An accurate and reliable method of thermal data analysis in thermal imaging of the anterior knee for use in cryotherapy research.

PubMed

Selfe, James; Hardaker, Natalie; Thewlis, Dominic; Karki, Anna

2006-12-01

To develop an anatomic marker system (AMS) as an accurate, reliable method of thermal imaging data analysis, for use in cryotherapy research. Investigation of the accuracy of new thermal imaging technique. Hospital orthopedic outpatient department in England. Consecutive sample of 9 patients referred to anterior knee pain clinic. Not applicable. Thermally inert markers were placed at specific anatomic locations, defining an area over the anterior knee of patients with anterior knee pain. A baseline thermal image was taken. Patients underwent a 3-minute thermal washout of the affected knee. Thermal images were collected at a rate of 1 image per minute for a 20-minute re-warming period. A Matlab (version 7.0) program was written to digitize the marker positions and subsequently calculate the mean of the area over the anterior knee. Virtual markers were then defined as 15% distal from the proximal marker, 30% proximal from the distal markers, 15% lateral from the medial marker, and 15% medial from the lateral marker. The virtual markers formed an ellipse, which defined an area representative of the patella shape. Within the ellipse, the mean value of the full pixels determined the mean temperature of this region. Ten raters were recruited to use the program and interrater reliability was investigated. The intraclass correlation coefficient produced coefficients within acceptable bounds, ranging from .82 to .97, indicating adequate interrater reliability. The AMS provides an accurate, reliable method for thermal imaging data analysis and is a reliable tool with which to advance cryotherapy research.

Compensation method for the influence of angle of view on animal temperature measurement using thermal imaging camera combined with depth image.

PubMed

Jiao, Leizi; Dong, Daming; Zhao, Xiande; Han, Pengcheng

2016-12-01

In the study, we proposed an animal surface temperature measurement method based on Kinect sensor and infrared thermal imager to facilitate the screening of animals with febrile diseases. Due to random motion and small surface temperature variation of animals, the influence of the angle of view on temperature measurement is significant. The method proposed in the present study could compensate the temperature measurement error caused by the angle of view. Firstly, we analyzed the relationship between measured temperature and angle of view and established the mathematical model for compensating the influence of the angle of view with the correlation coefficient above 0.99. Secondly, the fusion method of depth and infrared thermal images was established for synchronous image capture with Kinect sensor and infrared thermal imager and the angle of view of each pixel was calculated. According to experimental results, without compensation treatment, the temperature image measured in the angle of view of 74° to 76° showed the difference of more than 2°C compared with that measured in the angle of view of 0°. However, after compensation treatment, the temperature difference range was only 0.03-1.2°C. This method is applicable for real-time compensation of errors caused by the angle of view during the temperature measurement process with the infrared thermal imager. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automatic Spatio-Temporal Flow Velocity Measurement in Small Rivers Using Thermal Image Sequences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, D.; Eltner, A.; Sardemann, H.; Maas, H.-G.

2018-05-01

An automatic spatio-temporal flow velocity measurement approach, using an uncooled thermal camera, is proposed in this paper. The basic principle of the method is to track visible thermal features at the water surface in thermal camera image sequences. Radiometric and geometric calibrations are firstly implemented to remove vignetting effects in thermal imagery and to get the interior orientation parameters of the camera. An object-based unsupervised classification approach is then applied to detect the interest regions for data referencing and thermal feature tracking. Subsequently, GCPs are extracted to orient the river image sequences and local hot points are identified as tracking features. Afterwards, accurate dense tracking outputs are obtained using pyramidal Lucas-Kanade method. To validate the accuracy potential of the method, measurements obtained from thermal feature tracking are compared with reference measurements taken by a propeller gauge. Results show a great potential of automatic flow velocity measurement in small rivers using imagery from a thermal camera.

Method and Apparatus for the Portable Identification of Material Thickness and Defects Using Spatially Controlled Heat Application

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cramer, K. Elliott (Inventor); Winfree, William P. (Inventor)

1999-01-01

A method and a portable apparatus for the nondestructive identification of defects in structures. The apparatus comprises a heat source and a thermal imager that move at a constant speed past a test surface of a structure. The thermal imager is off set at a predetermined distance from the heat source. The heat source induces a constant surface temperature. The imager follows the heat source and produces a video image of the thermal characteristics of the test surface. Material defects produce deviations from the constant surface temperature that move at the inverse of the constant speed. Thermal noise produces deviations that move at random speed. Computer averaging of the digitized thermal image data with respect to the constant speed minimizes noise and improves the signal of valid defects. The motion of thermographic equipment coupled with the high signal to noise ratio render it suitable for portable, on site analysis.

A novel technique to monitor thermal discharges using thermal infrared imaging.

PubMed

Muthulakshmi, A L; Natesan, Usha; Ferrer, Vincent A; Deepthi, K; Venugopalan, V P; Narasimhan, S V

2013-09-01

Coastal temperature is an important indicator of water quality, particularly in regions where delicate ecosystems sensitive to water temperature are present. Remote sensing methods are highly reliable for assessing the thermal dispersion. The plume dispersion from the thermal outfall of the nuclear power plant at Kalpakkam, on the southeast coast of India, was investigated from March to December 2011 using thermal infrared images along with field measurements. The absolute temperature as provided by the thermal infrared (TIR) images is used in the Arc GIS environment for generating a spatial pattern of the plume movement. Good correlation of the temperature measured by the TIR camera with the field data (r(2) = 0.89) make it a reliable method for the thermal monitoring of the power plant effluents. The study portrays that the remote sensing technique provides an effective means of monitoring the thermal distribution pattern in coastal waters.

Thickness measurement by two-sided step-heating thermal imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xiaoli; Tao, Ning; Sun, J. G.; Zhang, Cunlin; Zhao, Yuejin

2018-01-01

Infrared thermal imaging is a promising nondestructive technique for thickness prediction. However, it is usually thought to be only appropriate for testing the thickness of thin objects or near-surface structures. In this study, we present a new two-sided step-heating thermal imaging method which employed a low-cost portable halogen lamp as the heating source and verified it with two stainless steel step wedges with thicknesses ranging from 5 mm to 24 mm. We first derived the one-dimensional step-heating thermography theory with the consideration of warm-up time of the lamp, and then applied the nonlinear regression method to fit the experimental data by the derived function to determine the thickness. After evaluating the reliability and accuracy of the experimental results, we concluded that this method is capable of testing thick objects. In addition, we provided the criterions for both the required data length and the applicable thickness range of the testing material. It is evident that this method will broaden the thermal imaging application for thickness measurement.

Person Recognition System Based on a Combination of Body Images from Visible Light and Thermal Cameras.

PubMed

Nguyen, Dat Tien; Hong, Hyung Gil; Kim, Ki Wan; Park, Kang Ryoung

2017-03-16

The human body contains identity information that can be used for the person recognition (verification/recognition) problem. In this paper, we propose a person recognition method using the information extracted from body images. Our research is novel in the following three ways compared to previous studies. First, we use the images of human body for recognizing individuals. To overcome the limitations of previous studies on body-based person recognition that use only visible light images for recognition, we use human body images captured by two different kinds of camera, including a visible light camera and a thermal camera. The use of two different kinds of body image helps us to reduce the effects of noise, background, and variation in the appearance of a human body. Second, we apply a state-of-the art method, called convolutional neural network (CNN) among various available methods, for image features extraction in order to overcome the limitations of traditional hand-designed image feature extraction methods. Finally, with the extracted image features from body images, the recognition task is performed by measuring the distance between the input and enrolled samples. The experimental results show that the proposed method is efficient for enhancing recognition accuracy compared to systems that use only visible light or thermal images of the human body.

Exploring the Use of Thermal Infrared Imaging in Human Stress Research

PubMed Central

Grant, Joshua A.; Cardone, Daniela; Tusche, Anita; Singer, Tania

2014-01-01

High resolution thermal infrared imaging is a pioneering method giving indices of sympathetic activity via the contact-free recording of facial tissues (thermal imprints). Compared to established stress markers, the great advantage of this method is its non-invasiveness. The goal of our study was to pilot the use of thermal infrared imaging in the classical setting of human stress research. Thermal imprints were compared to established stress markers (heart rate, heart rate variability, finger temperature, alpha-amylase and cortisol) in 15 participants undergoing anticipation, stress and recovery phases of two laboratory stress tests, the Cold Pressor Test and the Trier Social Stress Test. The majority of the thermal imprints proved to be change-sensitive in both tests. While correlations between the thermal imprints and established stress markers were mostly non-significant, the thermal imprints (but not the established stress makers) did correlate with stress-induced mood changes. Multivariate pattern analysis revealed that in contrast to the established stress markers the thermal imprints could not disambiguate anticipation, stress and recovery phases of both tests. Overall, these results suggest that thermal infrared imaging is a valuable method for the estimation of sympathetic activity in the stress laboratory setting. The use of this non-invasive method may be particularly beneficial for covert recordings, in the study of special populations showing difficulties in complying with the standard instruments of data collection and in the domain of psychophysiological covariance research. Meanwhile, the established stress markers seem to be superior when it comes to the characterization of complex physiological states during the different phases of the stress cycle. PMID:24675709

Exploring the use of thermal infrared imaging in human stress research.

PubMed

Engert, Veronika; Merla, Arcangelo; Grant, Joshua A; Cardone, Daniela; Tusche, Anita; Singer, Tania

2014-01-01

High resolution thermal infrared imaging is a pioneering method giving indices of sympathetic activity via the contact-free recording of facial tissues (thermal imprints). Compared to established stress markers, the great advantage of this method is its non-invasiveness. The goal of our study was to pilot the use of thermal infrared imaging in the classical setting of human stress research. Thermal imprints were compared to established stress markers (heart rate, heart rate variability, finger temperature, alpha-amylase and cortisol) in 15 participants undergoing anticipation, stress and recovery phases of two laboratory stress tests, the Cold Pressor Test and the Trier Social Stress Test. The majority of the thermal imprints proved to be change-sensitive in both tests. While correlations between the thermal imprints and established stress markers were mostly non-significant, the thermal imprints (but not the established stress makers) did correlate with stress-induced mood changes. Multivariate pattern analysis revealed that in contrast to the established stress markers the thermal imprints could not disambiguate anticipation, stress and recovery phases of both tests. Overall, these results suggest that thermal infrared imaging is a valuable method for the estimation of sympathetic activity in the stress laboratory setting. The use of this non-invasive method may be particularly beneficial for covert recordings, in the study of special populations showing difficulties in complying with the standard instruments of data collection and in the domain of psychophysiological covariance research. Meanwhile, the established stress markers seem to be superior when it comes to the characterization of complex physiological states during the different phases of the stress cycle.

Thermal imaging for cold air flow visualisation and analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grudzielanek, M.; Pflitsch, A.; Cermak, J.

2012-04-01

In this work we present first applications of a thermal imaging system for animated visualization and analysis of cold air flow in field studies. The development of mobile thermal imaging systems advanced very fast in the last decades. The surface temperature of objects, which is detected with long-wave infrared radiation, affords conclusions in different problems of research. Modern thermal imaging systems allow infrared picture-sequences and a following data analysis; the systems are not exclusive imaging methods like in the past. Thus, the monitoring and analysing of dynamic processes became possible. We measured the cold air flow on a sloping grassland area with standard methods (sonic anemometers and temperature loggers) plus a thermal imaging system measuring in the range from 7.5 to 14µm. To analyse the cold air with the thermal measurements, we collected the surface infrared temperatures at a projection screen, which was located in cold air flow direction, opposite the infrared (IR) camera. The intention of using a thermal imaging system for our work was: 1. to get a general idea of practicability in our problem, 2. to assess the value of the extensive and more detailed data sets and 3. to optimise visualisation. The results were very promising. Through the possibility of generating time-lapse movies of the image sequences in time scaling, processes of cold air flow, like flow waves, turbulence and general flow speed, can be directly identified. Vertical temperature gradients and near-ground inversions can be visualised very well. Time-lapse movies will be presented. The extensive data collection permits a higher spatial resolution of the data than standard methods, so that cold air flow attributes can be explored in much more detail. Time series are extracted from the IR data series, analysed statistically, and compared to data obtained using traditional systems. Finally, we assess the usefulness of the additional measurement of cold air flow with thermal imaging systems.

