings, computationally obtained ratio of film dose to water dose assisted understanding of the trend of the film response by revealing relatively large and small variances of the response for DD and beam profile measurements, respectively. Conclusions are as follows. For proton beams, radiographic film proved to offer accurate beam profile measurements. The adaptive calibration method proposed in this study was validated. Using the method, film dosimetry could offer reasonably accurate DD constancy checks, when provided with a well‐controlled processor condition. Although the processor warming up can promote a uniform processing across a single layer of the film, the processing remains as a challenge. PACS number: 87 PMID:26103499
Setup and Calibration of SLAC's Peripheral Monitoring Stations
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Cooper, C.
2004-09-03
The goals of this project were to troubleshoot, repair, calibrate, and establish documentation regarding SLAC's (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center's) PMS (Peripheral Monitoring Station) system. The PMS system consists of seven PMSs that continuously monitor skyshine (neutron and photon) radiation levels in SLAC's environment. Each PMS consists of a boron trifluoride (BF{sub 3}) neutron detector (model RS-P1-0802-104 or NW-G-20-12) and a Geiger Moeller (GM) gamma ray detector (model TGM N107 or LND 719) together with their respective electronics. Electronics for each detector are housed in Nuclear Instrument Modules (NIMs) and are plugged into a NIM bin in the station. All communicationmore » lines from the stations to the Main Control Center (MCC) were tested prior to troubleshooting. To test communication with MCC, a pulse generator (Systron Donner model 100C) was connected to each channel in the PMS and data at MCC was checked for consistency. If MCC displayed no data, the communication cables to MCC or the CAMAC (Computer Automated Measurement and Control) crates were in need of repair. If MCC did display data, then it was known that the communication lines were intact. All electronics from each station were brought into the lab for troubleshooting. Troubleshooting usually consisted of connecting an oscilloscope or scaler (Ortec model 871 or 775) at different points in the circuit of each detector to record simulated pulses produced by a pulse generator; the input and output pulses were compared to establish the location of any problems in the circuit. Once any problems were isolated, repairs were done accordingly. The detectors and electronics were then calibrated in the field using radioactive sources. Calibration is a process that determines the response of the detector. Detector response is defined as the ratio of the number of counts per minute interpreted by the detector to the amount of dose equivalent rate (in mrem per hour, either calculated or
Validation of a deformable image registration technique for cone beam CT-based dose verification
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Moteabbed, M., E-mail: mmoteabbed@partners.org; Sharp, G. C.; Wang, Y.
2015-01-15
field lengths decreased from 10.1 to 2.5 mm when CBCT was calibrated prior to registration. The results showed no dependence on the level of bladder filling. In comparison with the dose calculated on the primary deformed CT, differences in mean dose averaged over all organs were 0.2% and 3.9% for dose calculated on the secondary deformed CT with and without CBCT calibration, respectively, and 0.5% for dose calculated directly on the calibrated CBCT, for the full-bladder scenario. Gamma analysis for the distance to agreement of 2 mm and 2% of prescribed dose indicated a pass rate of 100% for both cases involving calibrated CBCT and on average 86% without CBCT calibration. Conclusions: Using deformable registration on the planning CT images to evaluate the IMRT dose based on daily CBCTs was found feasible. The proposed method will provide an accurate dose distribution using planning CT and pretreatment CBCT data, avoiding the additional uncertainties introduced by CBCT inhomogeneity and artifacts. This is a necessary initial step toward future image-guided adaptive radiotherapy of the prostate.« less
Calibration of a high harmonic spectrometer by laser induced plasma emission.
Farrell, J P; McFarland, B K; Bucksbaum, P H; Gühr, M
2009-08-17
We present a method that allows for a convenient switching between high harmonic generation (HHG) and accurate calibration of the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) spectrometer used to analyze the harmonic spectrum. The accurate calibration of HHG spectra is becoming increasingly important for the determination of electronic structures. The wavelength of the laser harmonics themselves depend on the details of the harmonic geometry and phase matching, making them unsuitable for calibration purposes. In our calibration mode, the target resides directly at the focus of the laser, thereby enhancing plasma emission and suppressing harmonic generation. In HHG mode, the source medium resides in front or after the focus, showing enhanced HHG and no plasma emission lines. We analyze the plasma emission and use it for a direct calibration of our HHG spectra. (c) 2009 Optical Society of America
ACCURATE POLARIZATION CALIBRATION AT 800 MHz WITH THE GREEN BANK TELESCOPE
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Liao, Yu-Wei; Chang, Tzu-Ching; Kuo, Cheng-Yu
Polarization leakage of foreground synchrotron emission is a critical issue in H i intensity mapping experiments. While the sought-after H i emission is unpolarized, polarized foregrounds such as Galactic and extragalactic synchrotron radiation, if coupled with instrumental impurity, can mimic or overwhelm the H i signals. In this paper, we present the methodology for polarization calibration at 700–900 MHz, applied on data obtained from the Green Bank Telescope (GBT). We use astrophysical sources, both polarized and unpolarized sources including quasars and pulsars, as calibrators to characterize the polarization leakage and control systematic effects in our GBT H i intensity mapping project.more » The resulting fractional errors on polarization measurements on boresight are well controlled to within 0.6%–0.8% of their total intensity. The polarized beam patterns are measured by performing spider scans across both polarized quasars and pulsars. A dominant Stokes I to V leakage feature and secondary features of Stokes I to Q and I to U leakages in the 700–900 MHz frequency range are identified. These characterizations are important for separating foreground polarization leakage from the H i 21 cm signal.« less
Absolute radiometric calibration of Landsat using a pseudo invariant calibration site
Helder, D.; Thome, K.J.; Mishra, N.; Chander, G.; Xiong, Xiaoxiong; Angal, A.; Choi, Tae-young
2013-01-01
Pseudo invariant calibration sites (PICS) have been used for on-orbit radiometric trending of optical satellite systems for more than 15 years. This approach to vicarious calibration has demonstrated a high degree of reliability and repeatability at the level of 1-3% depending on the site, spectral channel, and imaging geometries. A variety of sensors have used this approach for trending because it is broadly applicable and easy to implement. Models to describe the surface reflectance properties, as well as the intervening atmosphere have also been developed to improve the precision of the method. However, one limiting factor of using PICS is that an absolute calibration capability has not yet been fully developed. Because of this, PICS are primarily limited to providing only long term trending information for individual sensors or cross-calibration opportunities between two sensors. This paper builds an argument that PICS can be used more extensively for absolute calibration. To illustrate this, a simple empirical model is developed for the well-known Libya 4 PICS based on observations by Terra MODIS and EO-1 Hyperion. The model is validated by comparing model predicted top-of-atmosphere reflectance values to actual measurements made by the Landsat ETM+ sensor reflective bands. Following this, an outline is presented to develop a more comprehensive and accurate PICS absolute calibration model that can be Système international d'unités (SI) traceable. These initial concepts suggest that absolute calibration using PICS is possible on a broad scale and can lead to improved on-orbit calibration capabilities for optical satellite sensors.
Line fiducial material and thickness considerations for ultrasound calibration
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Ameri, Golafsoun; McLeod, A. J.; Baxter, John S. H.; Chen, Elvis C. S.; Peters, Terry M.
2015-03-01
Ultrasound calibration is a necessary procedure in many image-guided interventions, relating the position of tools and anatomical structures in the ultrasound image to a common coordinate system. This is a necessary component of augmented reality environments in image-guided interventions as it allows for a 3D visualization where other surgical tools outside the imaging plane can be found. Accuracy of ultrasound calibration fundamentally affects the total accuracy of this interventional guidance system. Many ultrasound calibration procedures have been proposed based on a variety of phantom materials and geometries. These differences lead to differences in representation of the phantom on the ultrasound image which subsequently affect the ability to accurately and automatically segment the phantom. For example, taut wires are commonly used as line fiducials in ultrasound calibration. However, at large depths or oblique angles, the fiducials appear blurred and smeared in ultrasound images making it hard to localize their cross-section with the ultrasound image plane. Intuitively, larger diameter phantoms with lower echogenicity are more accurately segmented in ultrasound images in comparison to highly reflective thin phantoms. In this work, an evaluation of a variety of calibration phantoms with different geometrical and material properties for the phantomless calibration procedure was performed. The phantoms used in this study include braided wire, plastic straws, and polyvinyl alcohol cryogel tubes with different diameters. Conventional B-mode and synthetic aperture images of the phantoms at different positions were obtained. The phantoms were automatically segmented from the ultrasound images using an ellipse fitting algorithm, the centroid of which is subsequently used as a fiducial for calibration. Calibration accuracy was evaluated for these procedures based on the leave-one-out target registration error. It was shown that larger diameter phantoms with lower
A BPM calibration procedure using TBT data
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Yang, M.J.; Crisp, J.; Prieto, P.
2007-06-01
Accurate BPM calibration is crucial for lattice analysis. It is also reassuring when the calibration can be independently verified. This paper outlines a procedure that can extract BPM calibration information from TBT orbit data. The procedure is developed as an extension to the Turn-By-Turn lattice analysis [1]. Its application to data from both Recycler Ring and Main Injector (MI) at Fermilab have produced very encouraging results. Some specifics in hardware design will be mentioned to contrast that of analysis results.
Calibrations of the LHD Thomson scattering system
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Yamada, I., E-mail: yamadai@nifs.ac.jp; Funaba, H.; Yasuhara, R.
2016-11-15
The Thomson scattering diagnostic systems are widely used for the measurements of absolute local electron temperatures and densities of fusion plasmas. In order to obtain accurate and reliable temperature and density data, careful calibrations of the system are required. We have tried several calibration methods since the second LHD experiment campaign in 1998. We summarize the current status of the calibration methods for the electron temperature and density measurements by the LHD Thomson scattering diagnostic system. Future plans are briefly discussed.
Calibrations of the LHD Thomson scattering system.
Yamada, I; Funaba, H; Yasuhara, R; Hayashi, H; Kenmochi, N; Minami, T; Yoshikawa, M; Ohta, K; Lee, J H; Lee, S H
2016-11-01
The Thomson scattering diagnostic systems are widely used for the measurements of absolute local electron temperatures and densities of fusion plasmas. In order to obtain accurate and reliable temperature and density data, careful calibrations of the system are required. We have tried several calibration methods since the second LHD experiment campaign in 1998. We summarize the current status of the calibration methods for the electron temperature and density measurements by the LHD Thomson scattering diagnostic system. Future plans are briefly discussed.
Calibration of the NPL secondary standard radionuclide calibrator for 32P, 89Sr and 90Y
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Woods, M. J.; Munster, A. S.; Sephton, J. P.; Lucas, S. E. M.; Walsh, C. Paton
1996-02-01
Pure beta particle emitting radionuclides have many therapeutic applications in nuclear medicine. The response of the NPL secondary standard radionuclide calibrator to 32P, 89Sr and 90Y has been measured using accurately calibrated solutions. For this purpose, high efficiency solid sources were prepared gravimetrically from dilute solutions of each radionuclide and assayed in a 4π proportional counter; the source activities were determined using known detection efficiency factors. Measurements were made of the current response (pA/MBq) of the NPL secondary standard radionuclide calibrator using the original concentrated solutions. Calibration figures have been derived for 2 and 5 ml British Standard glass ampoules and Amersham International plc P6 vials. Volume correction factors have also been determined. Gamma-ray emitting contaminants can have a disproportionate effect on the calibrator response and particular attention has been paid to this.
Calibration Experiments for a Computer Vision Oyster Volume Estimation System
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Chang, G. Andy; Kerns, G. Jay; Lee, D. J.; Stanek, Gary L.
2009-01-01
Calibration is a technique that is commonly used in science and engineering research that requires calibrating measurement tools for obtaining more accurate measurements. It is an important technique in various industries. In many situations, calibration is an application of linear regression, and is a good topic to be included when explaining and…
Hand–eye calibration using a target registration error model
Morgan, Isabella; Jayarathne, Uditha; Ma, Burton; Peters, Terry M.
2017-01-01
Surgical cameras are prevalent in modern operating theatres and are often used as a surrogate for direct vision. Visualisation techniques (e.g. image fusion) made possible by tracking the camera require accurate hand–eye calibration between the camera and the tracking system. The authors introduce the concept of ‘guided hand–eye calibration’, where calibration measurements are facilitated by a target registration error (TRE) model. They formulate hand–eye calibration as a registration problem between homologous point–line pairs. For each measurement, the position of a monochromatic ball-tip stylus (a point) and its projection onto the image (a line) is recorded, and the TRE of the resulting calibration is predicted using a TRE model. The TRE model is then used to guide the placement of the calibration tool, so that the subsequent measurement minimises the predicted TRE. Assessing TRE after each measurement produces accurate calibration using a minimal number of measurements. As a proof of principle, they evaluated guided calibration using a webcam and an endoscopic camera. Their endoscopic camera results suggest that millimetre TRE is achievable when at least 15 measurements are acquired with the tracker sensor ∼80 cm away on the laparoscope handle for a target ∼20 cm away from the camera. PMID:29184657
Common Calibration Source for Monitoring Long-term Ozone Trends
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Kowalewski, Matthew
2004-01-01
Accurate long-term satellite measurements are crucial for monitoring the recovery of the ozone layer. The slow pace of the recovery and limited lifetimes of satellite monitoring instruments demands that datasets from multiple observation systems be combined to provide the long-term accuracy needed. A fundamental component of accurately monitoring long-term trends is the calibration of these various instruments. NASA s Radiometric Calibration and Development Facility at the Goddard Space Flight Center has provided resources to minimize calibration biases between multiple instruments through the use of a common calibration source and standardized procedures traceable to national standards. The Facility s 50 cm barium sulfate integrating sphere has been used as a common calibration source for both US and international satellite instruments, including the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS), Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet 2 (SBUV/2) instruments, Shuttle SBUV (SSBUV), Ozone Mapping Instrument (OMI), Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) (ESA), Scanning Imaging SpectroMeter for Atmospheric ChartographY (SCIAMACHY) (ESA), and others. We will discuss the advantages of using a common calibration source and its effects on long-term ozone data sets. In addition, sphere calibration results from various instruments will be presented to demonstrate the accuracy of the long-term characterization of the source itself.
The Parallax of the Red Hypergiant VX Sgr with Accurate Tropospheric Delay Calibration
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Xu, Shuangjing; Zhang, Bo; Reid, Mark J.; Menten, Karl M.; Zheng, Xingwu; Wang, Guangli
2018-05-01
We report astrometric results of VLBI phase-referencing observations of 22 GHz H2O masers emission toward the red hypergiant VX Sgr, one of most massive and luminous red hypergiant stars in our Galaxy, using the Very Long Baseline Array. A background source, J1820‑2528, projected 4.°4 from the target VX Sgr, was used as the phase reference. For the low decl. of these sources, such a large separation normally would seriously degrade the relative astrometry. We use a two-step method of tropospheric delay calibration, which combines the VLBI geodetic-block (or Global Positioning System) calibration with an image-optimization calibration, to obtain a trigonometric parallax of 0.64 ± 0.04 mas, corresponding to a distance of {1.56}-0.10+0.11 kpc. The measured proper motion of VX Sgr is 0.36 ± 0.76 and ‑2.92 ± 0.78 mas yr‑1 in the eastward and northward directions. The parallax and proper motion confirms that VX Sgr belong to the Sgr OB1 association. Rescaling bolometric luminosities in the literature to our parallax distance, we find that the luminosity of VX Sgr is (1.95 ± 0.62) × 105 L ⊙, where the uncertainty is dominated by differing photometry measurements.
A Visual Servoing-Based Method for ProCam Systems Calibration
Berry, Francois; Aider, Omar Ait; Mosnier, Jeremie
2013-01-01
Projector-camera systems are currently used in a wide field of applications, such as 3D reconstruction and augmented reality, and can provide accurate measurements, depending on the configuration and calibration. Frequently, the calibration task is divided into two steps: camera calibration followed by projector calibration. The latter still poses certain problems that are not easy to solve, such as the difficulty in obtaining a set of 2D–3D points to compute the projection matrix between the projector and the world. Existing methods are either not sufficiently accurate or not flexible. We propose an easy and automatic method to calibrate such systems that consists in projecting a calibration pattern and superimposing it automatically on a known printed pattern. The projected pattern is provided by a virtual camera observing a virtual pattern in an OpenGL model. The projector displays what the virtual camera visualizes. Thus, the projected pattern can be controlled and superimposed on the printed one with the aid of visual servoing. Our experimental results compare favorably with those of other methods considering both usability and accuracy. PMID:24084121
Self-Calibrating Respiratory-Flowmeter Combination
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Westenskow, Dwayne R.; Orr, Joseph A.
1990-01-01
Dual flowmeters ensure accuracy over full range of human respiratory flow rates. System for measurement of respiratory flow employs two flowmeters; one compensates for deficiencies of other. Combination yields easily calibrated system accurate over wide range of gas flow.
Errors introduced by dose scaling for relative dosimetry
Watanabe, Yoichi; Hayashi, Naoki
2012-01-01
Some dosimeters require a relationship between detector signal and delivered dose. The relationship (characteristic curve or calibration equation) usually depends on the environment under which the dosimeters are manufactured or stored. To compensate for the difference in radiation response among different batches of dosimeters, the measured dose can be scaled by normalizing the measured dose to a specific dose. Such a procedure, often called “relative dosimetry”, allows us to skip the time‐consuming production of a calibration curve for each irradiation. In this study, the magnitudes of errors due to the dose scaling procedure were evaluated by using the characteristic curves of BANG3 polymer gel dosimeter, radiographic EDR2 films, and GAFCHROMIC EBT2 films. Several sets of calibration data were obtained for each type of dosimeters, and a calibration equation of one set of data was used to estimate doses of the other dosimeters from different batches. The scaled doses were then compared with expected doses, which were obtained by using the true calibration equation specific to each batch. In general, the magnitude of errors increased with increasing deviation of the dose scaling factor from unity. Also, the errors strongly depended on the difference in the shape of the true and reference calibration curves. For example, for the BANG3 polymer gel, of which the characteristic curve can be approximated with a linear equation, the error for a batch requiring a dose scaling factor of 0.87 was larger than the errors for other batches requiring smaller magnitudes of dose scaling, or scaling factors of 0.93 or 1.02. The characteristic curves of EDR2 and EBT2 films required nonlinear equations. With those dosimeters, errors larger than 5% were commonly observed in the dose ranges of below 50% and above 150% of the normalization dose. In conclusion, the dose scaling for relative dosimetry introduces large errors in the measured doses when a large dose scaling is
Definition of energy-calibrated spectra for national reachback
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Kunz, Christopher L.; Hertz, Kristin L.
2014-01-01
Accurate energy calibration is critical for the timeliness and accuracy of analysis results of spectra submitted to National Reachback, particularly for the detection of threat items. Many spectra submitted for analysis include either a calibration spectrum using 137Cs or no calibration spectrum at all. The single line provided by 137Cs is insufficient to adequately calibrate nonlinear spectra. A calibration source that provides several lines that are well-spaced, from the low energy cutoff to the full energy range of the detector, is needed for a satisfactory energy calibration. This paper defines the requirements of an energy calibration for the purposes ofmore » National Reachback, outlines a method to validate whether a given spectrum meets that definition, discusses general source considerations, and provides a specific operating procedure for calibrating the GR-135.« less
Accuracy and Calibration of High Explosive Thermodynamic Equations of State
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Baker, Ernest L.; Capellos, Christos; Stiel, Leonard I.; Pincay, Jack
2010-10-01
The Jones-Wilkins-Lee-Baker (JWLB) equation of state (EOS) was developed to more accurately describe overdriven detonation while maintaining an accurate description of high explosive products expansion work output. The increased mathematical complexity of the JWLB high explosive equations of state provides increased accuracy for practical problems of interest. Increased numbers of parameters are often justified based on improved physics descriptions but can also mean increased calibration complexity. A generalized extent of aluminum reaction Jones-Wilkins-Lee (JWL)-based EOS was developed in order to more accurately describe the observed behavior of aluminized explosives detonation products expansion. A calibration method was developed to describe the unreacted, partially reacted, and completely reacted explosive using nonlinear optimization. A reasonable calibration of a generalized extent of aluminum reaction JWLB EOS as a function of aluminum reaction fraction has not yet been achieved due to the increased mathematical complexity of the JWLB form.
Technique for Radiometer and Antenna Array Calibration with a Radiated Noise Diode
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Srinivasan, Karthik; Limaye, Ashutosh; Laymon, Charles; Meyer, Paul
2009-01-01
This paper presents a new technique to calibrate a microwave radiometer and antenna array system. This calibration technique uses a radiated noise source in addition to two calibration sources internal to the radiometer. The method accurately calibrates antenna arrays with embedded active devices (such as amplifiers) which are used extensively in active phased array antennas.
Precise calibration of few-cycle laser pulses with atomic hydrogen
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Wallace, W. C.; Kielpinski, D.; Litvinyuk, I. V.; Sang, R. T.
2017-12-01
Interaction of atoms and molecules with strong electric fields is a fundamental process in many fields of research, particularly in the emerging field of attosecond science. Therefore, understanding the physics underpinning those interactions is of significant interest to the scientific community. One crucial step in this understanding is accurate knowledge of the few-cycle laser field driving the process. Atomic hydrogen (H), the simplest of all atomic species, plays a key role in benchmarking strong-field processes. Its wide-spread use as a testbed for theoretical calculations allows the comparison of approximate theoretical models against nearly-perfect numerical solutions of the three-dimensional time-dependent Schrödinger equation. Until recently, relatively little experimental data in atomic H was available for comparison to these models, and was due mostly due to the difficulty in the construction and use of atomic H sources. Here, we review our most recent experimental results from atomic H interaction with few-cycle laser pulses and how they have been used to calibrate important laser pulse parameters such as peak intensity and the carrier-envelope phase (CEP). Quantitative agreement between experimental data and theoretical predictions for atomic H has been obtained at the 10% uncertainty level, allowing for accurate laser calibration intensity at the 1% level. Using this calibration in atomic H, both accurate CEP data and an intensity calibration standard have been obtained Ar, Kr, and Xe; such gases are in common use for strong-field experiments. This calibration standard can be used by any laboratory using few-cycle pulses in the 1014 W cm-2 intensity regime centered at 800 nm wavelength to accurately calibrate their peak laser intensity to within few-percent precision.
Postlaunch calibration of spacecraft attitude instruments
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Davis, W.; Hashmall, J.; Garrick, J.; Harman, R.
1993-01-01
The accuracy of both onboard and ground attitude determination can be significantly enhanced by calibrating spacecraft attitude instruments (sensors) after launch. Although attitude sensors are accurately calibrated before launch, the stresses of launch and the space environment inevitably cause changes in sensor parameters. During the mission, these parameters may continue to drift requiring repeated on-orbit calibrations. The goal of attitude sensor calibration is to reduce the systematic errors in the measurement models. There are two stages at which systematic errors may enter. The first occurs in the conversion of sensor output into an observation vector in the sensor frame. The second occurs in the transformation of the vector from the sensor frame to the spacecraft attitude reference frame. This paper presents postlaunch alignment and transfer function calibration of the attitude sensors for the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO), the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), and the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE).
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
De Marzi, L.; Lesven, C.; Ferrand, R.; Sage, J.; Boulé, T.; Mazal, A.
2013-06-01
Proton beam range is of major concern, in particular, when images used for dose computations are artifacted (for example in patients with surgically treated bone tumors). We investigated several conditions and methods for determination of computed tomography Hounsfield unit (CT-HU) calibration curves, using two different conversion schemes. A stoichiometric methodology was used on either kilovoltage (kV) or megavoltage (MV) CT images and the accuracy of the calibration methods was evaluated. We then studied the effects of metal artifacts on proton dose distributions using metallic implants in rigid phantom mimicking clinical conditions. MV-CT images were used to evaluate relative proton stopping power in certain high density implants, and a methodology is proposed for accurate delineation and dose calculation, using a combined set of kV- and MV-CT images. Our results show good agreement between measurements and dose calculations or relative proton stopping power determination (<5%). The results also show that range uncertainty increases when only kV-CT images are used or when no correction is made on artifacted images. However, differences between treatment plans calculated on corrected kV-CT data and MV-CT data remained insignificant in the investigated patient case, even with streak artifacts and volume effects that reduce the accuracy of manual corrections.
Aerosol backscatter lidar calibration and data interpretation
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Kavaya, M. J.; Menzies, R. T.
1984-01-01
A treatment of the various factors involved in lidar data acquisition and analysis is presented. This treatment highlights sources of fundamental, systematic, modeling, and calibration errors that may affect the accurate interpretation and calibration of lidar aerosol backscatter data. The discussion primarily pertains to ground based, pulsed CO2 lidars that probe the troposphere and are calibrated using large, hard calibration targets. However, a large part of the analysis is relevant to other types of lidar systems such as lidars operating at other wavelengths; continuous wave (CW) lidars; lidars operating in other regions of the atmosphere; lidars measuring nonaerosol elastic or inelastic backscatter; airborne or Earth-orbiting lidar platforms; and lidars employing combinations of the above characteristics.
Development and calibration of an accurate 6-degree-of-freedom measurement system with total station
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Gao, Yang; Lin, Jiarui; Yang, Linghui; Zhu, Jigui
2016-12-01
To meet the demand of high-accuracy, long-range and portable use in large-scale metrology for pose measurement, this paper develops a 6-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) measurement system based on total station by utilizing its advantages of long range and relative high accuracy. The cooperative target sensor, which is mainly composed of a pinhole prism, an industrial lens, a camera and a biaxial inclinometer, is designed to be portable in use. Subsequently, a precise mathematical model is proposed from the input variables observed by total station, imaging system and inclinometer to the output six pose variables. The model must be calibrated in two levels: the intrinsic parameters of imaging system, and the rotation matrix between coordinate systems of the camera and the inclinometer. Then corresponding approaches are presented. For the first level, we introduce a precise two-axis rotary table as a calibration reference. And for the second level, we propose a calibration method by varying the pose of a rigid body with the target sensor and a reference prism on it. Finally, through simulations and various experiments, the feasibilities of the measurement model and calibration methods are validated, and the measurement accuracy of the system is evaluated.
Method for calibrating mass spectrometers
Anderson, Gordon A [Benton City, WA; Brands, Michael D [Richland, WA; Bruce, James E [Schwenksville, PA; Pasa-Tolic, Ljiljana [Richland, WA; Smith, Richard D [Richland, WA
2002-12-24
A method whereby a mass spectra generated by a mass spectrometer is calibrated by shifting the parameters used by the spectrometer to assign masses to the spectra in a manner which reconciles the signal of ions within the spectra having equal mass but differing charge states, or by reconciling ions having known differences in mass to relative values consistent with those known differences. In this manner, the mass spectrometer is calibrated without the need for standards while allowing the generation of a highly accurate mass spectra by the instrument.
Calibration and prediction of removal function in magnetorheological finishing.
Dai, Yifan; Song, Ci; Peng, Xiaoqiang; Shi, Feng
2010-01-20
A calibrated and predictive model of the removal function has been established based on the analysis of a magnetorheological finishing (MRF) process. By introducing an efficiency coefficient of the removal function, the model can be used to calibrate the removal function in a MRF figuring process and to accurately predict the removal function of a workpiece to be polished whose material is different from the spot part. Its correctness and feasibility have been validated by simulations. Furthermore, applying this model to the MRF figuring experiments, the efficiency coefficient of the removal function can be identified accurately to make the MRF figuring process deterministic and controllable. Therefore, all the results indicate that the calibrated and predictive model of the removal function can improve the finishing determinacy and increase the model applicability in a MRF process.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Esor, J.; Sudchai, W.; Monthonwattana, S.; Pungkun, V.; Intang, A.
2017-06-01
Based on a new occupational dose limit recommended by ICRP (2011), the annual dose limit for the lens of the eye for workers should be reduced from 150 mSv/y to 20 mSv/y averaged over 5 consecutive years in which no single year exceeding 50 mSv. This new dose limit directly affects radiologists and cardiologists whose work involves high radiation exposure over 20 mSv/y. Eye lens dosimetry (Hp(3)) has become increasingly important and should be evaluated directly based on dosimeters that are worn closely to the eye. Normally, Hp(3) dose algorithm was carried out by the combination of Hp(0.07) and Hp(10) values while dosimeters were calibrated on slab PMMA phantom. Recently, there were three reports from European Union that have shown the conversion coefficients from air kerma to Hp(3). These conversion coefficients carried out by ORAMED, PTB and CEA Saclay projects were performed by using a new cylindrical head phantom. In this study, various delivered doses were calculated using those three conversion coefficients while nanoDot, small OSL dosimeters, were used for Hp(3) measurement. These calibrations were performed with a standard X-ray generator at Secondary Standard Dosimetry Laboratory (SSDL). Delivered doses (Hp(3)) using those three conversion coefficients were compared with Hp(3) from nanoDot measurements. The results showed that percentage differences between delivered doses evaluated from the conversion coefficient of each project and Hp(3) doses evaluated from the nanoDots were found to be not exceeding -11.48 %, -8.85 % and -8.85 % for ORAMED, PTB and CEA Saclay project, respectively.
Extrinsic Calibration of Camera Networks Based on Pedestrians
Guan, Junzhi; Deboeverie, Francis; Slembrouck, Maarten; Van Haerenborgh, Dirk; Van Cauwelaert, Dimitri; Veelaert, Peter; Philips, Wilfried
2016-01-01
In this paper, we propose a novel extrinsic calibration method for camera networks by analyzing tracks of pedestrians. First of all, we extract the center lines of walking persons by detecting their heads and feet in the camera images. We propose an easy and accurate method to estimate the 3D positions of the head and feet w.r.t. a local camera coordinate system from these center lines. We also propose a RANSAC-based orthogonal Procrustes approach to compute relative extrinsic parameters connecting the coordinate systems of cameras in a pairwise fashion. Finally, we refine the extrinsic calibration matrices using a method that minimizes the reprojection error. While existing state-of-the-art calibration methods explore epipolar geometry and use image positions directly, the proposed method first computes 3D positions per camera and then fuses the data. This results in simpler computations and a more flexible and accurate calibration method. Another advantage of our method is that it can also handle the case of persons walking along straight lines, which cannot be handled by most of the existing state-of-the-art calibration methods since all head and feet positions are co-planar. This situation often happens in real life. PMID:27171080
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Reichert, Andreas; Rettinger, Markus; Sussmann, Ralf
2016-09-01
Quantitative knowledge of water vapor absorption is crucial for accurate climate simulations. An open science question in this context concerns the strength of the water vapor continuum in the near infrared (NIR) at atmospheric temperatures, which is still to be quantified by measurements. This issue can be addressed with radiative closure experiments using solar absorption spectra. However, the spectra used for water vapor continuum quantification have to be radiometrically calibrated. We present for the first time a method that yields sufficient calibration accuracy for NIR water vapor continuum quantification in an atmospheric closure experiment. Our method combines the Langley method with spectral radiance measurements of a high-temperature blackbody calibration source (< 2000 K). The calibration scheme is demonstrated in the spectral range 2500 to 7800 cm-1, but minor modifications to the method enable calibration also throughout the remainder of the NIR spectral range. The resulting uncertainty (2σ) excluding the contribution due to inaccuracies in the extra-atmospheric solar spectrum (ESS) is below 1 % in window regions and up to 1.7 % within absorption bands. The overall radiometric accuracy of the calibration depends on the ESS uncertainty, on which at present no firm consensus has been reached in the NIR. However, as is shown in the companion publication Reichert and Sussmann (2016), ESS uncertainty is only of minor importance for the specific aim of this study, i.e., the quantification of the water vapor continuum in a closure experiment. The calibration uncertainty estimate is substantiated by the investigation of calibration self-consistency, which yields compatible results within the estimated errors for 91.1 % of the 2500 to 7800 cm-1 range. Additionally, a comparison of a set of calibrated spectra to radiative transfer model calculations yields consistent results within the estimated errors for 97.7 % of the spectral range.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Drzymala, R. E., E-mail: drzymala@wustl.edu; Alvarez, P. E.; Bednarz, G.
2015-11-15
Purpose: Absorbed dose calibration for gamma stereotactic radiosurgery is challenging due to the unique geometric conditions, dosimetry characteristics, and nonstandard field size of these devices. Members of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Task Group 178 on Gamma Stereotactic Radiosurgery Dosimetry and Quality Assurance have participated in a round-robin exchange of calibrated measurement instrumentation and phantoms exploring two approved and two proposed calibration protocols or formalisms on ten gamma radiosurgery units. The objectives of this study were to benchmark and compare new formalisms to existing calibration methods, while maintaining traceability to U.S. primary dosimetry calibration laboratory standards. Methods:more » Nine institutions made measurements using ten gamma stereotactic radiosurgery units in three different 160 mm diameter spherical phantoms [acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic, Solid Water, and liquid water] and in air using a positioning jig. Two calibrated miniature ionization chambers and one calibrated electrometer were circulated for all measurements. Reference dose-rates at the phantom center were determined using the well-established AAPM TG-21 or TG-51 dose calibration protocols and using two proposed dose calibration protocols/formalisms: an in-air protocol and a formalism proposed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) working group for small and nonstandard radiation fields. Each institution’s results were normalized to the dose-rate determined at that institution using the TG-21 protocol in the ABS phantom. Results: Percentages of dose-rates within 1.5% of the reference dose-rate (TG-21 + ABS phantom) for the eight chamber-protocol-phantom combinations were the following: 88% for TG-21, 70% for TG-51, 93% for the new IAEA nonstandard-field formalism, and 65% for the new in-air protocol. Averages and standard deviations for dose-rates over all measurements relative to the TG
Parameterizations for reducing camera reprojection error for robot-world hand-eye calibration
USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database
Accurate robot-world, hand-eye calibration is crucial to automation tasks. In this paper, we discuss the robot-world, hand-eye calibration problem which has been modeled as the linear relationship AX equals ZB, where X and Z are the unknown calibration matrices composed of rotation and translation ...
Accurate calibration and control of relative humidity close to 100% by X-raying a DOPC multilayer
Ma, Yicong; Ghosh, Sajal K.; Bera, Sambhunath; ...
2015-01-01
Here in this study, we have designed a compact sample chamber that can achieve accurate and continuous control of the relative humidity (RH) in the vicinity of 100%. A 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC) multilayer can be used as a humidity sensor by measuring its inter-layer repeat distance (d-spacing) via X-ray diffraction. We convert from DOPC d-spacing to RH according to a theory given in the literature and previously measured data of DOPC multilamellar vesicles in polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) solutions. This curve can be used for calibration of RH close to 100%, a regime where conventional sensors do not have sufficient accuracy. We demonstratemore » that this control method can provide RH accuracies of 0.1 to 0.01%, which is a factor of 10–100 improvement compared to existing methods of humidity control. Our method provides fine tuning capability of RH continuously for a single sample, whereas the PVP solution method requires new samples to be made for each PVP concentration. The use of this cell also potentially removes the need for an X-ray or neutron beam to pass through bulk water if one wishes to work close to biologically relevant conditions of nearly 100% RH.« less
Absorbed dose measurements for kV-cone beam computed tomography in image-guided radiation therapy
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Hioki, Kazunari; Araki, Fujio; Ohno, Takeshi; Nakaguchi, Yuji; Tomiyama, Yuuki
2014-12-01
In this study, we develope a novel method to directly evaluate an absorbed dose-to-water for kilovoltage-cone beam computed tomography (kV-CBCT) in image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT). Absorbed doses for the kV-CBCT systems of the Varian On-Board Imager (OBI) and the Elekta X-ray Volumetric Imager (XVI) were measured by a Farmer ionization chamber with a 60Co calibration factor. The chamber measurements were performed at the center and four peripheral points in body-type (30 cm diameter and 51 cm length) and head-type (16 cm diameter and 33 cm length) cylindrical water phantoms. The measured ionization was converted to the absorbed dose-to-water by using a 60Co calibration factor and a Monte Carlo (MC)-calculated beam quality conversion factor, kQ, for 60Co to kV-CBCT. The irradiation for OBI and XVI was performed with pelvis and head modes for the body- and the head-type phantoms, respectively. In addition, the dose distributions in the phantom for both kV-CBCT systems were calculated with MC method and were compared with measured values. The MC-calculated doses were calibrated at the center in the water phantom and compared with measured doses at four peripheral points. The measured absorbed doses at the center in the body-type phantom were 1.96 cGy for OBI and 0.83 cGy for XVI. The peripheral doses were 2.36-2.90 cGy for OBI and 0.83-1.06 cGy for XVI. The doses for XVI were lower up to approximately one-third of those for OBI. Similarly, the measured doses at the center in the head-type phantom were 0.48 cGy for OBI and 0.21 cGy for XVI. The peripheral doses were 0.26-0.66 cGy for OBI and 0.16-0.30 cGy for XVI. The calculated peripheral doses agreed within 3% in the pelvis mode and within 4% in the head mode with measured doses for both kV-CBCT systems. In addition, the absorbed dose determined in this study was approximately 4% lower than that in TG-61 but the absorbed dose by both methods was in agreement within their combined
Radiochromic film calibration for the RQT9 quality beam
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Costa, K. C.; Gomez, A. M. L.; Alonso, T. C.; Mourao, A. P.
2017-11-01
When ionizing radiation interacts with matter it generates energy deposition. Radiation dosimetry is important for medical applications of ionizing radiation due to the increasing demand for diagnostic radiology and radiotherapy. Different dosimetry methods are used and each one has its advantages and disadvantages. The film is a dose measurement method that records the energy deposition by the darkening of its emulsion. Radiochromic films have a little visible light sensitivity and respond better to ionizing radiation exposure. The aim of this study is to obtain the resulting calibration curve by the irradiation of radiochromic film strips, making it possible to relate the darkening of the film with the absorbed dose, in order to measure doses in experiments with X-ray beam of 120 kV, in computed tomography (CT). Film strips of GAFCHROMIC XR-QA2 were exposed according to RQT9 reference radiation, which defines an X-ray beam generated from a voltage of 120 kV. Strips were irradiated in "Laboratório de Calibração de Dosímetros do Centro de Desenvolvimento da Tecnologia Nuclear" (LCD / CDTN) at a dose range of 5-30 mGy, corresponding to the range values commonly used in CT scans. Digital images of the irradiated films were analyzed by using the ImageJ software. The darkening responses on film strips according to the doses were observed and they allowed obtaining the corresponding numeric values to the darkening for each specific dose value. From the numerical values of darkening, a calibration curve was obtained, which correlates the darkening of the film strip with dose values in mGy. The calibration curve equation is a simplified method for obtaining absorbed dose values using digital images of radiochromic films irradiated. With the calibration curve, radiochromic films may be applied on dosimetry in experiments on CT scans using X-ray beam of 120 kV, in order to improve CT acquisition image processes.
Muon Energy Calibration of the MINOS Detectors
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Miyagawa, Paul S.
MINOS is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment designed to search for conclusive evidence of neutrino oscillations and to measure the oscillation parameters precisely. MINOS comprises two iron tracking calorimeters located at Fermilab and Soudan. The Calibration Detector at CERN is a third MINOS detector used as part of the detector response calibration programme. A correct energy calibration between these detectors is crucial for the accurate measurement of oscillation parameters. This thesis presents a calibration developed to produce a uniform response within a detector using cosmic muons. Reconstruction of tracks in cosmic ray data is discussed. This data is utilized tomore » calculate calibration constants for each readout channel of the Calibration Detector. These constants have an average statistical error of 1.8%. The consistency of the constants is demonstrated both within a single run and between runs separated by a few days. Results are presented from applying the calibration to test beam particles measured by the Calibration Detector. The responses are calibrated to within 1.8% systematic error. The potential impact of the calibration on the measurement of oscillation parameters by MINOS is also investigated. Applying the calibration reduces the errors in the measured parameters by ~ 10%, which is equivalent to increasing the amount of data by 20%.« less
Calibration of the COBE FIRAS instrument
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Fixsen, D. J.; Cheng, E. S.; Cottingham, D. A.; Eplee, R. E., Jr.; Hewagama, T.; Isaacman, R. B.; Jensen, K. A.; Mather, J. C.; Massa, D. L.; Meyer, S. S.
1994-01-01
The Far-Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer (FIRAS) instrument on the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite was designed to accurately measure the spectrum of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) in the frequency range 1-95/cm with an angular resolution of 7 deg. We describe the calibration of this instrument, including the method of obtaining calibration data, reduction of data, the instrument model, fitting the model to the calibration data, and application of the resulting model solution to sky observations. The instrument model fits well for calibration data that resemble sky condition. The method of propagating detector noise through the calibration process to yield a covariance matrix of the calibrated sky data is described. The final uncertainties are variable both in frequency and position, but for a typical calibrated sky 2.6 deg square pixel and 0.7/cm spectral element the random detector noise limit is of order of a few times 10(exp -7) ergs/sq cm/s/sr cm for 2-20/cm, and the difference between the sky and the best-fit cosmic blackbody can be measured with a gain uncertainty of less than 3%.
Computer Vision Assisted Virtual Reality Calibration
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Kim, W.
1999-01-01
A computer vision assisted semi-automatic virtual reality (VR) calibration technology has been developed that can accurately match a virtual environment of graphically simulated three-dimensional (3-D) models to the video images of the real task environment.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Reda, Ibrahim M.; Andreas, Afshin M.
2017-08-01
Accurate pyranometer calibrations, traceable to internationally recognized standards, are critical for solar irradiance measurements. One calibration method is the component summation method, where the pyranometers are calibrated outdoors under clear sky conditions, and the reference global solar irradiance is calculated as the sum of two reference components, the diffuse horizontal and subtended beam solar irradiances. The beam component is measured with pyrheliometers traceable to the World Radiometric Reference, while there is no internationally recognized reference for the diffuse component. In the absence of such a reference, we present a method to consistently calibrate pyranometers for measuring the diffuse component. Themore » method is based on using a modified shade/unshade method and a pyranometer with less than 0.5 W/m2 thermal offset. The calibration result shows that the responsivity of Hukseflux SR25 pyranometer equals 10.98 uV/(W/m2) with +/-0.86 percent uncertainty.« less
Low-speed airspeed calibration data for a single-engine research-support aircraft
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Holmes, B. J.
1980-01-01
A standard service airspeed system on a single engine research support airplane was calibrated by the trailing anemometer method. The effects of flaps, power, sideslip, and lag were evaluated. The factory supplied airspeed calibrations were not sufficiently accurate for high accuracy flight research applications. The trailing anemometer airspeed calibration was conducted to provide the capability to use the research support airplane to perform pace aircraft airspeed calibrations.
Investigation of real tissue water equivalent path lengths using an efficient dose extinction method
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Zhang, Rongxiao; Baer, Esther; Jee, Kyung-Wook; Sharp, Gregory C.; Flanz, Jay; Lu, Hsiao-Ming
2017-07-01
For proton therapy, an accurate conversion of CT HU to relative stopping power (RSP) is essential. Validation of the conversion based on real tissue samples is more direct than the current practice solely based on tissue substitutes and can potentially address variations over the population. Based on a novel dose extinction method, we measured water equivalent path lengths (WEPL) on animal tissue samples to evaluate the accuracy of CT HU to RSP conversion and potential variations over a population. A broad proton beam delivered a spread out Bragg peak to the samples sandwiched between a water tank and a 2D ion-chamber detector. WEPLs of the samples were determined from the transmission dose profiles measured as a function of the water level in the tank. Tissue substitute inserts and Lucite blocks with known WEPLs were used to validate the accuracy. A large number of real tissue samples were measured. Variations of WEPL over different batches of tissue samples were also investigated. The measured WEPLs were compared with those computed from CT scans with the Stoichiometric calibration method. WEPLs were determined within ±0.5% percentage deviation (% std/mean) and ±0.5% error for most of the tissue surrogate inserts and the calibration blocks. For biological tissue samples, percentage deviations were within ±0.3%. No considerable difference (<1%) in WEPL was observed for the same type of tissue from different sources. The differences between measured WEPLs and those calculated from CT were within 1%, except for some bony tissues. Depending on the sample size, each dose extinction measurement took around 5 min to produce ~1000 WEPL values to be compared with calculations. This dose extinction system measures WEPL efficiently and accurately, which allows the validation of CT HU to RSP conversions based on the WEPL measured for a large number of samples and real tissues.
HST/WFC3 flux calibration ladder: Vega
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Deustua, Susana E.; Bohlin, Ralph; Pirzkal, Nor; MacKenty, John
2014-08-01
Vega is one of only a few stars calibrated against an SI-traceable blackbody, and is the historical flux standard. Photometric zeropoints of the Hubble Space Telescope's instruments rely on Vega, through the transfer of its calibration via stellar atmosphere models to the suite of standard stars. HST's recently implemented scan mode has enabled us to develop a path to an absolute SI traceable calibration for HST IR observations. To fill in the crucial gap between 0.9 and 1.7 micron in the absolute calibration, we acquired -1st order spectra of Vega with the two WFC3 infrared grisms. At the same time, we have improved the calibration of the -1st orders of both WFC3 IR grisms, as well as extended the dynamic range of WFC3 science observations by a factor of 10000. We describe our progress to date on the WFC3 `flux calibration ladder' project to provide currently needed accurate zeropoint measurements in the IR
Synthetic aperture imaging in ultrasound calibration
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Ameri, Golafsoun; Baxter, John S. H.; McLeod, A. Jonathan; Jayaranthe, Uditha L.; Chen, Elvis C. S.; Peters, Terry M.
2014-03-01
Ultrasound calibration allows for ultrasound images to be incorporated into a variety of interventional applica tions. Traditional Z- bar calibration procedures rely on wired phantoms with an a priori known geometry. The line fiducials produce small, localized echoes which are then segmented from an array of ultrasound images from different tracked probe positions. In conventional B-mode ultrasound, the wires at greater depths appear blurred and are difficult to segment accurately, limiting the accuracy of ultrasound calibration. This paper presents a novel ultrasound calibration procedure that takes advantage of synthetic aperture imaging to reconstruct high resolution ultrasound images at arbitrary depths. In these images, line fiducials are much more readily and accu rately segmented, leading to decreased calibration error. The proposed calibration technique is compared to one based on B-mode ultrasound. The fiducial localization error was improved from 0.21mm in conventional B-mode images to 0.15mm in synthetic aperture images corresponding to an improvement of 29%. This resulted in an overall reduction of calibration error from a target registration error of 2.00mm to 1.78mm, an improvement of 11%. Synthetic aperture images display greatly improved segmentation capabilities due to their improved resolution and interpretability resulting in improved calibration.
Sediment calibration strategies of Phase 5 Chesapeake Bay watershed model
Wu, J.; Shenk, G.W.; Raffensperger, Jeff P.; Moyer, D.; Linker, L.C.; ,
2005-01-01
Sediment is a primary constituent of concern for Chesapeake Bay due to its effect on water clarity. Accurate representation of sediment processes and behavior in Chesapeake Bay watershed model is critical for developing sound load reduction strategies. Sediment calibration remains one of the most difficult components of watershed-scale assessment. This is especially true for Chesapeake Bay watershed model given the size of the watershed being modeled and complexity involved in land and stream simulation processes. To obtain the best calibration, the Chesapeake Bay program has developed four different strategies for sediment calibration of Phase 5 watershed model, including 1) comparing observed and simulated sediment rating curves for different parts of the hydrograph; 2) analyzing change of bed depth over time; 3) relating deposition/scour to total annual sediment loads; and 4) calculating "goodness-of-fit' statistics. These strategies allow a more accurate sediment calibration, and also provide some insightful information on sediment processes and behavior in Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Satellite Calibration With LED Detectors at Mud Lake
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Hiller, Jonathan D.
2005-01-01
Earth-monitoring instruments in orbit must be routinely calibrated in order to accurately analyze the data obtained. By comparing radiometric measurements taken on the ground in conjunction with a satellite overpass, calibration curves are derived for an orbiting instrument. A permanent, automated facility is planned for Mud Lake, Nevada (a large, homogeneous, dry lakebed) for this purpose. Because some orbiting instruments have low resolution (250 meters per pixel), inexpensive radiometers using LEDs as sensors are being developed to array widely over the lakebed. LEDs are ideal because they are inexpensive, reliable, and sense over a narrow bandwidth. By obtaining and averaging widespread data, errors are reduced and long-term surface changes can be more accurately observed.
Nielsen, Suzanne; Gisev, Natasa; Bruno, Raimondo; Hall, Wayne; Cohen, Milton; Larance, Briony; Campbell, Gabrielle; Shanahan, Marian; Blyth, Fiona; Lintzeris, Nicholas; Pearson, Sallie; Mattick, Richard; Degenhardt, Louisa
2017-05-01
To assess how well the defined daily dose (DDD) metric reflects opioid utilisation among chronic non-cancer pain patients. Descriptive, cross-sectional study, utilising a 7-day medication diary. Community-based treatment settings, Australia. A sample of 1101 people prescribed opioids for chronic non-cancer pain. Opioid dose data was collected via a self-completed 7-day medication diary capturing names, strengths and doses of each medication taken in the past week. Median daily dose was calculated for each opioid. Comparisons were made to the World Health Organization's (WHO) DDD metric. WHO DDDs ranged from 0.6 to 7.1 times the median opioid doses used by the sample. For transdermal fentanyl and oral hydromorphone, the median dose was comparable with the DDD. The DDD for methadone was 0.6 times lower than the median doses used by this sample of chronic pain patients. In contrast, the DDD for oxycodone and transdermal buprenorphine, the most commonly used strong opioids for chronic pain in Australia, was two to seven times higher than actual doses used. For many opioids, there are key differences between the actual doses used in clinical practice and the WHO's DDDs. The interpretation of opioid utilisation studies using population-level DDDs may be limited, and a recalibration of the DDD for many opioids or the reporting of opioid utilisation in oral morphine equivalent doses is recommended. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Hot-wire calibration in subsonic/transonic flow regimes
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Nagabushana, K. A.; Ash, Robert L.
1995-01-01
A different approach for calibrating hot-wires, which simplifies the calibration procedure and reduces the tunnel run-time by an order of magnitude was sought. In general, it is accepted that the directly measurable quantities in any flow are velocity, density, and total temperature. Very few facilities have the capability of varying the total temperature over an adequate range. However, if the overheat temperature parameter, a(sub w), is used to calibrate the hot-wire then the directly measurable quantity, voltage, will be a function of the flow variables and the overheat parameter i.e., E = f(u,p,a(sub w), T(sub w)) where a(sub w) will contain the needed total temperature information. In this report, various methods of evaluating sensitivities with different dependent and independent variables to calibrate a 3-Wire hot-wire probe using a constant temperature anemometer (CTA) in subsonic/transonic flow regimes is presented. The advantage of using a(sub w) as the independent variable instead of total temperature, t(sub o), or overheat temperature parameter, tau, is that while running a calibration test it is not necessary to know the recovery factor, the coefficients in a wire resistance to temperature relationship for a given probe. It was deduced that the method employing the relationship E = f (u,p,a(sub w)) should result in the most accurate calibration of hot wire probes. Any other method would require additional measurements. Also this method will allow calibration and determination of accurate temperature fluctuation information even in atmospheric wind tunnels where there is no ability to obtain any temperature sensitivity information at present. This technique greatly simplifies the calibration process for hot-wires, provides the required calibration information needed in obtaining temperature fluctuations, and reduces both the tunnel run-time and the test matrix required to calibrate hotwires. Some of the results using the above techniques are presented
ATLAS Tile Calorimeter time calibration, monitoring and performance
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Davidek, T.; ATLAS Collaboration
2017-11-01
The Tile Calorimeter (TileCal) is the hadronic calorimeter covering the central region of the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. This sampling device is made of plastic scintillating tiles alternated with iron plates and its response is calibrated to electromagnetic scale by means of several dedicated calibration systems. The accurate time calibration is important for the energy reconstruction, non-collision background removal as well as for specific physics analyses. The initial time calibration with so-called splash events and subsequent fine-tuning with collision data are presented. The monitoring of the time calibration with laser system and physics collision data is discussed as well as the corrections for sudden changes performed still before the recorded data are processed for physics analyses. Finally, the time resolution as measured with jets and isolated muons is presented.
SU-F-I-41: Calibration-Free Material Decomposition for Dual-Energy CT
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Zhao, W; Xing, L; Zhang, Q
2016-06-15
Purpose: To eliminate tedious phantom calibration or manually region of interest (ROI) selection as required in dual-energy CT material decomposition, we establish a new projection-domain material decomposition framework with incorporation of energy spectrum. Methods: Similar to the case of dual-energy CT, the integral of the basis material image in our model is expressed as a linear combination of basis functions, which are the polynomials of high- and low-energy raw projection data. To yield the unknown coefficients of the linear combination, the proposed algorithm minimizes the quadratic error between the high- and low-energy raw projection data and the projection calculated usingmore » material images. We evaluate the algorithm with an iodine concentration numerical phantom at different dose and iodine concentration levels. The x-ray energy spectra of the high and low energy are estimated using an indirect transmission method. The derived monochromatic images are compared with the high- and low-energy CT images to demonstrate beam hardening artifacts reduction. Quantitative results were measured and compared to the true values. Results: The differences between the true density value used for simulation and that were obtained from the monochromatic images, are 1.8%, 1.3%, 2.3%, and 2.9% for the dose levels from standard dose to 1/8 dose, and are 0.4%, 0.7%, 1.5%, and 1.8% for the four iodine concentration levels from 6 mg/mL to 24 mg/mL. For all of the cases, beam hardening artifacts, especially streaks shown between dense inserts, are almost completely removed in the monochromatic images. Conclusion: The proposed algorithm provides an effective way to yield material images and artifacts-free monochromatic images at different dose levels without the need for phantom calibration or ROI selection. Furthermore, the approach also yields accurate results when the concentration of the iodine concentrate insert is very low, suggesting the algorithm is robust with
Gamma-ray spectra and doses from the Little Boy replica
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Moss, C.E.; Lucas, M.C.; Tisinger, E.W.
1984-01-01
Most radiation safety guidelines in the nuclear industry are based on the data concerning the survivors of the nuclear explosions at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Crucial to determining these guidelines is the radiation from the explosions. We have measured gamma-ray pulse-height distributions from an accurate replica of the Little Boy device used at Hiroshima, operated at low power levels near critical. The device was placed outdoors on a stand 4 m from the ground to minimize environmental effects. The power levels were based on a monitor detector calibrated very carefully in independent experiments. High-resolution pulse-height distributions were acquired with a germaniummore » detector to identify the lines and to obtain line intensities. The 7631 to 7645 keV doublet from neutron capture in the heavy steel case was dominant. Low-resolution pulse-height distributions were acquired with bismuth-germanate detectors. We calculated flux spectra from these distributions using accurately measured detector response functions and efficiency curves. We then calculated dose-rate spectra from the flux spectra using a flux-to-dose-rate conversion procedure. The integral of each dose-rate spectrum gave an integral dose rate. The integral doses at 2 m ranged from 0.46 to 1.03 mrem per 10/sup 13/ fissions. The output of the Little Boy replica can be calculated with Monte Carlo codes. Comparison of our experimental spectra, line intensities, and integral doses can be used to verify these calculations at low power levels and give increased confidence to the calculated values from the explosion at Hiroshima. These calculations then can be used to establish better radiation safety guidelines. 7 references, 7 figures, 2 tables.« less
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Shao, Xinxing; Zhu, Feipeng; Su, Zhilong; Dai, Xiangjun; Chen, Zhenning; He, Xiaoyuan
2018-03-01
The strain errors in stereo-digital image correlation (DIC) due to camera calibration were investigated using precisely controlled numerical experiments and real experiments. Three-dimensional rigid body motion tests were conducted to examine the effects of camera calibration on the measured results. For a fully accurate calibration, rigid body motion causes negligible strain errors. However, for inaccurately calibrated camera parameters and a short working distance, rigid body motion will lead to more than 50-μɛ strain errors, which significantly affects the measurement. In practical measurements, it is impossible to obtain a fully accurate calibration; therefore, considerable attention should be focused on attempting to avoid these types of errors, especially for high-accuracy strain measurements. It is necessary to avoid large rigid body motions in both two-dimensional DIC and stereo-DIC.
Hsu, Shu-Hui; Kulasekere, Ravi; Roberson, Peter L
2010-08-05
Film calibration is time-consuming work when dose accuracy is essential while working in a range of photon scatter environments. This study uses the single-target single-hit model of film response to fit the calibration curves as a function of calibration method, processor condition, field size and depth. Kodak XV film was irradiated perpendicular to the beam axis in a solid water phantom. Standard calibration films (one dose point per film) were irradiated at 90 cm source-to-surface distance (SSD) for various doses (16-128 cGy), depths (0.2, 0.5, 1.5, 5, 10 cm) and field sizes (5 × 5, 10 × 10 and 20 × 20 cm²). The 8-field calibration method (eight dose points per film) was used as a reference for each experiment, taken at 95 cm SSD and 5 cm depth. The delivered doses were measured using an Attix parallel plate chamber for improved accuracy of dose estimation in the buildup region. Three fitting methods with one to three dose points per calibration curve were investigated for the field sizes of 5 × 5, 10 × 10 and 20 × 20 cm². The inter-day variation of model parameters (background, saturation and slope) were 1.8%, 5.7%, and 7.7% (1 σ) using the 8-field method. The saturation parameter ratio of standard to 8-field curves was 1.083 ± 0.005. The slope parameter ratio of standard to 8-field curves ranged from 0.99 to 1.05, depending on field size and depth. The slope parameter ratio decreases with increasing depth below 0.5 cm for the three field sizes. It increases with increasing depths above 0.5 cm. A calibration curve with one to three dose points fitted with the model is possible with 2% accuracy in film dosimetry for various irradiation conditions. The proposed fitting methods may reduce workload while providing energy dependence correction in radiographic film dosimetry. This study is limited to radiographic XV film with a Lumisys scanner.
Li, Zhen-hua; Li, Hong-bin; Zhang, Zhi
2013-07-01
Electronic transformers are widely used in power systems because of their wide bandwidth and good transient performance. However, as an emerging technology, the failure rate of electronic transformers is higher than that of traditional transformers. As a result, the calibration period needs to be shortened. Traditional calibration methods require the power of transmission line be cut off, which results in complicated operation and power off loss. This paper proposes an online calibration system which can calibrate electronic current transformers without power off. In this work, the high accuracy standard current transformer and online operation method are the key techniques. Based on the clamp-shape iron-core coil and clamp-shape air-core coil, a combined clamp-shape coil is designed as the standard current transformer. By analyzing the output characteristics of the two coils, the combined clamp-shape coil can achieve verification of the accuracy. So the accuracy of the online calibration system can be guaranteed. Moreover, by employing the earth potential working method and using two insulating rods to connect the combined clamp-shape coil to the high voltage bus, the operation becomes simple and safe. Tests in China National Center for High Voltage Measurement and field experiments show that the proposed system has a high accuracy of up to 0.05 class.
Model independent approach to the single photoelectron calibration of photomultiplier tubes
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Saldanha, R.; Grandi, L.; Guardincerri, Y.
2017-08-01
The accurate calibration of photomultiplier tubes is critical in a wide variety of applications in which it is necessary to know the absolute number of detected photons or precisely determine the resolution of the signal. Conventional calibration methods rely on fitting the photomultiplier response to a low intensity light source with analytical approximations to the single photoelectron distribution, often leading to biased estimates due to the inability to accurately model the full distribution, especially at low charge values. In this paper we present a simple statistical method to extract the relevant single photoelectron calibration parameters without making any assumptions aboutmore » the underlying single photoelectron distribution. We illustrate the use of this method through the calibration of a Hamamatsu R11410 photomultiplier tube and study the accuracy and precision of the method using Monte Carlo simulations. The method is found to have significantly reduced bias compared to conventional methods and works under a wide range of light intensities, making it suitable for simultaneously calibrating large arrays of photomultiplier tubes.« less
Kato, Mamoru; Chida, Koichi; Moritake, Takashi; Koguchi, Yasuhiro; Sato, Tadaya; Oosaka, Hajime; Tosa, Tetsuo; Kadowaki, Ken
2014-12-01
Cardiac interventional procedures have been increasing year by year. However, radiation skin injuries have been still reported. There is a necessity to measure the patient entrance skin dose (ESD), but an accurate dose measurement method has not been established. To measure the ESD, a lot of radiophotoluminescence dosemeters (RPLDs) provide an accurate measurement of the direct actual ESD at the points they are arrayed. The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of RPLD to measure the ESD. As a result, X-ray permeable RPLD (with no tin filter) did not interfere with the percutaneous coronary intervention procedure. The RPLD also had good fundamental performance characteristics. Although the RPLD had a little energy dependence, it showed excellent dose and dose-rate linearity, and good angular dependence. In conclusion, by calibrating the energy dependence, RPLDs are useful dosemeter to measure the ESD in cardiac intervention. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
The calibration methods for Multi-Filter Rotating Shadowband Radiometer: a review
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Chen, Maosi; Davis, John; Tang, Hongzhao; Ownby, Carolyn; Gao, Wei
2013-09-01
The continuous, over two-decade data record from the Multi-Filter Rotating Shadowband Radiometer (MFRSR) is ideal for climate research which requires timely and accurate information of important atmospheric components such as gases, aerosols, and clouds. Except for parameters derived from MFRSR measurement ratios, which are not impacted by calibration error, most applications require accurate calibration factor(s), angular correction, and spectral response function(s) from calibration. Although a laboratory lamp (or reference) calibration can provide all the information needed to convert the instrument readings to actual radiation, in situ calibration methods are implemented routinely (daily) to fill the gaps between lamp calibrations. In this paper, the basic structure and the data collection and pretreatment of the MFRSR are described. The laboratory lamp calibration and its limitations are summarized. The cloud screening algorithms for MFRSR data are presented. The in situ calibration methods, the standard Langley method and its variants, the ratio-Langley method, the general method, Alexandrov's comprehensive method, and Chen's multi-channel method, are outlined. The reason that all these methods do not fit for all situations is that they assume some properties, such as aerosol optical depth (AOD), total optical depth (TOD), precipitable water vapor (PWV), effective size of aerosol particles, or angstrom coefficient, are invariant over time. These properties are not universal and some of them rarely happen. In practice, daily calibration factors derived from these methods should be smoothed to restrain error.
A new form of the calibration curve in radiochromic dosimetry. Properties and results.
Tamponi, Matteo; Bona, Rossana; Poggiu, Angela; Marini, Piergiorgio
2016-07-01
This work describes a new form of the calibration curve for radiochromic dosimetry that depends on one fit parameter. Some results are reported to show that the new curve performs as well as those previously used and, more importantly, significantly reduces the dependence on the lot of films, the film orientation on the scanner, and the time after exposure. The form of the response curve makes use of the net optical densities ratio against the dose and has been studied by means of the Beer-Lambert law and a simple modeling of the film. The new calibration curve has been applied to EBT3 films exposed at 6 and 15 MV energy beams of linear accelerators and read-out in transmission mode by means of a flatbed color scanner. Its performance has been compared to that of two established forms of the calibration curve, which use the optical density and the net optical density against the dose. Four series of measurements with four lots of EBT3 films were used to evaluate the precision, accuracy, and dependence on the time after exposure, orientation on the scanner and lot of films. The new calibration curve is roughly subject to the same dose uncertainty, about 2% (1 standard deviation), and has the same accuracy, about 1.5% (dose values between 50 and 450 cGy), as the other calibration curves when films of the same lot are used. Moreover, the new calibration curve, albeit obtained from only one lot of film, shows a good agreement with experimental data from all other lots of EBT3 films used, with an accuracy of about 2% and a relative dose precision of 2.4% (1 standard deviation). The agreement also holds for changes of the film orientation and of the time after exposure. The dose accuracy of this new form of the calibration curve is always equal to or better than those obtained from the two types of curves previously used. The use of the net optical densities ratio considerably reduces the dependence on the lot of films, the landscape/portrait orientation, and the time
Camera calibration: active versus passive targets
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Schmalz, Christoph; Forster, Frank; Angelopoulou, Elli
2011-11-01
Traditionally, most camera calibrations rely on a planar target with well-known marks. However, the localization error of the marks in the image is a source of inaccuracy. We propose the use of high-resolution digital displays as active calibration targets to obtain more accurate calibration results for all types of cameras. The display shows a series of coded patterns to generate correspondences between world points and image points. This has several advantages. No special calibration hardware is necessary because suitable displays are practically ubiquitious. The method is fully automatic, and no identification of marks is necessary. For a coding scheme based on phase shifting, the localization accuracy is approximately independent of the camera's focus settings. Most importantly, higher accuracy can be achieved compared to passive targets, such as printed checkerboards. A rigorous evaluation is performed to substantiate this claim. Our active target method is compared to standard calibrations using a checkerboard target. We perform camera, calibrations with different combinations of displays, cameras, and lenses, as well as with simulated images and find markedly lower reprojection errors when using active targets. For example, in a stereo reconstruction task, the accuracy of a system calibrated with an active target is five times better.
A stoichiometric calibration method for dual energy computed tomography
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Bourque, Alexandra E.; Carrier, Jean-François; Bouchard, Hugo
2014-04-01
The accuracy of radiotherapy dose calculation relies crucially on patient composition data. The computed tomography (CT) calibration methods based on the stoichiometric calibration of Schneider et al (1996 Phys. Med. Biol. 41 111-24) are the most reliable to determine electron density (ED) with commercial single energy CT scanners. Along with the recent developments in dual energy CT (DECT) commercial scanners, several methods were published to determine ED and the effective atomic number (EAN) for polyenergetic beams without the need for CT calibration curves. This paper intends to show that with a rigorous definition of the EAN, the stoichiometric calibration method can be successfully adapted to DECT with significant accuracy improvements with respect to the literature without the need for spectrum measurements or empirical beam hardening corrections. Using a theoretical framework of ICRP human tissue compositions and the XCOM photon cross sections database, the revised stoichiometric calibration method yields Hounsfield unit (HU) predictions within less than ±1.3 HU of the theoretical HU calculated from XCOM data averaged over the spectra used (e.g., 80 kVp, 100 kVp, 140 kVp and 140/Sn kVp). A fit of mean excitation energy (I-value) data as a function of EAN is provided in order to determine the ion stopping power of human tissues from ED-EAN measurements. Analysis of the calibration phantom measurements with the Siemens SOMATOM Definition Flash dual source CT scanner shows that the present formalism yields mean absolute errors of (0.3 ± 0.4)% and (1.6 ± 2.0)% on ED and EAN, respectively. For ion therapy, the mean absolute errors for calibrated I-values and proton stopping powers (216 MeV) are (4.1 ± 2.7)% and (0.5 ± 0.4)%, respectively. In all clinical situations studied, the uncertainties in ion ranges in water for therapeutic energies are found to be less than 1.3 mm, 0.7 mm and 0.5 mm for protons, helium and carbon ions respectively, using a generic
Vicarious Calibration of EO-1 Hyperion
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
McCorkel, Joel; Thome, Kurt; Lawrence, Ong
2012-01-01
The Hyperion imaging spectrometer on the Earth Observing-1 satellite is the first high-spatial resolution imaging spectrometer to routinely acquire science-grade data from orbit. Data gathered with this instrument needs to be quantitative and accurate in order to derive meaningful information about ecosystem properties and processes. Also, comprehensive and long-term ecological studies require these data to be comparable over time, between coexisting sensors and between generations of follow-on sensors. One method to assess the radiometric calibration is the reflectance-based approach, a common technique used for several other earth science sensors covering similar spectral regions. This work presents results of radiometric calibration of Hyperion based on the reflectance-based approach of vicarious calibration implemented by University of Arizona during 2001 2005. These results show repeatability to the 2% level and accuracy on the 3 5% level for spectral regions not affected by strong atmospheric absorption. Knowledge of the stability of the Hyperion calibration from moon observations allows for an average absolute calibration based on the reflectance-based results to be determined and applicable for the lifetime of Hyperion.
Design of an ultra-portable field transfer radiometer supporting automated vicarious calibration
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Anderson, Nikolaus; Thome, Kurtis; Czapla-Myers, Jeffrey; Biggar, Stuart
2015-09-01
The University of Arizona Remote Sensing Group (RSG) began outfitting the radiometric calibration test site (RadCaTS) at Railroad Valley Nevada in 2004 for automated vicarious calibration of Earth-observing sensors. RadCaTS was upgraded to use RSG custom 8-band ground viewing radiometers (GVRs) beginning in 2011 and currently four GVRs are deployed providing an average reflectance for the test site. This measurement of ground reflectance is the most critical component of vicarious calibration using the reflectance-based method. In order to ensure the quality of these measurements, RSG has been exploring more efficient and accurate methods of on-site calibration evaluation. This work describes the design of, and initial results from, a small portable transfer radiometer for the purpose of GVR calibration validation on site. Prior to deployment, RSG uses high accuracy laboratory calibration methods in order to provide radiance calibrations with low uncertainties for each GVR. After deployment, a solar radiation based calibration has typically been used. The method is highly dependent on a clear, stable atmosphere, requires at least two people to perform, is time consuming in post processing, and is dependent on several large pieces of equipment. In order to provide more regular and more accurate calibration monitoring, the small portable transfer radiometer is designed for quick, one-person operation and on-site field calibration comparison results. The radiometer is also suited for laboratory calibration use and thus could be used as a transfer radiometer calibration standard for ground viewing radiometers of a RadCalNet site.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Li, Zhen-hua; Li, Hong-bin; Zhang, Zhi
Electronic transformers are widely used in power systems because of their wide bandwidth and good transient performance. However, as an emerging technology, the failure rate of electronic transformers is higher than that of traditional transformers. As a result, the calibration period needs to be shortened. Traditional calibration methods require the power of transmission line be cut off, which results in complicated operation and power off loss. This paper proposes an online calibration system which can calibrate electronic current transformers without power off. In this work, the high accuracy standard current transformer and online operation method are the key techniques. Basedmore » on the clamp-shape iron-core coil and clamp-shape air-core coil, a combined clamp-shape coil is designed as the standard current transformer. By analyzing the output characteristics of the two coils, the combined clamp-shape coil can achieve verification of the accuracy. So the accuracy of the online calibration system can be guaranteed. Moreover, by employing the earth potential working method and using two insulating rods to connect the combined clamp-shape coil to the high voltage bus, the operation becomes simple and safe. Tests in China National Center for High Voltage Measurement and field experiments show that the proposed system has a high accuracy of up to 0.05 class.« less
ICESAT Laser Altimeter Pointing, Ranging and Timing Calibration from Integrated Residual Analysis
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Luthcke, Scott B.; Rowlands, D. D.; Carabajal, C. C.; Harding, D. H.; Bufton, J. L.; Williams, T. A.
2003-01-01
On January 12, 2003 the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) was successfully placed into orbit. The ICESat mission carries the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS), which has a primary measurement of short-pulse laser- ranging to the Earth s surface at 1064nm wavelength at a rate of 40 pulses per second. The instrument has collected precise elevation measurements of the ice sheets, sea ice roughness and thickness, ocean and land surface elevations and surface reflectivity. The accurate geolocation of GLAS s surface returns, the spots from which the laser energy reflects on the Earth s surface, is a critical issue in the scientific application of these data. Pointing, ranging, timing and orbit errors must be compensated to accurately geolocate the laser altimeter surface returns. Towards this end, the laser range observations can be fully exploited in an integrated residual analysis to accurately calibrate these geolocation/instrument parameters. ICESat laser altimeter data have been simultaneously processed as direct altimetry from ocean sweeps along with dynamic crossovers in order to calibrate pointing, ranging and timing. The calibration methodology and current calibration results are discussed along with future efforts.
Automatic multi-camera calibration for deployable positioning systems
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Axelsson, Maria; Karlsson, Mikael; Rudner, Staffan
2012-06-01
Surveillance with automated positioning and tracking of subjects and vehicles in 3D is desired in many defence and security applications. Camera systems with stereo or multiple cameras are often used for 3D positioning. In such systems, accurate camera calibration is needed to obtain a reliable 3D position estimate. There is also a need for automated camera calibration to facilitate fast deployment of semi-mobile multi-camera 3D positioning systems. In this paper we investigate a method for automatic calibration of the extrinsic camera parameters (relative camera pose and orientation) of a multi-camera positioning system. It is based on estimation of the essential matrix between each camera pair using the 5-point method for intrinsically calibrated cameras. The method is compared to a manual calibration method using real HD video data from a field trial with a multicamera positioning system. The method is also evaluated on simulated data from a stereo camera model. The results show that the reprojection error of the automated camera calibration method is close to or smaller than the error for the manual calibration method and that the automated calibration method can replace the manual calibration.
Geometrical calibration of an AOTF hyper-spectral imaging system
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Špiclin, Žiga; Katrašnik, Jaka; Bürmen, Miran; Pernuš, Franjo; Likar, Boštjan
2010-02-01
Optical aberrations present an important problem in optical measurements. Geometrical calibration of an imaging system is therefore of the utmost importance for achieving accurate optical measurements. In hyper-spectral imaging systems, the problem of optical aberrations is even more pronounced because optical aberrations are wavelength dependent. Geometrical calibration must therefore be performed over the entire spectral range of the hyper-spectral imaging system, which is usually far greater than that of the visible light spectrum. This problem is especially adverse in AOTF (Acousto- Optic Tunable Filter) hyper-spectral imaging systems, as the diffraction of light in AOTF filters is dependent on both wavelength and angle of incidence. Geometrical calibration of hyper-spectral imaging system was performed by stable caliber of known dimensions, which was imaged at different wavelengths over the entire spectral range. The acquired images were then automatically registered to the caliber model by both parametric and nonparametric transformation based on B-splines and by minimizing normalized correlation coefficient. The calibration method was tested on an AOTF hyper-spectral imaging system in the near infrared spectral range. The results indicated substantial wavelength dependent optical aberration that is especially pronounced in the spectral range closer to the infrared part of the spectrum. The calibration method was able to accurately characterize the aberrations and produce transformations for efficient sub-pixel geometrical calibration over the entire spectral range, finally yielding better spatial resolution of hyperspectral imaging system.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Hansen, J; Culberson, W; DeWerd, L
Purpose: To test the validity of a windowless extrapolation chamber used to measure surface dose rate from planar ophthalmic applicators and to compare different Monte Carlo based codes for deriving correction factors. Methods: Dose rate measurements were performed using a windowless, planar extrapolation chamber with a {sup 90}Sr/{sup 90}Y Tracerlab RA-1 ophthalmic applicator previously calibrated at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Capacitance measurements were performed to estimate the initial air gap width between the source face and collecting electrode. Current was measured as a function of air gap, and Bragg-Gray cavity theory was used to calculate themore » absorbed dose rate to water. To determine correction factors for backscatter, divergence, and attenuation from the Mylar entrance window found in the NIST extrapolation chamber, both EGSnrc Monte Carlo user code and Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport Code (MCNP) were utilized. Simulation results were compared with experimental current readings from the windowless extrapolation chamber as a function of air gap. Additionally, measured dose rate values were compared with the expected result from the NIST source calibration to test the validity of the windowless chamber design. Results: Better agreement was seen between EGSnrc simulated dose results and experimental current readings at very small air gaps (<100 µm) for the windowless extrapolation chamber, while MCNP results demonstrated divergence at these small gap widths. Three separate dose rate measurements were performed with the RA-1 applicator. The average observed difference from the expected result based on the NIST calibration was −1.88% with a statistical standard deviation of 0.39% (k=1). Conclusion: EGSnrc user code will be used during future work to derive correction factors for extrapolation chamber measurements. Additionally, experiment results suggest that an entrance window is not needed in order for an
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Faulkner, K. G.; Gluer, C. C.; Grampp, S.; Genant, H. K.
1993-01-01
Quantitative computed tomography (QCT) has been shown to be a precise and sensitive method for evaluating spinal bone mineral density (BMD) and skeletal response to aging and therapy. Precise and accurate determination of BMD using QCT requires a calibration standard to compensate for and reduce the effects of beam-hardening artifacts and scanner drift. The first standards were based on dipotassium hydrogen phosphate (K2HPO4) solutions. Recently, several manufacturers have developed stable solid calibration standards based on calcium hydroxyapatite (CHA) in water-equivalent plastic. Due to differences in attenuating properties of the liquid and solid standards, the calibrated BMD values obtained with each system do not agree. In order to compare and interpret the results obtained on both systems, cross-calibration measurements were performed in phantoms and patients using the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) liquid standard and the Image Analysis (IA) solid standard on the UCSF GE 9800 CT scanner. From the phantom measurements, a highly linear relationship was found between the liquid- and solid-calibrated BMD values. No influence on the cross-calibration due to simulated variations in body size or vertebral fat content was seen, though a significant difference in the cross-calibration was observed between scans acquired at 80 and 140 kVp. From the patient measurements, a linear relationship between the liquid (UCSF) and solid (IA) calibrated values was derived for GE 9800 CT scanners at 80 kVp (IA = [1.15 x UCSF] - 7.32).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS).
Evaluation of lens absorbed dose with Cone Beam IGRT procedures.
Palomo, R; Pujades, M C; Gimeno-Olmos, J; Carmona, V; Lliso, F; Candela-Juan, C; Vijande, J; Ballester, F; Perez-Calatayud, J
2015-12-01
The purpose of this work is to evaluate the absorbed dose to the eye lenses due to the cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) system used to accurately position the patient during head-and-neck image guided procedures. The on-board imaging (OBI) systems (v.1.5) of Clinac iX and TrueBeam (Varian) accelerators were used to evaluate the imparted dose to the eye lenses and some additional points of the head. All CBCT scans were acquired with the Standard-Dose Head protocol from Varian. Doses were measured using thermoluminescence dosimeters (TLDs) placed in an anthropomorphic phantom. TLDs were calibrated at the beam quality used to reduce their energy dependence. Average dose to the lens due to the OBI systems of the Clinac iX and the TrueBeam were 0.71 ± 0.07 mGy/CBCT and 0.70 ± 0.08 mGy/CBCT, respectively. The extra absorbed dose received by the eye lenses due to one CBCT acquisition with the studied protocol is far below the 500 mGy threshold established by ICRP for cataract formation (ICRP 2011 Statement on Tissue Reactions). However, the incremental effect of several CBCT acquisitions during the whole treatment should be taken into account.
Fixed-Wing Micro Aerial Vehicle for Accurate Corridor Mapping
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Rehak, M.; Skaloud, J.
2015-08-01
In this study we present a Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV) equipped with precise position and attitude sensors that together with a pre-calibrated camera enables accurate corridor mapping. The design of the platform is based on widely available model components to which we integrate an open-source autopilot, customized mass-market camera and navigation sensors. We adapt the concepts of system calibration from larger mapping platforms to MAV and evaluate them practically for their achievable accuracy. We present case studies for accurate mapping without ground control points: first for a block configuration, later for a narrow corridor. We evaluate the mapping accuracy with respect to checkpoints and digital terrain model. We show that while it is possible to achieve pixel (3-5 cm) mapping accuracy in both cases, precise aerial position control is sufficient for block configuration, the precise position and attitude control is required for corridor mapping.
Method and apparatus for calibrating a particle emissions monitor
Flower, W.L.; Renzi, R.F.
1998-07-07
The invention discloses a method and apparatus for calibrating particulate emissions monitors, in particular, sampling probes, and in general, without removing the instrument from the system being monitored. A source of one or more specific metals in aerosol (either solid or liquid) or vapor form is housed in the instrument. The calibration operation is initiated by moving a focusing lens, used to focus a light beam onto an analysis location and collect the output light response, from an operating position to a calibration position such that the focal point of the focusing lens is now within a calibration stream issuing from a calibration source. The output light response from the calibration stream can be compared to that derived from an analysis location in the operating position to more accurately monitor emissions within the emissions flow stream. 6 figs.
Method and apparatus for calibrating a particle emissions monitor
Flower, William L.; Renzi, Ronald F.
1998-07-07
The instant invention discloses method and apparatus for calibrating particulate emissions monitors, in particular, and sampling probes, in general, without removing the instrument from the system being monitored. A source of one or more specific metals in aerosol (either solid or liquid) or vapor form is housed in the instrument. The calibration operation is initiated by moving a focusing lens, used to focus a light beam onto an analysis location and collect the output light response, from an operating position to a calibration position such that the focal point of the focusing lens is now within a calibration stream issuing from a calibration source. The output light response from the calibration stream can be compared to that derived from an analysis location in the operating position to more accurately monitor emissions within the emissions flow stream.
Self Calibrated Wireless Distributed Environmental Sensory Networks
Fishbain, Barak; Moreno-Centeno, Erick
2016-01-01
Recent advances in sensory and communication technologies have made Wireless Distributed Environmental Sensory Networks (WDESN) technically and economically feasible. WDESNs present an unprecedented tool for studying many environmental processes in a new way. However, the WDESNs’ calibration process is a major obstacle in them becoming the common practice. Here, we present a new, robust and efficient method for aggregating measurements acquired by an uncalibrated WDESN, and producing accurate estimates of the observed environmental variable’s true levels rendering the network as self-calibrated. The suggested method presents novelty both in group-decision-making and in environmental sensing as it offers a most valuable tool for distributed environmental monitoring data aggregation. Applying the method on an extensive real-life air-pollution dataset showed markedly more accurate results than the common practice and the state-of-the-art. PMID:27098279
DeWerd, Larry A; Huq, M Saiful; Das, Indra J; Ibbott, Geoffrey S; Hanson, William F; Slowey, Thomas W; Williamson, Jeffrey F; Coursey, Bert M
2004-03-01
Low dose rate brachytherapy is being used extensively for the treatment of prostate cancer. As of September 2003, there are a total of thirteen 125I and seven 103Pd sources that have calibrations from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Accredited Dosimetry Calibration Laboratories (ADCLs) of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM). The dosimetry standards for these sources are traceable to the NIST wide-angle free-air chamber. Procedures have been developed by the AAPM Calibration Laboratory Accreditation Subcommittee to standardize quality assurance and calibration, and to maintain the dosimetric traceability of these sources to ensure accurate clinical dosimetry. A description of these procedures is provided to the clinical users for traceability purposes as well as to provide guidance to the manufacturers of brachytherapy sources and ADCLs with regard to these procedures.
Calibration Method of an Ultrasonic System for Temperature Measurement
Zhou, Chao; Wang, Yueke; Qiao, Chunjie; Dai, Weihua
2016-01-01
System calibration is fundamental to the overall accuracy of the ultrasonic temperature measurement, and it is basically involved in accurately measuring the path length and the system latency of the ultrasonic system. This paper proposes a method of high accuracy system calibration. By estimating the time delay between the transmitted signal and the received signal at several different temperatures, the calibration equations are constructed, and the calibrated results are determined with the use of the least squares algorithm. The formulas are deduced for calculating the calibration uncertainties, and the possible influential factors are analyzed. The experimental results in distilled water show that the calibrated path length and system latency can achieve uncertainties of 0.058 mm and 0.038 μs, respectively, and the temperature accuracy is significantly improved by using the calibrated results. The temperature error remains within ±0.04°C consistently, and the percentage error is less than 0.15%. PMID:27788252
A New Calibration Method for Commercial RGB-D Sensors
Darwish, Walid; Tang, Shenjun; Li, Wenbin; Chen, Wu
2017-01-01
Commercial RGB-D sensors such as Kinect and Structure Sensors have been widely used in the game industry, where geometric fidelity is not of utmost importance. For applications in which high quality 3D is required, i.e., 3D building models of centimeter-level accuracy, accurate and reliable calibrations of these sensors are required. This paper presents a new model for calibrating the depth measurements of RGB-D sensors based on the structured light concept. Additionally, a new automatic method is proposed for the calibration of all RGB-D parameters, including internal calibration parameters for all cameras, the baseline between the infrared and RGB cameras, and the depth error model. When compared with traditional calibration methods, this new model shows a significant improvement in depth precision for both near and far ranges. PMID:28538695
A New Calibration Method for Commercial RGB-D Sensors.
Darwish, Walid; Tang, Shenjun; Li, Wenbin; Chen, Wu
2017-05-24
Commercial RGB-D sensors such as Kinect and Structure Sensors have been widely used in the game industry, where geometric fidelity is not of utmost importance. For applications in which high quality 3D is required, i.e., 3D building models of centimeter‑level accuracy, accurate and reliable calibrations of these sensors are required. This paper presents a new model for calibrating the depth measurements of RGB-D sensors based on the structured light concept. Additionally, a new automatic method is proposed for the calibration of all RGB-D parameters, including internal calibration parameters for all cameras, the baseline between the infrared and RGB cameras, and the depth error model. When compared with traditional calibration methods, this new model shows a significant improvement in depth precision for both near and far ranges.
Calibration of the Geostationary Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (GIFTS)
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Best, F. A.; Revercomb, H. E.; Bingham, G. E.; Knuteson, R. O.; Tobin, D. C.; LaPorte, D. D.; Smith, W. L.
2001-01-01
The NASA New Millennium Program's Geostationary Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (GIFTS) requires highly accurate radiometric and spectral calibration in order to carry out its mission to provide water vapor, wind, temperature, and trace gas profiling from geostationary orbit. A calibration concept has been developed for the GIFTS Phase A instrument design. The in-flight calibration is performed using views of two on-board blackbody sources along with cold space. A radiometric calibration uncertainty analysis has been developed and used to show that the expected performance for GIFTS exceeds its top level requirement to measure brightness temperature to better than 1 K. For the Phase A GIFTS design, the spectral calibration is established by the highly stable diode laser used as the reference for interferogram sampling, and verified with comparisons to atmospheric calculations.
Bayesian calibration for electrochemical thermal model of lithium-ion cells
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Tagade, Piyush; Hariharan, Krishnan S.; Basu, Suman; Verma, Mohan Kumar Singh; Kolake, Subramanya Mayya; Song, Taewon; Oh, Dukjin; Yeo, Taejung; Doo, Seokgwang
2016-07-01
Pseudo-two dimensional electrochemical thermal (P2D-ECT) model contains many parameters that are difficult to evaluate experimentally. Estimation of these model parameters is challenging due to computational cost and the transient model. Due to lack of complete physical understanding, this issue gets aggravated at extreme conditions like low temperature (LT) operations. This paper presents a Bayesian calibration framework for estimation of the P2D-ECT model parameters. The framework uses a matrix variate Gaussian process representation to obtain a computationally tractable formulation for calibration of the transient model. Performance of the framework is investigated for calibration of the P2D-ECT model across a range of temperatures (333 Ksbnd 263 K) and operating protocols. In the absence of complete physical understanding, the framework also quantifies structural uncertainty in the calibrated model. This information is used by the framework to test validity of the new physical phenomena before incorporation in the model. This capability is demonstrated by introducing temperature dependence on Bruggeman's coefficient and lithium plating formation at LT. With the incorporation of new physics, the calibrated P2D-ECT model accurately predicts the cell voltage with high confidence. The accurate predictions are used to obtain new insights into the low temperature lithium ion cell behavior.
Data multiplexing in radio interferometric calibration
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Yatawatta, Sarod; Diblen, Faruk; Spreeuw, Hanno; Koopmans, L. V. E.
2018-03-01
New and upcoming radio interferometers will produce unprecedented amount of data that demand extremely powerful computers for processing. This is a limiting factor due to the large computational power and energy costs involved. Such limitations restrict several key data processing steps in radio interferometry. One such step is calibration where systematic errors in the data are determined and corrected. Accurate calibration is an essential component in reaching many scientific goals in radio astronomy and the use of consensus optimization that exploits the continuity of systematic errors across frequency significantly improves calibration accuracy. In order to reach full consensus, data at all frequencies need to be calibrated simultaneously. In the SKA regime, this can become intractable if the available compute agents do not have the resources to process data from all frequency channels simultaneously. In this paper, we propose a multiplexing scheme that is based on the alternating direction method of multipliers with cyclic updates. With this scheme, it is possible to simultaneously calibrate the full data set using far fewer compute agents than the number of frequencies at which data are available. We give simulation results to show the feasibility of the proposed multiplexing scheme in simultaneously calibrating a full data set when a limited number of compute agents are available.
A new form of the calibration curve in radiochromic dosimetry. Properties and results
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Tamponi, Matteo, E-mail: mtamponi@aslsassari.it; B
Purpose: This work describes a new form of the calibration curve for radiochromic dosimetry that depends on one fit parameter. Some results are reported to show that the new curve performs as well as those previously used and, more importantly, significantly reduces the dependence on the lot of films, the film orientation on the scanner, and the time after exposure. Methods: The form of the response curve makes use of the net optical densities ratio against the dose and has been studied by means of the Beer–Lambert law and a simple modeling of the film. The new calibration curve hasmore » been applied to EBT3 films exposed at 6 and 15 MV energy beams of linear accelerators and read-out in transmission mode by means of a flatbed color scanner. Its performance has been compared to that of two established forms of the calibration curve, which use the optical density and the net optical density against the dose. Four series of measurements with four lots of EBT3 films were used to evaluate the precision, accuracy, and dependence on the time after exposure, orientation on the scanner and lot of films. Results: The new calibration curve is roughly subject to the same dose uncertainty, about 2% (1 standard deviation), and has the same accuracy, about 1.5% (dose values between 50 and 450 cGy), as the other calibration curves when films of the same lot are used. Moreover, the new calibration curve, albeit obtained from only one lot of film, shows a good agreement with experimental data from all other lots of EBT3 films used, with an accuracy of about 2% and a relative dose precision of 2.4% (1 standard deviation). The agreement also holds for changes of the film orientation and of the time after exposure. Conclusions: The dose accuracy of this new form of the calibration curve is always equal to or better than those obtained from the two types of curves previously used. The use of the net optical densities ratio considerably reduces the dependence on the lot of films
Monitoring the eye lens: which dose quantity is adequate?
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Behrens, R.; Dietze, G.
2010-07-01
Recent epidemiological studies suggest a rather low dose threshold (below 0.5 Gy) for the induction of a cataract of the eye lens. Some other studies even assume that there is no threshold at all. Therefore, protection measures have to be optimized and current dose limits for the eye lens may be reduced in the future. The question of which personal dose equivalent quantity is appropriate for monitoring the dose to the eye lens arises from this situation. While in many countries dosemeters calibrated in terms of the dose equivalent quantity Hp(0.07) have been seen as being adequate for monitoring the dose to the eye lens, this might be questionable in the case of reduced dose limits and, thus, it may become necessary to use the dose equivalent quantity Hp(3) for this purpose. To discuss this question, the dose conversion coefficients for the equivalent dose of the eye lens (in the following eye lens dose) were determined for realistic photon and beta radiation fields and compared with the values of the corresponding conversion coefficients for the different operational quantities. The values obtained lead to the following conclusions: in radiation fields where most of the dose comes from photons, especially x-rays, it is appropriate to use dosemeters calibrated in terms of Hp(0.07) on a slab phantom, while in other radiation fields (dominated by beta radiation or unknown contributions of photon and beta radiation) dosemeters calibrated in terms of Hp(3) on a slab phantom should be used. As an alternative, dosemeters calibrated in terms of Hp(0.07) on a slab phantom could also be used; however, in radiation fields containing beta radiation with the end point energy near 1 MeV, an overestimation of the eye lens dose by up to a factor of 550 is possible.
Monitoring the eye lens: which dose quantity is adequate?
Behrens, R; Dietze, G
2010-07-21
Recent epidemiological studies suggest a rather low dose threshold (below 0.5 Gy) for the induction of a cataract of the eye lens. Some other studies even assume that there is no threshold at all. Therefore, protection measures have to be optimized and current dose limits for the eye lens may be reduced in the future. The question of which personal dose equivalent quantity is appropriate for monitoring the dose to the eye lens arises from this situation. While in many countries dosemeters calibrated in terms of the dose equivalent quantity H(p)(0.07) have been seen as being adequate for monitoring the dose to the eye lens, this might be questionable in the case of reduced dose limits and, thus, it may become necessary to use the dose equivalent quantity H(p)(3) for this purpose. To discuss this question, the dose conversion coefficients for the equivalent dose of the eye lens (in the following eye lens dose) were determined for realistic photon and beta radiation fields and compared with the values of the corresponding conversion coefficients for the different operational quantities. The values obtained lead to the following conclusions: in radiation fields where most of the dose comes from photons, especially x-rays, it is appropriate to use dosemeters calibrated in terms of H(p)(0.07) on a slab phantom, while in other radiation fields (dominated by beta radiation or unknown contributions of photon and beta radiation) dosemeters calibrated in terms of H(p)(3) on a slab phantom should be used. As an alternative, dosemeters calibrated in terms of H(p)(0.07) on a slab phantom could also be used; however, in radiation fields containing beta radiation with the end point energy near 1 MeV, an overestimation of the eye lens dose by up to a factor of 550 is possible.
Wilkins, Ruth; Flegal, Farrah; Knoll, Joan H.M.; Rogan, Peter K.
2017-01-01
Accurate digital image analysis of abnormal microscopic structures relies on high quality images and on minimizing the rates of false positive (FP) and negative objects in images. Cytogenetic biodosimetry detects dicentric chromosomes (DCs) that arise from exposure to ionizing radiation, and determines radiation dose received based on DC frequency. Improvements in automated DC recognition increase the accuracy of dose estimates by reclassifying FP DCs as monocentric chromosomes or chromosome fragments. We also present image segmentation methods to rank high quality digital metaphase images and eliminate suboptimal metaphase cells. A set of chromosome morphology segmentation methods selectively filtered out FP DCs arising primarily from sister chromatid separation, chromosome fragmentation, and cellular debris. This reduced FPs by an average of 55% and was highly specific to these abnormal structures (≥97.7%) in three samples. Additional filters selectively removed images with incomplete, highly overlapped, or missing metaphase cells, or with poor overall chromosome morphologies that increased FP rates. Image selection is optimized and FP DCs are minimized by combining multiple feature based segmentation filters and a novel image sorting procedure based on the known distribution of chromosome lengths. Applying the same image segmentation filtering procedures to both calibration and test samples reduced the average dose estimation error from 0.4 Gy to <0.2 Gy, obviating the need to first manually review these images. This reliable and scalable solution enables batch processing for multiple samples of unknown dose, and meets current requirements for triage radiation biodosimetry of high quality metaphase cell preparations. PMID:29026522
Concepts for dose determination in flat-detector CT
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kyriakou, Yiannis; Deak, Paul; Langner, Oliver; Kalender, Willi A.
2008-07-01
Flat-detector computed tomography (FD-CT) scanners provide large irradiation fields of typically 200 mm in the cranio-caudal direction. In consequence, dose assessment according to the current definition of the computed tomography dose index CTDIL=100 mm, where L is the integration length, would demand larger ionization chambers and phantoms which do not appear practical. We investigated the usefulness of the CTDI concept and practical dosimetry approaches for FD-CT by measurements and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. An MC simulation tool (ImpactMC, VAMP GmbH, Erlangen, Germany) was used to assess the dose characteristics and was calibrated with measurements of air kerma. For validation purposes measurements were performed on an Axiom Artis C-arm system (Siemens Medical Solutions, Forchheim, Germany) equipped with a flat detector of 40 cm × 30 cm. The dose was assessed for 70 kV and 125 kV in cylindrical PMMA phantoms of 160 mm and 320 mm diameter with a varying phantom length from 150 to 900 mm. MC simulation results were compared to the values obtained with a calibrated ionization chambers of 100 mm and 250 mm length and to thermoluminesence (TLD) dose profiles. The MCs simulations were used to calculate the efficiency of the CTDIL determination with respect to the desired CTDI∞. Both the MC simulation results and the dose distributions obtained by MC simulation were in very good agreement with the CTDI measurements and with the reference TLD profiles, respectively, to within 5%. Standard CTDI phantoms which have a z-extent of 150 mm underestimate the dose at the center by up to 55%, whereas a z-extent of >=600 mm appears to be sufficient for FD-CT; the baseline value of the respective profile was within 1% to the reference baseline. As expected, the measurements with ionization chambers of 100 mm and 250 mm offer a limited accuracy, whereas an increased integration length of >=600 mm appeared to be necessary to approximate CTDI∞ in within 1%. MC simulations
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Brown, Anthony M.
2018-01-01
Recent advances in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology have made UAVs an attractive possibility as an airborne calibration platform for astronomical facilities. This is especially true for arrays of telescopes spread over a large area such as the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). In this paper, the feasibility of using UAVs to calibrate CTA is investigated. Assuming a UAV at 1km altitude above CTA, operating on astronomically clear nights with stratified, low atmospheric dust content, appropriate thermal protection for the calibration light source and an onboard photodiode to monitor its absolute light intensity, inter-calibration of CTA's telescopes of the same size class is found to be achievable with a 6 - 8 % uncertainty. For cross-calibration of different telescope size classes, a systematic uncertainty of 8 - 10 % is found to be achievable. Importantly, equipping the UAV with a multi-wavelength calibration light source affords us the ability to monitor the wavelength-dependent degradation of CTA telescopes' optical system, allowing us to not only maintain this 6 - 10 % uncertainty after the first few years of telescope deployment, but also to accurately account for the effect of multi-wavelength degradation on the cross-calibration of CTA by other techniques, namely with images of air showers and local muons. A UAV-based system thus provides CTA with several independent and complementary methods of cross-calibrating the optical throughput of individual telescopes. Furthermore, housing environmental sensors on the UAV system allows us to not only minimise the systematic uncertainty associated with the atmospheric transmission of the calibration signal, it also allows us to map the dust content above CTA as well as monitor the temperature, humidity and pressure profiles of the first kilometre of atmosphere above CTA with each UAV flight.