First 3D thermal mapping of an active volcano using an advanced photogrammetric method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Antoine, Raphael; Baratoux, David; Lacogne, Julien; Lopez, Teodolina; Fauchard, Cyrille; Bretar, Frédéric; Arab-Sedze, Mélanie; Staudacher, Thomas; Jacquemoud, Stéphane; Pierrot-Deseilligny, Marc

2014-05-01

Thermal infrared data obtained in the [7-14 microns] spectral range are usually used in many Earth Science disciplines. These studies are exclusively based on the analysis of 2D information. In this case, a quantitative analysis of the surface energy budget remains limited, as it may be difficult to estimate the radiative contribution of the topography, the thermal influence of winds on the surface or potential imprints of subsurface flows on the soil without any precise DEM. The draping of a thermal image on a recent DEM is a common method to obtain a 3D thermal map of a surface. However, this method has many disadvantages i) errors can be significant in the orientation process of the thermal images, due to the lack of tie points between the images and the DEM; ii) the use of a recent DEM implies the use of another remote sensing technique to quantify the topography; iii) finally, the characterization of the evolution of a surface requires the simultaneous acquisition of thermal data and topographic information, which may be expensive in most cases. The stereophotogrammetry method allows to reconstitute the relief of an object from photos taken from different positions. Recently, substantial progress have been realized in the generation of high spatial resolution topographic surfaces using stereophotogrammetry. However, the presence of shadows, homogeneous textures and/or weak contrasts in the visible spectrum (e.g., flowing lavas, uniform lithologies) may prevent from the use of such method, because of the difficulties to find tie points on each image. Such situations are more favorable in the thermal infrared spectrum, as any variation in the thermal properties or geometric orientation of the surfaces may induce temperature contrasts that are detectable with a thermal camera. This system, usually functioning with a array sensor (Focal Plane Array) and an optical device, have geometric characteristics that are similar to digital cameras. Thus, it may be possible to extract 3D informations from thermal images taken from different positions. This paper presents the first 3D thermal map of an active volcano (Piton de la Fournaise, La Réunion Island) directly generated from 70 thermal images (so-called "stereothermogrammetric" DEM). The data were obtained above Dolomieu caldera by helicopter just before sunrise, during a clear weather in 2008. They were obtained before the eruptive events occurring within the Dolomieu caldera. We used a 28 mm focal FLIR Thermacam PM695 lent by the Piton de la Fournaise Observatory. The thermal images were acquired automatically every 30 seconds with the helicopter flying around the caldera at low altitude (less than 100 m height above the caldera). This survey led to the acquisition of images with a ground pixel size in the range of 1-3 m. A particular attention has been brought to the obtaining of a high overlap percentage (80 percents) for the localization of the maximum tie points on the image. Finally, the acquisition of 70 images allowed the generation of a 3D thermal model of the caldera containing more than 500000 points. i.e. 1 point each 2 m², considering a surface of 106 m² for the Dolomieu caldera. This model is then compared with a DEM recently obtained with the LIDAR method after the eruptive events occurring within Dolomieu. The comparison of these independent methods leads to the validation of the stereothermogrammetric method. It allows the quantification of the thickness of the lava flows within the Dolomieu collapse in 2008 and 2009, i.e. approximately 80 meters, as estimated by previous studies from field observations.

Multi-sensor fusion of Landsat 8 thermal infrared (TIR) and panchromatic (PAN) images.

PubMed

Jung, Hyung-Sup; Park, Sung-Whan

2014-12-18

Data fusion is defined as the combination of data from multiple sensors such that the resulting information is better than would be possible when the sensors are used individually. The multi-sensor fusion of panchromatic (PAN) and thermal infrared (TIR) images is a good example of this data fusion. While a PAN image has higher spatial resolution, a TIR one has lower spatial resolution. In this study, we have proposed an efficient method to fuse Landsat 8 PAN and TIR images using an optimal scaling factor in order to control the trade-off between the spatial details and the thermal information. We have compared the fused images created from different scaling factors and then tested the performance of the proposed method at urban and rural test areas. The test results show that the proposed method merges the spatial resolution of PAN image and the temperature information of TIR image efficiently. The proposed method may be applied to detect lava flows of volcanic activity, radioactive exposure of nuclear power plants, and surface temperature change with respect to land-use change.

Thermal Texture Generation and 3d Model Reconstruction Using SFM and Gan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kniaz, V. V.; Mizginov, V. A.

2018-05-01

Realistic 3D models with textures representing thermal emission of the object are widely used in such fields as dynamic scene analysis, autonomous driving, and video surveillance. Structure from Motion (SfM) methods provide a robust approach for the generation of textured 3D models in the visible range. Still, automatic generation of 3D models from the infrared imagery is challenging due to an absence of the feature points and low sensor resolution. Recent advances in Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) have proved that they can perform complex image-to-image transformations such as a transformation of day to night and generation of imagery in a different spectral range. In this paper, we propose a novel method for generation of realistic 3D models with thermal textures using the SfM pipeline and GAN. The proposed method uses visible range images as an input. The images are processed in two ways. Firstly, they are used for point matching and dense point cloud generation. Secondly, the images are fed into a GAN that performs the transformation from the visible range to the thermal range. We evaluate the proposed method using real infrared imagery captured with a FLIR ONE PRO camera. We generated a dataset with 2000 pairs of real images captured in thermal and visible range. The dataset is used to train the GAN network and to generate 3D models using SfM. The evaluation of the generated 3D models and infrared textures proved that they are similar to the ground truth model in both thermal emissivity and geometrical shape.

Thermal feature extraction of servers in a datacenter using thermal image registration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Hang; Ran, Jian; Xie, Ting; Gao, Shan

2017-09-01

Thermal cameras provide fine-grained thermal information that enhances monitoring and enables automatic thermal management in large datacenters. Recent approaches employing mobile robots or thermal camera networks can already identify the physical locations of hot spots. Other distribution information used to optimize datacenter management can also be obtained automatically using pattern recognition technology. However, most of the features extracted from thermal images, such as shape and gradient, may be affected by changes in the position and direction of the thermal camera. This paper presents a method for extracting the thermal features of a hot spot or a server in a container datacenter. First, thermal and visual images are registered based on textural characteristics extracted from images acquired in datacenters. Then, the thermal distribution of each server is standardized. The features of a hot spot or server extracted from the standard distribution can reduce the impact of camera position and direction. The results of experiments show that image registration is efficient for aligning the corresponding visual and thermal images in the datacenter, and the standardization procedure reduces the impacts of camera position and direction on hot spot or server features.

Quantitative Three-Dimensional Imaging of Heterogeneous Materials by Thermal Tomography

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sun, J. G.

2016-07-19

Infrared thermal imaging based on active thermal excitations has been widely used for nondestructive evaluation ( NDE) of materials. While the experimental systems have remained essentially the same during the last few decades, development of advanced data-processing methods has significantly improved the capabilities of this technology. However, many limitations still exist. One fundamental limitation is the requirement, either explicitly or implicitly, of the tested material to be homogeneous such that detected thermal contrasts may be used to determine an average material property or attributed to flaws. In this paper, a new thermal tomography ( TT) method is introduced, which formore » the first time can evaluate heterogeneous materials by directly imaging their thermal-property variations with space. It utilizes one-sided flash thermal-imaging data to construct the three-dimensional ( 3D) distribution of thermal effusivity in the entire volume of a test sample. Theoretical analyses for single and multilayer material systems were conducted to validate its formulation and to demonstrate its performance. Experimental results for a ceramic composite plate and a thermal barrier coating ( TBC) sample are also presented. It was shown that thermal diffusion is the primary factor that degrades the spatial resolution with depth for TT; the spatial resolutions in the lateral and axial directions were quantitatively evaluated.« less

Person Recognition System Based on a Combination of Body Images from Visible Light and Thermal Cameras

PubMed Central

Nguyen, Dat Tien; Hong, Hyung Gil; Kim, Ki Wan; Park, Kang Ryoung

2017-01-01

The human body contains identity information that can be used for the person recognition (verification/recognition) problem. In this paper, we propose a person recognition method using the information extracted from body images. Our research is novel in the following three ways compared to previous studies. First, we use the images of human body for recognizing individuals. To overcome the limitations of previous studies on body-based person recognition that use only visible light images for recognition, we use human body images captured by two different kinds of camera, including a visible light camera and a thermal camera. The use of two different kinds of body image helps us to reduce the effects of noise, background, and variation in the appearance of a human body. Second, we apply a state-of-the art method, called convolutional neural network (CNN) among various available methods, for image features extraction in order to overcome the limitations of traditional hand-designed image feature extraction methods. Finally, with the extracted image features from body images, the recognition task is performed by measuring the distance between the input and enrolled samples. The experimental results show that the proposed method is efficient for enhancing recognition accuracy compared to systems that use only visible light or thermal images of the human body. PMID:28300783

Determination of female breast tumor and its parameter estimation by thermal simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Xin-guang; Xu, A.-qing; Yang, Hong-qin; Wang, Yu-hua; Xie, Shu-sen

2010-02-01

Thermal imaging is an emerging method for early detection of female breast tumor. The main challenge for thermal imaging used in breast clinics lies in how to detect or locate the tumor and obtain its related parameters. The purpose of this study is to apply an improved method which combined a genetic algorithm with finite element thermal analysis to determine the breast tumor and its parameters, such as the size, location, metabolic heat generation and blood perfusion rate. A finite element model for breast embedded a tumor was used to investigate the temperature distribution, and then the influences of tumor metabolic heat generation, tumor location and tumor size on the temperature were studied by use of an improved genetic algorithm. The results show that thermal imaging is a potential and effective detection tool for early breast tumor, and thermal simulation may be helpful for the explanation of breast thermograms.

Thermal Imaging Applied to Cryocrystallography: Cryocooling and Beam Heating (Part I)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Snell, Edward; Bellamy, Henry; Rosenbaum, Gerd; vanderWoerd, Mark; Kazmierczak, Michael

2006-01-01

Thermal imaging provides a non-invasive method to study both the cryocooling process and the heating due to the X-ray beam interaction with a sample. The method has been used successfully to image cryocooling in a number of experimental situations, i.e. cooling as a function of sample volume and as a function of cryostream orientation. Although there are experimental limitations to the method, it has proved a powerful technique to aid cryocrystallography development. Due to the rapid spatial temperature information provided about the sample it is also a powerful tool in the testing of mathematical models. Recently thermal imaging has been used to measure the temperature distribution on both a model and typical crystal samples illuminated with an X-ray beam produced by an undulator. A brief overview of thermal imaging and previous results will be presented. In addition, a detailed description of the calibration and experimental aspects of the beam heating measurements will be described. This will complement the following talk on the mathematical modeling and analysis of the results.

Thermal wake/vessel detection technique

DOEpatents

Roskovensky, John K [Albuquerque, NM; Nandy, Prabal [Albuquerque, NM; Post, Brian N [Albuquerque, NM

2012-01-10

A computer-automated method for detecting a vessel in water based on an image of a portion of Earth includes generating a thermal anomaly mask. The thermal anomaly mask flags each pixel of the image initially deemed to be a wake pixel based on a comparison of a thermal value of each pixel against other thermal values of other pixels localized about each pixel. Contiguous pixels flagged by the thermal anomaly mask are grouped into pixel clusters. A shape of each of the pixel clusters is analyzed to determine whether each of the pixel clusters represents a possible vessel detection event. The possible vessel detection events are represented visually within the image.

Measurement of thermally ablated lesions in sonoelastographic images using level set methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castaneda, Benjamin; Tamez-Pena, Jose Gerardo; Zhang, Man; Hoyt, Kenneth; Bylund, Kevin; Christensen, Jared; Saad, Wael; Strang, John; Rubens, Deborah J.; Parker, Kevin J.

2008-03-01

The capability of sonoelastography to detect lesions based on elasticity contrast can be applied to monitor the creation of thermally ablated lesion. Currently, segmentation of lesions depicted in sonoelastographic images is performed manually which can be a time consuming process and prone to significant intra- and inter-observer variability. This work presents a semi-automated segmentation algorithm for sonoelastographic data. The user starts by planting a seed in the perceived center of the lesion. Fast marching methods use this information to create an initial estimate of the lesion. Subsequently, level set methods refine its final shape by attaching the segmented contour to edges in the image while maintaining smoothness. The algorithm is applied to in vivo sonoelastographic images from twenty five thermal ablated lesions created in porcine livers. The estimated area is compared to results from manual segmentation and gross pathology images. Results show that the algorithm outperforms manual segmentation in accuracy, inter- and intra-observer variability. The processing time per image is significantly reduced.

Downscaling of Seasonal Landsat-8 and MODIS Land Surface Temperature (LST) in Kolkata, India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garg, R. D.; Guha, S.; Mondal, A.; Lakshmi, V.; Kundu, S.

2017-12-01

The quality of life of urban people is affected by urban heat environment. The urban heat studies can be carried out using remotely sensed thermal infrared imagery for retrieving Land Surface Temperature (LST). Currently, high spatial resolution (<200 m) thermal images are limited and their temporal resolution is low (e.g., 17 days of Landsat-8). Coarse spatial resolution (1000 m) and high temporal resolution (daily) thermal images of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) are frequently available. The present study is to downscale spatially coarser resolution of the thermal image to fine resolution thermal image using regression based downscaling technique. This method is based on the relationship between (LST) and vegetation indices (e.g., Normalized Difference Vegetation Index or NDVI) over a heterogeneous landscape. The Kolkata metropolitan city, which experiences a tropical wet-and-dry type of climate has been selected for the study. This study applied different seasonal open source satellite images viz., Landsat-8 and Terra MODIS. The Landsat-8 images are aggregated at 960 m resolution and downscaled into 480, 240 120 and 60 m. Optical and thermal resolution of Landsat-8 and MODIS are 30 m and 60 m; 250 m and 1000 m respectively. The homogeneous land cover areas have shown better accuracy than heterogeneous land cover areas. The downscaling method plays a crucial role while the spatial resolution of thermal band renders it unable for advanced study. Key words: Land Surface Temperature (LST), Downscale, MODIS, Landsat, Kolkata

Automation of disbond detection in aircraft fuselage through thermal image processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Prabhu, D. R.; Winfree, W. P.