Tsuchida, Satoshi; Thome, Kurtis
2017-01-01
Radiometric cross-calibration between the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) and the Terra-Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) has been partially used to derive the ASTER radiometric calibration coefficient (RCC) curve as a function of date on visible to near-infrared bands. However, cross-calibration is not sufficiently accurate, since the effects of the differences in the sensor’s spectral and spatial responses are not fully mitigated. The present study attempts to evaluate radiometric consistency across two sensors using an improved cross-calibration algorithm to address the spectral and spatial effects and derive cross-calibration-based RCCs, which increases the ASTER calibration accuracy. Overall, radiances measured with ASTER bands 1 and 2 are on averages 3.9% and 3.6% greater than the ones measured on the same scene with their MODIS counterparts and ASTER band 3N (nadir) is 0.6% smaller than its MODIS counterpart in current radiance/reflectance products. The percentage root mean squared errors (%RMSEs) between the radiances of two sensors are 3.7, 4.2, and 2.3 for ASTER band 1, 2, and 3N, respectively, which are slightly greater or smaller than the required ASTER radiometric calibration accuracy (4%). The uncertainty of the cross-calibration is analyzed by elaborating the error budget table to evaluate the International System of Units (SI)-traceability of the results. The use of the derived RCCs will allow further reduction of errors in ASTER radiometric calibration and subsequently improve interoperability across sensors for synergistic applications. PMID:28777329
McMillan, Kyle; Bostani, Maryam; Cagnon, Christopher H; Yu, Lifeng; Leng, Shuai; McCollough, Cynthia H; McNitt-Gray, Michael F
2017-08-01
The vast majority of body CT exams are performed with automatic exposure control (AEC), which adapts the mean tube current to the patient size and modulates the tube current either angularly, longitudinally or both. However, most radiation dose estimation tools are based on fixed tube current scans. Accurate estimates of patient dose from AEC scans require knowledge of the tube current values, which is usually unavailable. The purpose of this work was to develop and validate methods to accurately estimate the tube current values prescribed by one manufacturer's AEC system to enable accurate estimates of patient dose. Methods were developed that took into account available patient attenuation information, user selected image quality reference parameters and x-ray system limits to estimate tube current values for patient scans. Methods consistent with AAPM Report 220 were developed that used patient attenuation data that were: (a) supplied by the manufacturer in the CT localizer radiograph and (b) based on a simulated CT localizer radiograph derived from image data. For comparison, actual tube current values were extracted from the projection data of each patient. Validation of each approach was based on data collected from 40 pediatric and adult patients who received clinically indicated chest (n = 20) and abdomen/pelvis (n = 20) scans on a 64 slice multidetector row CT (Sensation 64, Siemens Healthcare, Forchheim, Germany). For each patient dataset, the following were collected with Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval: (a) projection data containing actual tube current values at each projection view, (b) CT localizer radiograph (topogram) and (c) reconstructed image data. Tube current values were estimated based on the actual topogram (actual-topo) as well as the simulated topogram based on image data (sim-topo). Each of these was compared to the actual tube current values from the patient scan. In addition, to assess the accuracy of each method in estimating
Spinning angle optical calibration apparatus
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Beer, S.K.; Pratt, H.R.
1991-02-26
This patent describes an optical calibration apparatus provided for calibrating and reproducing spinning angles in cross-polarization, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. An illuminated magnifying apparatus enables optical setting an accurate reproducing of spinning magic angles in cross-polarization, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy experiments. A reference mark scribed on an edge of a spinning angle test sample holder is illuminated by a light source and viewed through a magnifying scope. When the magic angle of a sample material used as a standard is attained by varying the angular position of the sample holder, the coordinate position of the reference mark relative to amore » graduation or graduations on a reticle in the magnifying scope is noted.« less
Camera calibration for multidirectional flame chemiluminescence tomography
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Wang, Jia; Zhang, Weiguang; Zhang, Yuhong; Yu, Xun
2017-04-01
Flame chemiluminescence tomography (FCT), which combines computerized tomography theory and multidirectional chemiluminescence emission measurements, can realize instantaneous three-dimensional (3-D) diagnostics for flames with high spatial and temporal resolutions. One critical step of FCT is to record the projections by multiple cameras from different view angles. For high accuracy reconstructions, it requires that extrinsic parameters (the positions and orientations) and intrinsic parameters (especially the image distances) of cameras be accurately calibrated first. Taking the focus effect of the camera into account, a modified camera calibration method was presented for FCT, and a 3-D calibration pattern was designed to solve the parameters. The precision of the method was evaluated by reprojections of feature points to cameras with the calibration results. The maximum root mean square error of the feature points' position is 1.42 pixels and 0.0064 mm for the image distance. An FCT system with 12 cameras was calibrated by the proposed method and the 3-D CH* intensity of a propane flame was measured. The results showed that the FCT system provides reasonable reconstruction accuracy using the camera's calibration results.
Calibration of modified Liulin detector for cosmic radiation measurements on-board aircraft.
Kyselová, D; Ambrožová, I; Krist, P; Kubančák, J; Uchihori, Y; Kitamura, H; Ploc, O
2015-06-01
The annual effective doses of aircrew members often exceed the limit of 1 mSv for the public due to the increased level of cosmic radiation at the flight altitudes, and thus, it is recommended to monitor them. Aircrew dosimetry is usually performed using special computer programs mostly based on results of Monte Carlo simulations. Contemporary, detectors are used mostly for validation of these computer codes, verification of effective dose calculations and for research purposes. One of such detectors is active silicon semiconductor deposited energy spectrometer Liulin. Output quantities of measurement with the Liulin detector are the absorbed dose in silicon D and the ambient dose equivalent H*(10); to determine it, two calibrations are necessary. The purpose of this work was to develop a calibration methodology that can be used to convert signal from the detector to D independently on calibration performed at Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator facility in Chiba, Japan. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Calibration of a monochromator using a lambdameter
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Schwarzmaier, T.; Baumgartner, A.; Gege, P.; Lenhard, K.
2013-10-01
The standard procedure for wavelength calibration of monochromators in the visible and near infrared wavelength range uses low-pressure gas discharge lamps with spectrally well-known emission lines as primary wavelength standard. The calibration of a monochromator in the wavelength range of 350 to 2500 nm usually takes some days due to the huge number of single measurements necessary. The useable emission lines are not for all purposes sufficiently dense and at the appropriate wavelengths. To get faster results for freely selectable wavelengths, a new method for monochromator characterization was tested. It is based on measurements with a lambdameter taken at equidistant angles distributed over the grating's entire angular range. This method provides a very accurate calibration and needs only about two hours of measuring time.
Data filtering with support vector machines in geometric camera calibration.
Ergun, B; Kavzoglu, T; Colkesen, I; Sahin, C
2010-02-01
The use of non-metric digital cameras in close-range photogrammetric applications and machine vision has become a popular research agenda. Being an essential component of photogrammetric evaluation, camera calibration is a crucial stage for non-metric cameras. Therefore, accurate camera calibration and orientation procedures have become prerequisites for the extraction of precise and reliable 3D metric information from images. The lack of accurate inner orientation parameters can lead to unreliable results in the photogrammetric process. A camera can be well defined with its principal distance, principal point offset and lens distortion parameters. Different camera models have been formulated and used in close-range photogrammetry, but generally sensor orientation and calibration is performed with a perspective geometrical model by means of the bundle adjustment. In this study, support vector machines (SVMs) using radial basis function kernel is employed to model the distortions measured for Olympus Aspherical Zoom lens Olympus E10 camera system that are later used in the geometric calibration process. It is intended to introduce an alternative approach for the on-the-job photogrammetric calibration stage. Experimental results for DSLR camera with three focal length settings (9, 18 and 36 mm) were estimated using bundle adjustment with additional parameters, and analyses were conducted based on object point discrepancies and standard errors. Results show the robustness of the SVMs approach on the correction of image coordinates by modelling total distortions on-the-job calibration process using limited number of images.
Application of single-image camera calibration for ultrasound augmented laparoscopic visualization
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Liu, Xinyang; Su, He; Kang, Sukryool; Kane, Timothy D.; Shekhar, Raj
2015-03-01
Accurate calibration of laparoscopic cameras is essential for enabling many surgical visualization and navigation technologies such as the ultrasound-augmented visualization system that we have developed for laparoscopic surgery. In addition to accuracy and robustness, there is a practical need for a fast and easy camera calibration method that can be performed on demand in the operating room (OR). Conventional camera calibration methods are not suitable for the OR use because they are lengthy and tedious. They require acquisition of multiple images of a target pattern in its entirety to produce satisfactory result. In this work, we evaluated the performance of a single-image camera calibration tool (rdCalib; Percieve3D, Coimbra, Portugal) featuring automatic detection of corner points in the image, whether partial or complete, of a custom target pattern. Intrinsic camera parameters of a 5-mm and a 10-mm standard Stryker® laparoscopes obtained using rdCalib and the well-accepted OpenCV camera calibration method were compared. Target registration error (TRE) as a measure of camera calibration accuracy for our optical tracking-based AR system was also compared between the two calibration methods. Based on our experiments, the single-image camera calibration yields consistent and accurate results (mean TRE = 1.18 ± 0.35 mm for the 5-mm scope and mean TRE = 1.13 ± 0.32 mm for the 10-mm scope), which are comparable to the results obtained using the OpenCV method with 30 images. The new single-image camera calibration method is promising to be applied to our augmented reality visualization system for laparoscopic surgery.
Application of single-image camera calibration for ultrasound augmented laparoscopic visualization
Liu, Xinyang; Su, He; Kang, Sukryool; Kane, Timothy D.; Shekhar, Raj
2017-01-01
Accurate calibration of laparoscopic cameras is essential for enabling many surgical visualization and navigation technologies such as the ultrasound-augmented visualization system that we have developed for laparoscopic surgery. In addition to accuracy and robustness, there is a practical need for a fast and easy camera calibration method that can be performed on demand in the operating room (OR). Conventional camera calibration methods are not suitable for the OR use because they are lengthy and tedious. They require acquisition of multiple images of a target pattern in its entirety to produce satisfactory result. In this work, we evaluated the performance of a single-image camera calibration tool (rdCalib; Percieve3D, Coimbra, Portugal) featuring automatic detection of corner points in the image, whether partial or complete, of a custom target pattern. Intrinsic camera parameters of a 5-mm and a 10-mm standard Stryker® laparoscopes obtained using rdCalib and the well-accepted OpenCV camera calibration method were compared. Target registration error (TRE) as a measure of camera calibration accuracy for our optical tracking-based AR system was also compared between the two calibration methods. Based on our experiments, the single-image camera calibration yields consistent and accurate results (mean TRE = 1.18 ± 0.35 mm for the 5-mm scope and mean TRE = 1.13 ± 0.32 mm for the 10-mm scope), which are comparable to the results obtained using the OpenCV method with 30 images. The new single-image camera calibration method is promising to be applied to our augmented reality visualization system for laparoscopic surgery. PMID:28943703
Application of single-image camera calibration for ultrasound augmented laparoscopic visualization.
Liu, Xinyang; Su, He; Kang, Sukryool; Kane, Timothy D; Shekhar, Raj
2015-03-01
Accurate calibration of laparoscopic cameras is essential for enabling many surgical visualization and navigation technologies such as the ultrasound-augmented visualization system that we have developed for laparoscopic surgery. In addition to accuracy and robustness, there is a practical need for a fast and easy camera calibration method that can be performed on demand in the operating room (OR). Conventional camera calibration methods are not suitable for the OR use because they are lengthy and tedious. They require acquisition of multiple images of a target pattern in its entirety to produce satisfactory result. In this work, we evaluated the performance of a single-image camera calibration tool ( rdCalib ; Percieve3D, Coimbra, Portugal) featuring automatic detection of corner points in the image, whether partial or complete, of a custom target pattern. Intrinsic camera parameters of a 5-mm and a 10-mm standard Stryker ® laparoscopes obtained using rdCalib and the well-accepted OpenCV camera calibration method were compared. Target registration error (TRE) as a measure of camera calibration accuracy for our optical tracking-based AR system was also compared between the two calibration methods. Based on our experiments, the single-image camera calibration yields consistent and accurate results (mean TRE = 1.18 ± 0.35 mm for the 5-mm scope and mean TRE = 1.13 ± 0.32 mm for the 10-mm scope), which are comparable to the results obtained using the OpenCV method with 30 images. The new single-image camera calibration method is promising to be applied to our augmented reality visualization system for laparoscopic surgery.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Chen, H; Zhen, X; Zhou, L
2014-06-15
Purpose: To propose and validate a deformable point matching scheme for surface deformation to facilitate accurate bladder dose summation for fractionated HDR cervical cancer treatment. Method: A deformable point matching scheme based on the thin plate spline robust point matching (TPSRPM) algorithm is proposed for bladder surface registration. The surface of bladders segmented from fractional CT images is extracted and discretized with triangular surface mesh. Deformation between the two bladder surfaces are obtained by matching the two meshes' vertices via the TPS-RPM algorithm, and the deformation vector fields (DVFs) characteristic of this deformation is estimated by B-spline approximation. Numerically, themore » algorithm is quantitatively compared with the Demons algorithm using five clinical cervical cancer cases by several metrics: vertex-to-vertex distance (VVD), Hausdorff distance (HD), percent error (PE), and conformity index (CI). Experimentally, the algorithm is validated on a balloon phantom with 12 surface fiducial markers. The balloon is inflated with different amount of water, and the displacement of fiducial markers is benchmarked as ground truth to study TPS-RPM calculated DVFs' accuracy. Results: In numerical evaluation, the mean VVD is 3.7(±2.0) mm after Demons, and 1.3(±0.9) mm after TPS-RPM. The mean HD is 14.4 mm after Demons, and 5.3mm after TPS-RPM. The mean PE is 101.7% after Demons and decreases to 18.7% after TPS-RPM. The mean CI is 0.63 after Demons, and increases to 0.90 after TPS-RPM. In the phantom study, the mean Euclidean distance of the fiducials is 7.4±3.0mm and 4.2±1.8mm after Demons and TPS-RPM, respectively. Conclusions: The bladder wall deformation is more accurate using the feature-based TPS-RPM algorithm than the intensity-based Demons algorithm, indicating that TPS-RPM has the potential for accurate bladder dose deformation and dose summation for multi-fractional cervical HDR brachytherapy. This work is supported in
ON THE CALIBRATION OF DK-02 AND KID DOSIMETERS (in Estonian)
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Ehvaert, H.
1963-01-01
For the periodic calibration of the DK-02 and WD dosimeters, the rotating stand method which is more advantageous than the usual method is recommended. The calibration can be accomplished in a strong gamma field, reducing considerably the time necessary for calibration. Using a point source, the dose becomes a simple function of time and geometrical parameters. The experimental values are in good agreement with theoretical values. (tr-auth)
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Peng, Jiayuan; Zhang, Zhen; Wang, Jiazhou; Xie, Jiang; Chen, Junchao; Hu, Weigang
2015-10-01
GafChromic RTQA2 film is a type of radiochromic film designed for light field and radiation field alignment. The aim of this study is to extend the application of RTQA2 film to the measurement of patient specific quality assurance (QA) fields as a 2D relative dosimeter. Pre-irradiated and post-irradiated RTQA2 films were scanned in reflection mode using a flatbed scanner. A plan-based calibration (PBC) method utilized the mapping information of the calculated dose image and film grayscale image to create a dose versus pixel value calibration model. This model was used to calibrate the film grayscale image to the film relative dose image. The dose agreement between calculated and film dose images were analyzed by gamma analysis. To evaluate the feasibility of this method, eight clinically approved RapidArc cases (one abdomen cancer and seven head-and-neck cancer patients) were tested using this method. Moreover, three MLC gap errors and two MLC transmission errors were introduced to eight Rapidarc cases respectively to test the robustness of this method. The PBC method could overcome the film lot and post-exposure time variations of RTQA2 film to get a good 2D relative dose calibration result. The mean gamma passing rate of eight patients was 97.90% ± 1.7%, which showed good dose consistency between calculated and film dose images. In the error test, the PBC method could over-calibrate the film, which means some dose error in the film would be falsely corrected to keep the dose in film consistent with the dose in the calculated dose image. This would then lead to a false negative result in the gamma analysis. In these cases, the derivative curve of the dose calibration curve would be non-monotonic which would expose the dose abnormality. By using the PBC method, we extended the application of more economical RTQA2 film to patient specific QA. The robustness of the PBC method has been improved by analyzing the monotonicity of the derivative of the
Calibration of strontium-90 eye applicator using a strontium external beam standard.
Siddle, D; Langmack, K
1999-07-01
Four techniques for measuring the dose rate from Sr-90 concave eye plaques are presented. The techniques involve calibrating a concave eye plaque against a Sr-90 teletherapy unit using X-Omat film, radiochromic film, black LiF TLD discs and LiF chips. The mean dose rate predicted by these dosimeters is 7.5 cGy s(-1). The dose rate quoted by the manufacturer is 33% lower than this value, which is consistent with discrepancies reported by other authors. Calibration against a 6 MV linear accelerator was also carried out using each of the above dosimetric devices, and appropriate sensitivity correction factors have been presented.
Calibration of strontium-90 eye applicator using a strontium external beam standard
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Siddle, D.; Langmack, K.
1999-07-01
Four techniques for measuring the dose rate from Sr-90 concave eye plaques are presented. The techniques involve calibrating a concave eye plaque against a Sr-90 teletherapy unit using X-Omat film, radiochromic film, black LiF TLD discs and LiF chips. The mean dose rate predicted by these dosimeters is 7.5 cGy s-1. The dose rate quoted by the manufacturer is 33% lower than this value, which is consistent with discrepancies reported by other authors. Calibration against a 6 MV linear accelerator was also carried out using each of the above dosimetric devices, and appropriate sensitivity correction factors have been presented.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Chu, Wei-Han; Yuan, Ming-Chen; Lee, Jeng-Hung; Lin, Yi-Chun
2017-11-01
Ir-192 sources are widely used in brachytherapy and the number of treatments is around seven thousand for the use of the high dose rate (HDR) Ir-192 brachytherapy source per year in Taiwan. Due to its physical half-life of 73.8 days, the source should be replaced four times per year to maintain the HDR treatment mode (DDEP, 2005; Coursey et al., 1992). When doing this work, it must perform the source dose trace to assure the dose accuracy. To establish the primary measurement standard of reference air kerma rate(RAKR) for the HDR Ir-192 brachytherapy sources in Taiwan, the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research (INER) fabricated a dual spherical graphite-walled cavity ionization chambers system to directly measure the RAKR of the Ir-192 brachytherapy source. In this system, the ion-charge was accumulated by the two ionization chambers and after correction for the ion recombination, temperature, atmosphere pressure, room scattering, graphite-wall attenuation, air attenuation, source decay, stem effect, and so on. The RAKR of the Ir-192 source was obtained in the ambient conditions of 22 °C and one atmosphere. The measurement uncertainty of the system was around 0.92% in 96% confidence level (k=2.0). To verify the accuracy of the result, the source calibration comparison has been made at the National Radiation Standard Laboratory (NRSL) of INER and Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB, Germany) in 2015. The ratio of the measurement results between INER and PTB, INER/PTB, was 0.998±0.027 (k=2) which showed good consistency and the performance of the system was verified.
Aspects of body self-calibration
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Lackner, J. R.; DiZio, P. A.
2000-01-01
The representation of body orientation and configuration is dependent on multiple sources of afferent and efferent information about ongoing and intended patterns of movement and posture. Under normal terrestrial conditions, we feel virtually weightless and we do not perceive the actual forces associated with movement and support of our body. It is during exposure to unusual forces and patterns of sensory feedback during locomotion that computations and mechanisms underlying the ongoing calibration of our body dimensions and movements are revealed. This review discusses the normal mechanisms of our position sense and calibration of our kinaesthetic, visual and auditory sensory systems, and then explores the adaptations that take place to transient Coriolis forces generated during passive body rotation. The latter are very rapid adaptations that allow body movements to become accurate again, even in the absence of visual feedback. Muscle spindle activity interpreted in relation to motor commands and internally modeled reafference is an important component in permitting this adaptation. During voluntary rotary movements of the body, the central nervous system automatically compensates for the Coriolis forces generated by limb movements. This allows accurate control to be maintained without our perceiving the forces generated.
Belley, Matthew D; Wang, Chu; Nguyen, Giao; Gunasingha, Rathnayaka; Chao, Nelson J; Chen, Benny J; Dewhirst, Mark W; Yoshizumi, Terry T
2014-03-01
Accurate dosimetry is essential when irradiating mice to ensure that functional and molecular endpoints are well understood for the radiation dose delivered. Conventional methods of prescribing dose in mice involve the use of a single dose rate measurement and assume a uniform average dose throughout all organs of the entire mouse. Here, the authors report the individual average organ dose values for the irradiation of a 12, 23, and 33 g mouse on a 320 kVp x-ray irradiator and calculate the resulting error from using conventional dose prescription methods. Organ doses were simulated in the Geant4 application for tomographic emission toolkit using the MOBY mouse whole-body phantom. Dosimetry was performed for three beams utilizing filters A (1.65 mm Al), B (2.0 mm Al), and C (0.1 mm Cu + 2.5 mm Al), respectively. In addition, simulated x-ray spectra were validated with physical half-value layer measurements. Average doses in soft-tissue organs were found to vary by as much as 23%-32% depending on the filter. Compared to filters A and B, filter C provided the hardest beam and had the lowest variation in soft-tissue average organ doses across all mouse sizes, with a difference of 23% for the median mouse size of 23 g. This work suggests a new dose prescription method in small animal dosimetry: it presents a departure from the conventional approach of assigninga single dose value for irradiation of mice to a more comprehensive approach of characterizing individual organ doses to minimize the error and uncertainty. In human radiation therapy, clinical treatment planning establishes the target dose as well as the dose distribution, however, this has generally not been done in small animal research. These results suggest that organ dose errors will be minimized by calibrating the dose rates for all filters, and using different dose rates for different organs.
Belley, Matthew D.; Wang, Chu; Nguyen, Giao; Gunasingha, Rathnayaka; Chao, Nelson J.; Chen, Benny J.; Dewhirst, Mark W.; Yoshizumi, Terry T.
2014-01-01
Purpose: Accurate dosimetry is essential when irradiating mice to ensure that functional and molecular endpoints are well understood for the radiation dose delivered. Conventional methods of prescribing dose in mice involve the use of a single dose rate measurement and assume a uniform average dose throughout all organs of the entire mouse. Here, the authors report the individual average organ dose values for the irradiation of a 12, 23, and 33 g mouse on a 320 kVp x-ray irradiator and calculate the resulting error from using conventional dose prescription methods. Methods: Organ doses were simulated in the Geant4 application for tomographic emission toolkit using the MOBY mouse whole-body phantom. Dosimetry was performed for three beams utilizing filters A (1.65 mm Al), B (2.0 mm Al), and C (0.1 mm Cu + 2.5 mm Al), respectively. In addition, simulated x-ray spectra were validated with physical half-value layer measurements. Results: Average doses in soft-tissue organs were found to vary by as much as 23%–32% depending on the filter. Compared to filters A and B, filter C provided the hardest beam and had the lowest variation in soft-tissue average organ doses across all mouse sizes, with a difference of 23% for the median mouse size of 23 g. Conclusions: This work suggests a new dose prescription method in small animal dosimetry: it presents a departure from the conventional approach of assigning a single dose value for irradiation of mice to a more comprehensive approach of characterizing individual organ doses to minimize the error and uncertainty. In human radiation therapy, clinical treatment planning establishes the target dose as well as the dose distribution, however, this has generally not been done in small animal research. These results suggest that organ dose errors will be minimized by calibrating the dose rates for all filters, and using different dose rates for different organs. PMID:24593746
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Belley, Matthew D.; Wang, Chu; Nguyen, Giao
2014-03-15
Purpose: Accurate dosimetry is essential when irradiating mice to ensure that functional and molecular endpoints are well understood for the radiation dose delivered. Conventional methods of prescribing dose in mice involve the use of a single dose rate measurement and assume a uniform average dose throughout all organs of the entire mouse. Here, the authors report the individual average organ dose values for the irradiation of a 12, 23, and 33 g mouse on a 320 kVp x-ray irradiator and calculate the resulting error from using conventional dose prescription methods. Methods: Organ doses were simulated in the Geant4 application formore » tomographic emission toolkit using the MOBY mouse whole-body phantom. Dosimetry was performed for three beams utilizing filters A (1.65 mm Al), B (2.0 mm Al), and C (0.1 mm Cu + 2.5 mm Al), respectively. In addition, simulated x-ray spectra were validated with physical half-value layer measurements. Results: Average doses in soft-tissue organs were found to vary by as much as 23%–32% depending on the filter. Compared to filters A and B, filter C provided the hardest beam and had the lowest variation in soft-tissue average organ doses across all mouse sizes, with a difference of 23% for the median mouse size of 23 g. Conclusions: This work suggests a new dose prescription method in small animal dosimetry: it presents a departure from the conventional approach of assigninga single dose value for irradiation of mice to a more comprehensive approach of characterizing individual organ doses to minimize the error and uncertainty. In human radiation therapy, clinical treatment planning establishes the target dose as well as the dose distribution, however, this has generally not been done in small animal research. These results suggest that organ dose errors will be minimized by calibrating the dose rates for all filters, and using different dose rates for different organs.« less
A Novel Multi-Camera Calibration Method based on Flat Refractive Geometry
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Huang, S.; Feng, M. C.; Zheng, T. X.; Li, F.; Wang, J. Q.; Xiao, L. F.
2018-03-01
Multi-camera calibration plays an important role in many field. In the paper, we present a novel multi-camera calibration method based on flat refractive geometry. All cameras can acquire calibration images of transparent glass calibration board (TGCB) at the same time. The application of TGCB leads to refractive phenomenon which can generate calibration error. The theory of flat refractive geometry is employed to eliminate the error. The new method can solve the refractive phenomenon of TGCB. Moreover, the bundle adjustment method is used to minimize the reprojection error and obtain optimized calibration results. Finally, the four-cameras calibration results of real data show that the mean value and standard deviation of the reprojection error of our method are 4.3411e-05 and 0.4553 pixel, respectively. The experimental results show that the proposed method is accurate and reliable.
Absolute wavelength calibration of a Doppler spectrometer with a custom Fabry-Perot optical system
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Baltzer, M. M.; Craig, D.; Den Hartog, D. J.; Nishizawa, T.; Nornberg, M. D.
2016-11-01
An Ion Doppler Spectrometer (IDS) is used for fast measurements of C VI line emission (343.4 nm) in the Madison Symmetric Torus. Absolutely calibrated flow measurements are difficult because the IDS records data within 0.25 nm of the line. Commercial calibration lamps do not produce lines in this narrow range. A light source using an ultraviolet LED and etalon was designed to provide a fiducial marker 0.08 nm wide. The light is coupled into the IDS at f/4, and a holographic diffuser increases homogeneity of the final image. Random and systematic errors in data analysis were assessed. The calibration is accurate to 0.003 nm, allowing for flow measurements accurate to 3 km/s. This calibration is superior to the previous method which used a time-averaged measurement along a chord believed to have zero net Doppler shift.
Absolute wavelength calibration of a Doppler spectrometer with a custom Fabry-Perot optical system.
Baltzer, M M; Craig, D; Den Hartog, D J; Nishizawa, T; Nornberg, M D
2016-11-01
An Ion Doppler Spectrometer (IDS) is used for fast measurements of C VI line emission (343.4 nm) in the Madison Symmetric Torus. Absolutely calibrated flow measurements are difficult because the IDS records data within 0.25 nm of the line. Commercial calibration lamps do not produce lines in this narrow range. A light source using an ultraviolet LED and etalon was designed to provide a fiducial marker 0.08 nm wide. The light is coupled into the IDS at f/4, and a holographic diffuser increases homogeneity of the final image. Random and systematic errors in data analysis were assessed. The calibration is accurate to 0.003 nm, allowing for flow measurements accurate to 3 km/s. This calibration is superior to the previous method which used a time-averaged measurement along a chord believed to have zero net Doppler shift.
SCAMP: Automatic Astrometric and Photometric Calibration
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Bertin, Emmanuel
2010-10-01
Astrometric and photometric calibrations have remained the most tiresome step in the reduction of large imaging surveys. SCAMP has been written to address this problem. The program efficiently computes accurate astrometric and photometric solutions for any arbitrary sequence of FITS images in a completely automatic way. SCAMP is released under the GNU General Public License.
Status of the calibration and alignment framework at the Belle II experiment
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Dossett, D.; Sevior, M.; Ritter, M.; Kuhr, T.; Bilka, T.; Yaschenko, S.;
2017-10-01
The Belle II detector at the Super KEKB e+e-collider plans to take first collision data in 2018. The monetary and CPU time costs associated with storing and processing the data mean that it is crucial for the detector components at Belle II to be calibrated quickly and accurately. A fast and accurate calibration system would allow the high level trigger to increase the efficiency of event selection, and can give users analysis-quality reconstruction promptly. A flexible framework to automate the fast production of calibration constants is being developed in the Belle II Analysis Software Framework (basf2). Detector experts only need to create two components from C++ base classes in order to use the automation system. The first collects data from Belle II event data files and outputs much smaller files to pass to the second component. This runs the main calibration algorithm to produce calibration constants ready for upload into the conditions database. A Python framework coordinates the input files, order of processing, and submission of jobs. Splitting the operation into collection and algorithm processing stages allows the framework to optionally parallelize the collection stage on a batch system.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Feng, Zhixin
2018-02-01
Projector calibration is crucial for a camera-projector three-dimensional (3-D) structured light measurement system, which has one camera and one projector. In this paper, a novel projector calibration method is proposed based on digital image correlation. In the method, the projector is viewed as an inverse camera, and a plane calibration board with feature points is used to calibrate the projector. During the calibration processing, a random speckle pattern is projected onto the calibration board with different orientations to establish the correspondences between projector images and camera images. Thereby, dataset for projector calibration are generated. Then the projector can be calibrated using a well-established camera calibration algorithm. The experiment results confirm that the proposed method is accurate and reliable for projector calibration.
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Mcpherron, R. L.
1977-01-01
Procedures are described for the calibration of a vector magnetometer of high absolute accuracy. It is assumed that the calibration will be performed in the magnetic test facility of Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The first main section of the report describes the test equipment and facility calibrations required. The second presents procedures for calibrating individual sensors. The third discusses the calibration of the sensor assembly. In a final section recommendations are made to GSFC for modification of the test facility required to carry out the calibration procedures.
Technique for Radiometer and Antenna Array Calibration - TRAAC
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Meyer, Paul; Sims, William; Varnavas, Kosta; McCracken, Jeff; Srinivasan, Karthik; Limaye, Ashutosh; Laymon, Charles; Richeson. James
2012-01-01
Highly sensitive receivers are used to detect minute amounts of emitted electromagnetic energy. Calibration of these receivers is vital to the accuracy of the measurements. Traditional calibration techniques depend on calibration reference internal to the receivers as reference for the calibration of the observed electromagnetic energy. Such methods can only calibrate errors in measurement introduced by the receiver only. The disadvantage of these existing methods is that they cannot account for errors introduced by devices, such as antennas, used for capturing electromagnetic radiation. This severely limits the types of antennas that can be used to make measurements with a high degree of accuracy. Complex antenna systems, such as electronically steerable antennas (also known as phased arrays), while offering potentially significant advantages, suffer from a lack of a reliable and accurate calibration technique. The proximity of antenna elements in an array results in interaction between the electromagnetic fields radiated (or received) by the individual elements. This phenomenon is called mutual coupling. The new calibration method uses a known noise source as a calibration load to determine the instantaneous characteristics of the antenna. The noise source is emitted from one element of the antenna array and received by all the other elements due to mutual coupling. This received noise is used as a calibration standard to monitor the stability of the antenna electronics.
Kulasekere, Ravi; Moran, Jean M.; Fraass, Benedick A.; Roberson, Peter L.
2006-01-01
A single calibration film method was evaluated for use with intensity‐modulated radiation therapy film quality assurance measurements. The single‐film method has the potential advantages of exposure simplicity, less media consumption, and improved processor quality control. Potential disadvantages include cross contamination of film exposure, implementation effort to document delivered dose, and added complication of film response analysis. Film response differences were measured between standard and single‐film calibration methods. Additional measurements were performed to help trace causes for the observed discrepancies. Kodak X‐OmatV (XV) film was found to have greater response variability than extended dose range (EDR) film. We found it advisable for XV film to relate the film response calibration for the single‐film method to a user‐defined optimal calibration geometry. Using a single calibration film exposed at the time of experiment, the total uncertainty of film response was estimated to be <2% (1%) for XV (EDR) film at 50 (100) cGy and higher, respectively. PACS numbers: 87.53.‐j, 87.53.Dq PMID:17533325
Nakaguchi, Yuji; Oono, Takeshi; Maruyama, Masato; Shimohigashi, Yoshinobu; Kai, Yudai; Nakamura, Yuya
2018-06-01
In this study, we evaluated the basic performance of the three-dimensional dose verification system COMPASS (IBA Dosimetry). This system is capable of reconstructing 3D dose distributions on the patient anatomy based on the fluence measured using a new transmission detector (Dolphin, IBA Dosimetry) during treatment. The stability of the absolute dose and geometric calibrations of the COMPASS system with the Dolphin detector were investigated for fundamental validation. Furthermore, multileaf collimator (MLC) test patterns and a complicated volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) plan were used to evaluate the accuracy of the reconstructed dose distributions determined by the COMPASS. The results from the COMPASS were compared with those of a Monte Carlo simulation (MC), EDR2 film measurement, and a treatment planning system (TPS). The maximum errors for the absolute dose and geometrical position were - 0.28% and 1.0 mm for 3 months, respectively. The Dolphin detector, which consists of ionization chamber detectors, was firmly mounted on the linear accelerator and was very stable. For the MLC test patterns, the TPS showed a > 5% difference at small fields, while the COMPASS showed good agreement with the MC simulation at small fields. However, the COMPASS produced a large error for complex small fields. For a clinical VMAT plan, COMPASS was more accurate than TPS. COMPASS showed real delivered-dose distributions because it uses the measured fluence, a high-resolution detector, and accurate beam modeling. We confirm here that the accuracy and detectability of the delivered dose of the COMPASS system are sufficient for clinical practice.
The CCD Photometric Calibration Cookbook
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Palmer, J.; Davenhall, A. C.
This cookbook presents simple recipes for the photometric calibration of CCD frames. Using these recipes you can calibrate the brightness of objects measured in CCD frames into magnitudes in standard photometric systems, such as the Johnson-Morgan UBV, system. The recipes use standard software available at all Starlink sites. The topics covered include: selecting standard stars, measuring instrumental magnitudes and calibrating instrumental magnitudes into a standard system. The recipes are appropriate for use with data acquired with optical CCDs and filters, operated in standard ways, and describe the usual calibration technique of observing standard stars. The software is robust and reliable, but the techniques are usually not suitable where very high accuracy is required. In addition to the recipes and scripts, sufficient background material is presented to explain the procedures and techniques used. The treatment is deliberately practical rather than theoretical, in keeping with the aim of providing advice on the actual calibration of observations. This cookbook is aimed firmly at people who are new to astronomical photometry. Typical readers might have a set of photometric observations to reduce (perhaps observed by a colleague) or be planning a programme of photometric observations, perhaps for the first time. No prior knowledge of astronomical photometry is assumed. The cookbook is not aimed at experts in astronomical photometry. Many finer points are omitted for clarity and brevity. Also, in order to make the most accurate possible calibration of high-precision photometry, it is usually necessary to use bespoke software tailored to the observing programme and photometric system you are using.
Multielevation calibration of frequency-domain electromagnetic data
Minsley, Burke J.; Kass, M. Andy; Hodges, Greg; Smith, Bruce D.
2014-01-01
Systematic calibration errors must be taken into account because they can substantially impact the accuracy of inverted subsurface resistivity models derived from frequency-domain electromagnetic data, resulting in potentially misleading interpretations. We have developed an approach that uses data acquired at multiple elevations over the same location to assess calibration errors. A significant advantage is that this method does not require prior knowledge of subsurface properties from borehole or ground geophysical data (though these can be readily incorporated if available), and is, therefore, well suited to remote areas. The multielevation data were used to solve for calibration parameters and a single subsurface resistivity model that are self consistent over all elevations. The deterministic and Bayesian formulations of the multielevation approach illustrate parameter sensitivity and uncertainty using synthetic- and field-data examples. Multiplicative calibration errors (gain and phase) were found to be better resolved at high frequencies and when data were acquired over a relatively conductive area, whereas additive errors (bias) were reasonably resolved over conductive and resistive areas at all frequencies. The Bayesian approach outperformed the deterministic approach when estimating calibration parameters using multielevation data at a single location; however, joint analysis of multielevation data at multiple locations using the deterministic algorithm yielded the most accurate estimates of calibration parameters. Inversion results using calibration-corrected data revealed marked improvement in misfit, lending added confidence to the interpretation of these models.
Quantification of confounding factors in MRI-based dose calculations as applied to prostate IMRT
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Maspero, Matteo; Seevinck, Peter R.; Schubert, Gerald; Hoesl, Michaela A. U.; van Asselen, Bram; Viergever, Max A.; Lagendijk, Jan J. W.; Meijer, Gert J.; van den Berg, Cornelis A. T.
2017-02-01
Magnetic resonance (MR)-only radiotherapy treatment planning requires pseudo-CT (pCT) images to enable MR-based dose calculations. To verify the accuracy of MR-based dose calculations, institutions interested in introducing MR-only planning will have to compare pCT-based and computer tomography (CT)-based dose calculations. However, interpreting such comparison studies may be challenging, since potential differences arise from a range of confounding factors which are not necessarily specific to MR-only planning. Therefore, the aim of this study is to identify and quantify the contribution of factors confounding dosimetric accuracy estimation in comparison studies between CT and pCT. The following factors were distinguished: set-up and positioning differences between imaging sessions, MR-related geometric inaccuracy, pCT generation, use of specific calibration curves to convert pCT into electron density information, and registration errors. The study comprised fourteen prostate cancer patients who underwent CT/MRI-based treatment planning. To enable pCT generation, a commercial solution (MRCAT, Philips Healthcare, Vantaa, Finland) was adopted. IMRT plans were calculated on CT (gold standard) and pCTs. Dose difference maps in a high dose region (CTV) and in the body volume were evaluated, and the contribution to dose errors of possible confounding factors was individually quantified. We found that the largest confounding factor leading to dose difference was the use of different calibration curves to convert pCT and CT into electron density (0.7%). The second largest factor was the pCT generation which resulted in pCT stratified into a fixed number of tissue classes (0.16%). Inter-scan differences due to patient repositioning, MR-related geometric inaccuracy, and registration errors did not significantly contribute to dose differences (0.01%). The proposed approach successfully identified and quantified the factors confounding accurate MRI-based dose calculation in
Manninen, A-L; Kotiaho, A; Nikkinen, J; Nieminen, M T
2015-04-01
This study aimed to validate a MOSFET dosemeter system for determining absorbed and effective doses (EDs) in the dose and energy range used in diagnostic radiology. Energy dependence, dose linearity and repeatability of the dosemeter were examined. The absorbed doses (ADs) were compared at anterior-posterior projection and the EDs were determined at posterior-anterior, anterior-posterior and lateral projections of thoracic imaging using an anthropomorphic phantom. The radiation exposures were made using digital radiography systems. This study revealed that the MOSFET system with high sensitivity bias supply set-up is sufficiently accurate for AD and ED determination. The dosemeter is recommended to be calibrated for energies <60 and >80 kVp. The entrance skin dose level should be at least 5 mGy to minimise the deviation of the individual dosemeter dose. For ED determination, dosemeters should be implanted perpendicular to the surface of the phantom to prevent the angular dependence error. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Dean, J; Welsh, L; Gulliford, S
Purpose: The significant morbidity caused by radiation-induced acute oral mucositis means that studies aiming to elucidate dose-response relationships in this tissue are a high priority. However, there is currently no standardized method for delineating the mucosal structures within the oral cavity. This report describes the development of a methodology to delineate the oral mucosa accurately on CT scans in a semi-automated manner. Methods: An oral mucosa atlas for automated segmentation was constructed using the RayStation Atlas-Based Segmentation (ABS) module. A radiation oncologist manually delineated the full surface of the oral mucosa on a planning CT scan of a patient receivingmore » radiotherapy (RT) to the head and neck region. A 3mm fixed annulus was added to incorporate the mucosal wall thickness. This structure was saved as an atlas template. ABS followed by model-based segmentation was performed on four further patients sequentially, adding each patient to the atlas. Manual editing of the automatically segmented structure was performed. A dose comparison between these contours and previously used oral cavity volume contours was performed. Results: The new approach was successful in delineating the mucosa, as assessed by an experienced radiation oncologist, when applied to a new series of patients receiving head and neck RT. Reductions in the mean doses obtained when using the new delineation approach, compared with the previously used technique, were demonstrated for all patients (median: 36.0%, range: 25.6% – 39.6%) and were of a magnitude that might be expected to be clinically significant. Differences in the maximum dose that might reasonably be expected to be clinically significant were observed for two patients. Conclusion: The method developed provides a means of obtaining the dose distribution delivered to the oral mucosa more accurately than has previously been achieved. This will enable the acquisition of high quality dosimetric data for
(abstract) Absolute Flux Calibrations of Venus and Jupiter at 32 GHz
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Gatti, Mark S.; Klein, Michael J.
1994-01-01
The microwave flux densities of Venus and Jupiter at 32 GHz have been measured using a calibration standard radio telescope system at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) during April and May of 1993. These measurements are part of a joint JPL/Caltech program to accurately calibrate a catalog of other radio sources using the two bright planets as flux standards.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Moirano, J
Purpose: An accurate dose estimate is necessary for effective patient management after a fetal exposure. In the case of a high-dose exposure, it is critical to use all resources available in order to make the most accurate assessment of the fetal dose. This work will demonstrate a methodology for accurate fetal dose estimation using tools that have recently become available in many clinics, and show examples of best practices for collecting data and performing the fetal dose calculation. Methods: A fetal dose estimate calculation was performed using modern data collection tools to determine parameters for the calculation. The reference pointmore » air kerma as displayed by the fluoroscopic system was checked for accuracy. A cumulative dose incidence map and DICOM header mining were used to determine the displayed reference point air kerma. Corrections for attenuation caused by the patient table and pad were measured and applied in order to determine the peak skin dose. The position and depth of the fetus was determined by ultrasound imaging and consultation with a radiologist. The data collected was used to determine a normalized uterus dose from Monte Carlo simulation data. Fetal dose values from this process were compared to other accepted calculation methods. Results: An accurate high-dose fetal dose estimate was made. Comparison to accepted legacy methods were were within 35% of estimated values. Conclusion: Modern data collection and reporting methods ease the process for estimation of fetal dose from interventional fluoroscopy exposures. Many aspects of the calculation can now be quantified rather than estimated, which should allow for a more accurate estimation of fetal dose.« less
Northey, G W; Oliver, M L; Rittenhouse, D M
2006-01-01
Biomechanics studies often require the analysis of position and orientation. Although a variety of transducer and camera systems can be utilized, a common inexpensive alternative is the Hall effect sensor. Hall effect sensors have been used extensively for one-dimensional position analysis but their non-linear behavior and cross-talk effects make them difficult to calibrate for effective and accurate two- and three-dimensional position and orientation analysis. The aim of this study was to develop and calibrate a displacement measurement system for a hydraulic-actuation joystick used for repetitive motion analysis of heavy equipment operators. The system utilizes an array of four Hall effect sensors that are all active during any joystick movement. This built-in redundancy allows the calibration to utilize fully connected feed forward neural networks in conjunction with a Microscribe 3D digitizer. A fully connected feed forward neural network with one hidden layer containing five neurons was developed. Results indicate that the ability of the neural network to accurately predict the x, y and z coordinates of the joystick handle was good with r(2) values of 0.98 and higher. The calibration technique was found to be equally as accurate when used on data collected 5 days after the initial calibration, indicating the system is robust and stable enough to not require calibration every time the joystick is used. This calibration system allowed an infinite number of joystick orientations and positions to be found within the range of joystick motion.
Zheng, Dandan; Todor, Dorin A
2011-01-01
In real-time trans-rectal ultrasound (TRUS)-based high-dose-rate prostate brachytherapy, the accurate identification of needle-tip position is critical for treatment planning and delivery. Currently, needle-tip identification on ultrasound images can be subject to large uncertainty and errors because of ultrasound image quality and imaging artifacts. To address this problem, we developed a method based on physical measurements with simple and practical implementation to improve the accuracy and robustness of needle-tip identification. Our method uses measurements of the residual needle length and an off-line pre-established coordinate transformation factor, to calculate the needle-tip position on the TRUS images. The transformation factor was established through a one-time systematic set of measurements of the probe and template holder positions, applicable to all patients. To compare the accuracy and robustness of the proposed method and the conventional method (ultrasound detection), based on the gold-standard X-ray fluoroscopy, extensive measurements were conducted in water and gel phantoms. In water phantom, our method showed an average tip-detection accuracy of 0.7 mm compared with 1.6 mm of the conventional method. In gel phantom (more realistic and tissue-like), our method maintained its level of accuracy while the uncertainty of the conventional method was 3.4mm on average with maximum values of over 10mm because of imaging artifacts. A novel method based on simple physical measurements was developed to accurately detect the needle-tip position for TRUS-based high-dose-rate prostate brachytherapy. The method demonstrated much improved accuracy and robustness over the conventional method. Copyright © 2011 American Brachytherapy Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Chen, Q; Herrick, A; Hoke, S
Purpose: A new readout technology based on pulsed optically stimulating luminescence is introduced (microSTARii, Landauer, Inc, Glenwood, IL60425). This investigation searches for approaches that maximizes the dosimetry accuracy in clinical applications. Methods: The sensitivity of each optically stimulated luminescence dosimeter (OSLD) was initially characterized by exposing it to a given radiation beam. After readout, the luminescence signal stored in the OSLD was erased by exposing its sensing area to a 21W white LED light for 24 hours. A set of OSLDs with consistent sensitivities was selected to calibrate the dose reader. Higher order nonlinear curves were also derived from themore » calibration readings. OSLDs with cumulative doses below 15 Gy were reused. Before an in-vivo dosimetry, the OSLD luminescence signal was erased with the white LED light. Results: For a set of 68 manufacturer-screened OSLDs, the measured sensitivities vary in a range of 17.3%. A sub-set of the OSLDs with sensitivities within ±1% was selected for the reader calibration. Three OSLDs in a group were exposed to a given radiation. Nine groups were exposed to radiation doses ranging from 0 to 13 Gy. Additional verifications demonstrated that the reader uncertainty is about 3%. With an external calibration function derived by fitting the OSLD readings to a 3rd-order polynomial, the dosimetry uncertainty dropped to 0.5%. The dose-luminescence response curves of individual OSLDs were characterized. All curves converge within 1% after the sensitivity correction. With all uncertainties considered, the systematic uncertainty is about 2%. Additional tests emulating in-vivo dosimetry by exposing the OSLDs under different radiation sources confirmed the claim. Conclusion: The sensitivity of individual OSLD should be characterized initially. A 3rd-order polynomial function is a more accurate representation of the dose-luminescence response curve. The dosimetry uncertainty specified by the
Design and Calibration of a X-Ray Millibeam
2005-12-01
developed for use in Fricke dosimetry , parallel-plate ionization chambers, Lithium Fluoride thermoluminescent dosimetry ( TLD ), and EBT GafChromic...thermoluminescent dosimetry ( TLD ), and EBT GafChromic film to characterize the spatial distribution and accuracy of the doses produced by the Faxitron. A...absorbed dose calibration factors for use in Fricke dosimetry , parallel-plate ionization chambers, Lithium Fluoride (LiF) TLD , and EBT GafChromic film. The
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Roussin, E; Archambault, L K; Wierzbicki, W
The advantages of kilovoltage cone beam CT (kV CBCT) imaging over electronic portal imaging device (EPID) such as accurate 3D anatomy, soft tissue visualization, fast rigid registration and enhanced precision on patient positioning has lead to its increasing use in clinics. The benefits of this imaging technique are at the cost of increasing the dose to healthy surrounding organs. Our center has moved toward the use of daily partial rotation kV CBCT to restrict the dose to healthy tissues. This study aims to better quantify radiation doses from different image-guidance techniques such as tangential EPID, complete and partial kV CBCTmore » for breast treatments. Cross-calibrated ionization chambers and kV calibrated Gafchromic films were used to measure the dose to the heart, lungs, breasts and skin. It was found that performing partial kV CBCT decreases the heart dose by about 36%, the lungs dose by 31%, the contralateral breast dose by 41% and the ipsilateral breast dose by 43% when compared to a full rotation CBCT. The skin dose measured for a full rotation CBCT was about 0.8 cGy for the contralateral breast and about 0.3 cGy for the ipsilateral breast. The study is still ongoing and results on skin doses for partial rotation kV CBCT as well as for tangential EPID images are upcoming.« less
Photovoltaic Engineering Testbed Designed for Calibrating Photovoltaic Devices in Space
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Landis, Geoffrey A.
2002-01-01
Accurate prediction of the performance of solar arrays in space requires that the cells be tested in comparison with a space-flown standard. Recognizing that improvements in future solar cell technology will require an ever-increasing fidelity of standards, the Photovoltaics and Space Environment Branch at the NASA Glenn Research Center, in collaboration with the Ohio Aerospace Institute, designed a prototype facility to allow routine calibration, measurement, and qualification of solar cells on the International Space Station, and then the return of the cells to Earth for laboratory use. For solar cell testing, the Photovoltaic Engineering Testbed (PET) site provides a true air-mass-zero (AM0) solar spectrum. This allows solar cells to be accurately calibrated using the full spectrum of the Sun.
Calibration of PCB-132 Sensors in a Shock Tube
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Berridge, Dennis C.; Schneider, Steven P.
2012-01-01
While PCB-132 sensors have proven useful for measuring second-mode instability waves in many hypersonic wind tunnels, they are currently limited by their calibration. Until now, the factory calibration has been all that was available, which is a single-point calibration at an amplitude three orders of magnitude higher than a second-mode wave. In addition, little information has been available about the frequency response or spatial resolution of the sensors, which is important for measuring high-frequency instability waves. These shortcomings make it difficult to compare measurements at different conditions and between different sensors. If accurate quantitative measurements could be performed, comparisons of the growth and breakdown of instability waves could be made in different facilities, possibly leading to a method of predicting the amplitude at which the waves break down into turbulence, improving transition prediction. A method for calibrating the sensors is proposed using a newly-built shock tube at Purdue University. This shock tube, essentially a half-scale version of the 6-Inch shock tube at the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories at Caltech, has been designed to attain a moderate vacuum in the driven section. Low driven pressures should allow the creation of very weak, yet still relatively thin shock waves. It is expected that static pressure rises within the range of second-mode amplitudes should be possible. The shock tube has been designed to create clean, planar shock waves with a laminar boundary layer to allow for accurate calibrations. Stronger shock waves can be used to identify the frequency response of the sensors out to hundreds of kilohertz.