1992-01-01

A procedure for interpreting thermal images obtained during the nondestructive evaluation of aircraft bonded joints is presented. The procedure operates on time-derivative thermal images and resulted in a disbond image with disbonds highlighted. The size of the 'black clusters' in the output disbond image is a quantitative measure of disbond size. The procedure is illustrated using simulation data as well as data obtained through experimental testing of fabricated samples and aircraft panels. Good results are obtained, and, except in pathological cases, 'false calls' in the cases studied appeared only as noise in the output disbond image which was easily filtered out. The thermal detection technique coupled with an automated image interpretation capability will be a very fast and effective method for inspecting bonded joints in an aircraft structure.

SU-G-201-16: Thermal Imaging in Source Visualization and Radioactivity Measurement for High Dose Rate Brachytherapy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhu, X; Lei, Y; Zheng, D

2016-06-15

Purpose: High Dose Rate (HDR) brachytherapy poses a special challenge to radiation safety and quality assurance (QA) due to its high radioactivity, and it is thus critical to verify the HDR source location and its radioactive strength. This study demonstrates a new method for measuring HDR source location and radioactivity utilizing thermal imaging. A potential application would relate to HDR QA and safety improvement. Methods: Heating effects by an HDR source were studied using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). Thermal cameras were used to visualize an HDR source inside a plastic applicator made of polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF). Using different source dwellmore » times, correlations between the HDR source strength and heating effects were studied, thus establishing potential daily QA criteria using thermal imaging Results: For an Ir1?2 source with a radioactivity of 10 Ci, the decay-induced heating power inside the source is ∼13.3 mW. After the HDR source was extended into the PVDF applicator and reached thermal equilibrium, thermal imaging visualized the temperature gradient of 10 K/cm along the PVDF applicator surface, which agreed with FEA modeling. For Ir{sup 192} source activities ranging from 4.20–10.20 Ci, thermal imaging could verify source activity with an accuracy of 6.3% with a dwell time of 10 sec, and an accuracy of 2.5 % with 100 sec. Conclusion: Thermal imaging is a feasible tool to visualize HDR source dwell positions and verify source integrity. Patient safety and treatment quality will be improved by integrating thermal measurements into HDR QA procedures.« less

Real-space post-processing correction of thermal drift and piezoelectric actuator nonlinearities in scanning tunneling microscope images.

PubMed

Yothers, Mitchell P; Browder, Aaron E; Bumm, Lloyd A

2017-01-01

We have developed a real-space method to correct distortion due to thermal drift and piezoelectric actuator nonlinearities on scanning tunneling microscope images using Matlab. The method uses the known structures typically present in high-resolution atomic and molecularly resolved images as an internal standard. Each image feature (atom or molecule) is first identified in the image. The locations of each feature's nearest neighbors are used to measure the local distortion at that location. The local distortion map across the image is simultaneously fit to our distortion model, which includes thermal drift in addition to piezoelectric actuator hysteresis and creep. The image coordinates of the features and image pixels are corrected using an inverse transform from the distortion model. We call this technique the thermal-drift, hysteresis, and creep transform. Performing the correction in real space allows defects, domain boundaries, and step edges to be excluded with a spatial mask. Additional real-space image analyses are now possible with these corrected images. Using graphite(0001) as a model system, we show lattice fitting to the corrected image, averaged unit cell images, and symmetry-averaged unit cell images. Statistical analysis of the distribution of the image features around their best-fit lattice sites measures the aggregate noise in the image, which can be expressed as feature confidence ellipsoids.

Real-space post-processing correction of thermal drift and piezoelectric actuator nonlinearities in scanning tunneling microscope images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yothers, Mitchell P.; Browder, Aaron E.; Bumm, Lloyd A.

2017-01-01

We have developed a real-space method to correct distortion due to thermal drift and piezoelectric actuator nonlinearities on scanning tunneling microscope images using Matlab. The method uses the known structures typically present in high-resolution atomic and molecularly resolved images as an internal standard. Each image feature (atom or molecule) is first identified in the image. The locations of each feature's nearest neighbors are used to measure the local distortion at that location. The local distortion map across the image is simultaneously fit to our distortion model, which includes thermal drift in addition to piezoelectric actuator hysteresis and creep. The image coordinates of the features and image pixels are corrected using an inverse transform from the distortion model. We call this technique the thermal-drift, hysteresis, and creep transform. Performing the correction in real space allows defects, domain boundaries, and step edges to be excluded with a spatial mask. Additional real-space image analyses are now possible with these corrected images. Using graphite(0001) as a model system, we show lattice fitting to the corrected image, averaged unit cell images, and symmetry-averaged unit cell images. Statistical analysis of the distribution of the image features around their best-fit lattice sites measures the aggregate noise in the image, which can be expressed as feature confidence ellipsoids.

Gender Recognition from Human-Body Images Using Visible-Light and Thermal Camera Videos Based on a Convolutional Neural Network for Image Feature Extraction

PubMed Central

Nguyen, Dat Tien; Kim, Ki Wan; Hong, Hyung Gil; Koo, Ja Hyung; Kim, Min Cheol; Park, Kang Ryoung

2017-01-01

Extracting powerful image features plays an important role in computer vision systems. Many methods have previously been proposed to extract image features for various computer vision applications, such as the scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT), speed-up robust feature (SURF), local binary patterns (LBP), histogram of oriented gradients (HOG), and weighted HOG. Recently, the convolutional neural network (CNN) method for image feature extraction and classification in computer vision has been used in various applications. In this research, we propose a new gender recognition method for recognizing males and females in observation scenes of surveillance systems based on feature extraction from visible-light and thermal camera videos through CNN. Experimental results confirm the superiority of our proposed method over state-of-the-art recognition methods for the gender recognition problem using human body images. PMID:28335510

Gender Recognition from Human-Body Images Using Visible-Light and Thermal Camera Videos Based on a Convolutional Neural Network for Image Feature Extraction.

PubMed

Nguyen, Dat Tien; Kim, Ki Wan; Hong, Hyung Gil; Koo, Ja Hyung; Kim, Min Cheol; Park, Kang Ryoung

2017-03-20

Extracting powerful image features plays an important role in computer vision systems. Many methods have previously been proposed to extract image features for various computer vision applications, such as the scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT), speed-up robust feature (SURF), local binary patterns (LBP), histogram of oriented gradients (HOG), and weighted HOG. Recently, the convolutional neural network (CNN) method for image feature extraction and classification in computer vision has been used in various applications. In this research, we propose a new gender recognition method for recognizing males and females in observation scenes of surveillance systems based on feature extraction from visible-light and thermal camera videos through CNN. Experimental results confirm the superiority of our proposed method over state-of-the-art recognition methods for the gender recognition problem using human body images.

Diagnosis of the three-phase induction motor using thermal imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glowacz, Adam; Glowacz, Zygfryd

2017-03-01

Three-phase induction motors are used in the industry commonly for example woodworking machines, blowers, pumps, conveyors, elevators, compressors, mining industry, automotive industry, chemical industry and railway applications. Diagnosis of faults is essential for proper maintenance. Faults may damage a motor and damaged motors generate economic losses caused by breakdowns in production lines. In this paper the authors develop fault diagnostic techniques of the three-phase induction motor. The described techniques are based on the analysis of thermal images of three-phase induction motor. The authors analyse thermal images of 3 states of the three-phase induction motor: healthy three-phase induction motor, three-phase induction motor with 2 broken bars, three-phase induction motor with faulty ring of squirrel-cage. In this paper the authors develop an original method of the feature extraction of thermal images MoASoID (Method of Areas Selection of Image Differences). This method compares many training sets together and it selects the areas with the biggest changes for the recognition process. Feature vectors are obtained with the use of mentioned MoASoID and image histogram. Next 3 methods of classification are used: NN (the Nearest Neighbour classifier), K-means, BNN (the back-propagation neural network). The described fault diagnostic techniques are useful for protection of three-phase induction motor and other types of rotating electrical motors such as: DC motors, generators, synchronous motors.

Minimum detectable gas concentration performance evaluation method for gas leak infrared imaging detection systems.

PubMed

Zhang, Xu; Jin, Weiqi; Li, Jiakun; Wang, Xia; Li, Shuo

2017-04-01

Thermal imaging technology is an effective means of detecting hazardous gas leaks. Much attention has been paid to evaluation of the performance of gas leak infrared imaging detection systems due to several potential applications. The minimum resolvable temperature difference (MRTD) and the minimum detectable temperature difference (MDTD) are commonly used as the main indicators of thermal imaging system performance. This paper establishes a minimum detectable gas concentration (MDGC) performance evaluation model based on the definition and derivation of MDTD. We proposed the direct calculation and equivalent calculation method of MDGC based on the MDTD measurement system. We build an experimental MDGC measurement system, which indicates the MDGC model can describe the detection performance of a thermal imaging system to typical gases. The direct calculation, equivalent calculation, and direct measurement results are consistent. The MDGC and the minimum resolvable gas concentration (MRGC) model can effectively describe the performance of "detection" and "spatial detail resolution" of thermal imaging systems to gas leak, respectively, and constitute the main performance indicators of gas leak detection systems.

Enhanced Gender Recognition System Using an Improved Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG) Feature from Quality Assessment of Visible Light and Thermal Images of the Human Body.

PubMed

Nguyen, Dat Tien; Park, Kang Ryoung

2016-07-21

With higher demand from users, surveillance systems are currently being designed to provide more information about the observed scene, such as the appearance of objects, types of objects, and other information extracted from detected objects. Although the recognition of gender of an observed human can be easily performed using human perception, it remains a difficult task when using computer vision system images. In this paper, we propose a new human gender recognition method that can be applied to surveillance systems based on quality assessment of human areas in visible light and thermal camera images. Our research is novel in the following two ways: First, we utilize the combination of visible light and thermal images of the human body for a recognition task based on quality assessment. We propose a quality measurement method to assess the quality of image regions so as to remove the effects of background regions in the recognition system. Second, by combining the features extracted using the histogram of oriented gradient (HOG) method and the measured qualities of image regions, we form a new image features, called the weighted HOG (wHOG), which is used for efficient gender recognition. Experimental results show that our method produces more accurate estimation results than the state-of-the-art recognition method that uses human body images.

Enhanced Gender Recognition System Using an Improved Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG) Feature from Quality Assessment of Visible Light and Thermal Images of the Human Body

PubMed Central

Nguyen, Dat Tien; Park, Kang Ryoung

2016-01-01

With higher demand from users, surveillance systems are currently being designed to provide more information about the observed scene, such as the appearance of objects, types of objects, and other information extracted from detected objects. Although the recognition of gender of an observed human can be easily performed using human perception, it remains a difficult task when using computer vision system images. In this paper, we propose a new human gender recognition method that can be applied to surveillance systems based on quality assessment of human areas in visible light and thermal camera images. Our research is novel in the following two ways: First, we utilize the combination of visible light and thermal images of the human body for a recognition task based on quality assessment. We propose a quality measurement method to assess the quality of image regions so as to remove the effects of background regions in the recognition system. Second, by combining the features extracted using the histogram of oriented gradient (HOG) method and the measured qualities of image regions, we form a new image features, called the weighted HOG (wHOG), which is used for efficient gender recognition. Experimental results show that our method produces more accurate estimation results than the state-of-the-art recognition method that uses human body images. PMID:27455264

X-ray transmission movies of spontaneous dynamic events

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Smilowitz, L.; Henson, B. F.; Holmes, M.

2014-11-15

We describe a new x-ray radiographic imaging system which allows for continuous x-ray transmission imaging of spontaneous dynamic events. We demonstrate this method on thermal explosions in three plastic bonded formulations of the energetic material octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine. We describe the x-ray imaging system and triggering developed to enable the continuous imaging of a thermal explosion.

Thermal imaging diagnostics of high-current electron beams.

PubMed

Pushkarev, A; Kholodnaya, G; Sazonov, R; Ponomarev, D

2012-10-01

The thermal imaging diagnostics of measuring pulsed electron beam energy density is presented. It provides control of the electron energy spectrum and a measure of the density distribution of the electron beam cross section, the spatial distribution of electrons with energies in the selected range, and the total energy of the electron beam. The diagnostics is based on the thermal imager registration of the imaging electron beam thermal print in a material with low bulk density and low thermal conductivity. Testing of the thermal imaging diagnostics has been conducted on a pulsed electron accelerator TEU-500. The energy of the electrons was 300-500 keV, the density of the electron current was 0.1-0.4 kA/cm(2), the duration of the pulse (at half-height) was 60 ns, and the energy in the pulse was up to 100 J. To register the thermal print, a thermal imager Fluke-Ti10 was used. Testing showed that the sensitivity of a typical thermal imager provides the registration of a pulsed electron beam heat pattern within one pulse with energy density over 0.1 J/cm(2) (or with current density over 10 A/cm(2), pulse duration of 60 ns and electron energy of 400 keV) with the spatial resolution of 0.9-1 mm. In contrast to the method of using radiosensitive (dosimetric) materials, thermal imaging diagnostics does not require either expensive consumables, or plenty of processing time.

Thermal conductivity of ZrO2-4mol%Y2O3 thin coatings by pulsed thermal imaging method

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jang, Byung-Koog; Sun, Jiangang; Kim, Seongwon

Thin ZrO2-4mol% Y2O3 coatings were deposited onto ZrO2 substrates by electron beam-physical vapor deposition. The coated samples revealed a feather-like columnar microstructure. The main phase of the ZrO2-4mol% Y2O3 coatings was the tetragonal phase. To evaluate the influence of the coating’s thickness on the thermal conductivity of thin ZrO2-4mol% Y2O3 coatings, the pulsed thermal imaging method was employed to obtain the thermal conductivity of the coating layer in the two-layer (coating and substrate) samples with thickness between 56 and 337 micrometers. The thermal conductivity of the coating layer was successfully evaluated and compared well with those obtained by the lasermore » flash method for similar coatings. The thermal conductivity of coatings shows an increasing tendency with an increase in the coating’s thickness.« less

Noninvasive enhanced mid-IR imaging of breast cancer development in vivo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Case, Jason R.; Young, Madison A.; Dréau, D.; Trammell, Susan R.