The Gaia-ESO Survey Astrophysical Calibration
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Pancino, E.; Gaia-ESO Survey Consortium
2016-05-01
The Gaia-ESO Survey is a wide field spectroscopic survey recently started with the FLAMES@VLT in Cerro Paranal, Chile. It will produce radial velocities more accurate than Gaia's for faint stars (down to V ≃ 18), and astrophysical parameters and abundances for approximately 100 000 stars, belonging to all Galactic populations. 300 nights were assigned in 5 years (with the last year subject to approval after a detailed report). In particular, to connect with other ongoing and planned spectroscopic surveys, a detailed calibration program — for the astrophysical parameters derivation — is planned, including well known clusters, Gaia benchmark stars, and special equatorial calibration fields designed for wide field/multifiber spectrographs.
Investigation of Workplace-like Calibration Fields via a Deuterium-Tritium (D-T) Neutron Generator.
Mozhayev, Andrey V; Piper, Roman K; Rathbone, Bruce A; McDonald, Joseph C
2017-04-01
Radiation survey meters and personal dosimeters are typically calibrated in reference neutron fields based on conventional radionuclide sources, such as americium-beryllium (Am-Be) or californium-252 (Cf), either unmodified or heavy-water moderated. However, these calibration neutron fields differ significantly from the workplace fields in which most of these survey meters and dosimeters are being used. Although some detectors are designed to yield an approximately dose-equivalent response over a particular neutron energy range, the response of other detectors is highly dependent upon neutron energy. This, in turn, can result in significant over- or underestimation of the intensity of neutron radiation and/or personal dose equivalent determined in the work environment. The use of simulated workplace neutron calibration fields that more closely match those present at the workplace could improve the accuracy of worker, and workplace, neutron dose assessment. This work provides an overview of the neutron fields found around nuclear power reactors and interim spent fuel storage installations based on available data. The feasibility of producing workplace-like calibration fields in an existing calibration facility has been investigated via Monte Carlo simulations. Several moderating assembly configurations, paired with a neutron generator using the deuterium tritium (D-T) fusion reaction, were explored.
Design and realization of an active SAR calibrator for TerraSAR-X
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Dummer, Georg; Lenz, Rainer; Lutz, Benjamin; Kühl, Markus; Müller-Glaser, Klaus D.; Wiesbeck, Werner
2005-10-01
TerraSAR-X is a new earth observing satellite which will be launched in spring 2006. It carries a high resolution X-band SAR sensor. For high image data quality, accurate ground calibration targets are necessary. This paper describes a novel system concept for an active and highly integrated, digitally controlled SAR system calibrator. A total of 16 active transponder and receiver systems and 17 receiver only systems will be fabricated for a calibration campaign. The calibration units serve for absolute radiometric calibration of the SAR image data. Additionally, they are equipped with an extra receiver path for two dimensional satellite antenna pattern recognition. The calibrator is controlled by a dedicated digital Electronic Control Unit (ECU). The different voltages needed by the calibrator and the ECU are provided by the third main unit called Power Management Unit (PMU).
Calibration Procedures on Oblique Camera Setups
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kemper, G.; Melykuti, B.; Yu, C.
2016-06-01
Beside the creation of virtual animated 3D City models, analysis for homeland security and city planning, the accurately determination of geometric features out of oblique imagery is an important task today. Due to the huge number of single images the reduction of control points force to make use of direct referencing devices. This causes a precise camera-calibration and additional adjustment procedures. This paper aims to show the workflow of the various calibration steps and will present examples of the calibration flight with the final 3D City model. In difference to most other software, the oblique cameras are used not as co-registered sensors in relation to the nadir one, all camera images enter the AT process as single pre-oriented data. This enables a better post calibration in order to detect variations in the single camera calibration and other mechanical effects. The shown sensor (Oblique Imager) is based o 5 Phase One cameras were the nadir one has 80 MPIX equipped with a 50 mm lens while the oblique ones capture images with 50 MPix using 80 mm lenses. The cameras are mounted robust inside a housing to protect this against physical and thermal deformations. The sensor head hosts also an IMU which is connected to a POS AV GNSS Receiver. The sensor is stabilized by a gyro-mount which creates floating Antenna -IMU lever arms. They had to be registered together with the Raw GNSS-IMU Data. The camera calibration procedure was performed based on a special calibration flight with 351 shoots of all 5 cameras and registered the GPS/IMU data. This specific mission was designed in two different altitudes with additional cross lines on each flying heights. The five images from each exposure positions have no overlaps but in the block there are many overlaps resulting in up to 200 measurements per points. On each photo there were in average 110 well distributed measured points which is a satisfying number for the camera calibration. In a first step with the help of
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Tian, Jialin; Smith, William L.; Gazarik, Michael J.
2008-12-01
The ultimate remote sensing benefits of the high resolution Infrared radiance spectrometers will be realized with their geostationary satellite implementation in the form of imaging spectrometers. This will enable dynamic features of the atmosphere's thermodynamic fields and pollutant and greenhouse gas constituents to be observed for revolutionary improvements in weather forecasts and more accurate air quality and climate predictions. As an important step toward realizing this application objective, the Geostationary Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (GIFTS) Engineering Demonstration Unit (EDU) was successfully developed under the NASA New Millennium Program, 2000-2006. The GIFTS-EDU instrument employs three focal plane arrays (FPAs), which gather measurements across the long-wave IR (LWIR), short/mid-wave IR (SMWIR), and visible spectral bands. The GIFTS calibration is achieved using internal blackbody calibration references at ambient (260 K) and hot (286 K) temperatures. In this paper, we introduce a refined calibration technique that utilizes Principle Component (PC) analysis to compensate for instrument distortions and artifacts, therefore, enhancing the absolute calibration accuracy. This method is applied to data collected during the GIFTS Ground Based Measurement (GBM) experiment, together with simultaneous observations by the accurately calibrated AERI (Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer), both simultaneously zenith viewing the sky through the same external scene mirror at ten-minute intervals throughout a cloudless day at Logan Utah on September 13, 2006. The accurately calibrated GIFTS radiances are produced using the first four PC scores in the GIFTS-AERI regression model. Temperature and moisture profiles retrieved from the PC-calibrated GIFTS radiances are verified against radiosonde measurements collected throughout the GIFTS sky measurement period. Using the GIFTS GBM calibration model, we compute the calibrated radiances from data
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Tian, Jialin; Smith, William L.; Gazarik, Michael J.
2008-01-01
The ultimate remote sensing benefits of the high resolution Infrared radiance spectrometers will be realized with their geostationary satellite implementation in the form of imaging spectrometers. This will enable dynamic features of the atmosphere s thermodynamic fields and pollutant and greenhouse gas constituents to be observed for revolutionary improvements in weather forecasts and more accurate air quality and climate predictions. As an important step toward realizing this application objective, the Geostationary Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (GIFTS) Engineering Demonstration Unit (EDU) was successfully developed under the NASA New Millennium Program, 2000-2006. The GIFTS-EDU instrument employs three focal plane arrays (FPAs), which gather measurements across the long-wave IR (LWIR), short/mid-wave IR (SMWIR), and visible spectral bands. The GIFTS calibration is achieved using internal blackbody calibration references at ambient (260 K) and hot (286 K) temperatures. In this paper, we introduce a refined calibration technique that utilizes Principle Component (PC) analysis to compensate for instrument distortions and artifacts, therefore, enhancing the absolute calibration accuracy. This method is applied to data collected during the GIFTS Ground Based Measurement (GBM) experiment, together with simultaneous observations by the accurately calibrated AERI (Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer), both simultaneously zenith viewing the sky through the same external scene mirror at ten-minute intervals throughout a cloudless day at Logan Utah on September 13, 2006. The accurately calibrated GIFTS radiances are produced using the first four PC scores in the GIFTS-AERI regression model. Temperature and moisture profiles retrieved from the PC-calibrated GIFTS radiances are verified against radiosonde measurements collected throughout the GIFTS sky measurement period. Using the GIFTS GBM calibration model, we compute the calibrated radiances from data
A Consistency Evaluation and Calibration Method for Piezoelectric Transmitters.
Zhang, Kai; Tan, Baohai; Liu, Xianping
2017-04-28
Array transducer and transducer combination technologies are evolving rapidly. While adapting transmitter combination technologies, the parameter consistencies between each transmitter are extremely important because they can determine a combined effort directly. This study presents a consistency evaluation and calibration method for piezoelectric transmitters by using impedance analyzers. Firstly, electronic parameters of transmitters that can be measured by impedance analyzers are introduced. A variety of transmitter acoustic energies that are caused by these parameter differences are then analyzed and certified and, thereafter, transmitter consistency is evaluated. Lastly, based on the evaluations, consistency can be calibrated by changing the corresponding excitation voltage. Acoustic experiments show that this method accurately evaluates and calibrates transducer consistencies, and is easy to realize.
A Consistency Evaluation and Calibration Method for Piezoelectric Transmitters
Zhang, Kai; Tan, Baohai; Liu, Xianping
2017-01-01
Array transducer and transducer combination technologies are evolving rapidly. While adapting transmitter combination technologies, the parameter consistencies between each transmitter are extremely important because they can determine a combined effort directly. This study presents a consistency evaluation and calibration method for piezoelectric transmitters by using impedance analyzers. Firstly, electronic parameters of transmitters that can be measured by impedance analyzers are introduced. A variety of transmitter acoustic energies that are caused by these parameter differences are then analyzed and certified and, thereafter, transmitter consistency is evaluated. Lastly, based on the evaluations, consistency can be calibrated by changing the corresponding excitation voltage. Acoustic experiments show that this method accurately evaluates and calibrates transducer consistencies, and is easy to realize. PMID:28452947
Calibration aspects of the JEM-EUSO mission
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Adams, J. H.; Ahmad, S.; Albert, J.-N.; Allard, D.; Anchordoqui, L.; Andreev, V.; Anzalone, A.; Arai, Y.; Asano, K.; Ave Pernas, M.; Baragatti, P.; Barrillon, P.; Batsch, T.; Bayer, J.; Bechini, R.; Belenguer, T.; Bellotti, R.; Belov, K.; Berlind, A. A.; Bertaina, M.; Biermann, P. L.; Biktemerova, S.; Blaksley, C.; Blanc, N.; Błȩcki, J.; Blin-Bondil, S.; Blümer, J.; Bobik, P.; Bogomilov, M.; Bonamente, M.; Briggs, M. S.; Briz, S.; Bruno, A.; Cafagna, F.; Campana, D.; Capdevielle, J.-N.; Caruso, R.; Casolino, M.; Cassardo, C.; Castellinic, G.; Catalano, C.; Catalano, G.; Cellino, A.; Chikawa, M.; Christl, M. J.; Cline, D.; Connaughton, V.; Conti, L.; Cordero, G.; Crawford, H. J.; Cremonini, R.; Csorna, S.; Dagoret-Campagne, S.; de Castro, A. J.; De Donato, C.; de la Taille, C.; De Santis, C.; del Peral, L.; Dell'Oro, A.; De Simone, N.; Di Martino, M.; Distratis, G.; Dulucq, F.; Dupieux, M.; Ebersoldt, A.; Ebisuzaki, T.; Engel, R.; Falk, S.; Fang, K.; Fenu, F.; Fernández-Gómez, I.; Ferrarese, S.; Finco, D.; Flamini, M.; Fornaro, C.; Franceschi, A.; Fujimoto, J.; Fukushima, M.; Galeotti, P.; Garipov, G.; Geary, J.; Gelmini, G.; Giraudo, G.; Gonchar, M.; González Alvarado, C.; Gorodetzky, P.; Guarino, F.; Guzmán, A.; Hachisu, Y.; Harlov, B.; Haungs, A.; Hernández Carretero, J.; Higashide, K.; Ikeda, D.; Ikeda, H.; Inoue, N.; Inoue, S.; Insolia, A.; Isgrò, F.; Itow, Y.; Joven, E.; Judd, E. G.; Jung, A.; Kajino, F.; Kajino, T.; Kaneko, I.; Karadzhov, Y.; Karczmarczyk, J.; Karus, M.; Katahira, K.; Kawai, K.; Kawasaki, Y.; Keilhauer, B.; Khrenov, B. A.; Kim, J.-S.; Kim, S.-W.; Kim, S.-W.; Kleifges, M.; Klimov, P. A.; Kolev, D.; Kreykenbohm, I.; Kudela, K.; Kurihara, Y.; Kusenko, A.; Kuznetsov, E.; Lacombe, M.; Lachaud, C.; Lee, J.; Licandro, J.; Lim, H.; López, F.; Maccarone, M. C.; Mannheim, K.; Maravilla, D.; Marcelli, L.; Marini, A.; Martinez, O.; Masciantonio, G.; Mase, K.; Matev, R.; Medina-Tanco, G.; Mernik, T.; Miyamoto, H.; Miyazaki, Y.; Mizumoto, Y.; Modestino, G.; Monaco, A.; Monnier-Ragaigne, D.; Morales de los Ríos, J. A.; Moretto, C.; Morozenko, V. S.; Mot, B.; Murakami, T.; Murakami, M. Nagano; Nagata, M.; Nagataki, S.; Nakamura, T.; Napolitano, T.; Naumov, D.; Nava, R.; Neronov, A.; Nomoto, K.; Nonaka, T.; Ogawa, T.; Ogio, S.; Ohmori, H.; Olinto, A. V.; Orleański, P.; Osteria, G.; Panasyuk, M. I.; Parizot, E.; Park, I. H.; Park, H. W.; Pastircak, B.; Patzak, T.; Paul, T.; Pennypacker, C.; Perez Cano, S.; Peter, T.; Picozza, P.; Pierog, T.; Piotrowski, L. W.; Piraino, S.; Plebaniak, Z.; Pollini, A.; Prat, P.; Prévôt, G.; Prieto, H.; Putis, M.; Reardon, P.; Reyes, M.; Ricci, M.; Rodríguez, I.; Rodríguez Frías, M. D.; Ronga, F.; Roth, M.; Rothkaehl, H.; Roudil, G.; Rusinov, I.; Rybczyński, M.; Sabau, M. D.; Sáez-Cano, G.; Sagawa, H.; Saito, A.; Sakaki, N.; Sakata, M.; Salazar, H.; Sánchez, S.; Santangelo, A.; Santiago Crúz, L.; Sanz Palomino, M.; Saprykin, O.; Sarazin, F.; Sato, H.; Sato, M.; Schanz, T.; Schieler, H.; Scotti, V.; Segreto, A.; Selmane, S.; Semikoz, D.; Serra, M.; Sharakin, S.; Shibata, T.; Shimizu, H. M.; Shinozaki, K.; Shirahama, T.; Siemieniec-Oziȩbło, G.; Silva López, H. H.; Sledd, J.; Słomińska, K.; Sobey, A.; Sugiyama, T.; Supanitsky, D.; Suzuki, M.; Szabelska, B.; Szabelski, J.; Tajima, F.; Tajima, N.; Tajima, T.; Takahashi, Y.; Takami, H.; Takeda, M.; Takizawa, Y.; Tenzer, C.; Tibolla, O.; Tkachev, L.; Tokuno, H.; Tomida, T.; Tone, N.; Toscano, S.; Trillaud, F.; Tsenov, R.; Tsunesada, Y.; Tsuno, K.; Tymieniecka, T.; Uchihori, Y.; Unger, M.; Vaduvescu, O.; Valdés-Galicia, J. F.; Vallania, P.; Valore, L.; Vankova, G.; Vigorito, C.; Villaseñor, L.; von Ballmoos, P.; Wada, S.; Watanabe, J.; Watanabe, S.; Watts, J.; Weber, M.; Weiler, T. J.; Wibig, T.; Wiencke, L.; Wille, M.; Wilms, J.; Włodarczyk, Z.; Yamamoto, T.; Yamamoto, Y.; Yang, J.; Yano, H.; Yashin, I. V.; Yonetoku, D.; Yoshida, K.; Yoshida, S.; Young, R.; Zotov, M. Yu.; Zuccaro Marchi, A.
2015-11-01
The JEM-EUSO telescope will be, after calibration, a very accurate instrument which yields the number of received photons from the number of measured photo-electrons. The project is in phase A (demonstration of the concept) including already operating prototype instruments, i.e. many parts of the instrument have been constructed and tested. Calibration is a crucial part of the instrument and its use. The focal surface (FS) of the JEM-EUSO telescope will consist of about 5000 photo-multiplier tubes (PMTs), which have to be well calibrated to reach the required accuracy in reconstructing the air-shower parameters. The optics system consists of 3 plastic Fresnel (double-sided) lenses of 2.5 m diameter. The aim of the calibration system is to measure the efficiencies (transmittances) of the optics and absolute efficiencies of the entire focal surface detector. The system consists of 3 main components: (i) Pre-flight calibration devices on ground, where the efficiency and gain of the PMTs will be measured absolutely and also the transmittance of the optics will be. (ii) On-board relative calibration system applying two methods: a) operating during the day when the JEM-EUSO lid will be closed with small light sources on board. b) operating during the night, together with data taking: the monitoring of the background rate over identical sites. (iii) Absolute in-flight calibration, again, applying two methods: a) measurement of the moon light, reflected on high altitude, high albedo clouds. b) measurements of calibrated flashes and tracks produced by the Global Light System (GLS). Some details of each calibration method will be described in this paper.
Characterizing a proton beam scanning system for Monte Carlo dose calculation in patients
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Grassberger, C.; Lomax, Anthony; Paganetti, H.
2015-01-01
The presented work has two goals. First, to demonstrate the feasibility of accurately characterizing a proton radiation field at treatment head exit for Monte Carlo dose calculation of active scanning patient treatments. Second, to show that this characterization can be done based on measured depth dose curves and spot size alone, without consideration of the exact treatment head delivery system. This is demonstrated through calibration of a Monte Carlo code to the specific beam lines of two institutions, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). Comparison of simulations modeling the full treatment head at MGH to ones employing a parameterized phase space of protons at treatment head exit reveals the adequacy of the method for patient simulations. The secondary particle production in the treatment head is typically below 0.2% of primary fluence, except for low-energy electrons (<0.6 MeV for 230 MeV protons), whose contribution to skin dose is negligible. However, there is significant difference between the two methods in the low-dose penumbra, making full treatment head simulations necessary to study out-of-field effects such as secondary cancer induction. To calibrate the Monte Carlo code to measurements in a water phantom, we use an analytical Bragg peak model to extract the range-dependent energy spread at the two institutions, as this quantity is usually not available through measurements. Comparison of the measured with the simulated depth dose curves demonstrates agreement within 0.5 mm over the entire energy range. Subsequently, we simulate three patient treatments with varying anatomical complexity (liver, head and neck and lung) to give an example how this approach can be employed to investigate site-specific discrepancies between treatment planning system and Monte Carlo simulations.
Characterizing a Proton Beam Scanning System for Monte Carlo Dose Calculation in Patients
Grassberger, C; Lomax, Tony; Paganetti, H
2015-01-01
The presented work has two goals. First, to demonstrate the feasibility of accurately characterizing a proton radiation field at treatment head exit for Monte Carlo dose calculation of active scanning patient treatments. Second, to show that this characterization can be done based on measured depth dose curves and spot size alone, without consideration of the exact treatment head delivery system. This is demonstrated through calibration of a Monte Carlo code to the specific beam lines of two institutions, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). Comparison of simulations modeling the full treatment head at MGH to ones employing a parameterized phase space of protons at treatment head exit reveals the adequacy of the method for patient simulations. The secondary particle production in the treatment head is typically below 0.2% of primary fluence, except for low–energy electrons (<0.6MeV for 230MeV protons), whose contribution to skin dose is negligible. However, there is significant difference between the two methods in the low-dose penumbra, making full treatment head simulations necessary to study out-of field effects such as secondary cancer induction. To calibrate the Monte Carlo code to measurements in a water phantom, we use an analytical Bragg peak model to extract the range-dependent energy spread at the two institutions, as this quantity is usually not available through measurements. Comparison of the measured with the simulated depth dose curves demonstrates agreement within 0.5mm over the entire energy range. Subsequently, we simulate three patient treatments with varying anatomical complexity (liver, head and neck and lung) to give an example how this approach can be employed to investigate site-specific discrepancies between treatment planning system and Monte Carlo simulations. PMID:25549079
Camera calibration based on the back projection process
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Gu, Feifei; Zhao, Hong; Ma, Yueyang; Bu, Penghui
2015-12-01
Camera calibration plays a crucial role in 3D measurement tasks of machine vision. In typical calibration processes, camera parameters are iteratively optimized in the forward imaging process (FIP). However, the results can only guarantee the minimum of 2D projection errors on the image plane, but not the minimum of 3D reconstruction errors. In this paper, we propose a universal method for camera calibration, which uses the back projection process (BPP). In our method, a forward projection model is used to obtain initial intrinsic and extrinsic parameters with a popular planar checkerboard pattern. Then, the extracted image points are projected back into 3D space and compared with the ideal point coordinates. Finally, the estimation of the camera parameters is refined by a non-linear function minimization process. The proposed method can obtain a more accurate calibration result, which is more physically useful. Simulation and practical data are given to demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed method.
Camera calibration method of binocular stereo vision based on OpenCV
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Zhong, Wanzhen; Dong, Xiaona
2015-10-01
Camera calibration, an important part of the binocular stereo vision research, is the essential foundation of 3D reconstruction of the spatial object. In this paper, the camera calibration method based on OpenCV (open source computer vision library) is submitted to make the process better as a result of obtaining higher precision and efficiency. First, the camera model in OpenCV and an algorithm of camera calibration are presented, especially considering the influence of camera lens radial distortion and decentering distortion. Then, camera calibration procedure is designed to compute those parameters of camera and calculate calibration errors. High-accurate profile extraction algorithm and a checkboard with 48 corners have also been used in this part. Finally, results of calibration program are presented, demonstrating the high efficiency and accuracy of the proposed approach. The results can reach the requirement of robot binocular stereo vision.
Takegami, Kazuki; Hayashi, Hiroaki; Okino, Hiroki; Kimoto, Natsumi; Maehata, Itsumi; Kanazawa, Yuki; Okazaki, Tohru; Kobayashi, Ikuo
2015-07-01
For X-ray diagnosis, the proper management of the entrance skin dose (ESD) is important. Recently, a small-type optically stimulated luminescence dosimeter (nanoDot OSL dosimeter) was made commercially available by Landauer, and it is hoped that it will be used for ESD measurements in clinical settings. Our objectives in the present study were to propose a method for calibrating the ESD measured with the nanoDot OSL dosimeter and to evaluate its accuracy. The reference ESD is assumed to be based on an air kerma with consideration of a well-known back scatter factor. We examined the characteristics of the nanoDot OSL dosimeter using two experimental conditions: a free air irradiation to derive the air kerma, and a phantom experiment to determine the ESD. For evaluation of the ability to measure the ESD, a calibration curve for the nanoDot OSL dosimeter was determined in which the air kerma and/or the ESD measured with an ionization chamber were used as references. As a result, we found that the calibration curve for the air kerma was determined with an accuracy of 5 %. Furthermore, the calibration curve was applied to the ESD estimation. The accuracy of the ESD obtained was estimated to be 15 %. The origin of these uncertainties was examined based on published papers and Monte-Carlo simulation. Most of the uncertainties were caused by the systematic uncertainty of the reading system and the differences in efficiency corresponding to different X-ray energies.
High Accuracy Transistor Compact Model Calibrations
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Hembree, Charles E.; Mar, Alan; Robertson, Perry J.
2015-09-01
Typically, transistors are modeled by the application of calibrated nominal and range models. These models consists of differing parameter values that describe the location and the upper and lower limits of a distribution of some transistor characteristic such as current capacity. Correspond- ingly, when using this approach, high degrees of accuracy of the transistor models are not expected since the set of models is a surrogate for a statistical description of the devices. The use of these types of models describes expected performances considering the extremes of process or transistor deviations. In contrast, circuits that have very stringent accuracy requirementsmore » require modeling techniques with higher accuracy. Since these accurate models have low error in transistor descriptions, these models can be used to describe part to part variations as well as an accurate description of a single circuit instance. Thus, models that meet these stipulations also enable the calculation of quantifi- cation of margins with respect to a functional threshold and uncertainties in these margins. Given this need, new model high accuracy calibration techniques for bipolar junction transis- tors have been developed and are described in this report.« less
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Abeykoon, A. M. Milinda; Hu, Hefei; Wu, Lijun
2015-01-30
Different protocols for calibrating electron pair distribution function (ePDF) measurements are explored and described for quantitative studies on nanomaterials. It is found that the most accurate approach to determine the camera length is to use a standard calibration sample of Au nanoparticles from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Different protocols for data collection are also explored, as are possible operational errors, to find the best approaches for accurate data collection for quantitative ePDF studies.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Able, Charles M., E-mail: cable@wfubmc.edu; Bright, Megan; Frizzell, Bart
Purpose: Statistical process control (SPC) is a quality control method used to ensure that a process is well controlled and operates with little variation. This study determined whether SPC was a viable technique for evaluating the proper operation of a high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy treatment delivery system. Methods and Materials: A surrogate prostate patient was developed using Vyse ordnance gelatin. A total of 10 metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) were placed from prostate base to apex. Computed tomography guidance was used to accurately position the first detector in each train at the base. The plan consisted of 12 needles withmore » 129 dwell positions delivering a prescribed peripheral dose of 200 cGy. Sixteen accurate treatment trials were delivered as planned. Subsequently, a number of treatments were delivered with errors introduced, including wrong patient, wrong source calibration, wrong connection sequence, single needle displaced inferiorly 5 mm, and entire implant displaced 2 mm and 4 mm inferiorly. Two process behavior charts (PBC), an individual and a moving range chart, were developed for each dosimeter location. Results: There were 4 false positives resulting from 160 measurements from 16 accurately delivered treatments. For the inaccurately delivered treatments, the PBC indicated that measurements made at the periphery and apex (regions of high-dose gradient) were much more sensitive to treatment delivery errors. All errors introduced were correctly identified by either the individual or the moving range PBC in the apex region. Measurements at the urethra and base were less sensitive to errors. Conclusions: SPC is a viable method for assessing the quality of HDR treatment delivery. Further development is necessary to determine the most effective dose sampling, to ensure reproducible evaluation of treatment delivery accuracy.« less
Calibration uncertainty for Advanced LIGO's first and second observing runs
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Cahillane, Craig; Betzwieser, Joe; Brown, Duncan A.; Goetz, Evan; Hall, Evan D.; Izumi, Kiwamu; Kandhasamy, Shivaraj; Karki, Sudarshan; Kissel, Jeff S.; Mendell, Greg; Savage, Richard L.; Tuyenbayev, Darkhan; Urban, Alex; Viets, Aaron; Wade, Madeline; Weinstein, Alan J.
2017-11-01
Calibration of the Advanced LIGO detectors is the quantification of the detectors' response to gravitational waves. Gravitational waves incident on the detectors cause phase shifts in the interferometer laser light which are read out as intensity fluctuations at the detector output. Understanding this detector response to gravitational waves is crucial to producing accurate and precise gravitational wave strain data. Estimates of binary black hole and neutron star parameters and tests of general relativity require well-calibrated data, as miscalibrations will lead to biased results. We describe the method of producing calibration uncertainty estimates for both LIGO detectors in the first and second observing runs.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Liamsuwan, T.; Channuie, J.; Ratanatongchai, W.
2015-05-01
Reliable measurement of neutron radiation is important for monitoring and protection in workplace where neutrons are present. Although Thailand has been familiar with applications of neutron sources and neutron beams for many decades, there is no calibration facility dedicated to neutron measuring devices available in the country. Recently, Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology (TINT) has set up a multi-purpose irradiation facility equipped with a 50 Ci americium-241/beryllium neutron irradiator. The facility is planned to be used for research, nuclear analytical techniques and, among other applications, calibration of neutron measuring devices. In this work, the neutron calibration fields were investigated in terms of neutron energy spectra and dose equivalent rates using Monte Carlo simulations, an in-house developed neutron spectrometer and commercial survey meters. The characterized neutron fields can generate neutron dose equivalent rates ranging from 156 μSv/h to 3.5 mSv/h with nearly 100% of dose contributed by neutrons of energies larger than 0.01 MeV. The gamma contamination was less than 4.2-7.5% depending on the irradiation configuration. It is possible to use the described neutron fields for calibration test and routine quality assurance of neutron dose rate meters and passive dosemeters commonly used in radiation protection dosimetry.
Calibration Uncertainties in the Droplet Measurement Technologies Cloud Condensation Nuclei Counter
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Hibert, Kurt James
Cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) serve as the nucleation sites for the condensation of water vapor in Earth's atmosphere and are important for their effect on climate and weather. The influence of CCN on cloud radiative properties (aerosol indirect effect) is the most uncertain of quantified radiative forcing changes that have occurred since pre-industrial times. CCN influence the weather because intrinsic and extrinsic aerosol properties affect cloud formation and precipitation development. To quantify these effects, it is necessary to accurately measure CCN, which requires accurate calibrations using a consistent methodology. Furthermore, the calibration uncertainties are required to compare measurements from different field projects. CCN uncertainties also aid the integration of CCN measurements with atmospheric models. The commercially available Droplet Measurement Technologies (DMT) CCN Counter is used by many research groups, so it is important to quantify its calibration uncertainty. Uncertainties in the calibration of the DMT CCN counter exist in the flow rate and supersaturation values. The concentration depends on the accuracy of the flow rate calibration, which does not have a large (4.3 %) uncertainty. The supersaturation depends on chamber pressure, temperature, and flow rate. The supersaturation calibration is a complex process since the chamber's supersaturation must be inferred from a temperature difference measurement. Additionally, calibration errors can result from the Kohler theory assumptions, fitting methods utilized, the influence of multiply-charged particles, and calibration points used. In order to determine the calibration uncertainties and the pressure dependence of the supersaturation calibration, three calibrations are done at each pressure level: 700, 840, and 980 hPa. Typically 700 hPa is the pressure used for aircraft measurements in the boundary layer, 840 hPa is the calibration pressure at DMT in Boulder, CO, and 980 hPa is the
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
García-Moreno, Angel-Iván; González-Barbosa, José-Joel; Ramírez-Pedraza, Alfonso; Hurtado-Ramos, Juan B.; Ornelas-Rodriguez, Francisco-Javier
2016-04-01
Computer-based reconstruction models can be used to approximate urban environments. These models are usually based on several mathematical approximations and the usage of different sensors, which implies dependency on many variables. The sensitivity analysis presented in this paper is used to weigh the relative importance of each uncertainty contributor into the calibration of a panoramic camera-LiDAR system. Both sensors are used for three-dimensional urban reconstruction. Simulated and experimental tests were conducted. For the simulated tests we analyze and compare the calibration parameters using the Monte Carlo and Latin hypercube sampling techniques. Sensitivity analysis for each variable involved into the calibration was computed by the Sobol method, which is based on the analysis of the variance breakdown, and the Fourier amplitude sensitivity test method, which is based on Fourier's analysis. Sensitivity analysis is an essential tool in simulation modeling and for performing error propagation assessments.
An efficient calibration method for SQUID measurement system using three orthogonal Helmholtz coils
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Hua, Li; Shu-Lin, Zhang; Chao-Xiang, Zhang; Xiang-Yan, Kong; Xiao-Ming, Xie
2016-06-01
For a practical superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) based measurement system, the Tesla/volt coefficient must be accurately calibrated. In this paper, we propose a highly efficient method of calibrating a SQUID magnetometer system using three orthogonal Helmholtz coils. The Tesla/volt coefficient is regarded as the magnitude of a vector pointing to the normal direction of the pickup coil. By applying magnetic fields through a three-dimensional Helmholtz coil, the Tesla/volt coefficient can be directly calculated from magnetometer responses to the three orthogonally applied magnetic fields. Calibration with alternating current (AC) field is normally used for better signal-to-noise ratio in noisy urban environments and the results are compared with the direct current (DC) calibration to avoid possible effects due to eddy current. In our experiment, a calibration relative error of about 6.89 × 10-4 is obtained, and the error is mainly caused by the non-orthogonality of three axes of the Helmholtz coils. The method does not need precise alignment of the magnetometer inside the Helmholtz coil. It can be used for the multichannel magnetometer system calibration effectively and accurately. Project supported by the “Strategic Priority Research Program (B)” of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB04020200) and the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission Project, China (Grant No. 15DZ1940902).
Determination of the implantation dose in silicon wafers by X-ray fluorescence analysis
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Klockenkaemper, R.; Becker, M.; Bubert, H.
1990-08-01
The ion dose implanted in silicon wafers was determined by X-ray fluorescence analysis after the implantation process. As only near-surface layers below 1-{mu}m thickness were considered, the calibration could be carried out with external standards consisting of thin films of doped gelatine spread on pure wafers. Dose values for Cr and Co were determined between 4 {times} 10{sup 15} and 2 {times} 10{sup 17} atoms/cm{sup 2}, the detection limits being about 3 {times} 10{sup 14} atoms/cm{sup 2}. The results are precise and accurate apart from a residual scatter of less than 7%. This was confirmed by flame atomic absorption spectrometrymore » after volatilization of the silicon matrix as SiF{sub 4}. It was found that ion-current measurements carried out during the implantation process can have considerable systematic errors.« less
Quantification of residual dose estimation error on log file-based patient dose calculation.
Katsuta, Yoshiyuki; Kadoya, Noriyuki; Fujita, Yukio; Shimizu, Eiji; Matsunaga, Kenichi; Matsushita, Haruo; Majima, Kazuhiro; Jingu, Keiichi
2016-05-01
The log file-based patient dose estimation includes a residual dose estimation error caused by leaf miscalibration, which cannot be reflected on the estimated dose. The purpose of this study is to determine this residual dose estimation error. Modified log files for seven head-and-neck and prostate volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) plans simulating leaf miscalibration were generated by shifting both leaf banks (systematic leaf gap errors: ±2.0, ±1.0, and ±0.5mm in opposite directions and systematic leaf shifts: ±1.0mm in the same direction) using MATLAB-based (MathWorks, Natick, MA) in-house software. The generated modified and non-modified log files were imported back into the treatment planning system and recalculated. Subsequently, the generalized equivalent uniform dose (gEUD) was quantified for the definition of the planning target volume (PTV) and organs at risks. For MLC leaves calibrated within ±0.5mm, the quantified residual dose estimation errors that obtained from the slope of the linear regression of gEUD changes between non- and modified log file doses per leaf gap are in head-and-neck plans 1.32±0.27% and 0.82±0.17Gy for PTV and spinal cord, respectively, and in prostate plans 1.22±0.36%, 0.95±0.14Gy, and 0.45±0.08Gy for PTV, rectum, and bladder, respectively. In this work, we determine the residual dose estimation errors for VMAT delivery using the log file-based patient dose calculation according to the MLC calibration accuracy. Copyright © 2016 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Calibration of 3D ultrasound to an electromagnetic tracking system
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lang, Andrew; Parthasarathy, Vijay; Jain, Ameet
2011-03-01
The use of electromagnetic (EM) tracking is an important guidance tool that can be used to aid procedures requiring accurate localization such as needle injections or catheter guidance. Using EM tracking, the information from different modalities can be easily combined using pre-procedural calibration information. These calibrations are performed individually, per modality, allowing different imaging systems to be mixed and matched according to the procedure at hand. In this work, a framework for the calibration of a 3D transesophageal echocardiography probe to EM tracking is developed. The complete calibration framework includes three required steps: data acquisition, needle segmentation, and calibration. Ultrasound (US) images of an EM tracked needle must be acquired with the position of the needles in each volume subsequently extracted by segmentation. The calibration transformation is determined through a registration between the segmented points and the recorded EM needle positions. Additionally, the speed of sound is compensated for since calibration is performed in water that has a different speed then is assumed by the US machine. A statistical validation framework has also been developed to provide further information related to the accuracy and consistency of the calibration. Further validation of the calibration showed an accuracy of 1.39 mm.
Song, Yunpeng; Wu, Sen; Xu, Linyan; Fu, Xing
2015-01-01
Measurement of force on a micro- or nano-Newton scale is important when exploring the mechanical properties of materials in the biophysics and nanomechanical fields. The atomic force microscope (AFM) is widely used in microforce measurement. The cantilever probe works as an AFM force sensor, and the spring constant of the cantilever is of great significance to the accuracy of the measurement results. This paper presents a normal spring constant calibration method with the combined use of an electromagnetic balance and a homemade AFM head. When the cantilever presses the balance, its deflection is detected through an optical lever integrated in the AFM head. Meanwhile, the corresponding bending force is recorded by the balance. Then the spring constant can be simply calculated using Hooke’s law. During the calibration, a feedback loop is applied to control the deflection of the cantilever. Errors that may affect the stability of the cantilever could be compensated rapidly. Five types of commercial cantilevers with different shapes, stiffness, and operating modes were chosen to evaluate the performance of our system. Based on the uncertainty analysis, the expanded relative standard uncertainties of the normal spring constant of most measured cantilevers are believed to be better than 2%. PMID:25763650
Song, Yunpeng; Wu, Sen; Xu, Linyan; Fu, Xing
2015-03-10
Measurement of force on a micro- or nano-Newton scale is important when exploring the mechanical properties of materials in the biophysics and nanomechanical fields. The atomic force microscope (AFM) is widely used in microforce measurement. The cantilever probe works as an AFM force sensor, and the spring constant of the cantilever is of great significance to the accuracy of the measurement results. This paper presents a normal spring constant calibration method with the combined use of an electromagnetic balance and a homemade AFM head. When the cantilever presses the balance, its deflection is detected through an optical lever integrated in the AFM head. Meanwhile, the corresponding bending force is recorded by the balance. Then the spring constant can be simply calculated using Hooke's law. During the calibration, a feedback loop is applied to control the deflection of the cantilever. Errors that may affect the stability of the cantilever could be compensated rapidly. Five types of commercial cantilevers with different shapes, stiffness, and operating modes were chosen to evaluate the performance of our system. Based on the uncertainty analysis, the expanded relative standard uncertainties of the normal spring constant of most measured cantilevers are believed to be better than 2%.
Pulsed thrust measurements using electromagnetic calibration techniques
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Tang Haibin; Shi Chenbo; Zhang Xin'ai
2011-03-15
A thrust stand for accurately measuring impulse bits, which ranged from 10-1000 {mu}N s using a noncontact electromagnetic calibration technique is described. In particular, a permanent magnet structure was designed to produce a uniform magnetic field, and a multiturn coil was made to produce a calibration force less than 10 mN. The electromagnetic calibration force for pulsed thrust measurements was linear to the coil current and changed less than 2.5% when the distance between the coil and magnet changed 6 mm. A pulsed plasma thruster was first tested on the thrust stand, and afterward five single impulse bits were measuredmore » to give a 310 {mu}N s average impulse bit. Uncertainty of the measured impulse bit was analyzed to evaluate the quality of the measurement and was found to be 10 {mu}N s with 95% credibility.« less
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Habte, Aron; Sengupta, Manajit; Andreas, Afshin
Banks financing solar energy projects require assurance that these systems will produce the energy predicted. Furthermore, utility planners and grid system operators need to understand the impact of the variable solar resource on solar energy conversion system performance. Accurate solar radiation data sets reduce the expense associated with mitigating performance risk and assist in understanding the impacts of solar resource variability. The accuracy of solar radiation measured by radiometers depends on the instrument performance specification, installation method, calibration procedure, measurement conditions, maintenance practices, location, and environmental conditions. This study addresses the effect of different calibration methods provided by radiometric calibrationmore » service providers, such as NREL and manufacturers of radiometers, on the resulting calibration responsivity. Some of these radiometers are calibrated indoors and some outdoors. To establish or understand the differences in calibration methodology, we processed and analyzed field-measured data from these radiometers. This study investigates calibration responsivities provided by NREL's broadband outdoor radiometer calibration (BORCAL) and a few prominent manufacturers. The BORCAL method provides the outdoor calibration responsivity of pyranometers and pyrheliometers at 45 degree solar zenith angle, and as a function of solar zenith angle determined by clear-sky comparisons with reference irradiance. The BORCAL method also employs a thermal offset correction to the calibration responsivity of single-black thermopile detectors used in pyranometers. Indoor calibrations of radiometers by their manufacturers are performed using a stable artificial light source in a side-by-side comparison between the test radiometer under calibration and a reference radiometer of the same type. In both methods, the reference radiometer calibrations are traceable to the World Radiometric Reference (WRR). These
Calibration methodology application of kerma area product meters in situ: Preliminary results
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Costa, N. A.; Potiens, M. P. A.
2014-11-01
The kerma-area product (KAP) is a useful quantity to establish the reference levels of conventional X-ray examinations. It can be obtained by measurements carried out with a KAP meter on a plane parallel transmission ionization chamber mounted on the X-ray system. A KAP meter can be calibrated in laboratory or in situ, where it is used. It is important to use one reference KAP meter in order to obtain reliable quantity of doses on the patient. The Patient Dose Calibrator (PDC) is a new equipment from Radcal that measures KAP. It was manufactured following the IEC 60580 recommendations, an international standard for KAP meters. This study had the aim to calibrate KAP meters using the PDC in situ. Previous studies and the quality control program of the PDC have shown that it has good function in characterization tests of dosimeters with ionization chamber and it also has low energy dependence. Three types of KAP meters were calibrated in four different diagnostic X-ray equipments. The voltages used in the two first calibrations were 50 kV, 70 kV, 100 kV and 120 kV. The other two used 50 kV, 70 kV and 90 kV. This was related to the equipments limitations. The field sizes used for the calibration were 10 cm, 20 cm and 30 cm. The calibrations were done in three different cities with the purpose to analyze the reproducibility of the PDC. The results gave the calibration coefficient for each KAP meter and showed that the PDC can be used as a reference instrument to calibrate clinical KAP meters.
Calibration of the optical torque wrench.
Pedaci, Francesco; Huang, Zhuangxiong; van Oene, Maarten; Dekker, Nynke H
2012-02-13
The optical torque wrench is a laser trapping technique that expands the capability of standard optical tweezers to torque manipulation and measurement, using the laser linear polarization to orient tailored microscopic birefringent particles. The ability to measure torque of the order of kBT (∼4 pN nm) is especially important in the study of biophysical systems at the molecular and cellular level. Quantitative torque measurements rely on an accurate calibration of the instrument. Here we describe and implement a set of calibration approaches for the optical torque wrench, including methods that have direct analogs in linear optical tweezers as well as introducing others that are specifically developed for the angular variables. We compare the different methods, analyze their differences, and make recommendations regarding their implementations.
Calibration facility for environment dosimetry instruments
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Bercea, Sorin; Celarel, Aurelia; Cenusa, Constantin
2013-12-16
In the last ten years, the nuclear activities, as well as the major nuclear events (see Fukushima accident) had an increasing impact on the environment, merely by contamination with radioactive materials. The most conferment way to quickly identify the presence of some radioactive elements in the environment, is to measure the dose-equivalent rate H. In this situation, information concerning the values of H due only to the natural radiation background must exist. Usually, the values of H due to the natural radiation background, are very low (∼10{sup −9} - 10{sup −8} Sv/h). A correct measurement of H in this rangemore » involve a performing calibration of the measuring instruments in the measuring range corresponding to the natural radiation background lead to important problems due to the presence of the natural background itself the best way to overlap this difficulty is to set up the calibration stand in an area with very low natural radiation background. In Romania, we identified an area with such special conditions at 200 m dept, in a salt mine. This paper deals with the necessary requirements for such a calibration facility, as well as with the calibration stand itself. The paper includes also, a description of the calibration stand (and images) as well as the radiological and metrological parameters. This calibration facilities for environment dosimetry is one of the few laboratories in this field in Europe.« less
The use of megavoltage CT (MVCT) images for dose recomputations
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Langen, K. M.; Meeks, S. L.; Poole, D. O.; Wagner, T. H.; Willoughby, T. R.; Kupelian, P. A.; Ruchala, K. J.; Haimerl, J.; Olivera, G. H.
2005-09-01
Megavoltage CT (MVCT) images of patients are acquired daily on a helical tomotherapy unit (TomoTherapy, Inc., Madison, WI). While these images are used primarily for patient alignment, they can also be used to recalculate the treatment plan for the patient anatomy of the day. The use of MVCT images for dose computations requires a reliable CT number to electron density calibration curve. In this work, we tested the stability of the MVCT numbers by determining the variation of this calibration with spatial arrangement of the phantom, time and MVCT acquisition parameters. The two calibration curves that represent the largest variations were applied to six clinical MVCT images for recalculations to test for dosimetric uncertainties. Among the six cases tested, the largest difference in any of the dosimetric endpoints was 3.1% but more typically the dosimetric endpoints varied by less than 2%. Using an average CT to electron density calibration and a thorax phantom, a series of end-to-end tests were run. Using a rigid phantom, recalculated dose volume histograms (DVHs) were compared with plan DVHs. Using a deformed phantom, recalculated point dose variations were compared with measurements. The MVCT field of view is limited and the image space outside this field of view can be filled in with information from the planning kVCT. This merging technique was tested for a rigid phantom. Finally, the influence of the MVCT slice thickness on the dose recalculation was investigated. The dosimetric differences observed in all phantom tests were within the range of dosimetric uncertainties observed due to variations in the calibration curve. The use of MVCT images allows the assessment of daily dose distributions with an accuracy that is similar to that of the initial kVCT dose calculation.
Calibrating genomic and allelic coverage bias in single-cell sequencing.
Zhang, Cheng-Zhong; Adalsteinsson, Viktor A; Francis, Joshua; Cornils, Hauke; Jung, Joonil; Maire, Cecile; Ligon, Keith L; Meyerson, Matthew; Love, J Christopher
2015-04-16
Artifacts introduced in whole-genome amplification (WGA) make it difficult to derive accurate genomic information from single-cell genomes and require different analytical strategies from bulk genome analysis. Here, we describe statistical methods to quantitatively assess the amplification bias resulting from whole-genome amplification of single-cell genomic DNA. Analysis of single-cell DNA libraries generated by different technologies revealed universal features of the genome coverage bias predominantly generated at the amplicon level (1-10 kb). The magnitude of coverage bias can be accurately calibrated from low-pass sequencing (∼0.1 × ) to predict the depth-of-coverage yield of single-cell DNA libraries sequenced at arbitrary depths. We further provide a benchmark comparison of single-cell libraries generated by multi-strand displacement amplification (MDA) and multiple annealing and looping-based amplification cycles (MALBAC). Finally, we develop statistical models to calibrate allelic bias in single-cell whole-genome amplification and demonstrate a census-based strategy for efficient and accurate variant detection from low-input biopsy samples.
Calibrating genomic and allelic coverage bias in single-cell sequencing
Francis, Joshua; Cornils, Hauke; Jung, Joonil; Maire, Cecile; Ligon, Keith L.; Meyerson, Matthew; Love, J. Christopher
2016-01-01
Artifacts introduced in whole-genome amplification (WGA) make it difficult to derive accurate genomic information from single-cell genomes and require different analytical strategies from bulk genome analysis. Here, we describe statistical methods to quantitatively assess the amplification bias resulting from whole-genome amplification of single-cell genomic DNA. Analysis of single-cell DNA libraries generated by different technologies revealed universal features of the genome coverage bias predominantly generated at the amplicon level (1–10 kb). The magnitude of coverage bias can be accurately calibrated from low-pass sequencing (~0.1 ×) to predict the depth-of-coverage yield of single-cell DNA libraries sequenced at arbitrary depths. We further provide a benchmark comparison of single-cell libraries generated by multi-strand displacement amplification (MDA) and multiple annealing and looping-based amplification cycles (MALBAC). Finally, we develop statistical models to calibrate allelic bias in single-cell whole-genome amplification and demonstrate a census-based strategy for efficient and accurate variant detection from low-input biopsy samples. PMID:25879913
Calibration of Smartphone-Based Weather Measurements Using Pairwise Gossip.
Zamora, Jane Louie Fresco; Kashihara, Shigeru; Yamaguchi, Suguru
2015-01-01
Accurate and reliable daily global weather reports are necessary for weather forecasting and climate analysis. However, the availability of these reports continues to decline due to the lack of economic support and policies in maintaining ground weather measurement systems from where these reports are obtained. Thus, to mitigate data scarcity, it is required to utilize weather information from existing sensors and built-in smartphone sensors. However, as smartphone usage often varies according to human activity, it is difficult to obtain accurate measurement data. In this paper, we present a heuristic-based pairwise gossip algorithm that will calibrate smartphone-based pressure sensors with respect to fixed weather stations as our referential ground truth. Based on actual measurements, we have verified that smartphone-based readings are unstable when observed during movement. Using our calibration algorithm on actual smartphone-based pressure readings, the updated values were significantly closer to the ground truth values.
Spinning angle optical calibration apparatus
Beer, Stephen K.; Pratt, II, Harold R.