2015-11-01

Lumpectomy coupled with radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy is commonly used to treat breast cancer patients. We are developing an enhanced thermal IR imaging technique that has the potential to provide real-time imaging to guide tissue excision during a lumpectomy by delineating tumor margins. This enhanced thermal imaging method is a combination of IR imaging (8 to 10 μm) and selective heating of blood (˜0.5°C) relative to surrounding water-rich tissue using LED sources at low powers. Postacquisition processing of these images highlights temporal changes in temperature and the presence of vascular structures. In this study, fluorescent, standard thermal, and enhanced thermal imaging modalities, as well as physical caliper measurements, were used to monitor breast cancer tumor volumes over a 30-day study period in 19 mice implanted with 4T1-RFP tumor cells. Tumor volumes calculated from fluorescent imaging follow an exponential growth curve for the first 22 days of the study. Cell necrosis affected the tumor volume estimates based on the fluorescent images after day 22. The tumor volumes estimated from enhanced thermal imaging, standard thermal imaging, and caliper measurements all show exponential growth over the entire study period. A strong correlation was found between tumor volumes estimated using fluorescent imaging, standard IR imaging, and caliper measurements with enhanced thermal imaging, indicating that enhanced thermal imaging monitors tumor growth. Further, the enhanced IR images reveal a corona of bright emission along the edges of the tumor masses associated with the tumor margin. In the future, this IR technique might be used to estimate tumor margins in real time during surgical procedures.

Adapting Local Features for Face Detection in Thermal Image.

PubMed

Ma, Chao; Trung, Ngo Thanh; Uchiyama, Hideaki; Nagahara, Hajime; Shimada, Atsushi; Taniguchi, Rin-Ichiro

2017-11-27

A thermal camera captures the temperature distribution of a scene as a thermal image. In thermal images, facial appearances of different people under different lighting conditions are similar. This is because facial temperature distribution is generally constant and not affected by lighting condition. This similarity in face appearances is advantageous for face detection. To detect faces in thermal images, cascade classifiers with Haar-like features are generally used. However, there are few studies exploring the local features for face detection in thermal images. In this paper, we introduce two approaches relying on local features for face detection in thermal images. First, we create new feature types by extending Multi-Block LBP. We consider a margin around the reference and the generally constant distribution of facial temperature. In this way, we make the features more robust to image noise and more effective for face detection in thermal images. Second, we propose an AdaBoost-based training method to get cascade classifiers with multiple types of local features. These feature types have different advantages. In this way we enhance the description power of local features. We did a hold-out validation experiment and a field experiment. In the hold-out validation experiment, we captured a dataset from 20 participants, comprising 14 males and 6 females. For each participant, we captured 420 images with 10 variations in camera distance, 21 poses, and 2 appearances (participant with/without glasses). We compared the performance of cascade classifiers trained by different sets of the features. The experiment results showed that the proposed approaches effectively improve the performance of face detection in thermal images. In the field experiment, we compared the face detection performance in realistic scenes using thermal and RGB images, and gave discussion based on the results.

Relationship among eye temperature measured using digital infrared thermal imaging and vaginal and rectal temperatures in hair sheep and cattle

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Digital infrared thermal imaging (DITI) using a thermal camera has potential to be a useful tool for the production animal industry. Thermography has been used in both humans and a wide range of animal species to measure body temperature as a method to detect injury or inflammation. The objective of...

Counter sniper: a localization system based on dual thermal imager

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Yuqing; Liu, Feihu; Wu, Zheng; Jin, Weiqi; Du, Benfang

2010-11-01

Sniper tactics is widely used in modern warfare, which puts forward the urgent requirement of counter sniper detection devices. This paper proposed the anti-sniper detection system based on a dual-thermal imaging system. Combining the infrared characteristics of the muzzle flash and bullet trajectory of binocular infrared images obtained by the dual-infrared imaging system, the exact location of the sniper was analyzed and calculated. This paper mainly focuses on the system design method, which includes the structure and parameter selection. It also analyzes the exact location calculation method based on the binocular stereo vision and image analysis, and give the fusion result as the sniper's position.

A fractal image analysis methodology for heat damage inspection in carbon fiber reinforced composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haridas, Aswin; Crivoi, Alexandru; Prabhathan, P.; Chan, Kelvin; Murukeshan, V. M.

2017-06-01

The use of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite materials in the aerospace industry have far improved the load carrying properties and the design flexibility of aircraft structures. A high strength to weight ratio, low thermal conductivity, and a low thermal expansion coefficient gives it an edge for applications demanding stringent loading conditions. Specifically, this paper focuses on the behavior of CFRP composites under stringent thermal loads. The properties of composites are largely affected by external thermal loads, especially when the loads are beyond the glass temperature, Tg, of the composite. Beyond this, the composites are subject to prominent changes in mechanical and thermal properties which may further lead to material decomposition. Furthermore, thermal damage formation being chaotic, a strict dimension cannot be associated with the formed damage. In this context, this paper focuses on comparing multiple speckle image analysis algorithms to effectively characterize the formed thermal damages on the CFRP specimen. This would provide us with a fast method for quantifying the extent of heat damage in carbon composites, thus reducing the required time for inspection. The image analysis methods used for the comparison include fractal dimensional analysis of the formed speckle pattern and analysis of number and size of various connecting elements in the binary image.

Prediction of the thermal imaging minimum resolvable (circle) temperature difference with neural network application.

PubMed

Fang, Yi-Chin; Wu, Bo-Wen

2008-12-01

Thermal imaging is an important technology in both national defense and the private sector. An advantage of thermal imaging is its ability to be deployed while fully engaged in duties, not limited by weather or the brightness of indoor or outdoor conditions. However, in an outdoor environment, many factors, including atmospheric decay, target shape, great distance, fog, temperature out of range and diffraction limits can lead to bad image formation, which directly affects the accuracy of object recognition. The visual characteristics of the human eye mean that it has a much better capacity for picture recognition under normal conditions than artificial intelligence does. However, conditions of interference significantly reduce this capacity for picture recognition for instance, fatigue impairs human eyesight. Hence, psychological and physiological factors can affect the result when the human eye is adopted to measure MRTD (minimum resolvable temperature difference) and MRCTD (minimum resolvable circle temperature difference). This study explores thermal imaging recognition, and presents a method for effectively choosing the characteristic values and processing the images fully. Neural network technology is successfully applied to recognize thermal imaging and predict MRTD and MRCTD (Appendix A), exceeding thermal imaging recognition under fatigue and the limits of the human eye.

Imaging of Rabbit VX-2 Hepatic Cancer by Cold and Thermal Neutron Radiography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsuchiya, Yoshinori; Matsubayashi, Masahito; Takeda, Tohoru; Lwin, Thet Thet; Wu, Jin; Yoneyama, Akio; Matsumura, Akira; Hori, Tomiei; Itai, Yuji

2003-11-01

Neutron radiography is based on differences in neutron mass attenuation coefficients among the elements and is a non-destructive imaging method. To investigate biomedical applications of neutron radiography, imaging of rabbit VX-2 liver cancer was performed using thermal and cold neutron radiography with a neutron imaging plate. Hepatic vessels and VX-2 tumor were clearly observed by neutron radiography, especially by cold neutron imaging. The image contrast of this modality was better than that of absorption-contrast X-ray radiography.

Method of remotely characterizing thermal properties of a sample

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heyman, Joseph S. (Inventor); Heath, D. Michele (Inventor); Welch, Christopher (Inventor); Winfree, William P. (Inventor); Miller, William E. (Inventor)

1992-01-01

A sample in a wind tunnel is radiated from a thermal energy source outside of the wind tunnel. A thermal imager system, also located outside of the wind tunnel, reads surface radiations from the sample as a function of time. The produced thermal images are characteristic of the heat transferred from the sample to the flow across the sample. In turn, the measured rates of heat loss of the sample are characteristic of the flow and the sample.

An Efficient Algorithm for Server Thermal Fault Diagnosis Based on Infrared Image

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Hang; Xie, Ting; Ran, Jian; Gao, Shan

2017-10-01

It is essential for a data center to maintain server security and stability. Long-time overload operation or high room temperature may cause service disruption even a server crash, which would result in great economic loss for business. Currently, the methods to avoid server outages are monitoring and forecasting. Thermal camera can provide fine texture information for monitoring and intelligent thermal management in large data center. This paper presents an efficient method for server thermal fault monitoring and diagnosis based on infrared image. Initially thermal distribution of server is standardized and the interest regions of the image are segmented manually. Then the texture feature, Hu moments feature as well as modified entropy feature are extracted from the segmented regions. These characteristics are applied to analyze and classify thermal faults, and then make efficient energy-saving thermal management decisions such as job migration. For the larger feature space, the principal component analysis is employed to reduce the feature dimensions, and guarantee high processing speed without losing the fault feature information. Finally, different feature vectors are taken as input for SVM training, and do the thermal fault diagnosis after getting the optimized SVM classifier. This method supports suggestions for optimizing data center management, it can improve air conditioning efficiency and reduce the energy consumption of the data center. The experimental results show that the maximum detection accuracy is 81.5%.

Uncooled thermal imaging and image analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Shiyun; Chang, Benkang; Yu, Chunyu; Zhang, Junju; Sun, Lianjun

2006-09-01

Thermal imager can transfer difference of temperature to difference of electric signal level, so can be application to medical treatment such as estimation of blood flow speed and vessel 1ocation [1], assess pain [2] and so on. With the technology of un-cooled focal plane array (UFPA) is grown up more and more, some simple medical function can be completed with un-cooled thermal imager, for example, quick warning for fever heat with SARS. It is required that performance of imaging is stabilization and spatial and temperature resolution is high enough. In all performance parameters, noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) is often used as the criterion of universal performance. 320 x 240 α-Si micro-bolometer UFPA has been applied widely presently for its steady performance and sensitive responsibility. In this paper, NETD of UFPA and the relation between NETD and temperature are researched. several vital parameters that can affect NETD are listed and an universal formula is presented. Last, the images from the kind of thermal imager are analyzed based on the purpose of detection persons with fever heat. An applied thermal image intensification method is introduced.

Multimodal tissue perfusion imaging using multi-spectral and thermographic imaging systems applied on clinical data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klaessens, John H. G. M.; Nelisse, Martin; Verdaasdonk, Rudolf M.; Noordmans, Herke Jan

2013-03-01

Clinical interventions can cause changes in tissue perfusion, oxygenation or temperature. Real-time imaging of these phenomena could be useful for surgical strategy or understanding of physiological regulation mechanisms. Two noncontact imaging techniques were applied for imaging of large tissue areas: LED based multispectral imaging (MSI, 17 different wavelengths 370 nm-880 nm) and thermal imaging (7.5 to 13.5 μm). Oxygenation concentration changes were calculated using different analyzing methods. The advantages of these methods are presented for stationary and dynamic applications. Concentration calculations of chromophores in tissue require right choices of wavelengths The effects of different wavelength choices for hemoglobin concentration calculations were studied in laboratory conditions and consequently applied in clinical studies. Corrections for interferences during the clinical registrations (ambient light fluctuations, tissue movements) were performed. The wavelength dependency of the algorithms were studied and wavelength sets with the best results will be presented. The multispectral and thermal imaging systems were applied during clinical intervention studies: reperfusion of tissue flap transplantation (ENT), effectiveness of local anesthetic block and during open brain surgery in patients with epileptic seizures. The LED multispectral imaging system successfully imaged the perfusion and oxygenation changes during clinical interventions. The thermal images show local heat distributions over tissue areas as a result of changes in tissue perfusion. Multispectral imaging and thermal imaging provide complementary information and are promising techniques for real-time diagnostics of physiological processes in medicine.

Thermal imaging application for behavior study of chosen nocturnal animals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pregowski, Piotr; Owadowska, Edyta; Pietrzak, Jan

2004-04-01

This paper presents preliminary results of the project brought up with aim to verify the hypothesis that small, nocturnal rodents use common paths which form a common, rather stable system for fast movement. This report concentrates on results of merging uniquely good detecting features of modern IR thermal cameras with newly elaborated software. Among the final results offered by this method there are both thermal movies and single synthetic graphic images of paths traced during a few minutes or hours of investigations, as well as detailed numerical data of the ".txt" type about chosen detected events. Although it is to early to say that elaborated method will allow us to answer all ecological questions, it is possible to say that we worked out a new, valuable tool for the next steps of our project. We expect that this method enables us to solve the important ecological problems of nocturnal animals study. Supervised, stably settled area can be enlarged by use of a few thermal imagers or IR thermographic cameras, simultaneously. Presented method can be applied in other uses, even distant from presented e.g. ecological corridors detection.

A 3D Scan Model and Thermal Image Data Fusion Algorithms for 3D Thermography in Medicine

PubMed Central

Klima, Ondrej

2017-01-01

Objectives At present, medical thermal imaging is still considered a mere qualitative tool enabling us to distinguish between but lacking the ability to quantify the physiological and nonphysiological states of the body. Such a capability would, however, facilitate solving the problem of medical quantification, whose presence currently manifests itself within the entire healthcare system. Methods A generally applicable method to enhance captured 3D spatial data carrying temperature-related information is presented; in this context, all equations required for other data fusions are derived. The method can be utilized for high-density point clouds or detailed meshes at a high resolution but is conveniently usable in large objects with sparse points. Results The benefits of the approach are experimentally demonstrated on 3D thermal scans of injured subjects. We obtained diagnostic information inaccessible via traditional methods. Conclusion Using a 3D model and thermal image data fusion allows the quantification of inflammation, facilitating more precise injury and illness diagnostics or monitoring. The technique offers a wide application potential in medicine and multiple technological domains, including electrical and mechanical engineering. PMID:29250306

Thermal effusivity: a promising imaging biomarker to predict radiation-induced skin injuries.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chu, J. C. H.; Templeton, A.; Yao, R.

An effective screening technology is needed to triage individuals at the time of radiation incidents involving a large population. Three-dimensional thermal tomography is a relatively new development in active thermal imaging technology that produces cross-sectional images based on the subject's ability to transfer heat thermal effusivity at the voxel level. This noninvasive imaging modality has been used successfully in nondestructive examination of complex materials; also it has been shown to predict the severity of radiation-induced skin injuries several days before the manifestation of severe moist desquamations or blister formation symptoms in mice at 40 Gy. If these results are confirmedmore » at lower dose levels in human subjects, a thermal tomography imaging device may be an ideal screening tool in radiation emergencies. This imaging method is non-invasive, relatively simple, easily adaptable for field use, and when properly deployed, it will enhance public emergency preparedness for incidents involving unexpected radiation exposure.« less

An efficient method for facial component detection in thermal images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paul, Michael; Blanik, Nikolai; Blazek, Vladimir; Leonhardt, Steffen

2015-04-01

A method to detect certain regions in thermal images of human faces is presented. In this approach, the following steps are necessary to locate the periorbital and the nose regions: First, the face is segmented from the background by thresholding and morphological filtering. Subsequently, a search region within the face, around its center of mass, is evaluated. Automatically computed temperature thresholds are used per subject and image or image sequence to generate binary images, in which the periorbital regions are located by integral projections. Then, the located positions are used to approximate the nose position. It is possible to track features in the located regions. Therefore, these regions are interesting for different applications like human-machine interaction, biometrics and biomedical imaging. The method is easy to implement and does not rely on any training images or templates. Furthermore, the approach saves processing resources due to simple computations and restricted search regions.

Thermal expansion coefficient determination of polylactic acid using digital image correlation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Botean, Adrian-Ioan

2018-02-01

This paper aims determining the linear thermal expansion coefficient (CTE) of polylactic acid (PLA) using an optical method for measuring deformations called digital image correlation method (DIC). Because PLA is often used in making many pieces with 3D printing technology, it is opportune to know this coefficient to obtain a higher degree of precision in the construction of parts and to monitor deformations when these parts are subjected to a thermal gradient. Are used two PLA discs with 20 and 40% degree of filling. In parallel with this approach was determined the linear thermal expansion coefficient (CTE) for the copper cylinder on the surface of which are placed the two discs of PLA.

Thermal Diagnostics with the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory: A Validated Method for Differential Emission Measure Inversions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheung, Mark C. M.; Boerner, P.; Schrijver, C. J.; Testa, P.; Chen, F.; Peter, H.; Malanushenko, A.

2015-07-01

We present a new method for performing differential emission measure (DEM) inversions on narrow-band EUV images from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory. The method yields positive definite DEM solutions by solving a linear program. This method has been validated against a diverse set of thermal models of varying complexity and realism. These include (1) idealized Gaussian DEM distributions, (2) 3D models of NOAA Active Region 11158 comprising quasi-steady loop atmospheres in a nonlinear force-free field, and (3) thermodynamic models from a fully compressible, 3D MHD simulation of active region (AR) corona formation following magnetic flux emergence. We then present results from the application of the method to AIA observations of Active Region 11158, comparing the region's thermal structure on two successive solar rotations. Additionally, we show how the DEM inversion method can be adapted to simultaneously invert AIA and Hinode X-ray Telescope data, and how supplementing AIA data with the latter improves the inversion result. The speed of the method allows for routine production of DEM maps, thus facilitating science studies that require tracking of the thermal structure of the solar corona in time and space.

THERMAL DIAGNOSTICS WITH THE ATMOSPHERIC IMAGING ASSEMBLY ON BOARD THE SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY: A VALIDATED METHOD FOR DIFFERENTIAL EMISSION MEASURE INVERSIONS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cheung, Mark C. M.; Boerner, P.; Schrijver, C. J.

We present a new method for performing differential emission measure (DEM) inversions on narrow-band EUV images from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory. The method yields positive definite DEM solutions by solving a linear program. This method has been validated against a diverse set of thermal models of varying complexity and realism. These include (1) idealized Gaussian DEM distributions, (2) 3D models of NOAA Active Region 11158 comprising quasi-steady loop atmospheres in a nonlinear force-free field, and (3) thermodynamic models from a fully compressible, 3D MHD simulation of active region (AR) corona formation following magneticmore » flux emergence. We then present results from the application of the method to AIA observations of Active Region 11158, comparing the region's thermal structure on two successive solar rotations. Additionally, we show how the DEM inversion method can be adapted to simultaneously invert AIA and Hinode X-ray Telescope data, and how supplementing AIA data with the latter improves the inversion result. The speed of the method allows for routine production of DEM maps, thus facilitating science studies that require tracking of the thermal structure of the solar corona in time and space.« less

New technology of functional infrared imaging and its clinical applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Hongqin; Xie, Shusen; Lu, Zukang; Liu, Zhongqi

2006-01-01

With improvements in infrared camera technology, the promise of reduced costs and noninvasive character, infrared thermal imaging resurges in medicine. The paper introduces a new technology of functional infrared imaging, thermal texture maps (TTM), which is not only an apparatus for thermal radiation imaging but also a new method for revealing the relationship between the temperature distribution of the skin surface and the emission field inside body. The skin temperature distribution of a healthy human body exhibits a contralateral symmetry. Any disease in the body is associated with an alteration of the thermal distribution of human body. Infrared thermography is noninvasive, so it is the best choice for studying the physiology of thermoregulation and the thermal dysfunction associated with diseases. Reading and extracting information from the thermograms is a complex and subjective task that can be greatly facilitated by computerized techniques. Through image processing and measurement technology, surface or internal radiation sources can be non-invasively distinguished through extrapolation. We discuss the principle, the evaluation procedure and the effectiveness of TTM technology in the clinical detection and diagnosis of cancers, especially in their early stages and other diseases by comparing with other imaging technologies, such as ultrasound. Several study cases are given to show the effectiveness of this method. At last, we point out the applications of TTM technology in the research field of traditional medicine.

Data Processing of LAPAN-A3 Thermal Imager

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hartono, R.; Hakim, P. R.; Syafrudin, AH

2018-04-01

As an experimental microsatellite, LAPAN-A3/IPB satellite has an experimental thermal imager, which is called as micro-bolometer, to observe earth surface temperature for horizon observation. The imager data is transmitted from satellite to ground station by S-band video analog signal transmission, and then processed by ground station to become sequence of 8-bit enhanced and contrasted images. Data processing of LAPAN-A3/IPB thermal imager is more difficult than visual digital camera, especially for mosaic and classification purpose. This research aims to describe simple mosaic and classification process of LAPAN-A3/IPB thermal imager based on several videos data produced by the imager. The results show that stitching using Adobe Photoshop produces excellent result but can only process small area, while manual approach using ImageJ software can produce a good result but need a lot of works and time consuming. The mosaic process using image cross-correlation by Matlab offers alternative solution, which can process significantly bigger area in significantly shorter time processing. However, the quality produced is not as good as mosaic images of the other two methods. The simple classifying process that has been done shows that the thermal image can classify three distinct objects, i.e.: clouds, sea, and land surface. However, the algorithm fail to classify any other object which might be caused by distortions in the images. All of these results can be used as reference for development of thermal imager in LAPAN-A4 satellite.

For geological investigations with airborne thermal infrared multispectral images: Transfer of calibration from laboratory spectrometer to TIMS as alternative for removing atmospheric effects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Edgett, Kenneth S.; Anderson, Donald L.

1995-01-01

This paper describes an empirical method to correct TIMS (Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner) data for atmospheric effects by transferring calibration from a laboratory thermal emission spectrometer to the TIMS multispectral image. The method does so by comparing the laboratory spectra of samples gathered in the field with TIMS 6-point spectra for pixels at the location of field sampling sites. The transference of calibration also makes it possible to use spectra from the laboratory as endmembers in unmixing studies of TIMS data.

Utilizing Structure-from-Motion Photogrammetry with Airborne Visual and Thermal Images to Monitor Thermal Areas in Yellowstone National Park

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carr, B. B.; Vaughan, R. G.

2017-12-01

The thermal areas in Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming, USA) are constantly changing. Persistent monitoring of these areas is necessary to better understand the behavior and potential hazards of both the thermal features and the deeper hydrothermal system driving the observed surface activity. As part of the Park's monitoring program, thousands of visual and thermal infrared (TIR) images have been acquired from a variety of airborne platforms over the past decade. We have used structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry techniques to generate a variety of data products from these images, including orthomosaics, temperature maps, and digital elevation models (DEMs). Temperature maps were generated for Upper Geyser Basin and Norris Geyser Basin for the years 2009-2015, by applying SfM to nighttime TIR images collected from an aircraft-mounted forward-looking infrared (FLIR) camera. Temperature data were preserved through the SfM processing by applying a uniform linear stretch over the entire image set to convert between temperature and a 16-bit digital number. Mosaicked temperature maps were compared to the original FLIR image frames and to ground-based temperature data to constrain the accuracy of the method. Due to pixel averaging and resampling, among other issues, the derived temperature values are typically within 5-10 ° of the values of the un-resampled image frame. We also created sub-meter resolution DEMs from airborne daytime visual images of individual thermal areas. These DEMs can be used for resource and hazard management, and in cases where multiple DEMs exist from different times, for measuring topographic change, including change due to thermal activity. For example, we examined the sensitivity of the DEMs to topographic change by comparing DEMs of the travertine terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs, which can grow at > 1 m per year. These methods are generally applicable to images from airborne platforms, including planes, helicopters, and unmanned aerial systems, and can be used to monitor thermal areas on a variety of spatial and temporal scales.

Robust vehicle detection under various environmental conditions using an infrared thermal camera and its application to road traffic flow monitoring.

PubMed

Iwasaki, Yoichiro; Misumi, Masato; Nakamiya, Toshiyuki

2013-06-17

We have already proposed a method for detecting vehicle positions and their movements (henceforth referred to as "our previous method") using thermal images taken with an infrared thermal camera. Our experiments have shown that our previous method detects vehicles robustly under four different environmental conditions which involve poor visibility conditions in snow and thick fog. Our previous method uses the windshield and its surroundings as the target of the Viola-Jones detector. Some experiments in winter show that the vehicle detection accuracy decreases because the temperatures of many windshields approximate those of the exterior of the windshields. In this paper, we propose a new vehicle detection method (henceforth referred to as "our new method"). Our new method detects vehicles based on tires' thermal energy reflection. We have done experiments using three series of thermal images for which the vehicle detection accuracies of our previous method are low. Our new method detects 1,417 vehicles (92.8%) out of 1,527 vehicles, and the number of false detection is 52 in total. Therefore, by combining our two methods, high vehicle detection accuracies are maintained under various environmental conditions. Finally, we apply the traffic information obtained by our two methods to traffic flow automatic monitoring, and show the effectiveness of our proposal.

Predicting neuropathic ulceration: analysis of static temperature distributions in thermal images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaabouch, Naima; Hu, Wen-Chen; Chen, Yi; Anderson, Julie W.; Ames, Forrest; Paulson, Rolf

2010-11-01

Foot ulcers affect millions of Americans annually. Conventional methods used to assess skin integrity, including inspection and palpation, may be valuable approaches, but they usually do not detect changes in skin integrity until an ulcer has already developed. We analyze the feasibility of thermal imaging as a technique to assess the integrity of the skin and its many layers. Thermal images are analyzed using an asymmetry analysis, combined with a genetic algorithm, to examine the infrared images for early detection of foot ulcers. Preliminary results show that the proposed technique can reliably and efficiently detect inflammation and hence effectively predict potential ulceration.

Novel methods of imaging and analysis for the thermoregulatory sweat test.

PubMed

Carroll, Michael Sean; Reed, David W; Kuntz, Nancy L; Weese-Mayer, Debra Ellyn

2018-06-07

The thermoregulatory sweat test (TST) can be central to the identification and management of disorders affecting sudomotor function and small sensory and autonomic nerve fibers, but the cumbersome nature of the standard testing protocol has prevented its widespread adoption. A high resolution, quantitative, clean and simple assay of sweating could significantly improve identification and management of these disorders. Images from 89 clinical TSTs were analyzed retrospectively using two novel techniques. First, using the standard indicator powder, skin surface sweat distributions were determined algorithmically for each patient. Second, a fundamentally novel method using thermal imaging of forced evaporative cooling was evaluated through comparison with the standard technique. Correlation and receiver operating characteristic analyses were used to determine the degree of match between these methods, and the potential limits of thermal imaging were examined through cumulative analysis of all studied patients. Algorithmic encoding of sweating and non-sweating regions produces a more objective analysis for clinical decision making. Additionally, results from the forced cooling method correspond well with those from indicator powder imaging, with a correlation across spatial regions of -0.78 (CI: -0.84 to -0.71). The method works similarly across body regions, and frame-by-frame analysis suggests the ability to identify sweating regions within about 1 second of imaging. While algorithmic encoding can enhance the standard sweat testing protocol, thermal imaging with forced evaporative cooling can dramatically improve the TST by making it less time-consuming and more patient-friendly than the current approach.