1991-01-01
An optical calibration apparatus is provided for calibrating and reproducing spinning angles in cross-polarization, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. An illuminated magnifying apparatus enables optical setting an accurate reproducing of spinning "magic angles" in cross-polarization, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy experiments. A reference mark scribed on an edge of a spinning angle test sample holder is illuminated by a light source and viewed through a magnifying scope. When the "magic angle" of a sample material used as a standard is attained by varying the angular position of the sample holder, the coordinate position of the reference mark relative to a graduation or graduations on a reticle in the magnifying scope is noted. Thereafter, the spinning "magic angle" of a test material having similar nuclear properties to the standard is attained by returning the sample holder back to the originally noted coordinate position.
The Impact of Indoor and Outdoor Radiometer Calibration on Solar Measurements: Preprint
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Habte, Aron; Sengupta, Manajit; Andreas, Afshin
2016-07-01
Accurate solar radiation data sets are critical to reducing the expenses associated with mitigating performance risk for solar energy conversion systems, and they help utility planners and grid system operators understand the impacts of solar resource variability. The accuracy of solar radiation measured by radiometers depends on the instrument performance specification, installation method, calibration procedure, measurement conditions, maintenance practices, location, and environmental conditions. This study addresses the effect of calibration methodologies and the resulting calibration responsivities provided by radiometric calibration service providers such as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and manufacturers of radiometers. Some of these radiometers are calibratedmore » indoors, and some are calibrated outdoors. To establish or understand the differences in calibration methodology, we processed and analyzed field-measured data from these radiometers. This study investigates calibration responsivities provided by NREL's broadband outdoor radiometer calibration (BORCAL) and a few prominent manufacturers. The reference radiometer calibrations are traceable to the World Radiometric Reference. These different methods of calibration demonstrated 1% to 2% differences in solar irradiance measurement. Analyzing these values will ultimately assist in determining the uncertainties of the radiometer data and will assist in developing consensus on a standard for calibration.« less
Ding, George X; Coffey, Charles W
2010-09-01
The purpose of this study is to investigate the feasibility of using a single-use dosimeter, OneDose MOSFET designed for in vivo patient dosimetry, for measuring the radiation dose from kilovoltage (kV) x rays resulting from image-guided procedures. The OneDose MOSFET dosimeters were precalibrated by the manufacturer using Co-60 beams. Their energy response and characteristics for kV x rays were investigated by using an ionization chamber, in which the air-kerma calibration factors were obtained from an Accredited Dosimetry Calibration Laboratory (ADCL). The dosimetric properties have been tested for typical kV beams used in image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT). The direct dose reading from the OneDose system needs to be multiplied by a correction factor ranging from 0.30 to 0.35 for kilovoltage x rays ranging from 50 to 125 kVp, respectively. In addition to energy response, the OneDose dosimeter has up to a 20% reduced sensitivity for beams (70-125 kVp) incident from the back of the OneDose detector. The uncertainty in measuring dose resulting from a kilovoltage beam used in IGRT is approximately 20%; this uncertainty is mainly due to the sensitivity dependence of the incident beam direction relative to the OneDose detector. The ease of use may allow the dosimeter to be suitable for estimating the dose resulting from image-guided procedures.
Dose specification for radiation therapy: dose to water or dose to medium?
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Ma, C.-M.; Li, Jinsheng
2011-05-01
The Monte Carlo method enables accurate dose calculation for radiation therapy treatment planning and has been implemented in some commercial treatment planning systems. Unlike conventional dose calculation algorithms that provide patient dose information in terms of dose to water with variable electron density, the Monte Carlo method calculates the energy deposition in different media and expresses dose to a medium. This paper discusses the differences in dose calculated using water with different electron densities and that calculated for different biological media and the clinical issues on dose specification including dose prescription and plan evaluation using dose to water and dose to medium. We will demonstrate that conventional photon dose calculation algorithms compute doses similar to those simulated by Monte Carlo using water with different electron densities, which are close (<4% differences) to doses to media but significantly different (up to 11%) from doses to water converted from doses to media following American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Task Group 105 recommendations. Our results suggest that for consistency with previous radiation therapy experience Monte Carlo photon algorithms report dose to medium for radiotherapy dose prescription, treatment plan evaluation and treatment outcome analysis.
Investigating the Effects of Variable Water Type for VIIRS Calibration
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Bowers, J.; Ladner, S.; Martinolich, P.; Arnone, R.; Lawson, A.; Crout, R. L.; Vandermeulen, R. A.
2016-02-01
The Naval Research Laboratory - Stennis Space Center (NRL-SSC) currently provides calibration and validation support for the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) satellite ocean color products. NRL-SSC utilizes the NASA Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG) methodology for on-orbit vicarious calibration with in situ data collected in blue ocean water by the Marine Optical Buoy (MOBY). An acceptable calibration consists of 20-40 satellite to in situ matchups that establish the radiance correlation at specific points within the operating range of the VIIRS instrument. While the current method improves the VIIRS performance, the MOBY data alone does not represent the full range of radiance values seen in the coastal oceans. However, by utilizing data from the AERONET-OC coastal sites we expand our calibration matchups to cover a more realistic range of continuous values particularly in the green and red spectral regions of the sensor. Improved calibration will provide more accurate data to support daily operations and enable construction of valid climatology for future reference.
Choleau, C; Klein, J C; Reach, G; Aussedat, B; Demaria-Pesce, V; Wilson, G S; Gifford, R; Ward, W K
2002-08-01
Calibration, i.e. the transformation in real time of the signal I(t) generated by the glucose sensor at time t into an estimation of glucose concentration G(t), represents a key issue for the development of a continuous glucose monitoring system. To compare two calibration procedures. In the one-point calibration, which assumes that I(o) is negligible, S is simply determined as the ratio I/G, and G(t) = I(t)/S. The two-point calibration consists in the determination of a sensor sensitivity S and of a background current I(o) by plotting two values of the sensor signal versus the concomitant blood glucose concentrations. The subsequent estimation of G(t) is given by G(t) = (I(t)-I(o))/S. A glucose sensor was implanted in the abdominal subcutaneous tissue of nine type 1 diabetic patients during 3 (n = 2) and 7 days (n = 7). The one-point calibration was performed a posteriori either once per day before breakfast, or twice per day before breakfast and dinner, or three times per day before each meal. The two-point calibration was performed each morning during breakfast. The percentages of points present in zones A and B of the Clarke Error Grid were significantly higher when the system was calibrated using the one-point calibration. Use of two one-point calibrations per day before meals was virtually as accurate as three one-point calibrations. This study demonstrates the feasibility of a simple method for calibrating a continuous glucose monitoring system.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Poilane, C.; Sandoz, P.; Departement d'Optique PM Duffieux, Institut FEMTO-ST, UMR CNRS 6174, Universite de Franche-Comte, 25030 Besancon, Cedex
2006-05-15
A double-side optical profilometer based on white-light interferometry was developed for thickness measurement of nontransparent films. The profile of the sample is measured simultaneously on both sides of the film. The resulting data allow the computation of the roughness, the flatness and the parallelism of the sides of the film, and the average thickness of the film. The key point is the apparatus calibration, i.e., the accurate determination of the distance between the reference mirrors of the complementary interferometers. Specific samples were processed for that calibration. The system is adaptable to various thickness scales as long as calibration can bemore » made accurately. A thickness accuracy better than 30 nm for films thinner than 200 {mu}m is reported with the experimental material used. In this article, we present the principle of the method as well as the calibration methodology. Limitation and accuracy of the method are discussed. Experimental results are presented.« less
A methodology for reduced order modeling and calibration of the upper atmosphere
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Mehta, Piyush M.; Linares, Richard
2017-10-01
Atmospheric drag is the largest source of uncertainty in accurately predicting the orbit of satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). Accurately predicting drag for objects that traverse LEO is critical to space situational awareness. Atmospheric models used for orbital drag calculations can be characterized either as empirical or physics-based (first principles based). Empirical models are fast to evaluate but offer limited real-time predictive/forecasting ability, while physics based models offer greater predictive/forecasting ability but require dedicated parallel computational resources. Also, calibration with accurate data is required for either type of models. This paper presents a new methodology based on proper orthogonal decomposition toward development of a quasi-physical, predictive, reduced order model that combines the speed of empirical and the predictive/forecasting capabilities of physics-based models. The methodology is developed to reduce the high dimensionality of physics-based models while maintaining its capabilities. We develop the methodology using the Naval Research Lab's Mass Spectrometer Incoherent Scatter model and show that the diurnal and seasonal variations can be captured using a small number of modes and parameters. We also present calibration of the reduced order model using the CHAMP and GRACE accelerometer-derived densities. Results show that the method performs well for modeling and calibration of the upper atmosphere.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Selby, Boris P.; Sakas, Georgios; Walter, Stefan; Stilla, Uwe
2008-03-01
Positioning a patient accurately in treatment devices is crucial for radiological treatment, especially if accuracy vantages of particle beam treatment are exploited. To avoid sub-millimeter misalignments, X-ray images acquired from within the device are compared to a CT to compute respective alignment corrections. Unfortunately, deviations of the underlying geometry model for the imaging system degrade the achievable accuracy. We propose an automatic calibration routine, which bases on the geometry of a phantom and its automatic detection in digital radiographs acquired for various geometric device settings during the calibration. The results from the registration of the phantom's X-ray projections and its known geometry are used to update the model of the respective beamlines, which is used to compute the patient alignment correction. The geometric calibration of a beamline takes all nine relevant degrees of freedom into account, including detector translations in three directions, detector tilt by three axes and three possible translations for the X-ray tube. Introducing a stochastic model for the calibration we are able to predict the patient alignment deviations resulting from inaccuracies inherent to the phantom design and the calibration. Comparisons of the alignment results for a treatment device without calibrated imaging systems and a calibrated device show that an accurate calibration can enhance alignment accuracy.
Review of technological advancements in calibration systems for laser vision correction
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Arba-Mosquera, Samuel; Vinciguerra, Paolo; Verma, Shwetabh
2018-02-01
Using PubMed and our internal database, we extensively reviewed the literature on the technological advancements in calibration systems, with a motive to present an account of the development history, and latest developments in calibration systems used in refractive surgery laser systems. As a second motive, we explored the clinical impact of the error introduced due to the roughness in ablation and its corresponding effect on system calibration. The inclusion criterion for this review was strict relevance to the clinical questions under research. The existing calibration methods, including various plastic models, are highly affected by various factors involved in refractive surgery, such as temperature, airflow, and hydration. Surface roughness plays an important role in accurate measurement of ablation performance on calibration materials. The ratio of ablation efficiency between the human cornea and calibration material is very critical and highly dependent on the laser beam characteristics and test conditions. Objective evaluation of the calibration data and corresponding adjustment of the laser systems at regular intervals are essential for the continuing success and further improvements in outcomes of laser vision correction procedures.
Spectral characterization and calibration of AOTF spectrometers and hyper-spectral imaging system
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Katrašnik, Jaka; Pernuš, Franjo; Likar, Boštjan
2010-02-01
The goal of this article is to present a novel method for spectral characterization and calibration of spectrometers and hyper-spectral imaging systems based on non-collinear acousto-optical tunable filters. The method characterizes the spectral tuning curve (frequency-wavelength characteristic) of the AOTF (Acousto-Optic Tunable Filter) filter by matching the acquired and modeled spectra of the HgAr calibration lamp, which emits line spectrum that can be well modeled via AOTF transfer function. In this way, not only tuning curve characterization and corresponding spectral calibration but also spectral resolution assessment is performed. The obtained results indicated that the proposed method is efficient, accurate and feasible for routine calibration of AOTF spectrometers and hyper-spectral imaging systems and thereby a highly competitive alternative to the existing calibration methods.
Inflight Radiometric Calibration of New Horizons' Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC)
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Howett, C. J. A.; Parker, A. H.; Olkin, C. B.; Reuter, D. C.; Ennico, K.; Grundy, W. M.; Graps, A. L.; Harrison, K. P.; Throop, H. B.; Buie, M. W.;
2016-01-01
We discuss two semi-independent calibration techniques used to determine the inflight radiometric calibration for the New Horizons Multi-spectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC). The first calibration technique compares the measured number of counts (DN) observed from a number of well calibrated stars to those predicted using the component-level calibration. The ratio of these values provides a multiplicative factor that allows a conversation between the preflight calibration to the more accurate inflight one, for each detector. The second calibration technique is a channel-wise relative radiometric calibration for MVIC's blue, near-infrared and methane color channels using Hubble and New Horizons observations of Charon and scaling from the red channel stellar calibration. Both calibration techniques produce very similar results (better than 7% agreement), providing strong validation for the techniques used. Since the stellar calibration described here can be performed without a color target in the field of view and covers all of MVIC's detectors, this calibration was used to provide the radiometric keyword values delivered by the New Horizons project to the Planetary Data System (PDS). These keyword values allow each observation to be converted from counts to physical units; a description of how these keyword values were generated is included. Finally, mitigation techniques adopted for the gain drift observed in the near-infrared detector and one of the panchromatic framing cameras are also discussed.
An environmental dose experiment
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Peralta, Luis
2017-11-01
Several radiation sources worldwide contribute to the delivered dose to the human population. This radiation also acts as a natural background when detecting radiation, for instance from radioactive sources. In this work a medium-sized plastic scintillation detector is used to evaluate the dose delivered by natural radiation sources. Calibration of the detector involved the use of radioactive sources and Monte Carlo simulation of the energy deposition per disintegration. A measurement of the annual dose due to background radiation to the body was then estimated. A dose value compatible with the value reported by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation was obtained.
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Fulton, James P. (Inventor); Namkung, Min (Inventor); Simpson, John W. (Inventor); Wincheski, Russell A. (Inventor); Nath, Shridhar C. (Inventor)
1998-01-01
A thickness gauging instrument uses a flux focusing eddy current probe and two-point nonlinear calibration algorithm. The instrument is small and portable due to the simple interpretation and operational characteristics of the probe. A nonlinear interpolation scheme incorporated into the instrument enables a user to make highly accurate thickness measurements over a fairly wide calibration range from a single side of nonferromagnetic conductive metals. The instrument is very easy to use and can be calibrated quickly.
Clifford, Harry J [Los Alamos, NM
2011-03-22
A method and apparatus for mounting a calibration sphere to a calibration fixture for Coordinate Measurement Machine (CMM) calibration and qualification is described, decreasing the time required for such qualification, thus allowing the CMM to be used more productively. A number of embodiments are disclosed that allow for new and retrofit manufacture to perform as integrated calibration sphere and calibration fixture devices. This invention renders unnecessary the removal of a calibration sphere prior to CMM measurement of calibration features on calibration fixtures, thereby greatly reducing the time spent qualifying a CMM.
Long-Term Stability Assessment of Sonoran Desert for Vicarious Calibration of GOES-R
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kim, W.; Liang, S.; Cao, C.
2012-12-01
Vicarious calibration refers to calibration techniques that do not depend on onboard calibration devices. Although sensors and onboard calibration devices undergo rigorous validation processes before launch, performance of sensors often degrades after the launch due to exposure to the harsh space environment and the aging of devices. Such in-flight changes of devices can be identified and adjusted through vicarious calibration activities where the sensor degradation is measured in reference to exterior calibration sources such as the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth surface. Sonoran desert is one of the best calibration sites located in the North America that are available for vicarious calibration of GOES-R satellite. To accurately calibrate sensors onboard GOES-R satellite (e.g. advanced baseline imager (ABI)), the temporal stability of Sonoran desert needs to be assessed precisely. However, short-/mid-term variations in top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectance caused by meteorological variables such as water vapor amount and aerosol loading are often difficult to retrieve, making the use of TOA reflectance time series for the stability assessment of the site. In this paper, we address this issue of normalization of TOA reflectance time series using a time series analysis algorithm - seasonal trend decomposition procedure based on LOESS (STL) (Cleveland et al, 1990). The algorithm is basically a collection of smoothing filters which leads to decomposition of a time series into three additive components; seasonal, trend, and remainder. Since this non-linear technique is capable of extracting seasonal patterns in the presence of trend changes, the seasonal variation can be effectively identified in the time series of remote sensing data subject to various environmental changes. The experiment results performed with Landsat 5 TM data show that the decomposition results acquired for the Sonoran Desert area produce normalized series that have much less uncertainty than those
Brady, S L; Kaufman, R A
2012-06-01
The use of metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) detectors for patient dosimetry has increased by ~25% since 2005. Despite this increase, no standard calibration methodology has been identified nor calibration uncertainty quantified for the use of MOSFET dosimetry in CT. This work compares three MOSFET calibration methodologies proposed in the literature, and additionally investigates questions relating to optimal time for signal equilibration and exposure levels for maximum calibration precision. The calibration methodologies tested were (1) free in-air (FIA) with radiographic x-ray tube, (2) FIA with stationary CT x-ray tube, and (3) within scatter phantom with rotational CT x-ray tube. Each calibration was performed at absorbed dose levels of 10, 23, and 35 mGy. Times of 0 min or 5 min were investigated for signal equilibration before or after signal read out. Calibration precision was measured to be better than 5%-7%, 3%-5%, and 2%-4% for the 10, 23, and 35 mGy respective dose levels, and independent of calibration methodology. No correlation was demonstrated for precision and signal equilibration time when allowing 5 min before or after signal read out. Differences in average calibration coefficients were demonstrated between the FIA with CT calibration methodology 26.7 ± 1.1 mV cGy(-1) versus the CT scatter phantom 29.2 ± 1.0 mV cGy(-1) and FIA with x-ray 29.9 ± 1.1 mV cGy(-1) methodologies. A decrease in MOSFET sensitivity was seen at an average change in read out voltage of ~3000 mV. The best measured calibration precision was obtained by exposing the MOSFET detectors to 23 mGy. No signal equilibration time is necessary to improve calibration precision. A significant difference between calibration outcomes was demonstrated for FIA with CT compared to the other two methodologies. If the FIA with a CT calibration methodology was used to create calibration coefficients for the eventual use for phantom dosimetry, a measurement error ~12
Radiometric Calibration of a Dual-Wavelength, Full-Waveform Terrestrial Lidar.
Li, Zhan; Jupp, David L B; Strahler, Alan H; Schaaf, Crystal B; Howe, Glenn; Hewawasam, Kuravi; Douglas, Ewan S; Chakrabarti, Supriya; Cook, Timothy A; Paynter, Ian; Saenz, Edward J; Schaefer, Michael
2016-03-02
Radiometric calibration of the Dual-Wavelength Echidna(®) Lidar (DWEL), a full-waveform terrestrial laser scanner with two simultaneously-pulsing infrared lasers at 1064 nm and 1548 nm, provides accurate dual-wavelength apparent reflectance (ρ(app)), a physically-defined value that is related to the radiative and structural characteristics of scanned targets and independent of range and instrument optics and electronics. The errors of ρ(app) are 8.1% for 1064 nm and 6.4% for 1548 nm. A sensitivity analysis shows that ρ(app) error is dominated by range errors at near ranges, but by lidar intensity errors at far ranges. Our semi-empirical model for radiometric calibration combines a generalized logistic function to explicitly model telescopic effects due to defocusing of return signals at near range with a negative exponential function to model the fall-off of return intensity with range. Accurate values of ρ(app) from the radiometric calibration improve the quantification of vegetation structure, facilitate the comparison and coupling of lidar datasets from different instruments, campaigns or wavelengths and advance the utilization of bi- and multi-spectral information added to 3D scans by novel spectral lidars.
Practical wavelength calibration considerations for UV-visible Fourier-transform spectroscopy.
Salit, M L; Travis, J C; Winchester, M R
1996-06-01
The intrinsic wavelength scale in a modern reference laser-controlled Michelson interferometer-sometimes referred to as the Connes advantage-offers excellent wavelength accuracy with relative ease. Truly superb wavelength accuracy, with total relative uncertainty in line position of the order of several parts in 10(8), should be within reach with single-point, multiplicative calibration. The need for correction of the wavelength scale arises from two practical effects: the use of a finite aperture, from which off-axis rays propagate through the interferometer, and imperfect geometric alignment of the sample beam with the reference beam and the optical axis of the moving mirror. Although an analytical correction can be made for the finite-aperture effect, calibration with a trusted wavelength standard is typically used to accomplish both corrections. Practical aspects of accurate calibration of an interferometer in the UV-visible region are discussed. Critical issues regarding accurate use of a standard external to the sample source and the evaluation and selection of an appropriate standard are addressed. Anomalous results for two different potential wavelength standards measured by Fabry-Perot interferometry (Ar II and (198)Hg I) are observed.
Radiometric Calibration of a Dual-Wavelength, Full-Waveform Terrestrial Lidar
Li, Zhan; Jupp, David L. B.; Strahler, Alan H.; Schaaf, Crystal B.; Howe, Glenn; Hewawasam, Kuravi; Douglas, Ewan S.; Chakrabarti, Supriya; Cook, Timothy A.; Paynter, Ian; Saenz, Edward J.; Schaefer, Michael
2016-01-01
Radiometric calibration of the Dual-Wavelength Echidna® Lidar (DWEL), a full-waveform terrestrial laser scanner with two simultaneously-pulsing infrared lasers at 1064 nm and 1548 nm, provides accurate dual-wavelength apparent reflectance (ρapp), a physically-defined value that is related to the radiative and structural characteristics of scanned targets and independent of range and instrument optics and electronics. The errors of ρapp are 8.1% for 1064 nm and 6.4% for 1548 nm. A sensitivity analysis shows that ρapp error is dominated by range errors at near ranges, but by lidar intensity errors at far ranges. Our semi-empirical model for radiometric calibration combines a generalized logistic function to explicitly model telescopic effects due to defocusing of return signals at near range with a negative exponential function to model the fall-off of return intensity with range. Accurate values of ρapp from the radiometric calibration improve the quantification of vegetation structure, facilitate the comparison and coupling of lidar datasets from different instruments, campaigns or wavelengths and advance the utilization of bi- and multi-spectral information added to 3D scans by novel spectral lidars. PMID:26950126
System for characterizing semiconductor materials and photovoltaic devices through calibration
Sopori, Bhushan L.; Allen, Larry C.; Marshall, Craig; Murphy, Robert C.; Marshall, Todd
1998-01-01
A method and apparatus for measuring characteristics of a piece of material, typically semiconductor materials including photovoltaic devices. The characteristics may include dislocation defect density, grain boundaries, reflectance, external LBIC, internal LBIC, and minority carrier diffusion length. The apparatus includes a light source, an integrating sphere, and a detector communicating with a computer. The measurement or calculation of the characteristics is calibrated to provide accurate, absolute values. The calibration is performed by substituting a standard sample for the piece of material, the sample having a known quantity of one or more of the relevant characteristics. The quantity measured by the system of the relevant characteristic is compared to the known quantity and a calibration constant is created thereby.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Alsanea, F; Therriault-Proulx, F; Sawakuchi, G
Purpose: The light generated in organic scintillators depends on both the radiation dose and the linear energy transfer (LET). The LET dependence leads to an under-response of the detector in the Bragg peak of proton beams. This phenomenon, called ionization quenching, must be corrected to obtain accurate dose measurements of proton beams. This work exploits the ionization quenching phenomenon to provide a method of measuring LET and auto correcting quenching. Methods: We exposed simultaneously four different organic scintillators (BCF-12, PMMA, PVT, and LSD; 1mm in diameter) and a plane parallel ionization chamber in passively scattered proton beams to doses betweenmore » 32 and 43 cGy and fluence averaged LET values from 0.47 to 1.26 keV/µm. The LET values for each irradiation condition were determined using a validated Monte Carlo model of the beam line. We determined the quenching parameter in the Birk’s equation for scintillation in BCF-12 for dose measurements. One set of irradiation conditions was used to correlate the scintillation response ratio to the LET values and plot a scintillation response ratio versus LET calibration curve. Irradiation conditions independent from the calibration ones were used to validate this method. Comparisons to the expected values were made on both the basis of dose and LET. Results: Among all the scintillators investigated, the ratio of PMMA to BCF-12 provided the best correlation to LET values and was used as the LET calibration curve. The expected LET values in the validation set were within 2%±6%, which resulted in dose accuracy of 1.5%±5.8% for the range of LET values investigated in this work. Conclusion: We have demonstrated the feasibility of using the ratio between the light output of two organic scintillators to simultaneously measure LET and dose of therapeutic proton beams. Further studies are needed to verify the response in higher LET values.« less
Micro-feeding and dosing of powders via a small-scale powder pump.
Besenhard, M O; Fathollahi, S; Siegmann, E; Slama, E; Faulhammer, E; Khinast, J G
2017-03-15
Robust and accurate powder micro-feeding (<100mg/s) and micro-dosing (<5 mg) are major challenges, especially with regard to regulatory limitations applicable to pharmaceutical development and production. Since known micro-feeders that yield feed rates below 5mg/s use gravimetric feeding principles, feed rates depend primarily on powder properties. In contrast, volumetric powder feeders do not require regular calibration because their feed rates are primarily determined by the feeder's characteristic volume replacement. In this paper, we present a volumetric micro-feeder based on a cylinder piston system (i.e., a powder pump), which allows accurate micro-feeding and feed rates of a few grams per hours even for very fine powders. Our experimental studies addressed the influence of cylinder geometries, the initial conditions of bulk powder, and the piston speeds. Additional computational studies via Discrete Element Method simulations offered a better understanding of the feeding process, its possible limitations and ways to overcome them. The powder pump is a simple yet valuable tool for accurate powder feeding at feed rates of several orders of magnitude. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Accuracy of airspeed measurements and flight calibration procedures
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Huston, Wilber B
1948-01-01
The sources of error that may enter into the measurement of airspeed by pitot-static methods are reviewed in detail together with methods of flight calibration of airspeed installations. Special attention is given to the problem of accurate measurements of airspeed under conditions of high speed and maneuverability required of military airplanes. (author)
Calibrating an Ionosonde for Ionospheric Attenuation Measurements.
Gilli, Lorenzo; Sciacca, Umberto; Zuccheretti, Enrico
2018-05-15
Vertical ionospheric soundings have been performed at almost all ionospheric observatories with little attention to measuring the attenuation of the signal between transmission and reception. When the absorption has been determined, this has been achieved by comparing the received power after the first and second reflections, but this method has some limitations due to the unknown reflection coefficient of the ground and the non-continuous presence of the second reflection. This paper deals with a different method based on precise calibration of the sounding system, allowing determination of absolute signal attenuation after a single reflection. This approach is affected by a systematic error due to imperfect calibration of the antennas, but when the focus of interest is to measure a trend over a specified period, it is very accurate. The article describes how calibration was implemented, the measurement output formats, and finally it presents some results from a meaningful set of measurements in order to demonstrate what this method can accomplish.
A new systematic calibration method of ring laser gyroscope inertial navigation system
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Wei, Guo; Gao, Chunfeng; Wang, Qi; Wang, Qun; Xiong, Zhenyu; Long, Xingwu
2016-10-01
Inertial navigation system has been the core component of both military and civil navigation systems. Before the INS is put into application, it is supposed to be calibrated in the laboratory in order to compensate repeatability error caused by manufacturing. Discrete calibration method cannot fulfill requirements of high-accurate calibration of the mechanically dithered ring laser gyroscope navigation system with shock absorbers. This paper has analyzed theories of error inspiration and separation in detail and presented a new systematic calibration method for ring laser gyroscope inertial navigation system. Error models and equations of calibrated Inertial Measurement Unit are given. Then proper rotation arrangement orders are depicted in order to establish the linear relationships between the change of velocity errors and calibrated parameter errors. Experiments have been set up to compare the systematic errors calculated by filtering calibration result with those obtained by discrete calibration result. The largest position error and velocity error of filtering calibration result are only 0.18 miles and 0.26m/s compared with 2 miles and 1.46m/s of discrete calibration result. These results have validated the new systematic calibration method and proved its importance for optimal design and accuracy improvement of calibration of mechanically dithered ring laser gyroscope inertial navigation system.
Automatic Astrometric and Photometric Calibration with SCAMP
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Bertin, E.
2006-07-01
Astrometric and photometric calibrations have remained the most tiresome step in the reduction of large imaging surveys. I present a new software package, SCAMP which has been written to address this problem. SCAMP efficiently computes accurate astrometric and photometric solutions for any arbitrary sequence of FITS images in a completely automatic way. SCAMP is released under the GNU General Public Licence.
Hand-Eye Calibration of Robonaut
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Nickels, Kevin; Huber, Eric
2004-01-01
Robonaut Unit A and has been shown to reduce mismatch between kinematically derived positions and visually derived positions from a mean of 13.75cm using the previous calibration to means of 1.85cm using a full calibration and 2.02cm using a suboptimal but faster daily calibration. This improved calibration has already enabled the robot to more accurately reach for and grasp objects that it sees within its workspace. The system has been used to support an autonomous wrench-grasping experiment and significantly improved the workspace positioning of the hand based on visually derived wrench position. estimates.
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Lesco, D. J.; Weikle, D. H.
1980-01-01
The wideband electric power measurement related topics of electronic wattmeter calibration and specification are discussed. Tested calibration techniques are described in detail. Analytical methods used to determine the bandwidth requirements of instrumentation for switching circuit waveforms are presented and illustrated with examples from electric vehicle type applications. Analog multiplier wattmeters, digital wattmeters and calculating digital oscilloscopes are compared. The instrumentation characteristics which are critical to accurate wideband power measurement are described.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Zhang, Yibo; Wu, Yichen; Zhang, Yun; Ozcan, Aydogan
2016-06-01
Lens-free holographic microscopy can achieve wide-field imaging in a cost-effective and field-portable setup, making it a promising technique for point-of-care and telepathology applications. However, due to relatively narrow-band sources used in holographic microscopy, conventional colorization methods that use images reconstructed at discrete wavelengths, corresponding to e.g., red (R), green (G) and blue (B) channels, are subject to color artifacts. Furthermore, these existing RGB colorization methods do not match the chromatic perception of human vision. Here we present a high-color-fidelity and high-resolution imaging method, termed “digital color fusion microscopy” (DCFM), which fuses a holographic image acquired at a single wavelength with a color-calibrated image taken by a low-magnification lens-based microscope using a wavelet transform-based colorization method. We demonstrate accurate color reproduction of DCFM by imaging stained tissue sections. In particular we show that a lens-free holographic microscope in combination with a cost-effective mobile-phone-based microscope can generate color images of specimens, performing very close to a high numerical-aperture (NA) benchtop microscope that is corrected for color distortions and chromatic aberrations, also matching the chromatic response of human vision. This method can be useful for wide-field imaging needs in telepathology applications and in resource-limited settings, where whole-slide scanning microscopy systems are not available.
Zhang, Yibo; Wu, Yichen; Zhang, Yun; Ozcan, Aydogan
2016-01-01
Lens-free holographic microscopy can achieve wide-field imaging in a cost-effective and field-portable setup, making it a promising technique for point-of-care and telepathology applications. However, due to relatively narrow-band sources used in holographic microscopy, conventional colorization methods that use images reconstructed at discrete wavelengths, corresponding to e.g., red (R), green (G) and blue (B) channels, are subject to color artifacts. Furthermore, these existing RGB colorization methods do not match the chromatic perception of human vision. Here we present a high-color-fidelity and high-resolution imaging method, termed “digital color fusion microscopy” (DCFM), which fuses a holographic image acquired at a single wavelength with a color-calibrated image taken by a low-magnification lens-based microscope using a wavelet transform-based colorization method. We demonstrate accurate color reproduction of DCFM by imaging stained tissue sections. In particular we show that a lens-free holographic microscope in combination with a cost-effective mobile-phone-based microscope can generate color images of specimens, performing very close to a high numerical-aperture (NA) benchtop microscope that is corrected for color distortions and chromatic aberrations, also matching the chromatic response of human vision. This method can be useful for wide-field imaging needs in telepathology applications and in resource-limited settings, where whole-slide scanning microscopy systems are not available. PMID:27283459
Zhang, Yibo; Wu, Yichen; Zhang, Yun; Ozcan, Aydogan
2016-06-10
Lens-free holographic microscopy can achieve wide-field imaging in a cost-effective and field-portable setup, making it a promising technique for point-of-care and telepathology applications. However, due to relatively narrow-band sources used in holographic microscopy, conventional colorization methods that use images reconstructed at discrete wavelengths, corresponding to e.g., red (R), green (G) and blue (B) channels, are subject to color artifacts. Furthermore, these existing RGB colorization methods do not match the chromatic perception of human vision. Here we present a high-color-fidelity and high-resolution imaging method, termed "digital color fusion microscopy" (DCFM), which fuses a holographic image acquired at a single wavelength with a color-calibrated image taken by a low-magnification lens-based microscope using a wavelet transform-based colorization method. We demonstrate accurate color reproduction of DCFM by imaging stained tissue sections. In particular we show that a lens-free holographic microscope in combination with a cost-effective mobile-phone-based microscope can generate color images of specimens, performing very close to a high numerical-aperture (NA) benchtop microscope that is corrected for color distortions and chromatic aberrations, also matching the chromatic response of human vision. This method can be useful for wide-field imaging needs in telepathology applications and in resource-limited settings, where whole-slide scanning microscopy systems are not available.
Calibration of Smartphone-Based Weather Measurements Using Pairwise Gossip
Yamaguchi, Suguru
2015-01-01
Accurate and reliable daily global weather reports are necessary for weather forecasting and climate analysis. However, the availability of these reports continues to decline due to the lack of economic support and policies in maintaining ground weather measurement systems from where these reports are obtained. Thus, to mitigate data scarcity, it is required to utilize weather information from existing sensors and built-in smartphone sensors. However, as smartphone usage often varies according to human activity, it is difficult to obtain accurate measurement data. In this paper, we present a heuristic-based pairwise gossip algorithm that will calibrate smartphone-based pressure sensors with respect to fixed weather stations as our referential ground truth. Based on actual measurements, we have verified that smartphone-based readings are unstable when observed during movement. Using our calibration algorithm on actual smartphone-based pressure readings, the updated values were significantly closer to the ground truth values. PMID:26421312
Calibration Of An Active Mammosite Using A Low Activity Sr-90 Radioactive Source
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Winston, Jacquelyn
2007-03-01
The latest involvement of the Brachytherapy research group of the medical physics program at Hampton University is in the development of a scintillating fiber based detector for the breast cancer specific Mammosite (balloon device) from Cytyc Inc. Recent data were acquired at a local hospital to evaluate the possibility of measuring the dose distribution during breast Brachytherapy cancer treatments with this device. Since sub-millimeter accuracy in position is required, precision of the device relies on the accurate calibration of the scintillating fiber element. As part of a collaboration work, data were acquired for that purpose at Hampton University and subsequently analyzed at Morgan State University. An 8 mm diameter strontium-90 radioactive field source with a low activity of 25 μCi was used along with a dedicated LabView data acquisition system. We will discuss the data collected and address some of the features of this novel system.
Calibration Of An Active Mammosite Using A Low Activity Sr-90 Radioactive Source
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Winston, Jacquelyn
2006-03-01
The latest involvement of the Brachytherapy research group of the medical physics program at Hampton University is in the development of a scintillator fiber based detector for the breast cancer specific Mammosite (balloon device) from Cytyc Inc. Recent data were acquired at a local hospital to evaluate the possibility of measuring the dose distribution during breast Brachytherapy cancer treatments with this device. Since sub-millimeter accuracy in position is required, precision of the device relies on the accurate calibration of the scintillating fiber element. As part of a collaboration work, data were acquired for that purpose at Hampton University and subsequently analyzed at Morgan State University. An 8 mm diameter strontium-90 radioactive field source with a low activity of 25 μCi was used along with a dedicated LabView data acquisition system. We will discuss the data collected and address some of the features of this novel system.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Huang, B-T; Lu, J-Y
Purpose: We introduce a new method combined with the deformable image registration (DIR) and regions-of-interest mapping (ROIM) technique to accurately calculate dose on daily CBCT for esophageal cancer. Methods: Patients suffered from esophageal cancer were enrolled in the study. Prescription was set to 66 Gy/30 F and 54 Gy/30 F to the primary tumor (PTV66) and subclinical disease (PTV54) . Planning CT (pCT) were segmented into 8 substructures in terms of their differences in physical density, such as gross target volume (GTV), venae cava superior (SVC), aorta, heart, spinal cord, lung, muscle and bones. The pCT and its substructures weremore » transferred to the MIM software to readout their mean HU values. Afterwards, a deformable planning CT to daily KV-CBCT image registration method was then utilized to acquire a new structure set on CBCT. The newly generated structures on CBCT were then transferred back to the treatment planning system (TPS) and its HU information were overridden manually with mean HU values obtained from pCT. Finally, the treatment plan was projected onto the CBCT images with the same beam arrangements and monitor units (MUs) to accomplish dose calculation. Planning target volume (PTV) and organs at risk (OARs) from both of the pCT and CBCT were compared to evaluate the dose calculation accuracy. Results: It was found that the dose distribution in the CBCT showed little differences compared to the pCT, regardless of whether PTV or OARs were concerned. Specifically, dose variation in GTV, PTV54, PTV66, SVC, lung and heart were within 0.1%. The maximum dose variation was presented in the spinal cord, which was up to 2.7% dose difference. Conclusion: The proposed method combined with DIR and ROIM technique to accurately calculate dose distribution on CBCT for esophageal cancer is feasible.« less
Early Calibration Results of CYGNSS Mission
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Balasubramaniam, R.; Ruf, C. S.; McKague, D. S.; Clarizia, M. P.; Gleason, S.
2017-12-01
The first of its kind, GNSS-R complete orbital mission, CYGNSS was successfully launched on Dec 15 2016. The goal of this mission is to accurately forecast the intensification of tropical cyclones by modelling its inner core. The 8 micro observatories of CYGNSS carry a passive instrument called Delay Doppler Mapping Instrument (DDMI). The DDMIs form a 2D representation called the Delay-Doppler Map (DDM) of the forward scattered power signal. Each DDMI outputs 4 DDMs per second which are compressed and sent to the ground resulting in a total of 32 sea-surface measurements produced by the CYGNSS constellation per second. These are subsequently used in the Level-2 wind retrieval algorithm to extract wind speed information. In this paper, we perform calibration and validation of CYGNSS measurements for accurate extraction of wind speed information. The calibration stage involves identification and correction for dependence of the CYGNSS observables namely Normalised Bistatic Radar Cross Section and Leading Edge Slope of the Integrated Delay Waveform over instrument parameters, geometry etc. The validation stage involves training of the Geophysical Model Function over a multitude of ground truth sources during the Atlantic hurricane season and also refined validation of high wind speed data products.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Chinowsky, Timothy M.; Yee, Sinclair S.
2002-02-01
Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) affinity sensing, the problem of bulk refractive index (RI) interference in SPR sensing, and a sensor developed to overcome this problem are briefly reviewed. The sensor uses a design based on Texas Instruments' Spreeta SPR sensor to simultaneously measure both bulk and surface RI. The bulk RI measurement is then used to compensate the surface measurement and remove the effects of bulk RI interference. To achieve accurate compensation, robust data analysis and calibration techniques are necessary. Simple linear data analysis techniques derived from measurements of the sensor response were found to provide a versatile, low noise method for extracting measurements of bulk and surface refractive index from the raw sensor data. Automatic calibration using RI gradients was used to correct the linear estimates, enabling the sensor to produce accurate data even when the sensor has a complicated nonlinear response which varies with time. The calibration procedure is described, and the factors influencing calibration accuracy are discussed. Data analysis and calibration principles are illustrated with an experiment in which sucrose and detergent solutions are used to produce changes in bulk and surface RI, respectively.
Spinning angle optical calibration apparatus
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Beer, S.K.; Pratt, H.R. II.
1989-09-12
An optical calibration apparatus is provided for calibrating and reproducing spinning angles in cross-polarization, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. An illuminated magnifying apparatus enables optical setting and accurate reproducing of spinning magic angles in cross-polarization, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy experiments. A reference mark scribed on an edge of a spinning angle test sample holder is illuminated by a light source and viewed through a magnifying scope. When the magic angle of a sample material used as a standard is attained by varying the angular position of the sample holder, the coordinate position of the reference mark relative to a graduation ormore » graduations on a reticle in the magnifying scope is noted. Thereafter, the spinning magic angle of a test material having similar nuclear properties to the standard is attained by returning the sample holder back to the originally noted coordinate position. 2 figs.« less
New calibration technique for KCD-based megavoltage imaging
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Samant, Sanjiv S.; Zheng, Wei; DiBianca, Frank A.; Zeman, Herbert D.; Laughter, Joseph S.
1999-05-01
In megavoltage imaging, current commercial electronic portal imaging devices (EPIDs), despite having the advantage of immediate digital imaging over film, suffer from poor image contrast and spatial resolution. The feasibility of using a kinestatic charge detector (KCD) as an EPID to provide superior image contrast and spatial resolution for portal imaging has already been demonstrated in a previous paper. The KCD system had the additional advantage of requiring an extremely low dose per acquired image, allowing for superior imaging to be reconstructed form a single linac pulse per image pixel. The KCD based images utilized a dose of two orders of magnitude less that for EPIDs and film. Compared with the current commercial EPIDs and film, the prototype KCD system exhibited promising image qualities, despite being handicapped by the use of a relatively simple image calibration technique, and the performance limits of medical linacs on the maximum linac pulse frequency and energy flux per pulse delivered. This image calibration technique fixed relative image pixel values based on a linear interpolation of extrema provided by an air-water calibration, and accounted only for channel-to-channel variations. The counterpart of this for area detectors is the standard flat fielding method. A comprehensive calibration protocol has been developed. The new technique additionally corrects for geometric distortions due to variations in the scan velocity, and timing artifacts caused by mis-synchronization between the linear accelerator and the data acquisition system (DAS). The role of variations in energy flux (2 - 3%) on imaging is demonstrated to be not significant for the images considered. The methodology is presented, and the results are discussed for simulated images. It also allows for significant improvements in the signal-to- noise ratio (SNR) by increasing the dose using multiple images without having to increase the linac pulse frequency or energy flux per pulse. The
Extrinsic Calibration of Camera and 2D Laser Sensors without Overlap
Al-Widyan, Khalid
2017-01-01
Extrinsic calibration of a camera and a 2D laser range finder (lidar) sensors is crucial in sensor data fusion applications; for example SLAM algorithms used in mobile robot platforms. The fundamental challenge of extrinsic calibration is when the camera-lidar sensors do not overlap or share the same field of view. In this paper we propose a novel and flexible approach for the extrinsic calibration of a camera-lidar system without overlap, which can be used for robotic platform self-calibration. The approach is based on the robot–world hand–eye calibration (RWHE) problem; proven to have efficient and accurate solutions. First, the system was mapped to the RWHE calibration problem modeled as the linear relationship AX=ZB, where X and Z are unknown calibration matrices. Then, we computed the transformation matrix B, which was the main challenge in the above mapping. The computation is based on reasonable assumptions about geometric structure in the calibration environment. The reliability and accuracy of the proposed approach is compared to a state-of-the-art method in extrinsic 2D lidar to camera calibration. Experimental results from real datasets indicate that the proposed approach provides better results with an L2 norm translational and rotational deviations of 314 mm and 0.12∘ respectively. PMID:29036905
Extrinsic Calibration of Camera and 2D Laser Sensors without Overlap.
Ahmad Yousef, Khalil M; Mohd, Bassam J; Al-Widyan, Khalid; Hayajneh, Thaier
2017-10-14
Extrinsic calibration of a camera and a 2D laser range finder (lidar) sensors is crucial in sensor data fusion applications; for example SLAM algorithms used in mobile robot platforms. The fundamental challenge of extrinsic calibration is when the camera-lidar sensors do not overlap or share the same field of view. In this paper we propose a novel and flexible approach for the extrinsic calibration of a camera-lidar system without overlap, which can be used for robotic platform self-calibration. The approach is based on the robot-world hand-eye calibration (RWHE) problem; proven to have efficient and accurate solutions. First, the system was mapped to the RWHE calibration problem modeled as the linear relationship AX = ZB , where X and Z are unknown calibration matrices. Then, we computed the transformation matrix B , which was the main challenge in the above mapping. The computation is based on reasonable assumptions about geometric structure in the calibration environment. The reliability and accuracy of the proposed approach is compared to a state-of-the-art method in extrinsic 2D lidar to camera calibration. Experimental results from real datasets indicate that the proposed approach provides better results with an L2 norm translational and rotational deviations of 314 mm and 0 . 12 ∘ respectively.
How to obtain accurate resist simulations in very low-k1 era?
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Chiou, Tsann-Bim; Park, Chan-Ha; Choi, Jae-Seung; Min, Young-Hong; Hansen, Steve; Tseng, Shih-En; Chen, Alek C.; Yim, Donggyu
2006-03-01
A procedure for calibrating a resist model iteratively adjusts appropriate parameters until the simulations of the model match the experimental data. The tunable parameters may include the shape of the illuminator, the geometry and transmittance/phase of the mask, light source and scanner-related parameters that affect imaging quality, resist process control and most importantly the physical/chemical factors in the resist model. The resist model can be accurately calibrated by measuring critical dimensions (CD) of a focus-exposure matrix (FEM) and the technique has been demonstrated to be very successful in predicting lithographic performance. However, resist model calibration is more challenging in the low k1 (<0.3) regime because numerous uncertainties, such as mask and resist CD metrology errors, are becoming too large to be ignored. This study demonstrates a resist model calibration procedure for a 0.29 k1 process using a 6% halftone mask containing 2D brickwall patterns. The influence of different scanning electron microscopes (SEM) and their wafer metrology signal analysis algorithms on the accuracy of the resist model is evaluated. As an example of the metrology issue of the resist pattern, the treatment of a sidewall angle is demonstrated for the resist line ends where the contrast is relatively low. Additionally, the mask optical proximity correction (OPC) and corner rounding are considered in the calibration procedure that is based on captured SEM images. Accordingly, the average root-mean-square (RMS) error, which is the difference between simulated and experimental CDs, can be improved by considering the metrological issues. Moreover, a weighting method and a measured CD tolerance are proposed to handle the different CD variations of the various edge points of the wafer resist pattern. After the weighting method is implemented and the CD selection criteria applied, the RMS error can be further suppressed. Therefore, the resist CD and process window can
A hybrid method for accurate star tracking using star sensor and gyros.
Lu, Jiazhen; Yang, Lie; Zhang, Hao
2017-10-01
Star tracking is the primary operating mode of star sensors. To improve tracking accuracy and efficiency, a hybrid method using a star sensor and gyroscopes is proposed in this study. In this method, the dynamic conditions of an aircraft are determined first by the estimated angular acceleration. Under low dynamic conditions, the star sensor is used to measure the star vector and the vector difference method is adopted to estimate the current angular velocity. Under high dynamic conditions, the angular velocity is obtained by the calibrated gyros. The star position is predicted based on the estimated angular velocity and calibrated gyros using the star vector measurements. The results of the semi-physical experiment show that this hybrid method is accurate and feasible. In contrast with the star vector difference and gyro-assisted methods, the star position prediction result of the hybrid method is verified to be more accurate in two different cases under the given random noise of the star centroid.
High-accuracy self-calibration method for dual-axis rotation-modulating RLG-INS
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Wei, Guo; Gao, Chunfeng; Wang, Qi; Wang, Qun; Long, Xingwu
2017-05-01
Inertial navigation system has been the core component of both military and civil navigation systems. Dual-axis rotation modulation can completely eliminate the inertial elements constant errors of the three axes to improve the system accuracy. But the error caused by the misalignment angles and the scale factor error cannot be eliminated through dual-axis rotation modulation. And discrete calibration method cannot fulfill requirements of high-accurate calibration of the mechanically dithered ring laser gyroscope navigation system with shock absorbers. This paper has analyzed the effect of calibration error during one modulated period and presented a new systematic self-calibration method for dual-axis rotation-modulating RLG-INS. Procedure for self-calibration of dual-axis rotation-modulating RLG-INS has been designed. The results of self-calibration simulation experiment proved that: this scheme can estimate all the errors in the calibration error model, the calibration precision of the inertial sensors scale factor error is less than 1ppm and the misalignment is less than 5″. These results have validated the systematic self-calibration method and proved its importance for accuracy improvement of dual -axis rotation inertial navigation system with mechanically dithered ring laser gyroscope.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Abeykoon, A. M. Milinda; Hu, Hefei; Wu, Lijun
2015-02-01
We explore and describe different protocols for calibrating electron pair distribution function (ePDF) measurements for quantitative studies on nano-materials. We find the most accurate approach to determine the camera-length is to use a standard calibration sample of Au nanoparticles from National Institute of Standards and Technology. Different protocols for data collection are also explored, as are possible operational errors, to find the best approaches for accurate data collection for quantitative ePDF studies.
A Spectralon BRF Data Base for MISR Calibration Application
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Bruegge, C.; Chrien, N.; Haner, D.
1999-01-01
The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) is an Earth observing sensor which will provide global retrievals of aerosols, clouds, and land surface parameters. Instrument specifications require high accuracy absolute calibration, as well as accurate camera-to-camera, band-to-band and pixel-to-pixel relative response determinations.
Macintyre, Lisa
2011-11-01
Accurate measurement of the pressure delivered by medical compression products is highly desirable both in monitoring treatment and in developing new pressure inducing garments or products. There are several complications in measuring pressure at the garment/body interface and at present no ideal pressure measurement tool exists for this purpose. This paper summarises a thorough evaluation of the accuracy and reproducibility of measurements taken following both of Tekscan Inc.'s recommended calibration procedures for I-scan sensors; and presents an improved method for calibrating and using I-scan pressure sensors. The proposed calibration method enables accurate (±2.1 mmHg) measurement of pressures delivered by pressure garments to body parts with a circumference ≥30 cm. This method is too cumbersome for routine clinical use but is very useful, accurate and reproducible for product development or clinical evaluation purposes. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.