The edge detection method of the infrared imagery of the laser spot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Che, Jinxi; Zhang, Jinchun; Li, Zhongmin

2016-01-01

In the jamming effectiveness experiments, in which the thermal infrared imager was interfered by the CO2 Laser, in order to evaluate the jamming effect of the thermal infrared imager by the CO2 Laser, it was needed to analyses the obtained infrared imagery of laser spot. Because the laser spot pictures obtained from the thermal infrared imager are irregular, the edge detection is an important process. The image edge is one of the most basic characteristics of the image, and it contains most of the information of the image. Generally, because of the thermal balance effect, the partly temperature of objective is no quite difference; therefore the infrared imagery's ability of reflecting the local detail of object is obvious week. At the same time, when the information of heat distribution of the thermal imagery was combined with the basic information of target, such as the object size, the relative position of field of view, shape and outline, and so on, the information just has more value. Hence, it is an important step for making image processing to extract the objective edge of the infrared imagery. Meanwhile it is an important part of image processing procedure and it is the premise of many subsequent processing. So as to extract outline information of the target from the original thermal imagery, and overcome the disadvantage, such as the low image contrast of the image and serious noise interference, and so on, the edge of thermal imagery needs detecting and processing. The principles of the Roberts, Sobel, Prewitt and Canny operator were analyzed, and then they were used to making edge detection on the thermal imageries of laser spot, which were obtained from the jamming effect experiments of CO2 laser jamming the thermal infrared imager. On the basis of the detection result, their performances were compared. At the end, the characteristics of the operators were summarized, which provide reference for the choice of edge detection operators in thermal imagery processing in future.

Thermal Texture Selection and Correction for Building Facade Inspection Based on Thermal Radiant Characteristics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, D.; Jarzabek-Rychard, M.; Schneider, D.; Maas, H.-G.

2018-05-01

An automatic building façade thermal texture mapping approach, using uncooled thermal camera data, is proposed in this paper. First, a shutter-less radiometric thermal camera calibration method is implemented to remove the large offset deviations caused by changing ambient environment. Then, a 3D façade model is generated from a RGB image sequence using structure-from-motion (SfM) techniques. Subsequently, for each triangle in the 3D model, the optimal texture is selected by taking into consideration local image scale, object incident angle, image viewing angle as well as occlusions. Afterwards, the selected textures can be further corrected using thermal radiant characteristics. Finally, the Gauss filter outperforms the voted texture strategy at the seams smoothing and thus for instance helping to reduce the false alarm rate in façade thermal leakages detection. Our approach is evaluated on a building row façade located at Dresden, Germany.

Non-invasive thermal IR detection of breast tumor development in vivo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Case, Jason R.; Young, Madison A.; Dréau, D.; Trammell, Susan R.

2015-03-01

Lumpectomy coupled with radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy comprises the treatment of breast cancer for many patients. We are developing an enhanced thermal IR imaging technique that can be used in real-time to guide tissue excision during a lumpectomy. This novel enhanced thermal imaging method is a combination of IR imaging (8- 10 μm) and selective heating of blood (~0.5 °C) relative to surrounding water-rich tissue using LED sources at low powers. Post-acquisition processing of these images highlights temporal changes in temperature and is sensitive to the presence of vascular structures. In this study, fluorescent and enhanced thermal imaging modalities were used to estimate breast cancer tumor volumes as a function of time in 19 murine subjects over a 30-day study period. Tumor volumes calculated from fluorescent imaging follow an exponential growth curve for the first 22 days of the study. Cell necrosis affected the tumor volume estimates based on the fluorescent images after Day 22. The tumor volumes estimated from enhanced thermal imaging show exponential growth over the entire study period. A strong correlation was found between tumor volumes estimated using fluorescent imaging and the enhanced IR images, indicating that enhanced thermal imaging is capable monitoring tumor growth. Further, the enhanced IR images reveal a corona of bright emission along the edges of the tumor masses. This novel IR technique could be used to estimate tumor margins in real-time during surgical procedures.

Simultaneous Boundary-Layer Transition, Tip Vortex, and Blade Deformation Measurements of a Rotor in Hover

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heineck, James; Schairer, Edward; Ramasamy, Manikandan; Roozeboom, Nettie

2016-01-01

This paper describes simultaneous optical measurements of a sub-scale helicopter rotor in the U.S. Army Hover Chamber at NASA Ames Research Center. The measurements included thermal imaging of the rotor blades to detect boundary layer transition; retro-reflective background-oriented schlieren (RBOS) to visualize vortices; and stereo photogrammetry to measure displacements of the rotor blades, to compute spatial coordinates of the vortices from the RBOS data, and to map the thermal imaging data to a three-dimensional surface grid. The test also included an exploratory effort to measure flow near the rotor tip by tomographic particle image velocimetry (tomo PIV)an effort that yielded valuable experience but little data. The thermal imaging was accomplished using an image-derotation method that allowed long integration times without image blur. By mapping the thermal image data to a surface grid it was possible to accurately locate transition in spatial coordinates along the length of the rotor blade.

A method to quickly test the emissivity with an infrared thermal imaging system within a small distance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xuan-yu; Hu, Rui; Wang, Rui-xin

2015-10-01

A simple method has been set up to quickly test the emissivity with an infrared thermal imaging system within a small distance according to the theory of measuring temperature by infrared system, which is based on the Planck radiation law and Lambert-beer law. The object's temperature is promoted and held on by a heater while a temperature difference has been formed between the target and environment. The emissivity of human skin, galvanized iron plate, black rubber and liquid water has been tested under the condition that the emissivity is set in 1.0 and the testing distance is 1m. According to the invariance of human's body temperature, a testing curve is established to describe that the thermal imaging temperatures various with the emissivity which is set in from 0.9 to 1.0. As a result, the method has been verified. The testing results show that the emissivity of human skin is 0.95. The emissivity of galvanized iron plate, black rubber and liquid water decreases with the increase of object's temperature. The emissivity of galvanized iron plate is far smaller than the one of human skin, black rubber or water. The emissivity of water slowly linearly decreases with the increase of its temperature. By the study, within a small distance and clean atmosphere, the infrared emissivity of objects may be expediently tested with an infrared thermal imaging system according to the method, which is promoting the object's temperature to make it different from the environment temperature, then simultaneously measures the environmental temperature, the real temperature and thermal imaging temperature of the object when the emissivity is set in 1.0 and the testing distance is 1.0m.

Lock-in thermal imaging for the early-stage detection of cutaneous melanoma: a feasibility study.

PubMed

Bonmarin, Mathias; Le Gal, Frédérique-Anne

2014-04-01

This paper theoretically evaluates lock-in thermal imaging for the early-stage detection of cutaneous melanoma. Lock-in thermal imaging is based on the periodic thermal excitation of the specimen under test. Resulting surface temperature oscillations are recorded with an infrared camera and allow the detection of variations of the sample's thermophysical properties under the surface. In this paper, the steady-state and transient skin surface temperatures are numerically derived for a different stage of development of the melanoma lesion using a two-dimensional axisymmetric multilayer heat-transfer model. The transient skin surface temperature signals are demodulated according to the digital lock-in principle to compute both a phase and an amplitude image of the lesions. The phase image can be advantageously used to accurately detect cutaneous melanoma at an early stage of development while the maximal phase shift can give precious information about the lesion invasion depth. The ability of lock-in thermal imaging to suppress disturbing subcutaneous thermal signals is demonstrated. The method is compared with the previously proposed pulse-based approaches, and the influence of the modulation frequency is further discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessment of remineralized dentin lesions with thermal and near-infrared reflectance imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Robert C.; Darling, Cynthia L.; Fried, Daniel

2016-02-01

Accurate detection and measurement of the highly mineralized surface layer that forms on caries lesions is important for the diagnosis of lesion activity. Previous studies have demonstrated that optical imaging methods can be used to measure the degree of remineralization on enamel lesions. The purpose of this study was to determine if thermal and near-IR reflectance imaging could be used to assess the remineralization process in simulated dentin lesions. Artificial bovine (n=15) dentin lesions were prepared by immersion in a demineralization solution for 24 hours and they were subsequently placed in an acidic remineralization solution for up to 12 days. The samples were dehydrated using an air spray for 30 seconds and imaged using thermal and InGaAs cameras. The area enclosed by the time-temperature curve, ΔQ, from thermal imaging decreased significantly with longer periods of remineralization. However, near-IR reflectance intensity differences, ΔI, before and after dehydration failed to show any significant relationship with the degree of remineralization. This study shows that thermal imaging can be used for the assessment of the remineralization of dentin lesions.

Ground truth spectrometry and imagery of eruption clouds to maximize utility of satellite imagery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rose, William I.

1993-01-01

Field experiments with thermal imaging infrared radiometers were performed and a laboratory system was designed for controlled study of simulated ash clouds. Using AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) thermal infrared bands 4 and 5, a radiative transfer method was developed to retrieve particle sizes, optical depth and particle mass involcanic clouds. A model was developed for measuring the same parameters using TIMS (Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner), MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer), and ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer). Related publications are attached.

Note: thermal imaging enhancement algorithm for gas turbine aerothermal characterization.

PubMed

Beer, S K; Lawson, S A

2013-08-01

An algorithm was developed to convert radiation intensity images acquired using a black and white CCD camera to thermal images without requiring knowledge of incident background radiation. This unique infrared (IR) thermography method was developed to determine aerothermal characteristics of advanced cooling concepts for gas turbine cooling application. Compared to IR imaging systems traditionally used for gas turbine temperature monitoring, the system developed for the current study is relatively inexpensive and does not require calibration with surface mounted thermocouples.

Enhancement of multispectral thermal infrared images - Decorrelation contrast stretching

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gillespie, Alan R.

1992-01-01

Decorrelation contrast stretching is an effective method for displaying information from multispectral thermal infrared (TIR) images. The technique involves transformation of the data to principle components ('decorrelation'), independent contrast 'stretching' of data from the new 'decorrelated' image bands, and retransformation of the stretched data back to the approximate original axes, based on the inverse of the principle component rotation. The enhancement is robust in that colors of the same scene components are similar in enhanced images of similar scenes, or the same scene imaged at different times. Decorrelation contrast stretching is reviewed in the context of other enhancements applied to TIR images.

Plasmonic Thermal Decomposition/Digestion of Proteins: A Rapid On-Surface Protein Digestion Technique for Mass Spectrometry Imaging.

PubMed

Zhou, Rong; Basile, Franco

2017-09-05

A method based on plasmon surface resonance absorption and heating was developed to perform a rapid on-surface protein thermal decomposition and digestion suitable for imaging mass spectrometry (MS) and/or profiling. This photothermal process or plasmonic thermal decomposition/digestion (plasmonic-TDD) method incorporates a continuous wave (CW) laser excitation and gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) to induce known thermal decomposition reactions that cleave peptides and proteins specifically at the C-terminus of aspartic acid and at the N-terminus of cysteine. These thermal decomposition reactions are induced by heating a solid protein sample to temperatures between 200 and 270 °C for a short period of time (10-50 s per 200 μm segment) and are reagentless and solventless, and thus are devoid of sample product delocalization. In the plasmonic-TDD setup the sample is coated with Au-NPs and irradiated with 532 nm laser radiation to induce thermoplasmonic heating and bring about site-specific thermal decomposition on solid peptide/protein samples. In this manner the Au-NPs act as nanoheaters that result in a highly localized thermal decomposition and digestion of the protein sample that is independent of the absorption properties of the protein, making the method universally applicable to all types of proteinaceous samples (e.g., tissues or protein arrays). Several experimental variables were optimized to maximize product yield, and they include heating time, laser intensity, size of Au-NPs, and surface coverage of Au-NPs. Using optimized parameters, proof-of-principle experiments confirmed the ability of the plasmonic-TDD method to induce both C-cleavage and D-cleavage on several peptide standards and the protein lysozyme by detecting their thermal decomposition products with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS). The high spatial specificity of the plasmonic-TDD method was demonstrated by using a mask to digest designated sections of the sample surface with the heating laser and MALDI-MS imaging to map the resulting products. The solventless nature of the plasmonic-TDD method enabled the nonenzymatic on-surface digestion of proteins to proceed with undetectable delocalization of the resulting products from their precursor protein location. The advantages of this novel plasmonic-TDD method include short reaction times (<30 s/200 μm), compatibility with MALDI, universal sample compatibility, high spatial specificity, and localization of the digestion products. These advantages point to potential applications of this method for on-tissue protein digestion and MS-imaging/profiling for the identification of proteins, high-fidelity MS imaging of high molecular weight (>30 kDa) proteins, and the rapid analysis of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue samples.

Method and apparatus for detecting explosives

DOEpatents

Moore, David Steven [Santa Fe, NM

2011-05-10

A method and apparatus is provided for detecting explosives by thermal imaging. The explosive material is subjected to a high energy wave which can be either a sound wave or an electromagnetic wave which will initiate a chemical reaction in the explosive material which chemical reaction will produce heat. The heat is then sensed by a thermal imaging device which will provide a signal to a computing device which will alert a user of the apparatus to the possibility of an explosive device being present.

Synchronous infrared imaging methods to characterize thermal properties of materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ouyang, Zhong

1999-11-01

A fundamental thermal property of a material is its thermal conductivity. The current state-of-the art for measurement of thermal conductivity is inadequate, especially in the case of composite materials. This dissertation addresses the need for a rapid and accurate measurement of thermal conductivity that can provide values for three orthogonal directions in a single measurement. The theoretical approach is based on three-dimensional thermal wave propagation and scattering treatments that have been developed earlier at Wayne State University. The experimental approach makes use of a state-of-the-art focal-plane-array infrared camera, which is used to follow the time- and spatial-progression of the planar heat pulse on both surfaces of the slab. The method has been used to determine the thermal diffusivity of six pure elemental single crystal materials (Cu, Ti, Bi, Al, Ag, Pb). The results are in good agreement (better than 1%) with the diffusivities calculated from the handbook. The diffusivities of some alloys and unidirectional graphite-fiber-reinforced-polymer composite also are determined by this method. As a byproduct of one of the experimental approaches measuring the IR radiation from the heated surface, direct evidence is obtained for the presence of a thermal wave "echo". The theory and confirming measurements in this dissertation represent its first clear confirmation. A second experimental method which is studied in this dissertation, and which may be used to characterize thermal properties of materials, is that of lock-in thermal wave imaging. In this technique, pioneered earlier at Wayne State University, a periodic heat source is applied to the surface of the material, and synchronous, phase-sensitive detection of the IR radiation from that surface is used to determine the effects of thermal wave propagation to subsurface features, and the effects of reflected thermal waves from those features on the observed IR radiation from the surface. The rationale for re-visiting this technique is the availability of the focal-plane-array IR camera, with its "snapshot" capability, its high spatial resolution, and its high pixel rate. A lock-in imaging method is developed for use with this camera, which can be used at frequencies that considerably exceed the maximum frame rate, with illustrative applications to characterize the thermal properties of printed circuits and electronic packages.

Quantitative subsurface analysis using frequency modulated thermal wave imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Subhani, S. K.; Suresh, B.; Ghali, V. S.

2018-01-01

Quantitative depth analysis of the anomaly with an enhanced depth resolution is a challenging task towards the estimation of depth of the subsurface anomaly using thermography. Frequency modulated thermal wave imaging introduced earlier provides a complete depth scanning of the object by stimulating it with a suitable band of frequencies and further analyzing the subsequent thermal response using a suitable post processing approach to resolve subsurface details. But conventional Fourier transform based methods used for post processing unscramble the frequencies with a limited frequency resolution and contribute for a finite depth resolution. Spectral zooming provided by chirp z transform facilitates enhanced frequency resolution which can further improves the depth resolution to axially explore finest subsurface features. Quantitative depth analysis with this augmented depth resolution is proposed to provide a closest estimate to the actual depth of subsurface anomaly. This manuscript experimentally validates this enhanced depth resolution using non stationary thermal wave imaging and offers an ever first and unique solution for quantitative depth estimation in frequency modulated thermal wave imaging.

Robust Vehicle Detection under Various Environmental Conditions Using an Infrared Thermal Camera and Its Application to Road Traffic Flow Monitoring

PubMed Central

Iwasaki, Yoichiro; Misumi, Masato; Nakamiya, Toshiyuki

2013-01-01

We have already proposed a method for detecting vehicle positions and their movements (henceforth referred to as “our previous method”) using thermal images taken with an infrared thermal camera. Our experiments have shown that our previous method detects vehicles robustly under four different environmental conditions which involve poor visibility conditions in snow and thick fog. Our previous method uses the windshield and its surroundings as the target of the Viola-Jones detector. Some experiments in winter show that the vehicle detection accuracy decreases because the temperatures of many windshields approximate those of the exterior of the windshields. In this paper, we propose a new vehicle detection method (henceforth referred to as “our new method”). Our new method detects vehicles based on tires' thermal energy reflection. We have done experiments using three series of thermal images for which the vehicle detection accuracies of our previous method are low. Our new method detects 1,417 vehicles (92.8%) out of 1,527 vehicles, and the number of false detection is 52 in total. Therefore, by combining our two methods, high vehicle detection accuracies are maintained under various environmental conditions. Finally, we apply the traffic information obtained by our two methods to traffic flow automatic monitoring, and show the effectiveness of our proposal. PMID:23774988

Temperature imaging with ultrasonic transmission tomography for treatment control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chu, Zheqi; Pinter, Stephen. Z.; Yuan, Jie; Scarpelli, Matthew L.; Kripfgans, Oliver D.; Fowlkes, J. Brian; Duric, Neb; Carson, Paul L.

2017-03-01

Hyperthermia is a promising method to enhance chemo- or radiation therapy of breast cancer and the time-temperature profile in the target and surrounding areas is the primary monitoring method. Unlike with thermal ablation of lesions, in hyperthermia there are not good alternative treatment monitoring quantities. However, there is less problem with non-monotonic thermal coefficients of speed of sound used with ultrasonic imaging of temperature. This paper tests a long discussed but little investigated method of imaging temperature using speed of sound and proposes methods of reducing edge enhancement artifacts in the temperature image. Normally, when directly using the speed of sound to reconstruct the temperature image around the tumor, there will be an abnormal bipolar edge enhancement along the boundary between two materials with different speeds of sound at a given temperature. This due to partial volume effects and can be diminished by regularized, weighted deconvolution. An initial, manual deconvolution is shown, as well as an EMD (Empirical Mode Decomposition) method. Here we use the continuity and other constraints to choose the coefficient, reprocess the temperature field image and take the mean variations of the temperature in the adjacent pixels as the judgment criteria. Both methods effectively reduce the edge enhancement and produce a more precise image of temperature.

Quantifying riverine surface currents from time sequences of thermal infrared imagery

USGS Publications Warehouse

Puleo, J.A.; McKenna, T.E.; Holland, K.T.; Calantoni, J.

2012-01-01

River surface currents are quantified from thermal and visible band imagery using two methods. One method utilizes time stacks of pixel intensity to estimate the streamwise velocity at multiple locations. The other method uses particle image velocimetry to solve for optimal two-dimensional pixel displacements between successive frames. Field validation was carried out on the Wolf River, a small coastal plain river near Landon, Mississippi, United States, on 26-27 May 2010 by collecting imagery in association with in situ velocities sampled using electromagnetic current meters deployed 0.1 m below the river surface. Comparisons are made between mean in situ velocities and image-derived velocities from 23 thermal and 6 visible-band image sequences (5 min length) during daylight and darkness conditions. The thermal signal was a small apparent temperature contrast induced by turbulent mixing of a thin layer of cooler water near the river surface with underlying warmer water. The visible-band signal was foam on the water surface. For thermal imagery, streamwise velocities derived from the pixel time stack and particle image velocimetry technique were generally highly correlated to mean streamwise current meter velocities during darkness (r 2 typically greater than 0.9) and early morning daylight (r 2 typically greater than 0.83). Streamwise velocities from the pixel time stack technique had high correlation for visible-band imagery during early morning daylight hours with respect to mean current meter velocities (r 2 > 0.86). Streamwise velocities for the particle image velocimetry technique for visible-band imagery had weaker correlations with only three out of six correlations performed having an r 2 exceeding 0.6. Copyright 2012 by the American Geophysical Union.

Improved target detection by IR dual-band image fusion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adomeit, U.; Ebert, R.

2009-09-01

Dual-band thermal imagers acquire information simultaneously in both the 8-12 μm (long-wave infrared, LWIR) and the 3-5 μm (mid-wave infrared, MWIR) spectral range. Compared to single-band thermal imagers they are expected to have several advantages in military applications. These advantages include the opportunity to use the best band for given atmospheric conditions (e. g. cold climate: LWIR, hot and humid climate: MWIR), the potential to better detect camouflaged targets and an improved discrimination between targets and decoys. Most of these advantages have not yet been verified and/or quantified. It is expected that image fusion allows better exploitation of the information content available with dual-band imagers especially with respect to detection of targets. We have developed a method for dual-band image fusion based on the apparent temperature differences in the two bands. This method showed promising results in laboratory tests. In order to evaluate its performance under operational conditions we conducted a field trial in an area with high thermal clutter. In such areas, targets are hardly to detect in single-band images because they vanish in the clutter structure. The image data collected in this field trial was used for a perception experiment. This perception experiment showed an enhanced target detection range and reduced false alarm rate for the fused images compared to the single-band images.

Depth and thermal sensor fusion to enhance 3D thermographic reconstruction.

PubMed

Cao, Yanpeng; Xu, Baobei; Ye, Zhangyu; Yang, Jiangxin; Cao, Yanlong; Tisse, Christel-Loic; Li, Xin

2018-04-02

Three-dimensional geometrical models with incorporated surface temperature data provide important information for various applications such as medical imaging, energy auditing, and intelligent robots. In this paper we present a robust method for mobile and real-time 3D thermographic reconstruction through depth and thermal sensor fusion. A multimodal imaging device consisting of a thermal camera and a RGB-D sensor is calibrated geometrically and used for data capturing. Based on the underlying principle that temperature information remains robust against illumination and viewpoint changes, we present a Thermal-guided Iterative Closest Point (T-ICP) methodology to facilitate reliable 3D thermal scanning applications. The pose of sensing device is initially estimated using correspondences found through maximizing the thermal consistency between consecutive infrared images. The coarse pose estimate is further refined by finding the motion parameters that minimize a combined geometric and thermographic loss function. Experimental results demonstrate that complimentary information captured by multimodal sensors can be utilized to improve performance of 3D thermographic reconstruction. Through effective fusion of thermal and depth data, the proposed approach generates more accurate 3D thermal models using significantly less scanning data.

Thermal removal from near-infrared imaging spectroscopy data of the Moon

USGS Publications Warehouse

Clark, R.N.; Pieters, C.M.; Green, R.O.; Boardman, J.W.; Petro, N.E.

2011-01-01

In the near-infrared from about 2 ??m to beyond 3 ??m, the light from the Moon is a combination of reflected sunlight and emitted thermal emission. There are multiple complexities in separating the two signals, including knowledge of the local solar incidence angle due to topography, phase angle dependencies, emissivity, and instrument calibration. Thermal emission adds to apparent reflectance, and because the emission's contribution increases over the reflected sunlight with increasing wavelength, absorption bands in the lunar reflectance spectra can be modified. In particular, the shape of the 2 ??m pyroxene band can be distorted by thermal emission, changing spectrally determined pyroxene composition and abundance. Because of the thermal emission contribution, water and hydroxyl absorptions are reduced in strength, lowering apparent abundances. It is important to quantify and remove the thermal emission for these reasons. We developed a method for deriving the temperature and emissivity from spectra of the lunar surface and removing the thermal emission in the near infrared. The method is fast enough that it can be applied to imaging spectroscopy data on the Moon. Copyright ?? 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.

Thermal removal from near-infrared imaging spectroscopy data of the Moon

USGS Publications Warehouse

Clark, Roger N.; Pieters, Carle M.; Green, Robert O.; Boardman, J.W.; Petro, Noah E.

2011-01-01

In the near-infrared from about 2 μm to beyond 3 μm, the light from the Moon is a combination of reflected sunlight and emitted thermal emission. There are multiple complexities in separating the two signals, including knowledge of the local solar incidence angle due to topography, phase angle dependencies, emissivity, and instrument calibration. Thermal emission adds to apparent reflectance, and because the emission's contribution increases over the reflected sunlight with increasing wavelength, absorption bands in the lunar reflectance spectra can be modified. In particular, the shape of the 2 μm pyroxene band can be distorted by thermal emission, changing spectrally determined pyroxene composition and abundance. Because of the thermal emission contribution, water and hydroxyl absorptions are reduced in strength, lowering apparent abundances. It is important to quantify and remove the thermal emission for these reasons. We developed a method for deriving the temperature and emissivity from spectra of the lunar surface and removing the thermal emission in the near infrared. The method is fast enough that it can be applied to imaging spectroscopy data on the Moon.

Active infrared thermal imaging technology to detect the corrosion defects in aircraft cargo door

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Dapeng; Zhang, Cunlin; Zeng, Zhi; Xing, Chunfei; Li, Yanhong

2009-11-01

Aircraft fuselage material corrosion problems have been major aviation security issues, which hinder the development of aviation industry. How can we use non-destructive testing methods to detect the internal corrosion defects from the outside of the fuselage, to find the hidden safety problems in advance and update the defective equipment and materials, has great significance for the prevention of accidents. Nowadays, the active infrared thermal imaging technology as a new nondestructive technology has been gradually used on a wide variety of materials, such as composite, metal and so on. This article makes use of this technology on an aircraft cargo door specimen to detect the corrosion defects. Firstly, use High-energy flash pulse to excite the specimen, and use the thermal image processing software to splice the thermal images, so the thermal images of the overall specimen can be showed. Then, heat the defects by ultrasonic excitation, this will cause vibration and friction or thermoelastic effects in the places of defects, so the ultrasonic energy will dissipate into heat and manifested in the uneven temperature of surface. An Infrared camera to capture the changes of temperature of material surface, send data to the computer and records the thermal information of the defects. Finally, extracting data and drawing infrared radiation-time curve of some selected points of interest to analyze the signal changes in heat of defects further more. The results of the experiments show that both of the two ways of heat excitation show a clear position and shape of defects, and the ultrasonic method has more obvious effect of excitation to the defects, and a higher signal to noise ratio than the flash pulse excitation, but flash pulse method do not contact the specimen in the process of excitation, and shows the location and shape of defects in the overall of the specimen has its advantages.