Ellison, Aaron M.; Jackson, Scott
2015-01-01
Herpetologists and conservation biologists frequently use convenient and cost-effective, but less accurate, abundance indices (e.g., number of individuals collected under artificial cover boards or during natural objects surveys) in lieu of more accurate, but costly and destructive, population size estimators to detect and monitor size, state, and trends of amphibian populations. Although there are advantages and disadvantages to each approach, reliable use of abundance indices requires that they be calibrated with accurate population estimators. Such calibrations, however, are rare. The red back salamander, Plethodon cinereus, is an ecologically useful indicator species of forest dynamics, and accurate calibration of indices of salamander abundance could increase the reliability of abundance indices used in monitoring programs. We calibrated abundance indices derived from surveys of P. cinereus under artificial cover boards or natural objects with a more accurate estimator of their population size in a New England forest. Average densities/m2 and capture probabilities of P. cinereus under natural objects or cover boards in independent, replicate sites at the Harvard Forest (Petersham, Massachusetts, USA) were similar in stands dominated by Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock) and deciduous hardwood species (predominantly Quercus rubra [red oak] and Acer rubrum [red maple]). The abundance index based on salamanders surveyed under natural objects was significantly associated with density estimates of P. cinereus derived from depletion (removal) surveys, but underestimated true density by 50%. In contrast, the abundance index based on cover-board surveys overestimated true density by a factor of 8 and the association between the cover-board index and the density estimates was not statistically significant. We conclude that when calibrated and used appropriately, some abundance indices may provide cost-effective and reliable measures of P. cinereus abundance that could
SU-F-E-20: A Mathematical Model of Linac Jaw Calibration Integrated with Collimator Walkout
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Zhao, Y; Corns, R; Huang, V
2016-06-15
Purpose: Accurate jaw calibration is possible, but it does not necessarily achieve good junctions because of collimator rotation walkout. We developed a mathematical model seeking to pick an origin for calibration that minimizes the collimator walkout effect. Methods: We use radioopaque markers aligned with crosshair on the EPID to determine the collimator walkout at collimator angles 0°, 90° and 270°. We can accurately calibrate jaws to any arbitrary origin near the radiation field centre. While the absolute position of an origin moves with the collimator walkout, its relative location to the crosshair is an invariant. We studied two approaches tomore » select an optimal origin. One approach seeks to bring all three origin locations (0°–90°–270°) as close as possible by minimizing the perimeter of the triangle formed by these points. The other approach focuses on the gap for 0°–90° junctions. Results: Our perimeter cost function has two variables and non-linear behaviour. Generally, it does not have zero-perimeter-length solution which leads to perfect jaw matches. The zero solution can only be achieved, if the collimator rotates about a single fixed axis. In the second approach, we can always get perfect 0°–0° and 0°–90° junctions, because we ignore the 0°–270° situation. For our TrueBeams, both techniques for selecting an origin improved junction dose inhomogeneities to less than ±6%. Conclusion: Our model considers the general jaw matching with collimator rotations and proposes two potential solutions. One solution optimizes the junction gaps by considering all three collimator angles while the other only considers 0°–90°. The first solution will not give perfect matching, but can be clinically acceptable with minimized collimator walkout effect, while the second can have perfect junctions at the expense of the 0°–270° junctions. Different clinics might choose between these two methods basing on their clinical practices.« less
Experimental light scattering by small particles: system design and calibration
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Maconi, Göran; Kassamakov, Ivan; Penttilä, Antti; Gritsevich, Maria; Hæggström, Edward; Muinonen, Karri
2017-06-01
We describe a setup for precise multi-angular measurements of light scattered by mm- to μm-sized samples. We present a calibration procedure that ensures accurate measurements. Calibration is done using a spherical sample (d = 5 mm, n = 1.517) fixed on a static holder. The ultimate goal of the project is to allow accurate multi-wavelength measurements (the full Mueller matrix) of single-particle samples which are levitated ultrasonically. The system comprises a tunable multimode Argon-krypton laser, with 12 wavelengths ranging from 465 to 676 nm, a linear polarizer, a reference photomultiplier tube (PMT) monitoring beam intensity, and several PMT:s mounted radially towards the sample at an adjustable radius. The current 150 mm radius allows measuring all azimuthal angles except for ±4° around the backward scattering direction. The measurement angle is controlled by a motor-driven rotational stage with an accuracy of 15'.
Heterodyne interferometry method for calibration of a Soleil-Babinet compensator.
Zhang, Wenjing; Zhang, Zhiwei
2016-05-20
A method based on the common-path heterodyne interferometer system is proposed for the calibration of a Soleil-Babinet compensator. In this heterodyne interferometer system, which consists of two acousto-optic modulators, the compensator being calibrated is inserted into the signal path. By using the reference beam as the benchmark and a lock-in amplifier (SR844) as the phase retardation collector, retardations of 0 and λ (one wavelength) can be located accurately, and an arbitrary retardation between 0 and λ can also be measured accurately and continuously. By fitting a straight line to the experimental data, we obtained a linear correlation coefficient (R) of 0.995, which indicates that this system is capable of linear phase detection. The experimental results demonstrate determination accuracies of 0.212° and 0.26° and measurement precisions of 0.054° and 0.608° for retardations of 0 and λ, respectively.
Analysis of the Best-Fit Sky Model Produced Through Redundant Calibration of Interferometers
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Storer, Dara; Pober, Jonathan
2018-01-01
21 cm cosmology provides unique insights into the formation of stars and galaxies in the early universe, and particularly the Epoch of Reionization. Detection of the 21 cm line is challenging because it is generally 4-5 magnitudes weaker than the emission from foreground sources, and therefore the instruments used for detection must be carefully designed and calibrated. 21 cm cosmology is primarily conducted using interferometers, which are difficult to calibrate because of their complex structure. Here I explore the relationship between sky-based calibration, which relies on an accurate and comprehensive sky model, and redundancy-based calibration, which makes use of redundancies in the orientation of the interferometer's dishes. In addition to producing calibration parameters, redundant calibration also produces a best fit model of the sky. In this work I examine that sky model and explore the possibility of using that best fit model as an additional input to improve on sky-based calibration.
Calibration of the borated ion chamber at NIST reactor thermal column.
Wang, Z; Hertel, N E; Lennox, A
2007-01-01
In boron neutron capture therapy and boron neutron capture enhanced fast neutron therapy, the absorbed dose of tissue due to the boron neutron capture reaction is difficult to measure directly. This dose can be computed from the measured thermal neutron fluence rate and the (10)B concentration at the site of interest. A borated tissue-equivalent (TE) ion chamber can be used to directly measure the boron dose in a phantom under irradiation by a neutron beam. Fermilab has two Exradin 0.5 cm(3) Spokas thimble TE ion chambers, one loaded with boron, available for such measurements. At the Fermilab Neutron Therapy Facility, these ion chambers are generally used with air as the filling gas. Since alpha particles and lithium ions from the (10)B(n,alpha)(7)Li reactions have very short ranges in air, the Bragg-Gray principle may not be satisfied for the borated TE ion chamber. A calibration method is described in this paper for the determination of boron capture dose using paired ion chambers. The two TE ion chambers were calibrated in the thermal column of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) research reactor. The borated TE ion chamber is loaded with 1,000 ppm of natural boron (184 ppm of (10)B). The NIST thermal column has a cadmium ratio of greater than 400 as determined by gold activation. The thermal neutron fluence rate during the calibration was determined using a NIST fission chamber to an accuracy of 5.1%. The chambers were calibrated at two different thermal neutron fluence rates: 5.11 x 10(6) and 4.46 x 10(7)n cm(-2) s(-1). The non-borated ion chamber reading was used to subtract collected charge not due to boron neutron capture reactions. An optically thick lithium slab was used to attenuate the thermal neutrons from the neutron beam port so the responses of the chambers could be corrected for fast neutrons and gamma rays in the beam. The calibration factor of the borated ion chamber was determined to be 1.83 x 10(9) +/- 5.5% (+/- 1sigma) n
Modeling and Calibration of a Novel One-Mirror Galvanometric Laser Scanner
Yu, Chengyi; Chen, Xiaobo; Xi, Juntong
2017-01-01
A laser stripe sensor has limited application when a point cloud of geometric samples on the surface of the object needs to be collected, so a galvanometric laser scanner is designed by using a one-mirror galvanometer element as its mechanical device to drive the laser stripe to sweep along the object. A novel mathematical model is derived for the proposed galvanometer laser scanner without any position assumptions and then a model-driven calibration procedure is proposed. Compared with available model-driven approaches, the influence of machining and assembly errors is considered in the proposed model. Meanwhile, a plane-constraint-based approach is proposed to extract a large number of calibration points effectively and accurately to calibrate the galvanometric laser scanner. Repeatability and accuracy of the galvanometric laser scanner are evaluated on the automobile production line to verify the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed calibration method. Experimental results show that the proposed calibration approach yields similar measurement performance compared with a look-up table calibration method. PMID:28098844
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Buser, R.; Fenkart, R. P.
1990-11-01
This paper presents an extended calibration of the color-magnitude and two-color diagrams and the metal-abundance parameter for the intermediate Population II and the extreme halo dwarfs observed in the Basel Palomar-Schmidt RGU three-color photometric surveys of the galaxy. The calibration covers the metallicity range between values +0.50 and -3.00. It is shown that the calibrations presented are sufficiently accurate to be useful for the future analyses of photographic survey data.
System for characterizing semiconductor materials and photovoltaic devices through calibration
Sopori, B.L.; Allen, L.C.; Marshall, C.; Murphy, R.C.; Marshall, T.
1998-05-26
A method and apparatus are disclosed for measuring characteristics of a piece of material, typically semiconductor materials including photovoltaic devices. The characteristics may include dislocation defect density, grain boundaries, reflectance, external LBIC, internal LBIC, and minority carrier diffusion length. The apparatus includes a light source, an integrating sphere, and a detector communicating with a computer. The measurement or calculation of the characteristics is calibrated to provide accurate, absolute values. The calibration is performed by substituting a standard sample for the piece of material, the sample having a known quantity of one or more of the relevant characteristics. The quantity measured by the system of the relevant characteristic is compared to the known quantity and a calibration constant is created thereby. 44 figs.
Calibration of TOMS Radiances From Ground Observations
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Bojkov, B. R.; Kowalewski, M.; Wellemeyer, C.; Labow, G.; Hilsenrath, E.; Bhartia, P. K.; Ahmad, Z.
2003-01-01
Verification of a stratospheric ozone recovery remains a high priority for environmental research and policy definition. Models predict an ozone recovery at a much lower rate than the measured depletion rate observed to date. Therefore improved precision of the satellite and ground ozone observing systems are required over the long term to verify its recovery. We show that validation of radiances from the ground can be a very effective means for correcting long term drifts of backscatter type satellite measurements and can be used to cross calibrate all BUV instruments in orbit (TOMS, SBUV/2, GOME, SCIAMACHY, OMI, GOME-2, OMPS). This method bypasses the retrieval algorithms used to derive ozone products from both satellite and ground based measurements that are normally used to validate the satellite data. Radiance comparisons employ forward models, but they are inherently more accurate than the retrieval This method employs very accurate comparisons between ground based zenith sicy radiances and satellite nadir radiances and employs two well established capabilities at the Goddard Space Flight Center, 1) the SSBUV calibration facilities and 2) the radiative transfer codes used for the TOMS and SBUV/2 algorithms and their subsequent refinements. The zenith sky observations are made by the SSBUV where its calibration is maintained to a high degree of accuracy and precision. Radiative transfer calculations show that ground based zenith sky and satellite nadir backscatter ultraviolet comparisons can be made very accurately under certain viewing conditions. Initial ground observations taken from Goddard Space Flight Center compared with radiative transfer calculations has indicated the feasibility of this method. The effect of aerosols and varying ozone amounts are considered in the model simulations and the theoretical comparisons. The radiative transfer simulations show that the ground and satellite radiance comparisons can be made with an uncertainty of less than l
Development and Characterization of a Low-Pressure Calibration System for Hypersonic Wind Tunnels
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Green, Del L.; Everhart, Joel L.; Rhode, Matthew N.
2004-01-01
Minimization of uncertainty is essential for accurate ESP measurements at very low free-stream static pressures found in hypersonic wind tunnels. Statistical characterization of environmental error sources requires a well defined and controlled calibration method. A calibration system has been constructed and environmental control software developed to control experimentation to eliminate human induced error sources. The initial stability study of the calibration system shows a high degree of measurement accuracy and precision in temperature and pressure control. Control manometer drift and reference pressure instabilities induce uncertainty into the repeatability of voltage responses measured from the PSI System 8400 between calibrations. Methods of improving repeatability are possible through software programming and further experimentation.
Researches on hazard avoidance cameras calibration of Lunar Rover
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Li, Chunyan; Wang, Li; Lu, Xin; Chen, Jihua; Fan, Shenghong
2017-11-01
Lunar Lander and Rover of China will be launched in 2013. It will finish the mission targets of lunar soft landing and patrol exploration. Lunar Rover has forward facing stereo camera pair (Hazcams) for hazard avoidance. Hazcams calibration is essential for stereo vision. The Hazcam optics are f-theta fish-eye lenses with a 120°×120° horizontal/vertical field of view (FOV) and a 170° diagonal FOV. They introduce significant distortion in images and the acquired images are quite warped, which makes conventional camera calibration algorithms no longer work well. A photogrammetric calibration method of geometric model for the type of optical fish-eye constructions is investigated in this paper. In the method, Hazcams model is represented by collinearity equations with interior orientation and exterior orientation parameters [1] [2]. For high-precision applications, the accurate calibration model is formulated with the radial symmetric distortion and the decentering distortion as well as parameters to model affinity and shear based on the fisheye deformation model [3] [4]. The proposed method has been applied to the stereo camera calibration system for Lunar Rover.
Zero-Point Calibration for AGN Black-Hole Mass Estimates
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Peterson, B. M.; Onken, C. A.
2004-01-01
We discuss the measurement and associated uncertainties of AGN reverberation-based black-hole masses, since these provide the zero-point calibration for scaling relationships that allow black-hole mass estimates for quasars. We find that reverberation-based mass estimates appear to be accurate to within a factor of about 3.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Guerrero, C.; Zornoza, R.; Gómez, I.; Mataix-Solera, J.; Navarro-Pedreño, J.; Mataix-Beneyto, J.; García-Orenes, F.
2009-04-01
squares regression, and leave-one-out cross validation as methods of calibration. Two methods were used to select the different quantities (size of models) of samples: (1) Based on Characteristics of Spectra (BCS), and (2) Based on NKj Values of Samples (BVS). Both methods tried to select representative samples. Each of the calibrations (containing the 5, 10, 25, 50, 75 or 100% of the total samples of the library) was repopulated with samples from the target site and then recalibrated (by leave-one-out cross validation). This procedure was sequential. In each step, 2 samples from the target site were added to the models, and then recalibrated. This process was repeated successively 10 times, being 20 the total number of samples added. A local model was also created with the 20 samples used for repopulation. The repopulated, non-repopulated and local calibrations were used to predict the NKj content in those samples from the target site not included in repopulations. For the measurement of the accuracy of the predictions, the r2, RMSEP and slopes were calculated comparing predicted with analysed NKj values. This scheme was repeated for each of the four target sites studied. In general, scarce differences can be found between results obtained with BCS and BVS models. We observed that the repopulation of models increased the r2 of the predictions in sites 1 and 3. The repopulation caused scarce changes of the r2 of the predictions in sites 2 and 4, maybe due to the high initial values (using non-repopulated models r2 >0.90). As consequence of repopulation, the RMSEP decreased in all the sites except in site 2, where a very low RMESP was obtained before the repopulation (0.4 g×kg-1). The slopes trended to approximate to 1, but this value was reached only in site 4 and after the repopulation with 20 samples. In sites 3 and 4, accurate predictions were obtained using the local models. Predictions obtained with models using similar size of samples (similar %) were averaged with
Concentration Independent Calibration of β-γ Coincidence Detector Using 131mXe and 133Xe
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
McIntyre, Justin I.; Cooper, Matthew W.; Carman, April J.
Absolute efficiency calibration of radiometric detectors is frequently difficult and requires careful detector modeling and accurate knowledge of the radioactive source used. In the past we have calibrated the b-g coincidence detector of the Automated Radioxenon Sampler/Analyzer (ARSA) using a variety of sources and techniques which have proven to be less than desirable.[1] A superior technique has been developed that uses the conversion-electron (CE) and x-ray coincidence of 131mXe to provide a more accurate absolute gamma efficiency of the detector. The 131mXe is injected directly into the beta cell of the coincident counting system and no knowledge of absolute sourcemore » strength is required. In addition, 133Xe is used to provide a second independent means to obtain the absolute efficiency calibration. These two data points provide the necessary information for calculating the detector efficiency and can be used in conjunction with other noble gas isotopes to completely characterize and calibrate the ARSA nuclear detector. In this paper we discuss the techniques and results that we have obtained.« less
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Lutchke, Scott B.; Rowlands, David D.; Harding, David J.; Bufton, Jack L.; Carabajal, Claudia C.; Williams, Teresa A.
2003-01-01
On January 12, 2003 the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) was successfUlly placed into orbit. The ICESat mission carries the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS), which consists of three near-infrared lasers that operate at 40 short pulses per second. The instrument has collected precise elevation measurements of the ice sheets, sea ice roughness and thickness, ocean and land surface elevations and surface reflectivity. The accurate geolocation of GLAS's surface returns, the spots from which the laser energy reflects on the Earth's surface, is a critical issue in the scientific application of these data Pointing, ranging, timing and orbit errors must be compensated to accurately geolocate the laser altimeter surface returns. Towards this end, the laser range observations can be fully exploited in an integrated residual analysis to accurately calibrate these geolocation/instrument parameters. Early mission ICESat data have been simultaneously processed as direct altimetry from ocean sweeps along with dynamic crossovers resulting in a preliminary calibration of laser pointing, ranging and timing. The calibration methodology and early mission analysis results are summarized in this paper along with future calibration activities
The wide-range ejector flowmeter: calibrated gas evacuation comprising both high and low gas flows.
Waaben, J; Brinkløv, M M; Jørgensen, S
1984-11-01
The wide-range ejector flowmeter is an active scavenging system applying calibrated gas removal directly to the anaesthetic circuit. The evacuation rate can be adjusted on the flowmeter under visual control using the calibration scale ranging from 200 ml X min-1 to 151 X min-1. The accuracy of the calibration was tested on three ejector flowmeters at 12 different presettings. The percentage deviation from presetting varied from + 18 to - 19.4 per cent. The ejector flowmeter enables the provision of consistent and accurately calibrated extraction of waste gases and is applicable within a wide range of fresh gas flows.
A novel dual-camera calibration method for 3D optical measurement
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Gai, Shaoyan; Da, Feipeng; Dai, Xianqiang
2018-05-01
A novel dual-camera calibration method is presented. In the classic methods, the camera parameters are usually calculated and optimized by the reprojection error. However, for a system designed for 3D optical measurement, this error does not denote the result of 3D reconstruction. In the presented method, a planar calibration plate is used. In the beginning, images of calibration plate are snapped from several orientations in the measurement range. The initial parameters of the two cameras are obtained by the images. Then, the rotation and translation matrix that link the frames of two cameras are calculated by using method of Centroid Distance Increment Matrix. The degree of coupling between the parameters is reduced. Then, 3D coordinates of the calibration points are reconstructed by space intersection method. At last, the reconstruction error is calculated. It is minimized to optimize the calibration parameters. This error directly indicates the efficiency of 3D reconstruction, thus it is more suitable for assessing the quality of dual-camera calibration. In the experiments, it can be seen that the proposed method is convenient and accurate. There is no strict requirement on the calibration plate position in the calibration process. The accuracy is improved significantly by the proposed method.
Adaptive Prior Variance Calibration in the Bayesian Continual Reassessment Method
Zhang, Jin; Braun, Thomas M.; Taylor, Jeremy M.G.
2012-01-01
Use of the Continual Reassessment Method (CRM) and other model-based approaches to design in Phase I clinical trials has increased due to the ability of the CRM to identify the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) better than the 3+3 method. However, the CRM can be sensitive to the variance selected for the prior distribution of the model parameter, especially when a small number of patients are enrolled. While methods have emerged to adaptively select skeletons and to calibrate the prior variance only at the beginning of a trial, there has not been any approach developed to adaptively calibrate the prior variance throughout a trial. We propose three systematic approaches to adaptively calibrate the prior variance during a trial and compare them via simulation to methods proposed to calibrate the variance at the beginning of a trial. PMID:22987660
Challenges in the Development of a Self-Calibrating Network of Ceilometers.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Hervo, Maxime; Wagner, Frank; Mattis, Ina; Baars, Holger; Haefele, Alexander
2015-04-01
self-calibration method. For 3 CALIPSO overpasses the agreement was on average 20.0%. It is less accurate due to the large uncertainties of CALIPSO data close to the surface. In opposition to the Rayleigh method, Cloud calibration method uses the complete attenuation of the transmitter beam by a liquid water cloud to calculate the lidar constant (O'Connor 2004). The main challenge is the selection of accurately measured water clouds. These clouds should not contain any ice crystals and the detector should not get into saturation. The first problem is especially important during winter time and the second problem is especially important for low clouds. Furthermore the overlap function should be known accurately, especially when the water cloud is located at a distance where the overlap between laser beam and telescope field-of-view is still incomplete. In the E-PROFILE pilot network, the Rayleigh calibration is already performed automatically. This demonstration network maked available, in real time, calibrated ALC measurements from 8 instruments of 4 different types in 6 countries. In collaboration with TOPROF and 20 national weathers services, E-PROFILE will provide, in 2017, near real time ALC measurements in most of Europe.
Vicarious calibration of the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager.
Ahn, Jae-Hyun; Park, Young-Je; Kim, Wonkook; Lee, Boram; Oh, Im Sang
2015-09-07
Measurements of ocean color from Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) with a moderate spatial resolution and a high temporal frequency demonstrate high value for a number of oceanographic applications. This study aims to propose and evaluate the calibration of GOCI as needed to achieve the level of radiometric accuracy desired for ocean color studies. Previous studies reported that the GOCI retrievals of normalized water-leaving radiances (nLw) are biased high for all visible bands due to the lack of vicarious calibration. The vicarious calibration approach described here relies on the assumed constant aerosol characteristics over the open-ocean sites to accurately estimate atmospheric radiances for the two near-infrared (NIR) bands. The vicarious calibration of visible bands is performed using in situ nLw measurements and the satellite-estimated atmospheric radiance using two NIR bands over the case-1 waters. Prior to this analysis, the in situ nLw spectra in the NIR are corrected by the spectrum optimization technique based on the NIR similarity spectrum assumption. The vicarious calibration gain factors derived for all GOCI bands (except 865nm) significantly improve agreement in retrieved remote-sensing reflectance (Rrs) relative to in situ measurements. These gain factors are independent of angular geometry and possible temporal variability. To further increase the confidence in the calibration gain factors, a large data set from shipboard measurements and AERONET-OC is used in the validation process. It is shown that the absolute percentage difference of the atmospheric correction results from the vicariously calibrated GOCI system is reduced by ~6.8%.
SU-E-T-749: Thorough Calibration of MOSFET Dosimeters
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Plenkovich, D; Thomas, J
Purpose: To improve the accuracy of the MOSFET calibration procedure by performing the measurement several times and calculating the average value of the calibration factor for various photon and electron energies. Methods: The output of three photon and six electron beams of Varian Trilogy linear accelerator SN 5878 was calibrated. Five reinforced standard sensitivity MOSFET dosimeters were placed in the calibration jig and connected to the Reader Module. As the backscatter material was used 7 cm of Virtual Water. The MOSFET dosimeters were covered with 1.5 cm thick bolus for the regular and SRS 6 MV beams, 3 cm bolusmore » for 15 MV beam, 1.5 cm bolus for 6 MeV electron beam, and 2 cm bolus for the electron energies of 9, 12, 15, 18, and 22 MeV. The dosimeters were exposed to 100 MU, and the calibration factor was determined using the mobileMOSFET software. To improve the accuracy of calibration, this procedure was repeated ten times and the calibration factors were averaged. Results: As the number of calibrations was increasing the variability of calibration factors of different dosimeters was decreasing. After ten calibrations, the calibration factors for all five dosimeters were within 1% of one another for all energies, except 6 MV SRS photons and 6 MeV electrons, for which the variability was 2%. Conclusions: The described process results in calibration factors which are almost independent of modality or energy. Once calibrated, the dosimeters may be used for in-vivo dosimetry or for daily verification of the beam output. Measurement of the radiation dose under bolus and scatter to the eye are examples of frequent use of calibrated MOSFET dosimeters. The calibration factor determined for full build-up is used under these circumstances. To the best of our knowledge, such thorough procedure for calibrating MOSFET dosimeters has not been reported previously. Best Medical Canada provided MOSFET dosimeters for this project.« less
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Hayati, Samad; Tso, Kam; Roston, Gerald
1988-01-01
Autonomous robot task execution requires that the end effector of the robot be positioned accurately relative to a reference world-coordinate frame. The authors present a complete formulation to identify the actual robot geometric parameters. The method applies to any serial link manipulator with arbitrary order and combination of revolute and prismatic joints. A method is also presented to solve the inverse kinematic of the actual robot model which usually is not a so-called simple robot. Experimental results performed by utilizing a PUMA 560 with simple measurement hardware are presented. As a result of this calibration a precision move command is designed and integrated into a robot language, RCCL, and used in the NASA Telerobot Testbed.
Calibration of Thomson scattering system on VEST
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kim, Y.-G.; Lee, J.-H.; Kim, D.; Yoo, M.-G.; Lee, H.; Hwang, Y. S.; Na, Y.-S.
2017-12-01
The Thomson scattering system has been recently installed on Versatile Experiment Spherical Torus (VEST) to measure the electron temperature and the density of the core plasmas. Since the calibration of the system is required for the accurate measurement of these parameters, a polychromator and the system efficiency are calibrated. The bias voltage of the detector is optimized and the relative responsivity of the polychromator is measured to analyse the spectral broadening. The tendency of decreasing responsivity because of the ambient temperature change is addressed together. The efficiencies of the alignments using HeNe laser and Nd:YAG laser are compared. After the alignment using Rayleigh scattering, it is improved ~ 7 times while the peak signal of the stray light is decreased. To evaluate the efficiencies of the alignment using HeNe laser, it is compared with the efficiency of the fine alignment by Rayleigh scattering. After absolute calibration is done, the Thomson scattering signal is estimated theoretically. The Bayesian analysis is tried using the synthetic data, and the results show that the input temperature and the density are inside the contour of the 90% confident level. The calibrated Thomson scattering system will provide the meaningful information of the core plasma of the VEST.
An automated calibration method for non-see-through head mounted displays.
Gilson, Stuart J; Fitzgibbon, Andrew W; Glennerster, Andrew
2011-08-15
Accurate calibration of a head mounted display (HMD) is essential both for research on the visual system and for realistic interaction with virtual objects. Yet, existing calibration methods are time consuming and depend on human judgements, making them error prone, and are often limited to optical see-through HMDs. Building on our existing approach to HMD calibration Gilson et al. (2008), we show here how it is possible to calibrate a non-see-through HMD. A camera is placed inside a HMD displaying an image of a regular grid, which is captured by the camera. The HMD is then removed and the camera, which remains fixed in position, is used to capture images of a tracked calibration object in multiple positions. The centroids of the markers on the calibration object are recovered and their locations re-expressed in relation to the HMD grid. This allows established camera calibration techniques to be used to recover estimates of the HMD display's intrinsic parameters (width, height, focal length) and extrinsic parameters (optic centre and orientation of the principal ray). We calibrated a HMD in this manner and report the magnitude of the errors between real image features and reprojected features. Our calibration method produces low reprojection errors without the need for error-prone human judgements. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Tian, Jialin; Smith, William L.; Gazarik, Michael J.
2008-10-01
The ultimate remote sensing benefits of the high resolution Infrared radiance spectrometers will be realized with their geostationary satellite implementation in the form of imaging spectrometers. This will enable dynamic features of the atmosphere's thermodynamic fields and pollutant and greenhouse gas constituents to be observed for revolutionary improvements in weather forecasts and more accurate air quality and climate predictions. As an important step toward realizing this application objective, the Geostationary Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (GIFTS) Engineering Demonstration Unit (EDU) was successfully developed under the NASA New Millennium Program, 2000-2006. The GIFTS-EDU instrument employs three focal plane arrays (FPAs), which gather measurements across the long-wave IR (LWIR), short/mid-wave IR (SMWIR), and visible spectral bands. The raw GIFTS interferogram measurements are radiometrically and spectrally calibrated to produce radiance spectra, which are further processed to obtain atmospheric profiles via retrieval algorithms. The radiometric calibration is achieved using internal blackbody calibration references at ambient (260 K) and hot (286 K) temperatures. The absolute radiometric performance of the instrument is affected by several factors including the FPA off-axis effect, detector/readout electronics induced nonlinearity distortions, and fore-optics offsets. The GIFTS-EDU, being the very first imaging spectrometer to use ultra-high speed electronics to readout its large area format focal plane array detectors, operating at wavelengths as large as 15 microns, possessed non-linearity's not easily removable in the initial calibration process. In this paper, we introduce a refined calibration technique that utilizes Principle Component (PC) analysis to compensate for instrument distortions and artifacts remaining after the initial radiometric calibration process, thus, further enhance the absolute calibration accuracy. This method is
Updated radiometric calibration for the Landsat-5 thematic mapper reflective bands
Helder, D.L.; Markham, B.L.; Thome, K.J.; Barsi, J.A.; Chander, G.; Malla, R.
2008-01-01
The Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper (TM) has been the workhorse of the Landsat system. Launched in 1984, it continues collecting data through the time frame of this paper. Thus, it provides an invaluable link to the past history of the land features of the Earth's surface, and it becomes imperative to provide an accurate radiometric calibration of the reflective bands to the user community. Previous calibration has been based on information obtained from prelaunch, the onboard calibrator, vicarious calibration attempts, and cross-calibration with Landsat-7. Currently, additional data sources are available to improve this calibration. Specifically, improvements in vicarious calibration methods and development of the use of pseudoinvariant sites for trending provide two additional independent calibration sources. The use of these additional estimates has resulted in a consistent calibration approach that ties together all of the available calibration data sources. Results from this analysis indicate a simple exponential, or a constant model may be used for all bands throughout the lifetime of Landsat-5 TM. Where previously time constants for the exponential models were approximately one year, the updated model has significantly longer time constants in bands 1-3. In contrast, bands 4, 5, and 7 are shown to be best modeled by a constant. The models proposed in this paper indicate calibration knowledge of 5% or better early in life, decreasing to nearly 2% later in life. These models have been implemented at the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) and are the default calibration used for all Landsat TM data now distributed through EROS. ?? 2008 IEEE.
Dynamic photogrammetric calibration of industrial robots
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Maas, Hans-Gerd
1997-07-01
Today's developments in industrial robots focus on aims like gain of flexibility, improvement of the interaction between robots and reduction of down-times. A very important method to achieve these goals are off-line programming techniques. In contrast to conventional teach-in-robot programming techniques, where sequences of actions are defined step-by- step via remote control on the real object, off-line programming techniques design complete robot (inter-)action programs in a CAD/CAM environment. This poses high requirements to the geometric accuracy of a robot. While the repeatability of robot poses in the teach-in mode is often better than 0.1 mm, the absolute pose accuracy potential of industrial robots is usually much worse due to tolerances, eccentricities, elasticities, play, wear-out, load, temperature and insufficient knowledge of model parameters for the transformation from poses into robot axis angles. This fact necessitates robot calibration techniques, including the formulation of a robot model describing kinematics and dynamics of the robot, and a measurement technique to provide reference data. Digital photogrammetry as an accurate, economic technique with realtime potential offers itself for this purpose. The paper analyzes the requirements posed to a measurement technique by industrial robot calibration tasks. After an overview on measurement techniques used for robot calibration purposes in the past, a photogrammetric robot calibration system based on off-the- shelf lowcost hardware components will be shown and results of pilot studies will be discussed. Besides aspects of accuracy, reliability and self-calibration in a fully automatic dynamic photogrammetric system, realtime capabilities are discussed. In the pilot studies, standard deviations of 0.05 - 0.25 mm in the three coordinate directions could be achieved over a robot work range of 1.7 X 1.5 X 1.0 m3. The realtime capabilities of the technique allow to go beyond kinematic robot
Mark 3 VLBI system: Tropospheric calibration subsystems
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Resch, G. M.
1980-01-01
Tropospheric delay calibrations are implemented in the Mark 3 system with two subsystems. Estimates of the dry component of tropospheric delay are provided by accurate barometric data from a subsystem of surface meteorological sensors (SMS). An estimate of the wet component of tropospheric delay is provided by a water vapor radiometer (WVR). Both subsystems interface directly to the ASCII Transceiver bus of the Mark 3 system and are operated by the control computer. Seven WVR's under construction are designed to operate in proximity to a radio telescope and can be commanded to point along the line-of-sight to a radio source. They should provide a delay estimate that is accurate to the + or - 2 cm level.
BRDF Calibration of Sintered PTFE in the SWIR
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Georgiev, Georgi T.; Butler, James J.
2009-01-01
Satellite instruments operating in the reflective solar wavelength region often require accurate and precise determination of the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) of laboratory-based diffusers used in their pre-flight calibrations and ground-based support of on-orbit remote sensing instruments. The Diffuser Calibration Facility at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is a secondary diffuser calibration standard after NEST for over two decades, providing numerous NASA projects with BRDF data in the UV, Visible and the NIR spectral regions. Currently the Diffuser Calibration Facility extended the covered spectral range from 900 nm up to 1.7 microns. The measurements were made using the existing scatterometer by replacing the Si photodiode based receiver with an InGaAs-based one. The BRDF data was recorded at normal incidence and scatter zenith angles from 10 to 60 deg. Tunable coherent light source was setup. Broadband light source application is under development. Gray-scale sintered PTFE samples were used at these first trials, illuminated with P and S polarized incident light. The results are discussed and compared to empirically generated BRDF data from simple model based on 8 deg directional/hemispherical measurements.
A comparison of calibration techniques for hot-wires operated in subsonic compressible slip flows
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Jones, Gregory S.; Stainback, P. C.; Nagabushana, K. A.
1992-01-01
This paper focuses on the correlation of constant temperature anemometer voltages to velocity, density, and total temperature in the transonic slip flow regime. Three different calibration schemes were evaluated. The ultimate use of these hot-wire calibrations is to obtain fluctuations in the flow variables. Without the appropriate mean flow sensitivities of the heated wire, the measurements of these fluctuations cannot be accurately determined.
Simultaneously optimizing dose and schedule of a new cytotoxic agent.
Braun, Thomas M; Thall, Peter F; Nguyen, Hoang; de Lima, Marcos
2007-01-01
Traditionally, phase I clinical trial designs are based upon one predefined course of treatment while varying among patients the dose given at each administration. In actual medical practice, patients receive a schedule comprised of several courses of treatment, and some patients may receive one or more dose reductions or delays during treatment. Consequently, the overall risk of toxicity for each patient is a function of both actual schedule of treatment and the differing doses used at each adminstration. Our goal is to provide a practical phase I clinical trial design that more accurately reflects actual medical practice by accounting for both dose per administration and schedule. We propose an outcome-adaptive Bayesian design that simultaneously optimizes both dose and schedule in terms of the overall risk of toxicity, based on time-to-toxicity outcomes. We use computer simulation as a tool to calibrate design parameters. We describe a phase I trial in allogeneic bone marrow transplantation that was designed and is currently being conducted using our new method. Our computer simulations demonstrate that our method outperforms any method that searches for an optimal dose but does not allow schedule to vary, both in terms of the probability of identifying optimal (dose, schedule) combinations, and the numbers of patients assigned to those combinations in the trial. Our design requires greater sample sizes than those seen in traditional phase I studies due to the larger number of treatment combinations examined. Our design also assumes that the effects of multiple administrations are independent of each other and that the hazard of toxicity is the same for all administrations. Our design is the first for phase I clinical trials that is sufficiently flexible and practical to truly reflect clinical practice by varying both dose and the timing and number of administrations given to each patient.
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Taylor, Brian R.
2012-01-01
A novel, efficient air data calibration method is proposed for aircraft with limited envelopes. This method uses output-error optimization on three-dimensional inertial velocities to estimate calibration and wind parameters. Calibration parameters are based on assumed calibration models for static pressure, angle of attack, and flank angle. Estimated wind parameters are the north, east, and down components. The only assumptions needed for this method are that the inertial velocities and Euler angles are accurate, the calibration models are correct, and that the steady-state component of wind is constant throughout the maneuver. A two-minute maneuver was designed to excite the aircraft over the range of air data calibration parameters and de-correlate the angle-of-attack bias from the vertical component of wind. Simulation of the X-48B (The Boeing Company, Chicago, Illinois) aircraft was used to validate the method, ultimately using data derived from wind-tunnel testing to simulate the un-calibrated air data measurements. Results from the simulation were accurate and robust to turbulence levels comparable to those observed in flight. Future experiments are planned to evaluate the proposed air data calibration in a flight environment.
Calibration of a Computer Based Instrumentation for Flight Research
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Forsyth, T. J.; Reynolds, R. S. (Technical Monitor)
1997-01-01
NASA Ames Research Center has been investigating a Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) for future use as a Category II/III landing system. The DGPS navigation system was developed and installed on a B200 King Air aircraft. Instrumentation that is not calibrated and verified as a total operating system can have errors or not work correctly. Systems need to be checked for cross talk and that they work together accurately. It is imperative that the instrumentation and computer do not affect aircraft avionics and instrumentation needed for aircraft operation. This paper discusses calibration and verification principles of a computer based instrumentation airborne system.
Precision process calibration and CD predictions for low-k1 lithography
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Chen, Ting; Park, Sangbong; Berger, Gabriel; Coskun, Tamer H.; de Vocht, Joep; Chen, Fung; Yu, Linda; Hsu, Stephen; van den Broeke, Doug; Socha, Robert; Park, Jungchul; Gronlund, Keith; Davis, Todd; Plachecki, Vince; Harris, Tom; Hansen, Steve; Lambson, Chuck
2005-06-01
Leading resist calibration for sub-0.3 k1 lithography demands accuracy <2nm for CD through pitch. An accurately calibrated resist process is the prerequisite for establishing production-worthy manufacturing under extreme low k1. From an integrated imaging point of view, the following key components must be simultaneously considered during the calibration - high numerical aperture (NA>0.8) imaging characteristics, customized illuminations (measured vs. modeled pupil profiles), resolution enhancement technology (RET) mask with OPC, reticle metrology, and resist thin film substrate. For imaging at NA approaching unity, polarized illumination can impact significantly the contrast formation in the resist film stack, and therefore it is an important factor to consider in the CD-based resist calibration. For aggressive DRAM memory core designs at k1<0.3, pattern-specific illumination optimization has proven to be critical for achieving the required imaging performance. Various optimization techniques from source profile optimization with fixed mask design to the combined source and mask optimization have been considered for customer designs and available imaging capabilities. For successful low-k1 process development, verification of the optimization results can only be made with a sufficiently tunable resist model that can predicate the wafer printing accurately under various optimized process settings. We have developed, for resist patterning under aggressive low-k1 conditions, a novel 3D diffusion model equipped with double-Gaussian convolution in each dimension. Resist calibration with the new diffusion model has demonstrated a fitness and CD predication accuracy that rival or outperform the traditional 3D physical resist models. In this work, we describe our empirical approach to achieving the nm-scale precision for advanced lithography process calibrations, using either measured 1D CD through-pitch or 2D memory core patterns. We show that for ArF imaging, the
SU-E-T-223: Computed Radiography Dose Measurements of External Radiotherapy Beams
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Aberle, C; Kapsch, R
2015-06-15
Purpose: To obtain quantitative, two-dimensional dose measurements of external radiotherapy beams with a computed radiography (CR) system and to derive volume correction factors for ionization chambers in small fields. Methods: A commercial Kodak ACR2000i CR system with Kodak Flexible Phosphor Screen HR storage foils was used. Suitable measurement conditions and procedures were established. Several corrections were derived, including image fading, length-scale corrections and long-term stability corrections. Dose calibration curves were obtained for cobalt, 4 MV, 8 MV and 25 MV photons, and for 10 MeV, 15 MeV and 18 MeV electrons in a water phantom. Inherent measurement inhomogeneities were studiedmore » as well as directional dependence of the response. Finally, 2D scans with ionization chambers were directly compared to CR measurements, and volume correction factors were derived. Results: Dose calibration curves (0.01 Gy to 7 Gy) were obtained for multiple photon and electron beam qualities. For each beam quality, the calibration curves can be described by a single fit equation over the whole dose range. The energy dependence of the dose response was determined. The length scale on the images was adjusted scan-by-scan, typically by 2 percent horizontally and by 3 percent vertically. The remaining inhomogeneities after the system’s standard calibration procedure were corrected for. After correction, the homogeneity is on the order of a few percent. The storage foils can be rotated by up to 30 degrees without a significant effect on the measured signal. First results on the determination of volume correction factors were obtained. Conclusion: With CR, quantitative, two-dimensional dose measurements with a high spatial resolution (sub-mm) can be obtained over a large dose range. In order to make use of these advantages, several calibrations, corrections and supporting measurements are needed. This work was funded by the European Metrology Research Programme
Automated extraction of radiation dose information from CT dose report images.
Li, Xinhua; Zhang, Da; Liu, Bob
2011-06-01
The purpose of this article is to describe the development of an automated tool for retrieving texts from CT dose report images. Optical character recognition was adopted to perform text recognitions of CT dose report images. The developed tool is able to automate the process of analyzing multiple CT examinations, including text recognition, parsing, error correction, and exporting data to spreadsheets. The results were precise for total dose-length product (DLP) and were about 95% accurate for CT dose index and DLP of scanned series.
Should the Standard Count Be Excluded from Neutron Probe Calibration?
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Zhang, Z. Fred
About 6 decades after its introduction, the neutron probe remains one of the most accurate methods for indirect measurement of soil moisture content. Traditionally, the calibration of a neutron probe involves the ratio of the neutron count in the soil to a standard count, which is the neutron count in the fixed environment such as the probe shield or a specially-designed calibration tank. The drawback of this count-ratio-based calibration is that the error in the standard count is carried through to all the measurements. An alternative calibration is to use the neutron counts only, not the ratio, with proper correctionmore » for radioactive decay and counting time. To evaluate both approaches, the shield counts of a neutron probe used for three decades were analyzed. The results show that the surrounding conditions have a substantial effect on the standard count. The error in the standard count also impacts the calculation of water storage and could indicate false consistency among replicates. The analysis of the shield counts indicates negligible aging effect of the instrument over a period of 26 years. It is concluded that, by excluding the standard count, the use of the count-based calibration is appropriate and sometimes even better than ratio-based calibration. The count-based calibration is especially useful for historical data when the standard count was questionable or absent« less
Köppel, René; Eugster, Albert; Ruf, Jürg; Rentsch, Jürg
2012-01-01
The quantification of meat proportions in raw and boiled sausage according to the recipe was evaluated using three different calibrators. To measure the DNA contents from beef, pork, sheep (mutton), and horse, a tetraplex real-time PCR method was applied. Nineteen laboratories analyzed four meat products each made of different proportions of beef, pork, sheep, and horse meat. Three kinds of calibrators were used: raw and boiled sausages of known proportions ranging from 1 to 55% of meat, and a dilution series of DNA from muscle tissue. In general, results generated using calibration sausages were more accurate than those resulting from the use of DNA from muscle tissue, and exhibited smaller measurement uncertainties. Although differences between uses of raw and boiled calibration sausages were small, the most precise and accurate results were obtained by calibration with fine-textured boiled reference sausages.
Improvements to the Total Temperature Calibration of the NASA Glenn Icing Research Tunnel
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Arrington, E. Allen; Gonsalez, Jose C.
2005-01-01
The ability to accurately set repeatable total temperature conditions is critical for collecting quality icing condition data, particularly near freezing conditions. As part of efforts to continually improve data quality in the NASA Glenn Icing Research Tunnel (IRT), new facility instrumentation and new calibration hardware for total temperature measurement were installed and new operational techniques were developed and implemented. This paper focuses on the improvements made in the calibration of total temperature in the IRT.
Efficient gradient calibration based on diffusion MRI.
Teh, Irvin; Maguire, Mahon L; Schneider, Jürgen E
2017-01-01
To propose a method for calibrating gradient systems and correcting gradient nonlinearities based on diffusion MRI measurements. The gradient scaling in x, y, and z were first offset by up to 5% from precalibrated values to simulate a poorly calibrated system. Diffusion MRI data were acquired in a phantom filled with cyclooctane, and corrections for gradient scaling errors and nonlinearity were determined. The calibration was assessed with diffusion tensor imaging and independently validated with high resolution anatomical MRI of a second structured phantom. The errors in apparent diffusion coefficients along orthogonal axes ranged from -9.2% ± 0.4% to + 8.8% ± 0.7% before calibration and -0.5% ± 0.4% to + 0.8% ± 0.3% after calibration. Concurrently, fractional anisotropy decreased from 0.14 ± 0.03 to 0.03 ± 0.01. Errors in geometric measurements in x, y and z ranged from -5.5% to + 4.5% precalibration and were likewise reduced to -0.97% to + 0.23% postcalibration. Image distortions from gradient nonlinearity were markedly reduced. Periodic gradient calibration is an integral part of quality assurance in MRI. The proposed approach is both accurate and efficient, can be setup with readily available materials, and improves accuracy in both anatomical and diffusion MRI to within ±1%. Magn Reson Med 77:170-179, 2017. © 2016 The Authors Magnetic Resonance in Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Efficient gradient calibration based on diffusion MRI
Teh, Irvin; Maguire, Mahon L.
2016-01-01
Purpose To propose a method for calibrating gradient systems and correcting gradient nonlinearities based on diffusion MRI measurements. Methods The gradient scaling in x, y, and z were first offset by up to 5% from precalibrated values to simulate a poorly calibrated system. Diffusion MRI data were acquired in a phantom filled with cyclooctane, and corrections for gradient scaling errors and nonlinearity were determined. The calibration was assessed with diffusion tensor imaging and independently validated with high resolution anatomical MRI of a second structured phantom. Results The errors in apparent diffusion coefficients along orthogonal axes ranged from −9.2% ± 0.4% to + 8.8% ± 0.7% before calibration and −0.5% ± 0.4% to + 0.8% ± 0.3% after calibration. Concurrently, fractional anisotropy decreased from 0.14 ± 0.03 to 0.03 ± 0.01. Errors in geometric measurements in x, y and z ranged from −5.5% to + 4.5% precalibration and were likewise reduced to −0.97% to + 0.23% postcalibration. Image distortions from gradient nonlinearity were markedly reduced. Conclusion Periodic gradient calibration is an integral part of quality assurance in MRI. The proposed approach is both accurate and efficient, can be setup with readily available materials, and improves accuracy in both anatomical and diffusion MRI to within ±1%. Magn Reson Med 77:170–179, 2017. © 2016 The Authors Magnetic Resonance in Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. PMID:26749277
Soil specific re-calibration of water content sensors for a field-scale sensor network
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Gasch, Caley K.; Brown, David J.; Anderson, Todd; Brooks, Erin S.; Yourek, Matt A.
2015-04-01
Obtaining accurate soil moisture data from a sensor network requires sensor calibration. Soil moisture sensors are factory calibrated, but multiple site specific factors may contribute to sensor inaccuracies. Thus, sensors should be calibrated for the specific soil type and conditions in which they will be installed. Lab calibration of a large number of sensors prior to installation in a heterogeneous setting may not be feasible, and it may not reflect the actual performance of the installed sensor. We investigated a multi-step approach to retroactively re-calibrate sensor water content data from the dielectric permittivity readings obtained by sensors in the field. We used water content data collected since 2009 from a sensor network installed at 42 locations and 5 depths (210 sensors total) within the 37-ha Cook Agronomy Farm with highly variable soils located in the Palouse region of the Northwest United States. First, volumetric water content was calculated from sensor dielectric readings using three equations: (1) a factory calibration using the Topp equation; (2) a custom calibration obtained empirically from an instrumented soil in the field; and (3) a hybrid equation that combines the Topp and custom equations. Second, we used soil physical properties (particle size and bulk density) and pedotransfer functions to estimate water content at saturation, field capacity, and wilting point for each installation location and depth. We also extracted the same reference points from the sensor readings, when available. Using these reference points, we re-scaled the sensor readings, such that water content was restricted to the range of values that we would expect given the physical properties of the soil. The re-calibration accuracy was assessed with volumetric water content measurements obtained from field-sampled cores taken on multiple dates. In general, the re-calibration was most accurate when all three reference points (saturation, field capacity, and wilting
On-site flow calibration of turbine meters for natural gas custody transfer
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Ting, V.C.; Schexnayder, L.L.; Conkling, D.B.
1991-05-01
This paper presents the design criteria, performance characteristics, and calibration procedures relating to a turbine-meter flow-calibration facility used in the high-volume custody transfer of natural gas. The facility, located in Venice, LA, is owned and operated by Chevron U.S.A. Inc. and is used to meter sales volumes of up to 500 MMscf/D (14.16 {times} 10 std m{sup 3}/d) at a nominal operating pressure of 1,000 psig (6.9 MPa). The system includes three 12-in. (30.48 cm) turbine meters used for sales-volume measurement, a bank of sonic nozzles, and a master turbine meter connected in series with the sales meters. The sonicmore » nozzles and master meter serve as flow-proving and -calibration devices. sonic nozzles are recommended by the turbine-meter standard for meter calibration. This paper examines the performance of on-site calibration of gas turbine meters. The Venice facility successfully demonstrated that on-site calibration of gas-metering devices can ensure accurate gas-flow measurement under field conditions.« less
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Voorhies, C. V.; Langel, R. A.; Slavin, J.; Lancaster, E. R.; Jones, S.
1991-01-01
Prelaunch and postlaunch calibration plans for the APAFO magnetometer experiment are presented. A study of tradeoffs between boom length and spacecraft field is described; the results are summarized. The prelaunch plan includes: calibration of the Vector Fluxgate Magnetometer (VFM), Star Sensors, and Scalar Helium Magnetometer (SHM); optical bench integration; and acquisition of basic spacecraft field data. Postlaunch calibration has two phases. In phase one, SHM data are used to calibrate the VFM, total vector magnetic field data are used to calibrate a physical model of the spacecraft field, and both calibrations are refined by iteration. In phase two, corrected vector data are transformed into geocentric coordinates, previously undetected spacecraft fields are isolated, and initial geomagnetic field models are computed. Provided the SHM is accurate to the required 1.0 nT and can be used to calibrate the VFM to the required 3.0- nT accuracy, the tradeoff study indicates that a 12 m boom and a spacecraft field model uncertainty of 5 percent together allow the 1.0 nT spacecraft field error requirement to be met.
Medical-grade Sterilizable Target for Fluid-immersed Fetoscope Optical Distortion Calibration.
Nikitichev, Daniil I; Shakir, Dzhoshkun I; Chadebecq, François; Tella, Marcel; Deprest, Jan; Stoyanov, Danail; Ourselin, Sébastien; Vercauteren, Tom
2017-02-23
We have developed a calibration target for use with fluid-immersed endoscopes within the context of the GIFT-Surg (Guided Instrumentation for Fetal Therapy and Surgery) project. One of the aims of this project is to engineer novel, real-time image processing methods for intra-operative use in the treatment of congenital birth defects, such as spina bifida and the twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. The developed target allows for the sterility-preserving optical distortion calibration of endoscopes within a few minutes. Good optical distortion calibration and compensation are important for mitigating undesirable effects like radial distortions, which not only hamper accurate imaging using existing endoscopic technology during fetal surgery, but also make acquired images less suitable for potentially very useful image computing applications, like real-time mosaicing. In this paper proposes a novel fabrication method to create an affordable, sterilizable calibration target suitable for use in a clinical setup. This method involves etching a calibration pattern by laser cutting a sandblasted stainless steel sheet. This target was validated using the camera calibration module provided by OpenCV, a state-of-the-art software library popular in the computer vision community.
Medical-grade Sterilizable Target for Fluid-immersed Fetoscope Optical Distortion Calibration
Chadebecq, François; Tella, Marcel; Deprest, Jan; Stoyanov, Danail; Ourselin, Sébastien; Vercauteren, Tom
2017-01-01
We have developed a calibration target for use with fluid-immersed endoscopes within the context of the GIFT-Surg (Guided Instrumentation for Fetal Therapy and Surgery) project. One of the aims of this project is to engineer novel, real-time image processing methods for intra-operative use in the treatment of congenital birth defects, such as spina bifida and the twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. The developed target allows for the sterility-preserving optical distortion calibration of endoscopes within a few minutes. Good optical distortion calibration and compensation are important for mitigating undesirable effects like radial distortions, which not only hamper accurate imaging using existing endoscopic technology during fetal surgery, but also make acquired images less suitable for potentially very useful image computing applications, like real-time mosaicing. In this paper proposes a novel fabrication method to create an affordable, sterilizable calibration target suitable for use in a clinical setup. This method involves etching a calibration pattern by laser cutting a sandblasted stainless steel sheet. This target was validated using the camera calibration module provided by OpenCV, a state-of-the-art software library popular in the computer vision community. PMID:28287588
Static and (quasi)dynamic calibration of stroboscopic scanning white light interferometer
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Seppä, Jeremias; Kassamakov, Ivan; Nolvi, Anton; Heikkinen, Ville; Paulin, Tor; Lassila, Antti; Hao, Ling; Hæggsröm, Edward
2013-04-01
A scanning white light interferometer can characterize out of plane features and motion in M(N)EMS devices. Like any other form and displacement measuring instrument, the scanning interferometer results should be linked to the metre definition to be comparable and unambiguous. Traceability is built up by careful error characterization and calibration of the interferometer. The main challenge in this calibration is to have a reference device producing accurate and reproducible dynamic out-of-plane displacement when submitted to standard loads. We use a flat mirror attached to a piezoelectric transducer for static and (quasi)dynamic calibration of a stroboscopic scanning light interferometer. First we calibrated the piezo-scanned flexure guided transducer stage using a symmetric differential heterodyne laser interferometer developed at the Centre for Metrology and Accreditation (MIKES). The standard uncertainty of the piezo stage motion calibration was 3.0 nm. Then we used the piezo-stage as a transfer standard to calibrate our stroboscopic interferometer whose light source was pulsed at 200 Hz and 400 Hz with 0.5% duty cycle. We measured the static position and (quasi)dynamic motion of the attached mirror relative to a reference surface. This methodology permits calibrating the vertical scale of the stroboscopic scanning white light interferometer.
Ottaway, Josh; Farrell, Jeremy A; Kalivas, John H
2013-02-05
An essential part to calibration is establishing the analyte calibration reference samples. These samples must characterize the sample matrix and measurement conditions (chemical, physical, instrumental, and environmental) of any sample to be predicted. Calibration usually requires measuring spectra for numerous reference samples in addition to determining the corresponding analyte reference values. Both tasks are typically time-consuming and costly. This paper reports on a method named pure component Tikhonov regularization (PCTR) that does not require laboratory prepared or determined reference values. Instead, an analyte pure component spectrum is used in conjunction with nonanalyte spectra for calibration. Nonanalyte spectra can be from different sources including pure component interference samples, blanks, and constant analyte samples. The approach is also applicable to calibration maintenance when the analyte pure component spectrum is measured in one set of conditions and nonanalyte spectra are measured in new conditions. The PCTR method balances the trade-offs between calibration model shrinkage and the degree of orthogonality to the nonanalyte content (model direction) in order to obtain accurate predictions. Using visible and near-infrared (NIR) spectral data sets, the PCTR results are comparable to those obtained using ridge regression (RR) with reference calibration sets. The flexibility of PCTR also allows including reference samples if such samples are available.
Automatic Calibration Method for Driver’s Head Orientation in Natural Driving Environment
Fu, Xianping; Guan, Xiao; Peli, Eli; Liu, Hongbo; Luo, Gang
2013-01-01
Gaze tracking is crucial for studying driver’s attention, detecting fatigue, and improving driver assistance systems, but it is difficult in natural driving environments due to nonuniform and highly variable illumination and large head movements. Traditional calibrations that require subjects to follow calibrators are very cumbersome to be implemented in daily driving situations. A new automatic calibration method, based on a single camera for determining the head orientation and which utilizes the side mirrors, the rear-view mirror, the instrument board, and different zones in the windshield as calibration points, is presented in this paper. Supported by a self-learning algorithm, the system tracks the head and categorizes the head pose in 12 gaze zones based on facial features. The particle filter is used to estimate the head pose to obtain an accurate gaze zone by updating the calibration parameters. Experimental results show that, after several hours of driving, the automatic calibration method without driver’s corporation can achieve the same accuracy as a manual calibration method. The mean error of estimated eye gazes was less than 5°in day and night driving. PMID:24639620
Villamuelas, Miriam; Serrano, Emmanuel; Espunyes, Johan; Fernández, Néstor; López-Olvera, Jorge R; Garel, Mathieu; Santos, João; Parra-Aguado, María Ángeles; Ramanzin, Maurizio; Fernández-Aguilar, Xavier; Colom-Cadena, Andreu; Marco, Ignasi; Lavín, Santiago; Bartolomé, Jordi; Albanell, Elena
2017-01-01
Optimal management of free-ranging herbivores requires the accurate assessment of an animal's nutritional status. For this purpose 'near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy' (NIRS) is very useful, especially when nutritional assessment is done through faecal indicators such as faecal nitrogen (FN). In order to perform an NIRS calibration, the default protocol recommends starting by generating an initial equation based on at least 50-75 samples from the given species. Although this protocol optimises prediction accuracy, it limits the use of NIRS with rare or endangered species where sample sizes are often small. To overcome this limitation we tested a single NIRS equation (i.e., multispecies calibration) to predict FN in herbivores. Firstly, we used five herbivore species with highly contrasting digestive physiologies to build monospecies and multispecies calibrations, namely horse, sheep, Pyrenean chamois, red deer and European rabbit. Secondly, the equation accuracy was evaluated by two procedures using: (1) an external validation with samples from the same species, which were not used in the calibration process; and (2) samples from different ungulate species, specifically Alpine ibex, domestic goat, European mouflon, roe deer and cattle. The multispecies equation was highly accurate in terms of the coefficient of determination for calibration R2 = 0.98, standard error of validation SECV = 0.10, standard error of external validation SEP = 0.12, ratio of performance to deviation RPD = 5.3, and range error of prediction RER = 28.4. The accuracy of the multispecies equation to predict other herbivore species was also satisfactory (R2 > 0.86, SEP < 0.27, RPD > 2.6, and RER > 8.1). Lastly, the agreement between multi- and monospecies calibrations was also confirmed by the Bland-Altman method. In conclusion, our single multispecies equation can be used as a reliable, cost-effective, easy and powerful analytical method to assess FN in a wide range of herbivore species.
Extrinsic Calibration of a Laser Galvanometric Setup and a Range Camera.
Sels, Seppe; Bogaerts, Boris; Vanlanduit, Steve; Penne, Rudi
2018-05-08
Currently, galvanometric scanning systems (like the one used in a scanning laser Doppler vibrometer) rely on a planar calibration procedure between a two-dimensional (2D) camera and the laser galvanometric scanning system to automatically aim a laser beam at a particular point on an object. In the case of nonplanar or moving objects, this calibration is not sufficiently accurate anymore. In this work, a three-dimensional (3D) calibration procedure that uses a 3D range sensor is proposed. The 3D calibration is valid for all types of objects and retains its accuracy when objects are moved between subsequent measurement campaigns. The proposed 3D calibration uses a Non-Perspective-n-Point (NPnP) problem solution. The 3D range sensor is used to calculate the position of the object under test relative to the laser galvanometric system. With this extrinsic calibration, the laser galvanometric scanning system can automatically aim a laser beam to this object. In experiments, the mean accuracy of aiming the laser beam on an object is below 10 mm for 95% of the measurements. This achieved accuracy is mainly determined by the accuracy and resolution of the 3D range sensor. The new calibration method is significantly better than the original 2D calibration method, which in our setup achieves errors below 68 mm for 95% of the measurements.
Calibration and validation of wearable monitors.
Bassett, David R; Rowlands, Alex; Trost, Stewart G
2012-01-01
Wearable monitors are increasingly being used to objectively monitor physical activity in research studies within the field of exercise science. Calibration and validation of these devices are vital to obtaining accurate data. This article is aimed primarily at the physical activity measurement specialist, although the end user who is conducting studies with these devices also may benefit from knowing about this topic. Initially, wearable physical activity monitors should undergo unit calibration to ensure interinstrument reliability. The next step is to simultaneously collect both raw signal data (e.g., acceleration) from the wearable monitors and rates of energy expenditure, so that algorithms can be developed to convert the direct signals into energy expenditure. This process should use multiple wearable monitors and a large and diverse subject group and should include a wide range of physical activities commonly performed in daily life (from sedentary to vigorous). New methods of calibration now use "pattern recognition" approaches to train the algorithms on various activities, and they provide estimates of energy expenditure that are much better than those previously available with the single-regression approach. Once a method of predicting energy expenditure has been established, the next step is to examine its predictive accuracy by cross-validating it in other populations. In this article, we attempt to summarize the best practices for calibration and validation of wearable physical activity monitors. Finally, we conclude with some ideas for future research ideas that will move the field of physical activity measurement forward.
A novel phantom model for mouse tumor dose assessment under MV beams
Gossman, Michael S.; Das, Indra J.; Sharma, Subhash C.; Lopez, Jeffrey P.; Howard, Candace M.; Claudio, Pier P.
2011-01-01
Purpose In order to determine a mouse’s dose accurately and prior to engaging in live mouse radiobiological research, a tissue-equivalent tumor-bearing phantom mouse was constructed and bored to accommodate detectors. Methods and Materials Comparisons were made between four different types of radiation detectors, each inserted into the phantom mouse for radiation measurement under a 6 MV linear accelerator beam. Dose detection response from a diode, thermoluminescent dosimeters, metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors were used and compared to that of a reference pin-point ionization chamber. Likewise, a computerized treatment planning system was also directly compared. Results Each detector system demonstrated results similar to the dose computed by the therapeutic treatment planning system, although some differences were noted. The average disagreement from a accelerator calibrated output dose prescription in the range of 200–400 cGy were −0.4% ± 0.5σ for the diode, −2.4% ± 2.6σ for the TLD, −2.9% ± 5.0σ for the MOSFET and +1.3% ± 1.4σ for the treatment planning system. Conclusions This phantom mouse design is unique, simple, reproducible and therefore recommended as a standard approach to dosimetry for radiobiological mouse studies by means of any of the detectors used in this study. We fully advocate for treatment planning modeling when possible prior to linac-based dose delivery. PMID:22048493
Calibration of Clinical Audio Recording and Analysis Systems for Sound Intensity Measurement.
Maryn, Youri; Zarowski, Andrzej
2015-11-01
Sound intensity is an important acoustic feature of voice/speech signals. Yet recordings are performed with different microphone, amplifier, and computer configurations, and it is therefore crucial to calibrate sound intensity measures of clinical audio recording and analysis systems on the basis of output of a sound-level meter. This study was designed to evaluate feasibility, validity, and accuracy of calibration methods, including audiometric speech noise signals and human voice signals under typical speech conditions. Calibration consisted of 3 comparisons between data from 29 measurement microphone-and-computer systems and data from the sound-level meter: signal-specific comparison with audiometric speech noise at 5 levels, signal-specific comparison with natural voice at 3 levels, and cross-signal comparison with natural voice at 3 levels. Intensity measures from recording systems were then linearly converted into calibrated data on the basis of these comparisons, and validity and accuracy of calibrated sound intensity were investigated. Very strong correlations and quasisimilarity were found between calibrated data and sound-level meter data across calibration methods and recording systems. Calibration of clinical sound intensity measures according to this method is feasible, valid, accurate, and representative for a heterogeneous set of microphones and data acquisition systems in real-life circumstances with distinct noise contexts.
On the accuracy of aerosol photoacoustic spectrometer calibrations using absorption by ozone
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Davies, Nicholas W.; Cotterell, Michael I.; Fox, Cathryn; Szpek, Kate; Haywood, Jim M.; Langridge, Justin M.
2018-04-01
In recent years, photoacoustic spectroscopy has emerged as an invaluable tool for the accurate measurement of light absorption by atmospheric aerosol. Photoacoustic instruments require calibration, which can be achieved by measuring the photoacoustic signal generated by known quantities of gaseous ozone. Recent work has questioned the validity of this approach at short visible wavelengths (404 nm), indicating systematic calibration errors of the order of a factor of 2. We revisit this result and test the validity of the ozone calibration method using a suite of multipass photoacoustic cells operating at wavelengths 405, 514 and 658 nm. Using aerosolised nigrosin with mobility-selected diameters in the range 250-425 nm, we demonstrate excellent agreement between measured and modelled ensemble absorption cross sections at all wavelengths, thus demonstrating the validity of the ozone-based calibration method for aerosol photoacoustic spectroscopy at visible wavelengths.
Development of composite calibration standard for quantitative NDE by ultrasound and thermography
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Dayal, Vinay; Benedict, Zach G.; Bhatnagar, Nishtha; Harper, Adam G.
2018-04-01
Inspection of aircraft components for damage utilizing ultrasonic Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) is a time intensive endeavor. Additional time spent during aircraft inspections translates to added cost to the company performing them, and as such, reducing this expenditure is of great importance. There is also great variance in the calibration samples from one entity to another due to a lack of a common calibration set. By characterizing damage types, we can condense the required calibration sets and reduce the time required to perform calibration while also providing procedures for the fabrication of these standard sets. We present here our effort to fabricate composite samples with known defects and quantify the size and location of defects, such as delaminations, and impact damage. Ultrasonic and Thermographic images are digitally enhanced to accurately measure the damage size. Ultrasonic NDE is compared with thermography.
Fast calibration of electromagnetically tracked oblique-viewing rigid endoscopes.
Liu, Xinyang; Rice, Christina E; Shekhar, Raj
2017-10-01
The oblique-viewing (i.e., angled) rigid endoscope is a commonly used tool in conventional endoscopic surgeries. The relative rotation between its two moveable parts, the telescope and the camera head, creates a rotation offset between the actual and the projection of an object in the camera image. A calibration method tailored to compensate such offset is needed. We developed a fast calibration method for oblique-viewing rigid endoscopes suitable for clinical use. In contrast to prior approaches based on optical tracking, we used electromagnetic (EM) tracking as the external tracking hardware to improve compactness and practicality. Two EM sensors were mounted on the telescope and the camera head, respectively, with considerations to minimize EM tracking errors. Single-image calibration was incorporated into the method, and a sterilizable plate, laser-marked with the calibration pattern, was also developed. Furthermore, we proposed a general algorithm to estimate the rotation center in the camera image. Formulas for updating the camera matrix in terms of clockwise and counterclockwise rotations were also developed. The proposed calibration method was validated using a conventional [Formula: see text], 5-mm laparoscope. Freehand calibrations were performed using the proposed method, and the calibration time averaged 2 min and 8 s. The calibration accuracy was evaluated in a simulated clinical setting with several surgical tools present in the magnetic field of EM tracking. The root-mean-square re-projection error averaged 4.9 pixel (range 2.4-8.5 pixel, with image resolution of [Formula: see text] for rotation angles ranged from [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text]. We developed a method for fast and accurate calibration of oblique-viewing rigid endoscopes. The method was also designed to be performed in the operating room and will therefore support clinical translation of many emerging endoscopic computer-assisted surgical systems.
Calibration of the KA Band Tracking of the Bepi-Colombo Spacecraft (more Experiment)
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Barriot, J.; Serafini, J.; Sichoix, L.
2013-12-01
The radiosciences Bepi-Colombo MORE experiment will use X/X, X/Ka and Ka/Ka band radio links to make accurate measurements of the spacecraft range and range rate. Tropospheric zenith wet delays range from 1.5 cm to 10 cm, with high variability (less than 1000 s) and will impair these accurate measurements. Conditions vary from summer (worse) to winter (better), from day (worse) to night (better). These wet delays cannot be estimated from ground weather measurements and alternative calibration methods should be used in order to cope with the MORE requirements (no more than 3 mm at 1000 s). Due to the Mercury orbit, MORE measurements will be performed by daylight and more frequently in summer than in winter (from Northern hemisphere). Two systems have been considered to calibrate this wet delay: Water Vapor Radiometers (WVRs) and GPS receivers. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has developed a new class of WVRs reaching a 5 percent accuracy for the wet delay calibration (0.75 mm to 5 mm), but these WVRs are expensive to build and operate. GPS receivers are also routinely used for the calibration of data from NASA Deep Space probes, but several studies have shown that GPS receivers can give good calibration (through wet delay mapping functions) for long time variations, but are not accurate enough for short time variations (100 to 1000 s), and that WVRs must be used to efficiently calibrate the wet troposphere delays over such time spans. We think that such a calibration could be done by assimilating data from all the GNSS constellations (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou and IRNSS) that will be available at the time of the Bepi-Colombo arrival at Mercury (2021), provided that the underlying physics of the turbulent atmosphere and evapotranspiration processes are properly taken into account at such time scales. This implies to do a tomographic image of the troposphere overlying each Deep Space tracking station at time scales of less than 1000 s. For this purpose, we have
Li, Ming; Josephs, Ralf D; Daireaux, Adeline; Choteau, Tiphaine; Westwood, Steven; Wielgosz, Robert I; Li, Hongmei
2018-06-04
Peptides are an increasingly important group of biomarkers and pharmaceuticals. The accurate purity characterization of peptide calibrators is critical for the development of reference measurement systems for laboratory medicine and quality control of pharmaceuticals. The peptides used for these purposes are increasingly produced through peptide synthesis. Various approaches (for example mass balance, amino acid analysis, qNMR, and nitrogen determination) can be applied to accurately value assign the purity of peptide calibrators. However, all purity assessment approaches require a correction for structurally related peptide impurities in order to avoid biases. Liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-hrMS) has become the key technique for the identification and accurate quantification of structurally related peptide impurities in intact peptide calibrator materials. In this study, LC-hrMS-based methods were developed and validated in-house for the identification and quantification of structurally related peptide impurities in a synthetic human C-peptide (hCP) material, which served as a study material for an international comparison looking at the competencies of laboratories to perform peptide purity mass fraction assignments. More than 65 impurities were identified, confirmed, and accurately quantified by using LC-hrMS. The total mass fraction of all structurally related peptide impurities in the hCP study material was estimated to be 83.3 mg/g with an associated expanded uncertainty of 3.0 mg/g (k = 2). The calibration hierarchy concept used for the quantification of individual impurities is described in detail. Graphical abstract ᅟ.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Mitishita, E.; Debiasi, P.; Hainosz, F.; Centeno, J.
2012-07-01
Digital photogrammetric products from the integration of imagery and lidar datasets are a reality nowadays. When the imagery and lidar surveys are performed together and the camera is connected to the lidar system, a direct georeferencing can be applied to compute the exterior orientation parameters of the images. Direct georeferencing of the images requires accurate interior orientation parameters to perform photogrammetric application. Camera calibration is a procedure applied to compute the interior orientation parameters (IOPs). Calibration researches have established that to obtain accurate IOPs, the calibration must be performed with same or equal condition that the photogrammetric survey is done. This paper shows the methodology and experiments results from in situ self-calibration using a simultaneous images block and lidar dataset. The calibration results are analyzed and discussed. To perform this research a test field was fixed in an urban area. A set of signalized points was implanted on the test field to use as the check points or control points. The photogrammetric images and lidar dataset of the test field were taken simultaneously. Four strips of flight were used to obtain a cross layout. The strips were taken with opposite directions of flight (W-E, E-W, N-S and S-N). The Kodak DSC Pro SLR/c digital camera was connected to the lidar system. The coordinates of the exposition station were computed from the lidar trajectory. Different layouts of vertical control points were used in the calibration experiments. The experiments use vertical coordinates from precise differential GPS survey or computed by an interpolation procedure using the lidar dataset. The positions of the exposition stations are used as control points in the calibration procedure to eliminate the linear dependency of the group of interior and exterior orientation parameters. This linear dependency happens, in the calibration procedure, when the vertical images and flat test field are
Radiometric Calibration of the Earth Observing System's Imaging Sensors
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Slater, Philip N. (Principal Investigator)
1997-01-01
The work on the grant was mainly directed towards developing new, accurate, redundant methods for the in-flight, absolute radiometric calibration of satellite multispectral imaging systems and refining the accuracy of methods already in use. Initially the work was in preparation for the calibration of MODIS and HIRIS (before the development of that sensor was canceled), with the realization it would be applicable to most imaging multi- or hyper-spectral sensors provided their spatial or spectral resolutions were not too coarse. The work on the grant involved three different ground-based, in-flight calibration methods reflectance-based radiance-based and diffuse-to-global irradiance ratio used with the reflectance-based method. This continuing research had the dual advantage of: (1) developing several independent methods to create the redundancy that is essential for the identification and hopefully the elimination of systematic errors; and (2) refining the measurement techniques and algorithms that can be used not only for improving calibration accuracy but also for the reverse process of retrieving ground reflectances from calibrated remote-sensing data. The grant also provided the support necessary for us to embark on other projects such as the ratioing radiometer approach to on-board calibration (this has been further developed by SBRS as the 'solar diffuser stability monitor' and is incorporated into the most important on-board calibration system for MODIS)- another example of the work, which was a spin-off from the grant funding, was a study of solar diffuser materials. Journal citations, titles and abstracts of publications authored by faculty, staff, and students are also attached.
Ruan, Chun; Yukihara, Eduardo G; Clouse, William J; Gasparian, Patricia B R; Ahmad, Salahuddin
2010-07-01
agreed very well with previous results from the literature using other detection techniques or Monte Carlo simulations. The LED-based OSL system can be an accurate alternative device for CT dose evaluations. CTDI100 measurement with the use of a 100 mm pencil ionization chamber substantially underestimates the CTDIinfinity value even with 5 mm collimated beam width. The established complete set of CTDI(100-efficiency) correction factors for various scan parameters allows for accurately estimating CTDIinfinity with the current use of pencil chamber and dose phantoms. Combined with the simple calibration, it gives this work great potential to be used not only in routine clinical quality assurance checks but also as a promising tool for patient organ dose assessment.
Heliostat kinematic system calibration using uncalibrated cameras
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Burisch, Michael; Gomez, Luis; Olasolo, David; Villasante, Cristobal
2017-06-01
The efficiency of the solar field greatly depends on the ability of the heliostats to precisely reflect solar radiation onto a central receiver. To control the heliostats with such a precision accurate knowledge of the motion of each of them modeled as a kinematic system is required. Determining the parameters of this system for each heliostat by a calibration system is crucial for the efficient operation of the solar field. For small sized heliostats being able to make such a calibration in a fast and automatic manner is imperative as the solar field potentially contain tens or even hundreds of thousands of them. A calibration system which can rapidly recalibrate a whole solar field would also allow reducing costs. Heliostats are generally designed to provide stability over a large period of time. Being able to relax this requirement and compensate any occurring error by adapting parameters in a model, the costs of the heliostat can be reduced. The presented method describes such an automatic calibration system using uncalibrated cameras rigidly attached to each heliostat. The cameras are used to observe targets spread out through the solar field; based on this the kinematic system of the heliostat can be estimated with high precision. A comparison of this approach to similar solutions shows the viability of the proposed solution.
Is photometry an accurate and reliable method to assess boar semen concentration?
Camus, A; Camugli, S; Lévêque, C; Schmitt, E; Staub, C
2011-02-01
Sperm concentration assessment is a key point to insure appropriate sperm number per dose in species subjected to artificial insemination (AI). The aim of the present study was to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of two commercially available photometers, AccuCell™ and AccuRead™ pre-calibrated for boar semen in comparison to UltiMate™ boar version 12.3D, NucleoCounter SP100 and Thoma hemacytometer. For each type of instrument, concentration was measured on 34 boar semen samples in quadruplicate and agreement between measurements and instruments were evaluated. Accuracy for both photometers was illustrated by mean of percentage differences to the general mean. It was -0.6% and 0.5% for Accucell™ and Accuread™ respectively, no significant differences were found between instrument and mean of measurement among all equipment. Repeatability for both photometers was 1.8% and 3.2% for AccuCell™ and AccuRead™ respectively. Low differences were observed between instruments (confidence interval 3%) except when hemacytometer was used as a reference. Even though hemacytometer is considered worldwide as the gold standard, it is the more variable instrument (confidence interval 7.1%). The conclusion is that routine photometry measures of raw semen concentration are reliable, accurate and precise using AccuRead™ or AccuCell™. There are multiple steps in semen processing that can induce sperm loss and therefore increase differences between theoretical and real sperm numbers in doses. Potential biases that depend on the workflow but not on the initial photometric measure of semen concentration are discussed. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
P. Veres; J. B. Gilman; J. M. Roberts; W. C. Kuster; C. Warneke; I. R. Burling; J. de Gouw
2010-01-01
We report on the development of an accurate, portable, dynamic calibration system for volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The Mobile Organic Carbon Calibration System (MOCCS) combines the production of gas-phase VOC standards using permeation or diffusion sources with quantitative total organic carbon (TOC) conversion on a palladium surface to CO2 in the presence of...
SU-F-T-323: A Post-Mastectomy Radiation Therapy Dose Distribution Study Using Nanodots and Films
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Qian, X; Vaidya, K; Puckett, L
Purpose: In post-mastectomy radiation therapy (RT), skin dose must be accurately estimated to assess skin reactions such as erythema, desquamation and necrosis. Planning systems cannot always provide accurate dosimetry for target volumes distal to skin. Therefore, in-vivo dosimetry is necessary. A female anthropomorphic phantom was used with optically stimulated luminescence dosimeters (nanoDots) to measure dose to chest wall skin. In addition, EBT2 films was employed to measure dose to left lung and heart in post-mastectomy RT. Methods: Films and nanoDots were calibrated under full buildup conditions at 100cm SAD for 6MV photons. Five pieces of films were placed between slabsmore » of Rando phantom to assess dose to left lung and heart. Two layers of 0.5cm thick bolus were used to cover the whole left chest. Six pairs of nanoDots were placed at medical and lateral aspects on the bolus surface, between the 0.5cm bolus layers, and under the bolus. Three control nanoDots were placed on chest wall to quantify imaging dose. The phantom was CT scanned with all dosimeters in place, and treatment planning was performed with tangential fields (200cGy). All dosimeters were contoured on CT and dose was extracted. NanoDots were read using nanoDot reader and films were scanned using film scanner. The measured and calculated doses were tabulated. Results: Dose to 12 nanoDots were evaluated. Dose variance for surface nanoDots were +3.8%, +2.7%, −5% and −9.8%. Those at lateral positions, with greater beam obliquity had larger variance than the medial positions. A similar trend was observed for other nanoDots (Table1). Point doses from films for heart and the left lung were 112.7cGy and 108.7cGy, with +10.2% and +9.04% deviation from calculated values, respectively. Conclusion: Dosimetry provided by the advanced planning system was verified using NanoDots and films. Both nanoDots and films provided good estimation of dose distribution in post-mastectomy RT.« less
Duch, M A; Ginjaume, M; Chakkor, H; Ortega, X; Jornet, N; Ribas, M
1998-06-01
In total body irradiation (TBI) treatments in vivo dosimetry is recommended because it makes it possible to ensure the accuracy and quality control of dose delivery. The aim of this work is to set up an in vivo thermoluminescence dosimetry (TLD) system to measure the dose distribution during the TBI technique used prior to bone marrow transplant. Some technical problems due to the presence of lung shielding blocks are discussed. Irradiations were performed in the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau by means of a Varian Clinac-1800 linear accelerator with 18 MV X-ray beams. Different TLD calibration experiments were set up to optimize in vivo dose assessment and to analyze the influence on dose measurement of shielding blocks. An algorithm to estimate midplane doses from entrance and exit doses is proposed and the estimated dose in critical organs is compared to internal dose measurements performed in an Alderson anthropomorphic phantom. The predictions of the dose algorithm, even in heterogeneous zones of the body such as the lungs, are in good agreement with the experimental results obtained with and without shielding blocks. The differences between measured and predicted values are in all cases lower than 2%. The TLD system described in this work has been proven to be appropriate for in vivo dosimetry in TBI irradiations. The described calibration experiments point out the difficulty of calibrating an in vivo dosimetry system when lung shielding blocks are used.
jasonSWIR Calibration of Spectralon Reflectance Factor
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Georgiev, Georgi T.; Butler, James J.; Cooksey, Cahterine; Ding, Leibo; Thome, Kurtis J.
2011-01-01
Satellite instruments operating in the reflective solar wavelength region require accurate and precise determination of the Bidirectional Reflectance Factor (BRF) of laboratory-based diffusers used in their pre-flight and on-orbit radiometric calibrations. BRF measurements are required throughout the reflected-solar spectrum from the ultraviolet through the shortwave infrared. Spectralon diffusers are commonly used as a reflectance standard for bidirectional and hemispherical geometries. The Diffuser Calibration Laboratory (DCaL) at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is a secondary calibration facility with reflectance measurements traceable to those made by the Spectral Tri-function Automated Reference Reflectometer (STARR) facility at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). For more than two decades, the DCaL has provided numerous NASA projects with BRF data in the ultraviolet (UV), visible (VIS) and the Near infraRed (NIR) spectral regions. Presented in this paper are measurements of BRF from 1475nm to 1625nm obtained using an indium gallium arsenide detector and a tunable coherent light source. The sample was a 2 inch diameter, 99% white Spectralon target. The BRF results are discussed and compared to empirically generated data from a model based on NIST certified values of 6deg directional/hemispherical spectral reflectance factors from 900nm to 2500nm. Employing a new NIST capability for measuring bidirectional reflectance using a cooled, extended InGaAs detector, BRF calibration measurements of the same sample were also made using NIST's STARR from 1475nm to 1625nm at an incident angle of 0deg and at viewing angles of 40deg, 45deg, and 50deg. The total combined uncertainty for BRF in this ShortWave Infrared (SWIR) range is less than 1%. This measurement capability will evolve into a BRF calibration service in SWIR region in support of NASA remote sensing missions. Keywords: BRF, BRDF, Calibration, Spectralon, Reflectance, Remote Sensing.
Besseling, T H; Jose, J; Van Blaaderen, A
2015-02-01
Accurate distance measurement in 3D confocal microscopy is important for quantitative analysis, volume visualization and image restoration. However, axial distances can be distorted by both the point spread function (PSF) and by a refractive-index mismatch between the sample and immersion liquid, which are difficult to separate. Additionally, accurate calibration of the axial distances in confocal microscopy remains cumbersome, although several high-end methods exist. In this paper we present two methods to calibrate axial distances in 3D confocal microscopy that are both accurate and easily implemented. With these methods, we measured axial scaling factors as a function of refractive-index mismatch for high-aperture confocal microscopy imaging. We found that our scaling factors are almost completely linearly dependent on refractive index and that they were in good agreement with theoretical predictions that take the full vectorial properties of light into account. There was however a strong deviation with the theoretical predictions using (high-angle) geometrical optics, which predict much lower scaling factors. As an illustration, we measured the PSF of a correctly calibrated point-scanning confocal microscope and showed that a nearly index-matched, micron-sized spherical object is still significantly elongated due to this PSF, which signifies that care has to be taken when determining axial calibration or axial scaling using such particles. © 2014 The Authors Journal of Microscopy published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Microscopical Society.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Matsubara, Kosuke; Kawashima, Hiroki; Hamaguchi, Takashi; Takata, Tadanori; Kobayashi, Masanao; Ichikawa, Katsuhiro; Koshida, Kichiro
2016-03-01
The aim of this study was to propose a calibration method for small dosimeters to measure absorbed doses during dual- source dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) and to compare the axial dose distribution, eye lens dose, and image noise level between DE and standard, single-energy (SE) head CT angiography. Three DE (100/Sn140 kVp 80/Sn140 kVp, and 140/80 kVp) and one SE (120 kVp) acquisitions were performed using a second-generation dual-source CT device and a female head phantom, with an equivalent volumetric CT dose index. The axial absorbed dose distribution at the orbital level and the absorbed doses for the eye lens were measured using radiophotoluminescent glass dosimeters. CT attenuation numbers were obtained in the DE composite images and the SE images of the phantom at the orbital level. The doses absorbed at the orbital level and in the eye lens were lower and standard deviations for the CT attenuation numbers were slightly higher in the DE acquisitions than those in the SE acquisition. The anterior surface dose was especially higher in the SE acquisition than that in the DE acquisitions. Thus, DE head CT angiography can be performed with a radiation dose lower than that required for a standard SE head CT angiography, with a slight increase in the image noise level. The 100/Sn140 kVp acquisition revealed the most balanced axial dose distribution. In addition, our proposed method was effective for calibrating small dosimeters to measure absorbed doses in DECT.
Ecologically-focused Calibration of Hydrological Models for Environmental Flow Applications
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Adams, S. K.; Bledsoe, B. P.
2015-12-01
Hydrologic alteration resulting from watershed urbanization is a common cause of aquatic ecosystem degradation. Developing environmental flow criteria for urbanizing watersheds requires quantitative flow-ecology relationships that describe biological responses to streamflow alteration. Ideally, gaged flow data are used to develop flow-ecology relationships; however, biological monitoring sites are frequently ungaged. For these ungaged locations, hydrologic models must be used to predict streamflow characteristics through calibration and testing at gaged sites, followed by extrapolation to ungaged sites. Physically-based modeling of rainfall-runoff response has frequently utilized "best overall fit" calibration criteria, such as the Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE), that do not necessarily focus on specific aspects of the flow regime relevant to biota of interest. This study investigates the utility of employing flow characteristics known a priori to influence regional biological endpoints as "ecologically-focused" calibration criteria compared to traditional, "best overall fit" criteria. For this study, 19 continuous HEC-HMS 4.0 models were created in coastal southern California and calibrated to hourly USGS streamflow gages with nearby biological monitoring sites using one "best overall fit" and three "ecologically-focused" criteria: NSE, Richards-Baker Flashiness Index (RBI), percent of time when the flow is < 1 cfs (%<1), and a Combined Calibration (RBI and %<1). Calibrated models were compared using calibration accuracy, environmental flow metric reproducibility, and the strength of flow-ecology relationships. Results indicate that "ecologically-focused" criteria can be calibrated with high accuracy and may provide stronger flow-ecology relationships than "best overall fit" criteria, especially when multiple "ecologically-focused" criteria are used in concert, despite inabilities to accurately reproduce additional types of ecological flow metrics to which the
Eye lens dose in interventional cardiology.
Principi, S; Delgado Soler, C; Ginjaume, M; Beltran Vilagrasa, M; Rovira Escutia, J J; Duch, M A
2015-07-01
The ICRP has recently recommended reducing the occupational exposure dose limit for the lens of the eye to 20 mSv y(-1), averaged over a period of 5 y, with no year exceeding 50 mSv, instead of the current 150 mSv y(-1). This reduction will have important implications for interventional cardiology and radiology (IC/IR) personnel. In this work, lens dose received by a staff working in IC is studied in order to determine whether eye lens dose monitoring or/and additional radiological protection measures are required. Eye lens dose exposure was monitored in 10 physicians and 6 nurses. The major IC procedures performed were coronary angiography and percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. The personnel were provided with two thermoluminescent dosemeters (TLDs): one calibrated in terms of Hp(3) located close to the left ear of the operator and a whole-body dosemeter calibrated in terms of Hp(10) and Hp(0.07) positioned on the lead apron. The estimated annual eye lens dose for physicians ranged between 8 and 60 mSv, for a workload of 200 procedures y(-1). Lower doses were collected for nurses, with estimated annual Hp(3) between 2 and 4 mSv y(-1). It was observed that for nurses the Hp(0.07) measurement on the lead apron is a good estimate of eye lens dose. This is not the case for physicians, where the influence of both the position and use of protective devices such as the ceiling shield is very important and produces large differences among doses both at the eyes and on the thorax. For physicians, a good correlation between Hp(3) and dose area product is shown. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Calibrant-Free Analyte Quantitation via a Variable Velocity Flow Cell.
Beck, Jason G; Skuratovsky, Aleksander; Granger, Michael C; Porter, Marc D
2017-01-17
In this paper, we describe a novel method for analyte quantitation that does not rely on calibrants, internal standards, or calibration curves but, rather, leverages the relationship between disparate and predictable surface-directed analyte flux to an array of sensing addresses and a measured resultant signal. To reduce this concept to practice, we fabricated two flow cells such that the mean linear fluid velocity, U, was varied systematically over an array of electrodes positioned along the flow axis. This resulted in a predictable variation of the address-directed flux of a redox analyte, ferrocenedimethanol (FDM). The resultant limiting currents measured at a series of these electrodes, and accurately described by a convective-diffusive transport model, provided a means to calculate an "unknown" concentration without the use of calibrants, internal standards, or a calibration curve. Furthermore, the experiment and concentration calculation only takes minutes to perform. Deviation in calculated FDM concentrations from true values was minimized to less than 0.5% when empirically derived values of U were employed.
Absolute flux density calibrations of radio sources: 2.3 GHz
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Freiley, A. J.; Batelaan, P. D.; Bathker, D. A.
1977-01-01
A detailed description of a NASA/JPL Deep Space Network program to improve S-band gain calibrations of large aperture antennas is reported. The program is considered unique in at least three ways; first, absolute gain calibrations of high quality suppressed-sidelobe dual mode horns first provide a high accuracy foundation to the foundation to the program. Second, a very careful transfer calibration technique using an artificial far-field coherent-wave source was used to accurately obtain the gain of one large (26 m) aperture. Third, using the calibrated large aperture directly, the absolute flux density of five selected galactic and extragalactic natural radio sources was determined with an absolute accuracy better than 2 percent, now quoted at the familiar 1 sigma confidence level. The follow-on considerations to apply these results to an operational network of ground antennas are discussed. It is concluded that absolute gain accuracies within + or - 0.30 to 0.40 db are possible, depending primarily on the repeatability (scatter) in the field data from Deep Space Network user stations.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Candela-Juan, C., E-mail: ccanjuan@gmail.com; Vijande, J.; García-Martínez, T.
2015-08-15
Purpose: A surface electronic brachytherapy (EBT) device is in fact an x-ray source collimated with specific applicators. Low-energy (<100 kVp) x-ray beam dosimetry faces several challenges that need to be addressed. A number of calibration protocols have been published for x-ray beam dosimetry. The media in which measurements are performed are the fundamental difference between them. The aim of this study was to evaluate the surface dose rate of a low-energy x-ray source with small field applicators using different calibration standards and different small-volume ionization chambers, comparing the values and uncertainties of each methodology. Methods: The surface dose rate ofmore » the EBT unit Esteya (Elekta Brachytherapy, The Netherlands), a 69.5 kVp x-ray source with applicators of 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 mm diameter, was evaluated using the AAPM TG-61 (based on air kerma) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) TRS-398 (based on absorbed dose to water) dosimetry protocols for low-energy photon beams. A plane parallel T34013 ionization chamber (PTW Freiburg, Germany) calibrated in terms of both absorbed dose to water and air kerma was used to compare the two dosimetry protocols. Another PTW chamber of the same model was used to evaluate the reproducibility between these chambers. Measurements were also performed with two different Exradin A20 (Standard Imaging, Inc., Middleton, WI) chambers calibrated in terms of air kerma. Results: Differences between surface dose rates measured in air and in water using the T34013 chamber range from 1.6% to 3.3%. No field size dependence has been observed. Differences are below 3.7% when measurements with the A20 and the T34013 chambers calibrated in air are compared. Estimated uncertainty (with coverage factor k = 1) for the T34013 chamber calibrated in water is 2.2%–2.4%, whereas it increases to 2.5% and 2.7% for the A20 and T34013 chambers calibrated in air, respectively. The output factors, measured with the PTW
A dynamic pressure calibration standard
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Schutte, P. C.; Cate, K. H.; Young, S. D.
1985-01-01
A dynamic pressure calibration standard has been developed for calibrating flush diaphragm mounted pressure transducers. Pressures up to 20 kPa (3 psi) have been accurately generated over a frequency range of 50 to 1800 hz. The uncertainty of the standard is +/-5 pct to 5kPa (.75 psi) and +/-10 pct from 5 kPa (.75 psi) to 20 kPa (3 psi). The system consists of two conically shaped, aluminum columns, one 5 cm (2 in.) high for low pressures and another 11 cm (4.3 in.) high for higher pressures, each filled with a viscous fluid. A column is mounted on the armature of a vibration exciter which imparts a sinusoidally varying acceleration to the fluid column. Two pressure transducers mounted at the base of the column sense the sinusoidally varying pressure. This pressure is determined from measurements of the density of the fluid, the height of the fluid, and the acceleration of the column. A section of the taller column is filled with steel balls to control the damping of the fluid to extend its useful frequency range.
Evaluation of the AMSR-E Data Calibration Over Land
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Njoku, E.; Chan, T.; Crosson, W.; Limaye, A.
2004-01-01
Land observations by the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing System (AMSR-E), particularly of soil and vegetation moisture changes, have numerous applications in hydrology, ecology and climate. Quantitative retrieval of soil and vegetation parameters relies on accurate calibration of the brightness temperature measurements. Analyses of the spectral and polarization characteristics of early versions of the AMSR-E data revealed significant calibration biases over land at 6.9 GHz. The biases were estimated and removed in the current archived version of the data Radiofrequency interference (RFI) observed at 6.9 GHz is more difficult to quanti@ however. A calibration analysis of AMSR-E data over land is presented in this paper for a complete annual cycle from June 2002 through September 2003. The analysis indicates the general high quality of the data for land applications (except for RFI), and illustrates seasonal trends of the data for different land surface types and regions.
Load Modeling and Calibration Techniques for Power System Studies
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Chassin, Forrest S.; Mayhorn, Ebony T.; Elizondo, Marcelo A.
2011-09-23
Load modeling is the most uncertain area in power system simulations. Having an accurate load model is important for power system planning and operation. Here, a review of load modeling and calibration techniques is given. This paper is not comprehensive, but covers some of the techniques most commonly found in the literature. The advantages and disadvantages of each technique are outlined.
Matrix Factorisation-based Calibration For Air Quality Crowd-sensing
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Dorffer, Clement; Puigt, Matthieu; Delmaire, Gilles; Roussel, Gilles; Rouvoy, Romain; Sagnier, Isabelle
2017-04-01
Internet of Things (IoT) is extending internet to physical objects and places. The internet-enabled objects are thus able to communicate with each other and with their users. One main interest of IoT is the ease of production of huge masses of data (Big Data) using distributed networks of connected objects, thus making possible a fine-grained yet accurate analysis of physical phenomena. Mobile crowdsensing is a way to collect data using IoT. It basically consists of acquiring geolocalized data from the sensors (from or connected to the mobile devices, e.g., smartphones) of a crowd of volunteers. The sensed data are then collectively shared using wireless connection—such as GSM or WiFi—and stored on a dedicated server to be processed. One major application of mobile crowdsensing is environment monitoring. Indeed, with the proliferation of miniaturized yet sensitive sensors on one hand and, on the other hand, of low-cost microcontrollers/single-card PCs, it is easy to extend the sensing abilities of smartphones. Alongside the conventional, regulated, bulky and expensive instruments used in authoritative air quality stations, it is then possible to create a large-scale mobile sensor network providing insightful information about air quality. In particular, the finer spatial sampling rate due to such a dense network should allow air quality models to take into account local effects such as street canyons. However, one key issue with low-cost air quality sensors is the lack of trust in the sensed data. In most crowdsensing scenarios, the sensors (i) cannot be calibrated in a laboratory before or during their deployment and (ii) might be sparsely or continuously faulty (thus providing outliers in the data). Such issues should be automatically handled from the sensor readings. Indeed, due to the masses of generated data, solving the above issues cannot be performed by experts but requires specific data processing techniques. In this work, we assume that some mobile
Experimental techniques for the calibration of lidar depolarization channels in EARLINET
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Belegante, Livio; Bravo-Aranda, Juan Antonio; Freudenthaler, Volker; Nicolae, Doina; Nemuc, Anca; Ene, Dragos; Alados-Arboledas, Lucas; Amodeo, Aldo; Pappalardo, Gelsomina; D'Amico, Giuseppe; Amato, Francesco; Engelmann, Ronny; Baars, Holger; Wandinger, Ulla; Papayannis, Alexandros; Kokkalis, Panos; Pereira, Sérgio N.
2018-02-01
Particle depolarization ratio retrieved from lidar measurements are commonly used for aerosol-typing studies, microphysical inversion, or mass concentration retrievals. The particle depolarization ratio is one of the primary parameters that can differentiate several major aerosol components but only if the measurements are accurate enough. The accuracy related to the retrieval of particle depolarization ratios is the driving factor for assessing and improving the uncertainties of the depolarization products. This paper presents different depolarization calibration procedures used to improve the quality of the depolarization data. The results illustrate a significant improvement of the depolarization lidar products for all the selected lidar stations that have implemented depolarization calibration procedures. The calibrated volume and particle depolarization profiles at 532 nm show values that fall within a range that is generally accepted in the literature.
SWIR calibration of Spectralon reflectance factor
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Georgiev, Georgi T.; Butler, James J.; Cooksey, Catherine; Ding, Leibo; Thome, Kurtis J.
2011-11-01
Satellite instruments operating in the reflective solar wavelength region require accurate and precise determination of the Bidirectional Reflectance Factor (BRF) of laboratory-based diffusers used in their pre-flight and on-orbit radiometric calibrations. BRF measurements are required throughout the reflected-solar spectrum from the ultraviolet through the shortwave infrared. Spectralon diffusers are commonly used as a reflectance standard for bidirectional and hemispherical geometries. The Diffuser Calibration Laboratory (DCaL) at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is a secondary calibration facility with reflectance measurements traceable to those made by the Spectral Tri-function Automated Reference Reflectometer (STARR) facility at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). For more than two decades, the DCaL has provided numerous NASA projects with BRF data in the ultraviolet (UV), visible (VIS) and the Near InfraRed (NIR) spectral regions. Presented in this paper are measurements of BRF from 1475 nm to 1625 nm obtained using an indium gallium arsenide detector and a tunable coherent light source. The sample was a 50.8 mm (2 in) diameter, 99% white Spectralon target. The BRF results are discussed and compared to empirically generated data from a model based on NIST certified values of 6°directional-hemispherical spectral reflectance factors from 900 nm to 2500 nm. Employing a new NIST capability for measuring bidirectional reflectance using a cooled, extended InGaAs detector, BRF calibration measurements of the same sample were also made using NIST's STARR from 1475 nm to 1625 nm at an incident angle of 0° and at viewing angle of 45°. The total combined uncertainty for BRF in this ShortWave Infrared (SWIR) range is less than 1%. This measurement capability will evolve into a BRF calibration service in SWIR region in support of NASA remote sensing missions.
Highly accurate thickness measurement of multi-layered automotive paints using terahertz technology
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Krimi, Soufiene; Beigang, René; Klier, Jens
2016-07-11
In this contribution, we present a highly accurate approach for thickness measurements of multi-layered automotive paints using terahertz time domain spectroscopy in reflection geometry. The proposed method combines the benefits of a model-based material parameters extraction method to calibrate the paint coatings, a generalized Rouard's method to simulate the terahertz radiation behavior within arbitrary thin films, and the robustness of a powerful evolutionary optimization algorithm to increase the sensitivity of the minimum thickness measurement limit. Within the framework of this work, a self-calibration model is introduced, which takes into consideration the real industrial challenges such as the effect of wet-on-wetmore » spray in the painting process.« less
Monte Carlo efficiency calibration of a neutron generator-based total-body irradiator
USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database
The increasing prevalence of obesity world-wide has focused attention on the need for accurate body composition assessments, especially of large subjects. However, many body composition measurement systems are calibrated against a single-sized phantom, often based on the standard Reference Man mode...
Monte carlo efficiency calibration of a neutron generator-based total-body irradiator
USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database
The increasing prevalence of obesity world-wide has focused attention on the need for accurate body composition assessments, especially of large subjects. However, many body composition measurement systems are calibrated against a single-sized phantom, often based on the standard Reference Man mode...
Auto calibration of a cone-beam-CT
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Gross, Daniel; Heil, Ulrich; Schulze, Ralf
2012-10-15
Purpose: This paper introduces a novel autocalibration method for cone-beam-CTs (CBCT) or flat-panel CTs, assuming a perfect rotation. The method is based on ellipse-fitting. Autocalibration refers to accurate recovery of the geometric alignment of a CBCT device from projection images alone, without any manual measurements. Methods: The authors use test objects containing small arbitrarily positioned radio-opaque markers. No information regarding the relative positions of the markers is used. In practice, the authors use three to eight metal ball bearings (diameter of 1 mm), e.g., positioned roughly in a vertical line such that their projection image curves on the detector preferablymore » form large ellipses over the circular orbit. From this ellipse-to-curve mapping and also from its inversion the authors derive an explicit formula. Nonlinear optimization based on this mapping enables them to determine the six relevant parameters of the system up to the device rotation angle, which is sufficient to define the geometry of a CBCT-machine assuming a perfect rotational movement. These parameters also include out-of-plane rotations. The authors evaluate their method by simulation based on data used in two similar approaches [L. Smekal, M. Kachelriess, S. E, and K. Wa, 'Geometric misalignment and calibration in cone-beam tomography,' Med. Phys. 31(12), 3242-3266 (2004); K. Yang, A. L. C. Kwan, D. F. Miller, and J. M. Boone, 'A geometric calibration method for cone beam CT systems,' Med. Phys. 33(6), 1695-1706 (2006)]. This allows a direct comparison of accuracy. Furthermore, the authors present real-world 3D reconstructions of a dry human spine segment and an electronic device. The reconstructions were computed from projections taken with a commercial dental CBCT device having two different focus-to-detector distances that were both calibrated with their method. The authors compare their reconstruction with a reconstruction computed by the manufacturer of the CBCT
Geng, Zongyu; Yang, Feng; Chen, Xi; Wu, Nianqiang
2016-01-01
It remains a challenge to accurately calibrate a sensor subject to environmental drift. The calibration task for such a sensor is to quantify the relationship between the sensor’s response and its exposure condition, which is specified by not only the analyte concentration but also the environmental factors such as temperature and humidity. This work developed a Gaussian Process (GP)-based procedure for the efficient calibration of sensors in drifting environments. Adopted as the calibration model, GP is not only able to capture the possibly nonlinear relationship between the sensor responses and the various exposure-condition factors, but also able to provide valid statistical inference for uncertainty quantification of the target estimates (e.g., the estimated analyte concentration of an unknown environment). Built on GP’s inference ability, an experimental design method was developed to achieve efficient sampling of calibration data in a batch sequential manner. The resulting calibration procedure, which integrates the GP-based modeling and experimental design, was applied on a simulated chemiresistor sensor to demonstrate its effectiveness and its efficiency over the traditional method. PMID:26924894
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Marchant, T. E.; Joshi, K. D.; Moore, C. J.
2017-03-01
Cone-beam CT (CBCT) images are routinely acquired to verify patient position in radiotherapy (RT), but are typically not calibrated in Hounsfield Units (HU) and feature non-uniformity due to X-ray scatter and detector persistence effects. This prevents direct use of CBCT for re-calculation of RT delivered dose. We previously developed a prior-image based correction method to restore HU values and improve uniformity of CBCT images. Here we validate the accuracy with which corrected CBCT can be used for dosimetric assessment of RT delivery, using CBCT images and RT plans for 45 patients including pelvis, lung and head sites. Dose distributions were calculated based on each patient's original RT plan and using CBCT image values for tissue heterogeneity correction. Clinically relevant dose metrics were calculated (e.g. median and minimum target dose, maximum organ at risk dose). Accuracy of CBCT based dose metrics was determined using an "override ratio" method where the ratio of the dose metric to that calculated on a bulk-density assigned version of the image is assumed to be constant for each patient, allowing comparison to "gold standard" CT. For pelvis and head images the proportion of dose errors >2% was reduced from 40% to 1.3% after applying shading correction. For lung images the proportion of dose errors >3% was reduced from 66% to 2.2%. Application of shading correction to CBCT images greatly improves their utility for dosimetric assessment of RT delivery, allowing high confidence that CBCT dose calculations are accurate within 2-3%.
Photometric Redshift Calibration Strategy for WFIRST Cosmology
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Hemmati, Shoubaneh; WFIRST, WFIRST-HLS-COSMOLOGY
2018-01-01
In order for WFIRST and other Stage IV Dark energy experiments (e.g. LSST, Euclid) to infer cosmological parameters not limited by systematic errors, accurate redshift measurements are needed. This accuracy can only be met using spectroscopic subsamples to calibrate the full sample. In this poster, we employ the machine leaning, SOM based spectroscopic sampling technique developed in Masters et al. 2015, using the empirical color-redshift relation among galaxies to find the minimum spectra required for the WFIRST weak lensing calibration. We use galaxies from the CANDELS survey to build the LSST+WFIRST lensing analog sample of ~36k objects and train the LSST+WFIRST SOM. We show that 26% of the WFIRST lensing sample consists of sources fainter than the Euclid depth in the optical, 91% of which live in color cells already occupied by brighter galaxies. We demonstrate the similarity between faint and bright galaxies as well as the feasibility of redshift measurements at different brightness levels. 4% of SOM cells are however only occupied by faint galaxies for which we recommend extra spectroscopy of ~200 new sources. Acquiring the spectra of these sources will enable the comprehensive calibration of the WFIRST color-redshift relation.
Calibration of Galileo signals for time metrology.
Defraigne, Pascale; Aerts, Wim; Cerretto, Giancarlo; Cantoni, Elena; Sleewaegen, Jean-Marie
2014-12-01
Using global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals for accurate timing and time transfer requires the knowledge of all electric delays of the signals inside the receiving system. GNSS stations dedicated to timing or time transfer are classically calibrated only for Global Positioning System (GPS) signals. This paper proposes a procedure to determine the hardware delays of a GNSS receiving station for Galileo signals, once the delays of the GPS signals are known. This approach makes use of the broadcast satellite inter-signal biases, and is based on the ionospheric delay measured from dual-frequency combinations of GPS and Galileo signals. The uncertainty on the so-determined hardware delays is estimated to 3.7 ns for each isolated code in the L5 frequency band, and 4.2 ns for the ionosphere-free combination of E1 with a code of the L5 frequency band. For the calibration of a time transfer link between two stations, another approach can be used, based on the difference between the common-view time transfer results obtained with calibrated GPS data and with uncalibrated Galileo data. It is shown that the results obtained with this approach or with the ionospheric method are equivalent.
Heliostat calibration using attached cameras and artificial targets
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Burisch, Michael; Sanchez, Marcelino; Olarra, Aitor; Villasante, Cristobal
2016-05-01
The efficiency of the solar field greatly depends on the ability of the heliostats to precisely reflect solar radiation onto a central receiver. To control the heliostats with such a precision requires the accurate knowledge of the motion of each of them. The motion of each heliostat can be described by a set of parameters, most notably the position and axis configuration. These parameters have to be determined individually for each heliostat during a calibration process. With the ongoing development of small sized heliostats, the ability to automatically perform such a calibration becomes more and more crucial as possibly hundreds of thousands of heliostats are involved. Furthermore, efficiency becomes an important factor as small sized heliostats potentially have to be recalibrated far more often, due to the limited stability of the components. In the following we present an automatic calibration procedure using cameras attached to each heliostat which are observing different targets spread throughout the solar field. Based on a number of observations of these targets under different heliostat orientations, the parameters describing the heliostat motion can be estimated with high precision.
Analysis of calibration materials to improve dual-energy CT scanning for petrophysical applications
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Ayyalasomavaiula, K.; McIntyre, D.; Jain, J.
2011-01-01
Dual energy CT-scanning is a rapidly emerging imaging technique employed in non-destructive evaluation of various materials. Although CT (Computerized Tomography) has been used for characterizing rocks and visualizing and quantifying multiphase flow through rocks for over 25 years, most of the scanning is done at a voltage setting above 100 kV for taking advantage of the Compton scattering (CS) effect, which responds to density changes. Below 100 kV the photoelectric effect (PE) is dominant which responds to the effective atomic numbers (Zeff), which is directly related to the photo electric factor. Using the combination of the two effects helps inmore » better characterization of reservoir rocks. The most common technique for dual energy CT-scanning relies on homogeneous calibration standards to produce the most accurate decoupled data. However, the use of calibration standards with impurities increases the probability of error in the reconstructed data and results in poor rock characterization. This work combines ICP-OES (inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy) and LIBS (laser induced breakdown spectroscopy) analytical techniques to quantify the type and level of impurities in a set of commercially purchased calibration standards used in dual-energy scanning. The Zeff data on the calibration standards with and without impurity data were calculated using the weighted linear combination of the various elements present and used in calculating Zeff using the dual energy technique. Results show 2 to 5% difference in predicted Zeff values which may affect the corresponding log calibrations. The effect that these techniques have on improving material identification data is discussed and analyzed. The workflow developed in this paper will translate to a more accurate material identification estimates for unknown samples and improve calibration of well logging tools.« less
The Effect of Inappropriate Calibration: Three Case Studies in Molecular Ecology
Ho, Simon Y. W.; Saarma, Urmas; Barnett, Ross; Haile, James; Shapiro, Beth
2008-01-01
Time-scales estimated from sequence data play an important role in molecular ecology. They can be used to draw correlations between evolutionary and palaeoclimatic events, to measure the tempo of speciation, and to study the demographic history of an endangered species. In all of these studies, it is paramount to have accurate estimates of time-scales and substitution rates. Molecular ecological studies typically focus on intraspecific data that have evolved on genealogical scales, but often these studies inappropriately employ deep fossil calibrations or canonical substitution rates (e.g., 1% per million years for birds and mammals) for calibrating estimates of divergence times. These approaches can yield misleading estimates of molecular time-scales, with significant impacts on subsequent evolutionary and ecological inferences. We illustrate this calibration problem using three case studies: avian speciation in the late Pleistocene, the demographic history of bowhead whales, and the Pleistocene biogeography of brown bears. For each data set, we compare the date estimates that are obtained using internal and external calibration points. In all three cases, the conclusions are significantly altered by the application of revised, internally-calibrated substitution rates. Collectively, the results emphasise the importance of judicious selection of calibrations for analyses of recent evolutionary events. PMID:18286172
The effect of inappropriate calibration: three case studies in molecular ecology.
Ho, Simon Y W; Saarma, Urmas; Barnett, Ross; Haile, James; Shapiro, Beth
2008-02-20
Time-scales estimated from sequence data play an important role in molecular ecology. They can be used to draw correlations between evolutionary and palaeoclimatic events, to measure the tempo of speciation, and to study the demographic history of an endangered species. In all of these studies, it is paramount to have accurate estimates of time-scales and substitution rates. Molecular ecological studies typically focus on intraspecific data that have evolved on genealogical scales, but often these studies inappropriately employ deep fossil calibrations or canonical substitution rates (e.g., 1% per million years for birds and mammals) for calibrating estimates of divergence times. These approaches can yield misleading estimates of molecular time-scales, with significant impacts on subsequent evolutionary and ecological inferences. We illustrate this calibration problem using three case studies: avian speciation in the late Pleistocene, the demographic history of bowhead whales, and the Pleistocene biogeography of brown bears. For each data set, we compare the date estimates that are obtained using internal and external calibration points. In all three cases, the conclusions are significantly altered by the application of revised, internally-calibrated substitution rates. Collectively, the results emphasise the importance of judicious selection of calibrations for analyses of recent evolutionary events.
VMAT linear accelerator commissioning and quality assurance: dose control and gantry speed tests
Rowshanfarzad, Pejman; Greer, Peter B.
2016-01-01
In VMAT treatment delivery the ability of the linear accelerator (linac) to accurately control dose versus gantry angle is critical to delivering the plan correctly. A new VMAT test delivery was developed to specifically test the dose versus gantry angle with the full range of allowed gantry speeds and dose rates. The gantry‐mounted IBA MatriXX with attached inclinometer was used in movie mode to measure the instantaneous relative dose versus gantry angle during the plan every 0.54 s. The results were compared to the expected relative dose at each gantry angle calculated from the plan. The same dataset was also used to compare the instantaneous gantry speeds throughout the delivery compared to the expected gantry speeds from the plan. Measurements performed across four linacs generally show agreement between measurement and plan to within 1.5% in the constant dose rate regions and dose rate modulation within 0.1 s of the plan. Instantaneous gantry speed was measured to be within 0.11∘/s of the plan (1 SD). An error in one linac was detected in that the nominal gantry speed was incorrectly calibrated. This test provides a practical method to quality‐assure critical aspects of VMAT delivery including dose versus gantry angle and gantry speed control. The method can be performed with any detector that can acquire time‐resolved dosimetric information that can be synchronized with a measurement of gantry angle. The test fulfils several of the aims of the recent Netherlands Commission on Radiation Dosimetry (NCS) Report 24, which provides recommendations for comprehensive VMAT quality assurance. PACS number(s): 87.55.Qr PMID:27167282
A Hierarchical Bayesian Model for Calibrating Estimates of Species Divergence Times
Heath, Tracy A.
2012-01-01
In Bayesian divergence time estimation methods, incorporating calibrating information from the fossil record is commonly done by assigning prior densities to ancestral nodes in the tree. Calibration prior densities are typically parametric distributions offset by minimum age estimates provided by the fossil record. Specification of the parameters of calibration densities requires the user to quantify his or her prior knowledge of the age of the ancestral node relative to the age of its calibrating fossil. The values of these parameters can, potentially, result in biased estimates of node ages if they lead to overly informative prior distributions. Accordingly, determining parameter values that lead to adequate prior densities is not straightforward. In this study, I present a hierarchical Bayesian model for calibrating divergence time analyses with multiple fossil age constraints. This approach applies a Dirichlet process prior as a hyperprior on the parameters of calibration prior densities. Specifically, this model assumes that the rate parameters of exponential prior distributions on calibrated nodes are distributed according to a Dirichlet process, whereby the rate parameters are clustered into distinct parameter categories. Both simulated and biological data are analyzed to evaluate the performance of the Dirichlet process hyperprior. Compared with fixed exponential prior densities, the hierarchical Bayesian approach results in more accurate and precise estimates of internal node ages. When this hyperprior is applied using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, the ages of calibrated nodes are sampled from mixtures of exponential distributions and uncertainty in the values of calibration density parameters is taken into account. PMID:22334343
A method for soil moisture probes calibration and validation of satellite estimates.
Holzman, Mauro; Rivas, Raúl; Carmona, Facundo; Niclòs, Raquel
2017-01-01
Optimization of field techniques is crucial to ensure high quality soil moisture data. The aim of the work is to present a sampling method for undisturbed soil and soil water content to calibrated soil moisture probes, in a context of the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) mission MIRAS Level 2 soil moisture product validation in Pampean Region of Argentina. The method avoids soil alteration and is recommended to calibrated probes based on soil type under a freely drying process at ambient temperature. A detailed explanation of field and laboratory procedures to obtain reference soil moisture is shown. The calibration results reflected accurate operation for the Delta-T thetaProbe ML2x probes in most of analyzed cases (RMSE and bias ≤ 0.05 m 3 /m 3 ). Post-calibration results indicated that the accuracy improves significantly applying the adjustments of the calibration based on soil types (RMSE ≤ 0.022 m 3 /m 3 , bias ≤ -0.010 m 3 /m 3 ). •A sampling method that provides high quality data of soil water content for calibration of probes is described.•Importance of calibration based on soil types.•A calibration process for similar soil types could be suitable in practical terms, depending on the required accuracy level.
A calibration facility to provide traceable calibration to upper air humidity measuring sensors
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Cuccaro, Rugiada; Rosso, Lucia; Smorgon, Denis; Beltramino, Giulio; Fernicola, Vito
2017-04-01
Accurate knowledge and high quality measurement of the upper air humidity and of its profile in atmosphere is essential in many areas of the atmospheric research, for example in weather forecasting, environmental pollution studies and research in meteorology and climatology. Moving from the troposphere to the stratosphere, the water vapour amount varies between some percent to few part per million. For this reason, through the years, several methods and instruments have been developed for the measurement of the humidity in atmosphere. Among the instruments used for atmospheric sounding, radiosondes, airborne and balloon-borne chilled mirror hygrometer (CMH) and tunable diode laser absorption spectrometers (TDLAS) play a key role. To avoid the presence of unknown biases and systematic errors and to obtain accurate and reliable humidity measurements, these instruments need a SI-traceable calibration, preferably carried out in conditions similar to those expected in the field. To satisfy such a need, a new calibration facility has been developed at INRIM. The facility is based on a thermodynamic-based frost-point generator designed to achieve a complete saturation of the carrier gas with a single passage through an isothermal saturator. The humidity generator covers the frost point temperature range between -98 °C and -20 °C and is able to work at any controlled pressure between 200 hPa and 1000 hPa (corresponding to a barometric altitude between ground level and approximately 12000 m). The paper reports the work carried out to test the generator performances, discusses the results and presents the evaluation of the measurement uncertainty. The present work was carried out within the European Joint Research Project "MeteoMet 2 - Metrology for Essential Climate Variables" co-funded by the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP). The EMRP is jointly funded by the EMRP participating countries within EURAMET and the European Union.
Jaccard, Maud; Petersson, Kristoffer; Buchillier, Thierry; Germond, Jean-François; Durán, Maria Teresa; Vozenin, Marie-Catherine; Bourhis, Jean; Bochud, François O; Bailat, Claude
2017-02-01
The aim of this study was to assess the suitability of Gafchromic EBT3 films for reference dose measurements in the beam of a prototype high dose-per-pulse linear accelerator (linac), capable of delivering electron beams with a mean dose-rate (Ḋ m ) ranging from 0.07 to 3000 Gy/s and a dose-rate in pulse (Ḋ p ) of up to 8 × 10 6 Gy/s. To do this, we evaluated the overall uncertainties in EBT3 film dosimetry as well as the energy and dose-rate dependence of their response. Our dosimetric system was composed of EBT3 Gafchromic films in combination with a flatbed scanner and was calibrated against an ionization chamber traceable to primary standard. All sources of uncertainties in EBT3 dosimetry were carefully analyzed using irradiations at a clinical radiotherapy linac. Energy dependence was investigated with the same machine by acquiring and comparing calibration curves for three different beam energies (4, 8 and 12 MeV), for doses between 0.25 and 30 Gy. Ḋ m dependence was studied at the clinical linac by changing the pulse repetition frequency (f) of the beam in order to vary Ḋ m between 0.55 and 4.40 Gy/min, while Ḋ p dependence was probed at the prototype machine for Ḋ p ranging from 7 × 10 3 to 8 × 10 6 Gy/s. Ḋ p dependence was first determined by studying the correlation between the dose measured by films and the charge of electrons measured at the exit of the machine by an induction torus. Furthermore, we compared doses from the films to independently calibrated thermo-luminescent dosimeters (TLD) that have been reported as being dose-rate independent up to such high dose-rates. We report that uncertainty below 4% (k = 2) can be achieved in the dose range between 3 and 17 Gy. Results also demonstrated that EBT3 films did not display any detectable energy dependence for electron beam energies between 4 and 12 MeV. No Ḋ m dependence was found either. In addition, we obtained excellent consistency between films and TLDs over the entire Ḋ p
Polarimetric SAR calibration experiment using active radar calibrators
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Freeman, Anthony; Shen, Yuhsyen; Werner, Charles L.
1990-03-01
Active radar calibrators are used to derive both the amplitude and phase characteristics of a multichannel polarimetric SAR from the complex image data. Results are presented from an experiment carried out using the NASA/JPL DC-8 aircraft SAR over a calibration site at Goldstone, California. As part of the experiment, polarimetric active radar calibrators (PARCs) with adjustable polarization signatures were deployed. Experimental results demonstrate that the PARCs can be used to calibrate polarimetric SAR images successfully. Restrictions on the application of the PARC calibration procedure are discussed.
Polarimetric SAR calibration experiment using active radar calibrators
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Freeman, Anthony; Shen, Yuhsyen; Werner, Charles L.
1990-01-01
Active radar calibrators are used to derive both the amplitude and phase characteristics of a multichannel polarimetric SAR from the complex image data. Results are presented from an experiment carried out using the NASA/JPL DC-8 aircraft SAR over a calibration site at Goldstone, California. As part of the experiment, polarimetric active radar calibrators (PARCs) with adjustable polarization signatures were deployed. Experimental results demonstrate that the PARCs can be used to calibrate polarimetric SAR images successfully. Restrictions on the application of the PARC calibration procedure are discussed.
Autonomous Kinematic Calibration of the Robot Manipulator with a Linear Laser-Vision Sensor
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kang, Hee-Jun; Jeong, Jeong-Woo; Shin, Sung-Weon; Suh, Young-Soo; Ro, Young-Schick
This paper presents a new autonomous kinematic calibration technique by using a laser-vision sensor called "Perceptron TriCam Contour". Because the sensor measures by capturing the image of a projected laser line on the surface of the object, we set up a long, straight line of a very fine string inside the robot workspace, and then allow the sensor mounted on a robot to measure the point intersection of the line of string and the projected laser line. The data collected by changing robot configuration and measuring the intersection points are constrained to on a single straght line such that the closed-loop calibration method can be applied. The obtained calibration method is simple and accurate and also suitable for on-site calibration in an industrial environment. The method is implemented using Hyundai VORG-35 for its effectiveness.
On-ground re-calibration of the GOME-2 satellite spectrometer series
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Otter, Gerard; Dijkhuizen, Niels; Vosteen, Amir; Brinkers, Sanneke; Gür, Bilgehan; Kenter, Pepijn; Sallusti, Marcello; Tomuta, Dana; Veratti, Rubes; Cappani, Annalisa
2017-11-01
The Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2[1] (GOME-2) represents one of the European instruments carried on board the MetOp satellite within the ESA's "Living Planet Program". Consisting of three flight models (FM's) it is intended to provide long-term monitoring of atmospheric ozone and other trace gases over a time frame of 15-20 years, thus contributing valuable input towards climate and atmospheric research and providing near real-time data for use in air quality forecasting. The ambition to achieve highly accurate scientific results requires a thorough calibration and characterization of the instrument prior to launch. These calibration campaigns were performed by TNO in Delft in the Netherlands, in the "Thermal Vacuum Calibration Facility" of the institute. Due to refurbishment and / or storage of the instruments over a period of a few years, several re-calibration campaigns were necessary. These re-calibrations provided the unique opportunity to study the effects of long term storage and build up statistics on the instrument as well as the calibration methods used. During the re-calibration of the second flight model a difference was found in the radiometric calibration output, which was not understood initially. In order to understand the anomalies on the radiometry, a deep investigation was performed using numerous variations of the setup and different sources. The major contributor was identified to be a systematic error in the alignment, for which a correction was applied. Apart from this, it was found that the geometry of the sources influenced the results. Based on the calibration results combined with a theoretical geometrical hypothesis inferred that the on-ground calibration should mimic as close as possible the in-orbit geometry.
SU-G-BRB-14: Uncertainty of Radiochromic Film Based Relative Dose Measurements
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Devic, S; Tomic, N; DeBlois, F
2016-06-15
Purpose: Due to inherently non-linear dose response, measurement of relative dose distribution with radiochromic film requires measurement of absolute dose using a calibration curve following previously established reference dosimetry protocol. On the other hand, a functional form that converts the inherently non-linear dose response curve of the radiochromic film dosimetry system into linear one has been proposed recently [Devic et al, Med. Phys. 39 4850–4857 (2012)]. However, there is a question what would be the uncertainty of such measured relative dose. Methods: If the relative dose distribution is determined going through the reference dosimetry system (conversion of the response bymore » using calibration curve into absolute dose) the total uncertainty of such determined relative dose will be calculated by summing in quadrature total uncertainties of doses measured at a given and at the reference point. On the other hand, if the relative dose is determined using linearization method, the new response variable is calculated as ζ=a(netOD)n/ln(netOD). In this case, the total uncertainty in relative dose will be calculated by summing in quadrature uncertainties for a new response function (σζ) for a given and the reference point. Results: Except at very low doses, where the measurement uncertainty dominates, the total relative dose uncertainty is less than 1% for the linear response method as compared to almost 2% uncertainty level for the reference dosimetry method. The result is not surprising having in mind that the total uncertainty of the reference dose method is dominated by the fitting uncertainty, which is mitigated in the case of linearization method. Conclusion: Linearization of the radiochromic film dose response provides a convenient and a more precise method for relative dose measurements as it does not require reference dosimetry and creation of calibration curve. However, the linearity of the newly introduced function must be verified. Dave
Does the lead apron and collar always reduce radiation dose?
Nortje, C J; Harris, A M; Lackovic, K P; Wood, R E
2001-11-01
The possibility that personal lead shielding devices can increase absorption of radiation has not been entertained. The purpose of the present investigation specifically was to determine whether pituitary dose might be increased when a leaded apron and thyroid collar are used. Thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) were used to measure absorbed dose. They were calibrated at the kVp used in the clinical situation and a calibration curve relating light output to dose was generated. Lithium fluoride TLD discs were placed in the pituitary gland region of a Rando-Alderson female human phantom. The equivalent of 100 transpharyngeal exposures were delivered. The resultant light output from recovered dosimeters was converted to a uGy value using the calibration curve. The experiment was repeated using a 0.25 mm lead equivalent collar and apron fitted to the phantom in the customary manner. The entire process was repeated in order to have 30 dosimeters for the unshielded and 30 dosimeters for the shielded conditions. A further 30 dosimeters were sham irradiated and served as controls. A statistical comparison between unshielded and shielded conditions was performed. When the leaded apron and thyroid collar were used the absorbed dose to the pituitary gland was increased significantly (P < 0.05). Following this a second group, using a different dosimetry system and a male phantom repeated the experiment. In both cases, the shielded phantom received significantly higher dose to the pituitary region than the unshielded.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kairn, T.; Asena, A.; Crowe, S. B.; Livingstone, A.; Papworth, D.; Smith, S.; Sutherland, B.; Sylvander, S.; Franich, R. D.; Trapp, J. V.
2017-05-01
This study investigated the use of the TruView xylenol-orange-based gel and VISTA optical CT scanner (both by Modus Medical Inc, London, Canada), for use in verifying the accuracy of planned dose distributions for hypo-fractionated (stereotactic) vertebral treatments. Gel measurements were carried out using three stereotactic vertebral treatments and compared with planned doses calculated using the Eclipse treatment planning system (Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, USA) as well as with film measurements made using Gafchromic EBT3 film (Ashland Inc, Covington, USA), to investigate the accuracy of the gel system. The gel was calibrated with reference to a moderate-dose gradient region in one of the gel samples. Generally, the gel measurements were able to approximate the close agreement between the doses calculated by the treatment planning system and the doses measured using film (which agreed with each other within 2%), despite lower resolution and bit depth. Poorer agreement was observed when the dose delivered to the gel exceeded the range of doses delivered in the calibration region. This commercial gel dosimetry system may be used to verify hypo-fractionated treatments of vertebral targets, although separate gel calibration measurements are recommended.
VIIRS reflective solar bands on-orbit calibration five-year update: extension and improvements
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Sun, Junqiang; Wang, Menghua
2016-09-01
The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) has been onorbit for almost five years. VIIRS has 22 spectral bands, among which fourteen are reflective solar bands (RSB) covering a spectral range from 0.410 to 2.25 μm. The SNPP VIIRS RSB have performed very well since launch. The radiometric calibration for the RSB has also reached a mature stage after almost five years since its launch. Numerous improvements have been made in the standard RSB calibration methodology. Additionally, a hybrid calibration method, which takes the advantages of both solar diffuser calibration and lunar calibration and avoids the drawbacks of the two methods, successfully finalizes the highly accurate calibration for VIIRS RSB. The successfully calibrated RSB data record significantly impacts the ocean color products, whose stringent requirements are especially sensitive to calibration accuracy, and helps the ocean color products to reach maturity and high quality. Nevertheless, there are still many challenge issues to be investigated for further improvements of the VIIRS sensor data records (SDR). In this presentation, the robust results of the RSB calibrations and the ocean product performance will be presented. The reprocessed SDR is now in more science tests, in addition to the ocean science tests already completed one year ago, readying to be the mission-long operational SDR.
Temperature and Humidity Calibration of a Low-Cost Wireless Dust Sensor for Real-Time Monitoring.
Hojaiji, Hannaneh; Kalantarian, Haik; Bui, Alex A T; King, Christine E; Sarrafzadeh, Majid
2017-03-01
This paper introduces the design, calibration, and validation of a low-cost portable sensor for the real-time measurement of dust particles within the environment. The proposed design consists of low hardware cost and calibration based on temperature and humidity sensing to achieve accurate processing of airborne dust density. Using commercial particulate matter sensors, a highly accurate air quality monitoring sensor was designed and calibrated using real world variations in humidity and temperature for indoor and outdoor applications. Furthermore, to provide a low-cost secure solution for real-time data transfer and monitoring, an onboard Bluetooth module with AES data encryption protocol was implemented. The wireless sensor was tested against a Dylos DC1100 Pro Air Quality Monitor, as well as an Alphasense OPC-N2 optical air quality monitoring sensor for accuracy. The sensor was also tested for reliability by comparing the sensor to an exact copy of itself under indoor and outdoor conditions. It was found that accurate measurements under real-world humid and temperature varying and dynamically changing conditions were achievable using the proposed sensor when compared to the commercially available sensors. In addition to accurate and reliable sensing, this sensor was designed to be wearable and perform real-time data collection and transmission, making it easy to collect and analyze data for air quality monitoring and real-time feedback in remote health monitoring applications. Thus, the proposed device achieves high quality measurements at lower-cost solutions than commercially available wireless sensors for air quality.
Zhang, Da; Mihai, Georgeta; Barbaras, Larry G; Brook, Olga R; Palmer, Matthew R
2018-05-10
Water equivalent diameter (Dw) reflects patient's attenuation and is a sound descriptor of patient size, and is used to determine size-specific dose estimator from a CT examination. Calculating Dw from CT localizer radiographs makes it possible to utilize Dw before actual scans and minimizes truncation errors due to limited reconstructed fields of view. One obstacle preventing the user community from implementing this useful tool is the necessity to calibrate localizer pixel values so as to represent water equivalent attenuation. We report a practical method to ease this calibration process. Dw is calculated from water equivalent area (Aw) which is deduced from the average localizer pixel value (LPV) of the line(s) in the localizer radiograph that correspond(s) to the axial image. The calibration process is conducted to establish the relationship between Aw and LPV. Localizer and axial images were acquired from phantoms of different total attenuation. We developed a program that automates the geometrical association between axial images and localizer lines and manages the measurements of Dw and average pixel values. We tested the calibration method on three CT scanners: a GE CT750HD, a Siemens Definition AS, and a Toshiba Acquilion Prime80, for both posterior-anterior (PA) and lateral (LAT) localizer directions (for all CTs) and with different localizer filters (for the Toshiba CT). The computer program was able to correctly perform the geometrical association between corresponding axial images and localizer lines. Linear relationships between Aw and LPV were observed (with R 2 all greater than 0.998) on all tested conditions, regardless of the direction and image filters used on the localizer radiographs. When comparing LAT and PA directions with the same image filter and for the same scanner, the slope values were close (maximum difference of 0.02 mm), and the intercept values showed larger deviations (maximum difference of 2.8 mm). Water equivalent diameter
Cho, S H; Lowenstein, J R; Balter, P A; Wells, N H; Hanson, W F
2000-01-01
A new calibration protocol, developed by the AAPM Task Group 51 (TG-51) to replace the TG-21 protocol, is based on an absorbed-dose to water standard and calibration factor (N(D,w)), while the TG-21 protocol is based on an exposure (or air-kerma) standard and calibration factor (N(x)). Because of differences between these standards and the two protocols, the results of clinical reference dosimetry based on TG-51 may be somewhat different from those based on TG-21. The Radiological Physics Center has conducted a systematic comparison between the two protocols, in which photon and electron beam outputs following both protocols were compared under identical conditions. Cylindrical chambers used in this study were selected from the list given in the TG-51 report, covering the majority of current manufacturers. Measured ratios between absorbed-dose and air-kerma calibration factors, derived from the standards traceable to the NIST, were compared with calculated values using the TG-21 protocol. The comparison suggests that there is roughly a 1% discrepancy between measured and calculated ratios. This discrepancy may provide a reasonable measure of possible changes between the absorbed-dose to water determined by TG-51 and that determined by TG-21 for photon beam calibrations. The typical change in a 6 MV photon beam calibration following the implementation of the TG-51 protocol was about 1%, regardless of the chamber used, and the change was somewhat smaller for an 18 MV photon beam. On the other hand, the results for 9 and 16 MeV electron beams show larger changes up to 2%, perhaps because of the updated electron stopping power data used for the TG-51 protocol, in addition to the inherent 1% discrepancy presented in the calibration factors. The results also indicate that the changes may be dependent on the electron energy.
The Accuracy of Two-Way Satellite Time Transfer Calibrations
2005-01-01
20392, USA Abstract Results from successive calibrations of Two-Way Satellite Time and Frequency Transfer ( TWSTFT ) operational equipment at...USNO and five remote stations using portable TWSTFT equipment are analyzed for internal and external errors, finding an average random error of ±0.35...most accurate means of operational long-distance time transfer are Two-Way Satellite Time and Frequency Transfer ( TWSTFT ) and carrier-phase GPS
Characterization of responses and comparison of calibration factor for commercial MOSFET detectors.
Bharanidharan, Ganesan; Manigandan, Durai; Devan, Krishnamurthy; Subramani, Vellaiyan; Gopishankar, Natanasabapathi; Ganesh, Tharmar; Joshi, Rakeshchander; Rath, Gourakishore; Velmurugan, Jagadeesan; Aruna, Prakasarao; Ganesan, Singaravelu
2005-01-01
A commercial metal oxide silicon field effect transistor (MOSFET) dosimeter of model TN502-RD has been characterized for its linearity, reproducibility, field size dependency, dose rate dependency, and angular dependency for Cobalt-60 (60Co), 6-MV, and 15-MV beam energies. The performance of the MOSFET clearly shows that it is highly reproducible, independent of field size and dose rate. Furthermore, MOSFET has a very high degree of linearity, with r-value>0.9 for all 3 energies. The calibration factor for 2 similar MOSFET detectors of model TN502-RD were also estimated and compared for all 3 energies. The calibration factor between the 2 similar MOSFET detectors shows a variation of about 1.8% for 60Co and 15 MV, and for 6 MV it shows variation of about 2.5%, indicating that calibration should be done whenever a new MOSFET is used. However, the detector shows considerable angular dependency of about 8.8% variation. This may be due to the variation in radiation sensitivity between flat and bubble sides of the MOSFET, and indicates that positional care must be taken while using MOSFET for stereotactic radiosurgery and stereotactic radiotherapy dosimetric applications.
Active point out-of-plane ultrasound calibration
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Cheng, Alexis; Guo, Xiaoyu; Zhang, Haichong K.; Kang, Hyunjae; Etienne-Cummings, Ralph; Boctor, Emad M.
2015-03-01
Image-guided surgery systems are often used to provide surgeons with informational support. Due to several unique advantages such as ease of use, real-time image acquisition, and no ionizing radiation, ultrasound is a common intraoperative medical imaging modality used in image-guided surgery systems. To perform advanced forms of guidance with ultrasound, such as virtual image overlays or automated robotic actuation, an ultrasound calibration process must be performed. This process recovers the rigid body transformation between a tracked marker attached to the transducer and the ultrasound image. Point-based phantoms are considered to be accurate, but their calibration framework assumes that the point is in the image plane. In this work, we present the use of an active point phantom and a calibration framework that accounts for the elevational uncertainty of the point. Given the lateral and axial position of the point in the ultrasound image, we approximate a circle in the axial-elevational plane with a radius equal to the axial position. The standard approach transforms all of the imaged points to be a single physical point. In our approach, we minimize the distances between the circular subsets of each image, with them ideally intersecting at a single point. We simulated in noiseless and noisy cases, presenting results on out-of-plane estimation errors, calibration estimation errors, and point reconstruction precision. We also performed an experiment using a robot arm as the tracker, resulting in a point reconstruction precision of 0.64mm.
Comprehensive Calibration and Validation Site for Information Remote Sensing
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Li, C. R.; Tang, L. L.; Ma, L. L.; Zhou, Y. S.; Gao, C. X.; Wang, N.; Li, X. H.; Wang, X. H.; Zhu, X. H.
2015-04-01
As a naturally part of information technology, Remote Sensing (RS) is strongly required to provide very precise and accurate information product to serve industry, academy and the public at this information economic era. To meet the needs of high quality RS product, building a fully functional and advanced calibration system, including measuring instruments, measuring approaches and target site become extremely important. Supported by MOST of China via national plan, great progress has been made to construct a comprehensive calibration and validation (Cal&Val) site, which integrates most functions of RS sensor aviation testing, EO satellite on-orbit caration and performance assessment and RS product validation at this site located in Baotou, 600km west of Beijing. The site is equipped with various artificial standard targets, including portable and permanent targets, which supports for long-term calibration and validation. A number of fine-designed ground measuring instruments and airborne standard sensors are developed for realizing high-accuracy stepwise validation, an approach in avoiding or reducing uncertainties caused from nonsynchronized measurement. As part of contribution to worldwide Cal&Val study coordinated by CEOS-WGCV, Baotou site is offering its support to Radiometric Calibration Network of Automated Instruments (RadCalNet), with an aim of providing demonstrated global standard automated radiometric calibration service in cooperation with ESA, NASA, CNES and NPL. Furthermore, several Cal&Val campaigns have been performed during the past years to calibrate and validate the spaceborne/airborne optical and SAR sensors, and the results of some typical demonstration are discussed in this study.
Methods for accurate estimation of net discharge in a tidal channel
Simpson, M.R.; Bland, R.
2000-01-01
Accurate estimates of net residual discharge in tidally affected rivers and estuaries are possible because of recently developed ultrasonic discharge measurement techniques. Previous discharge estimates using conventional mechanical current meters and methods based on stage/discharge relations or water slope measurements often yielded errors that were as great as or greater than the computed residual discharge. Ultrasonic measurement methods consist of: 1) the use of ultrasonic instruments for the measurement of a representative 'index' velocity used for in situ estimation of mean water velocity and 2) the use of the acoustic Doppler current discharge measurement system to calibrate the index velocity measurement data. Methods used to calibrate (rate) the index velocity to the channel velocity measured using the Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler are the most critical factors affecting the accuracy of net discharge estimation. The index velocity first must be related to mean channel velocity and then used to calculate instantaneous channel discharge. Finally, discharge is low-pass filtered to remove the effects of the tides. An ultrasonic velocity meter discharge-measurement site in a tidally affected region of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Rivers was used to study the accuracy of the index velocity calibration procedure. Calibration data consisting of ultrasonic velocity meter index velocity and concurrent acoustic Doppler discharge measurement data were collected during three time periods. Two sets of data were collected during a spring tide (monthly maximum tidal current) and one of data collected during a neap tide (monthly minimum tidal current). The relative magnitude of instrumental errors, acoustic Doppler discharge measurement errors, and calibration errors were evaluated. Calibration error was found to be the most significant source of error in estimating net discharge. Using a comprehensive calibration method, net discharge estimates developed from the three
Video-guided calibration of an augmented reality mobile C-arm.
Chen, Xin; Naik, Hemal; Wang, Lejing; Navab, Nassir; Fallavollita, Pascal
2014-11-01
The augmented reality (AR) fluoroscope augments an X-ray image by video and provides the surgeon with a real-time in situ overlay of the anatomy. The overlay alignment is crucial for diagnostic and intra-operative guidance, so precise calibration of the AR fluoroscope is required. The first and most complex step of the calibration procedure is the determination of the X-ray source position. Currently, this is achieved using a biplane phantom with movable metallic rings on its top layer and fixed X-ray opaque markers on its bottom layer. The metallic rings must be moved to positions where at least two pairs of rings and markers are isocentric in the X-ray image. The current "trial and error" calibration process currently requires acquisition of many X-ray images, a task that is both time consuming and radiation intensive. An improved process was developed and tested for C-arm calibration. Video guidance was used to drive the calibration procedure to minimize both X-ray exposure and the time involved. For this, a homography between X-ray and video images is estimated. This homography is valid for the plane at which the metallic rings are positioned and is employed to guide the calibration procedure. Eight users having varying calibration experience (i.e., 2 experts, 2 semi-experts, 4 novices) were asked to participate in the evaluation. The video-guided technique reduced the number of intra-operative X-ray calibration images by 89% and decreased the total time required by 59%. A video-based C-arm calibration method has been developed that improves the usability of the AR fluoroscope with a friendlier interface, reduced calibration time and clinically acceptable radiation doses.
Van Daele, Timothy; Gernaey, Krist V; Ringborg, Rolf H; Börner, Tim; Heintz, Søren; Van Hauwermeiren, Daan; Grey, Carl; Krühne, Ulrich; Adlercreutz, Patrick; Nopens, Ingmar
2017-09-01
The aim of model calibration is to estimate unique parameter values from available experimental data, here applied to a biocatalytic process. The traditional approach of first gathering data followed by performing a model calibration is inefficient, since the information gathered during experimentation is not actively used to optimize the experimental design. By applying an iterative robust model-based optimal experimental design, the limited amount of data collected is used to design additional informative experiments. The algorithm is used here to calibrate the initial reaction rate of an ω-transaminase catalyzed reaction in a more accurate way. The parameter confidence region estimated from the Fisher Information Matrix is compared with the likelihood confidence region, which is not only more accurate but also a computationally more expensive method. As a result, an important deviation between both approaches is found, confirming that linearization methods should be applied with care for nonlinear models. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 33:1278-1293, 2017. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Hybrid Geometric Calibration Method for Multi-Platform Spaceborne SAR Image with Sparse Gcps
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lv, G.; Tang, X.; Ai, B.; Li, T.; Chen, Q.
2018-04-01
Geometric calibration is able to provide high-accuracy geometric coordinates of spaceborne SAR image through accurate geometric parameters in the Range-Doppler model by ground control points (GCPs). However, it is very difficult to obtain GCPs that covering large-scale areas, especially in the mountainous regions. In addition, the traditional calibration method is only used for single platform SAR images and can't support the hybrid geometric calibration for multi-platform images. To solve the above problems, a hybrid geometric calibration method for multi-platform spaceborne SAR images with sparse GCPs is proposed in this paper. First, we calibrate the master image that contains GCPs. Secondly, the point tracking algorithm is used to obtain the tie points (TPs) between the master and slave images. Finally, we calibrate the slave images using TPs as the GCPs. We take the Beijing-Tianjin- Hebei region as an example to study SAR image hybrid geometric calibration method using 3 TerraSAR-X images, 3 TanDEM-X images and 5 GF-3 images covering more than 235 kilometers in the north-south direction. Geometric calibration of all images is completed using only 5 GCPs. The GPS data extracted from GNSS receiver are used to assess the plane accuracy after calibration. The results after geometric calibration with sparse GCPs show that the geometric positioning accuracy is 3 m for TSX/TDX images and 7.5 m for GF-3 images.
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Whiteman, David N.; Venable, Demetrius; Landulfo, Eduardo
2012-01-01
In a recent publication, LeBlanc and McDermid proposed a hybrid calibration technique for Raman water vapor lidar involving a tungsten lamp and radiosondes. Measurements made with the lidar telescope viewing the calibration lamp were used to stabilize the lidar calibration determined by comparison with radiosonde. The technique provided a significantly more stable calibration constant than radiosondes used alone. The technique involves the use of a calibration lamp in a fixed position in front of the lidar receiver aperture. We examine this configuration and find that such a configuration likely does not properly sample the full lidar system optical efficiency. While the technique is a useful addition to the use of radiosondes alone for lidar calibration, it is important to understand the scenarios under which it will not provide an accurate quantification of system optical efficiency changes. We offer examples of these scenarios.
A fast calibration method for 3-D tracking of ultrasound images using a spatial localizer.
Pagoulatos, N; Haynor, D R; Kim, Y
2001-09-01
We have developed a fast calibration method for computing the position and orientation of 2-D ultrasound (US) images in 3-D space where a position sensor is mounted on the US probe. This calibration is required in the fields of 3-D ultrasound and registration of ultrasound with other imaging modalities. Most of the existing calibration methods require a complex and tedious experimental procedure. Our method is simple and it is based on a custom-built phantom. Thirty N-fiducials (markers in the shape of the letter "N") embedded in the phantom provide the basis for our calibration procedure. We calibrated a 3.5-MHz sector phased-array probe with a magnetic position sensor, and we studied the accuracy and precision of our method. A typical calibration procedure requires approximately 2 min. We conclude that we can achieve accurate and precise calibration using a single US image, provided that a large number (approximately ten) of N-fiducials are captured within the US image, enabling a representative sampling of the imaging plane.
SU-C-201-03: Ionization Chamber Collection Efficiency in Pulsed Radiation Fields of High Pulse Dose
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Gotz, M; Karsch, L; Pawelke, J
Purpose: To investigate the reduction of collection efficiency of ionization chambers (IC) by volume recombination and its correction in pulsed fields of very high pulse dose. Methods: Measurements of the collection efficiency of a plane-parallel advanced Markus IC (PTW 34045, 1mm electrode spacing, 300V nominal voltage) were obtained for collection voltages of 100V and 300V by irradiation with a pulsed electron beam (20MeV) of varied pulse dose up to approximately 600mGy (0.8nC liberated charge). A reference measurement was performed with a Faraday cup behind the chamber. It was calibrated for the liberated charge in the IC by a linear fitmore » of IC measurement to reference measurement at low pulse doses. The results were compared to the commonly used two voltage approximation (TVA) and to established theories for volume recombination, with and without considering a fraction of free electrons. In addition, an equation system describing the charge transport and reactions in the chamber was solved numerically. Results: At 100V collection voltage and moderate pulse doses the established theories accurately predict the observed collection efficiency, but at extreme pulse doses a fraction of free electrons needs to be considered. At 300V the observed collection efficiency deviates distinctly from that predicted by any of the established theories, even at low pulse doses. However, the numeric solution of the equation system is able to reproduce the measured collection efficiency across the entire dose range of both voltages with a single set of parameters. Conclusion: At high electric fields (3000V/cm here) the existing theoretical descriptions of collection efficiency, including the TVA, are inadequate to predict pulse dose dependency. Even at low pulse doses they might underestimate collection efficiency. The presented, more accurate numeric solution, which considers additional effects like electric shielding by the charges, might provide a valuable tool for
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Eskins, Jonathan
1988-01-01
The problem of determining the forces and moments acting on a wind tunnel model suspended in a Magnetic Suspension and Balance System is addressed. Two calibration methods were investigated for three types of model cores, i.e., Alnico, Samarium-Cobalt, and a superconducting solenoid. Both methods involve calibrating the currents in the electromagnetic array against known forces and moments. The first is a static calibration method using calibration weights and a system of pulleys. The other method, dynamic calibration, involves oscillating the model and using its inertia to provide calibration forces and moments. Static calibration data, found to produce the most reliable results, is presented for three degrees of freedom at 0, 15, and -10 deg angle of attack. Theoretical calculations are hampered by the inability to represent iron-cored electromagnets. Dynamic calibrations, despite being quicker and easier to perform, are not as accurate as static calibrations. Data for dynamic calibrations at 0 and 15 deg is compared with the relevant static data acquired. Distortion of oscillation traces is cited as a major source of error in dynamic calibrations.