Preliminary Study of UAS Equipped with Thermal Camera for Volcanic Geothermal Monitoring in Taiwan

PubMed Central

Chio, Shih-Hong; Lin, Cheng-Horng

2017-01-01

Thermal infrared cameras sense the temperature information of sensed scenes. With the development of UASs (Unmanned Aircraft Systems), thermal infrared cameras can now be carried on a quadcopter UAV (Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle) to appropriately collect high-resolution thermal images for volcanic geothermal monitoring in a local area. Therefore, the quadcopter UAS used to acquire thermal images for volcanic geothermal monitoring has been developed in Taiwan as part of this study to overcome the difficult terrain with highly variable topography and extreme environmental conditions. An XM6 thermal infrared camera was employed in this thermal image collection system. The Trimble BD970 GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) board was also carried on the quadcopter UAV to gather dual-frequency GNSS observations in order to determine the flying trajectory data by using the Post-Processed Kinematic (PPK) technique; this will be used to establish the position and orientation of collected thermal images with less ground control points (GCPs). The digital surface model (DSM) and thermal orthoimages were then produced from collected thermal images. Tests conducted in the Hsiaoyukeng area of Taiwan’s Yangmingshan National Park show that the difference between produced DSM and airborne LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data are about 37% between −1 m and 1 m, and 66% between −2 m and 2 m in the area surrounded by GCPs. As the accuracy of thermal orthoimages is about 1.78 m, it is deemed sufficient for volcanic geothermal monitoring. In addition, the thermal orthoimages show some phenomena not only more globally than do the traditional methods for volcanic geothermal monitoring, but they also show that the developed system can be further employed in Taiwan in the future. PMID:28718790

Preliminary Study of UAS Equipped with Thermal Camera for Volcanic Geothermal Monitoring in Taiwan.

PubMed

Chio, Shih-Hong; Lin, Cheng-Horng

2017-07-18

Thermal infrared cameras sense the temperature information of sensed scenes. With the development of UASs (Unmanned Aircraft Systems), thermal infrared cameras can now be carried on a quadcopter UAV (Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle) to appropriately collect high-resolution thermal images for volcanic geothermal monitoring in a local area. Therefore, the quadcopter UAS used to acquire thermal images for volcanic geothermal monitoring has been developed in Taiwan as part of this study to overcome the difficult terrain with highly variable topography and extreme environmental conditions. An XM6 thermal infrared camera was employed in this thermal image collection system. The Trimble BD970 GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) board was also carried on the quadcopter UAV to gather dual-frequency GNSS observations in order to determine the flying trajectory data by using the Post-Processed Kinematic (PPK) technique; this will be used to establish the position and orientation of collected thermal images with less ground control points (GCPs). The digital surface model (DSM) and thermal orthoimages were then produced from collected thermal images. Tests conducted in the Hsiaoyukeng area of Taiwan's Yangmingshan National Park show that the difference between produced DSM and airborne LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data are about 37% between -1 m and 1 m, and 66% between -2 m and 2 m in the area surrounded by GCPs. As the accuracy of thermal orthoimages is about 1.78 m, it is deemed sufficient for volcanic geothermal monitoring. In addition, the thermal orthoimages show some phenomena not only more globally than do the traditional methods for volcanic geothermal monitoring, but they also show that the developed system can be further employed in Taiwan in the future.

Feasibility of geophysical methods as a tool to detect urban subsurface cavity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bang, E.; Kim, C.; Rim, H.; Ryu, D.; Lee, H.; Jeong, S. W.; Jung, B.; Yum, B. W.

2016-12-01

Urban road collapse problem become a social issue in Korea these days. Underground cavity cannot be cured by itself, we need to detect existing underground cavity before road collapse. We should consider cost, reliability, availability, skill requirement for field work and interpretation procedure in selecting detecting method because it's huge area and very long length to complete. We constructed a real-scale ground model for this purpose. Its size is about 15m*8m*3m (L*W*D) and sewer pipes are buried at the depth of 1.2m. We modeled upward moving or enlargement of underground cavity by digging the ground through the hole of sewer pipe inside. There are two or three steps having different cavity size and depth. We performed all five methods on the ground model to monitor ground collapse and detect underground cavity at each step. The first one is GPR method, which is very popular for this kind of project. GPR provided very good images showing underground cavity well at each step. DC resistivity survey is also selected because it is a common tool to locate underground anomaly. It provided the images showing underground cavity, but field setup is not favorable for the project. The third method is micro gravity method which can differentiate cavity zone from gravity distribution. Micro Gravity gave smaller g values around the cavity compared to normal condition, but it takes very long time to perform. The fourth method is thermal image. The temperature of the ground surface on the cavity will be different from the other area. We used multi-copter for rapid thermal imaging and we could pick the area of underground cavity from the aerial thermal image of ground surface. The last method we applied is RFID/magnetic survey. When the ground is collapsed around the buried RFID/magnetic tag in depth, tag will be moved downward. We can know the ground collapse through checking tag detecting condition. We could pick the area of ground collapse easily. When we compared each method from a variety of views, we could check GPR method, aerial thermal imaging method and RFID/magnetic survey show better performance as a tool to detect subsurface cavity.

Feasibility of Intraoperative Nerve Monitoring in Preventing Thermal Damage to the “Nerve at Risk” During Image-Guided Ablation of Tumors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Marshall, Richard H., E-mail: rmars1@lsuhsc.edu; Avila, Edward K., E-mail: avilae@mskcc.org; Solomon, Stephen B., E-mail: solomons@mskcc.org

PurposeTo assess feasibility of intraoperative neurophysiologic monitoring (IONM) during image-guided, percutaneous thermal ablation of tumors.Materials and MethodsFrom February 2009 to October 2013, a retrospective review of all image-guided percutaneous thermal ablation interventions using IONM was performed and data was compiled using electronic medical records and imaging studies.ResultsTwelve patients were treated in 13 ablation interventions. In 4 patients, real-time feedback from the monitoring neurologist was used to adjust applicator placement and ablation settings. IONM was technically feasible in all procedures and there were no complications related to monitoring or ablation. All nerves at risk remained intact and of the 11 patientsmore » who could be followed, none developed new nerve deficit up to a minimum of 2 months after ablation.ConclusionIONM is safe and feasible for use during image-guided thermal ablation of tumors in the vicinity of nerves. Outcomes in this study demonstrate its potential utility in image-guided ablation interventions.« less

Thermal x-ray diffraction and near-field phase contrast imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Zheng; Classen, Anton; Peng, Tao; Medvedev, Nikita; Wang, Fenglin; Chapman, Henry N.; Shih, Yanhua

2017-10-01

Using higher-order coherence of thermal light sources, the resolution power of standard x-ray imaging techniques can be enhanced. In this work, we applied the higher-order measurement to far-field x-ray diffraction and near-field phase contrast imaging (PCI), in order to achieve superresolution in x-ray diffraction and obtain enhanced intensity contrast in PCI. The cost of implementing such schemes is minimal compared to the methods that achieve similar effects by using entangled x-ray photon pairs.

Thermal x-ray diffraction and near-field phase contrast imaging

DOE PAGES

Li, Zheng; Classen, Anton; Peng, Tao; ...

2017-12-27

Using higher-order coherence of thermal light sources, the resolution power of standard x-ray imaging techniques can be enhanced. Here in this work, we applied the higher-order measurement to far-field x-ray diffraction and near-field phase contrast imaging (PCI), in order to achieve superresolution in x-ray diffraction and obtain enhanced intensity contrast in PCI. The cost of implementing such schemes is minimal compared to the methods that achieve similar effects by using entangled x-ray photon pairs.

Remote measurement of river discharge using thermal particle image velocimetry (PIV) and various sources of bathymetric information

USGS Publications Warehouse

Legleiter, Carl; Kinzel, Paul J.; Nelson, Jonathan M.

2017-01-01

Although river discharge is a fundamental hydrologic quantity, conventional methods of streamgaging are impractical, expensive, and potentially dangerous in remote locations. This study evaluated the potential for measuring discharge via various forms of remote sensing, primarily thermal imaging of flow velocities but also spectrally-based depth retrieval from passive optical image data. We acquired thermal image time series from bridges spanning five streams in Alaska and observed strong agreement between velocities measured in situ and those inferred by Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), which quantified advection of thermal features by the flow. The resulting surface velocities were converted to depth-averaged velocities by applying site-specific, calibrated velocity indices. Field spectra from three clear-flowing streams provided strong relationships between depth and reflectance, suggesting that, under favorable conditions, spectrally-based bathymetric mapping could complement thermal PIV in a hybrid approach to remote sensing of river discharge; this strategy would not be applicable to larger, more turbid rivers, however. A more flexible and efficient alternative might involve inferring depth from thermal data based on relationships between depth and integral length scales of turbulent fluctuations in temperature, captured as variations in image brightness. We observed moderately strong correlations for a site-aggregated data set that reduced station-to-station variability but encompassed a broad range of depths. Discharges calculated using thermal PIV-derived velocities were within 15% of in situ measurements when combined with depths measured directly in the field or estimated from field spectra and within 40% when the depth information also was derived from thermal images. The results of this initial, proof-of-concept investigation suggest that remote sensing techniques could facilitate measurement of river discharge.

Towards fast and accurate temperature mapping with proton resonance frequency-based MR thermometry

PubMed Central

Yuan, Jing; Mei, Chang-Sheng; Panych, Lawrence P.; McDannold, Nathan J.; Madore, Bruno

2012-01-01

The capability to image temperature is a very attractive feature of MRI and has been actively exploited for guiding minimally-invasive thermal therapies. Among many MR-based temperature-sensitive approaches, proton resonance frequency (PRF) thermometry provides the advantage of excellent linearity of signal with temperature over a large temperature range. Furthermore, the PRF shift has been shown to be fairly independent of tissue type and thermal history. For these reasons, PRF method has evolved into the most widely used MR-based thermometry method. In the present paper, the basic principles of PRF-based temperature mapping will be reviewed, along with associated pulse sequence designs. Technical advancements aimed at increasing the imaging speed and/or temperature accuracy of PRF-based thermometry sequences, such as image acceleration, fat suppression, reduced field-of-view imaging, as well as motion tracking and correction, will be discussed. The development of accurate MR thermometry methods applicable to moving organs with non-negligible fat content represents a very challenging goal, but recent developments suggest that this goal may be achieved. If so, MR-guided thermal therapies may be expected to play an increasingly-important therapeutic and palliative role, as a minimally-invasive alternative to surgery. PMID:22773966

Sharpening method of satellite thermal image based on the geographical statistical model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qi, Pengcheng; Hu, Shixiong; Zhang, Haijun; Guo, Guangmeng

2016-04-01

To improve the effectiveness of thermal sharpening in mountainous regions, paying more attention to the laws of land surface energy balance, a thermal sharpening method based on the geographical statistical model (GSM) is proposed. Explanatory variables were selected from the processes of land surface energy budget and thermal infrared electromagnetic radiation transmission, then high spatial resolution (57 m) raster layers were generated for these variables through spatially simulating or using other raster data as proxies. Based on this, the local adaptation statistical relationship between brightness temperature (BT) and the explanatory variables, i.e., the GSM, was built at 1026-m resolution using the method of multivariate adaptive regression splines. Finally, the GSM was applied to the high-resolution (57-m) explanatory variables; thus, the high-resolution (57-m) BT image was obtained. This method produced a sharpening result with low error and good visual effect. The method can avoid the blind choice of explanatory variables and remove the dependence on synchronous imagery at visible and near-infrared bands. The influences of the explanatory variable combination, sampling method, and the residual error correction on sharpening results were analyzed deliberately, and their influence mechanisms are reported herein.

Evaluation of physiological strain in hot work areas using thermal imagery.

PubMed

Holm, Clint A; Pahler, Leon; Thiese, Matthew S; Handy, Rodney

2016-10-01

Monitoring core body temperature to identify heat strain in workers engaged in hot work in heat stress environments is intrusive and expensive. Nonintrusive, inexpensive methods are needed to calculate individual Physiological Strain Index (PSI). Thermal imaging and heart rate monitoring were used in this study to calculate Physiological Strain Index (PSI) from thermal imaging temperatures of human subjects wearing thermal protective garments during recovery from hot work. Ten male subjects were evaluated for physiological strain while participating in hot work. Thermal images of the head and neck were captured with a high-resolution thermal imaging camera concomitant with measures of gastrointestinal and skin temperature. Lin's concordance correlation coefficient (rho_c), Pearson's coefficient (r) and bias correction factor (C-b) were calculated to compare thermal imaging based temperatures to gastrointestinal temperatures. Calculations of PSI based thermal imaging recorded temperatures were compared to gastrointestinal based PSI. Participants reached a peak PSI of 5.2, indicating moderate heat strain. Sagittal measurements showed low correlation (rho_c=0.133), moderate precision (r=0.496) and low accuracy (C_b=0.269) with gastrointestinal temperature. Bland-Altman plots of imaging measurements showed increasing agreement as gastrointestinal temperature rose; however, the Limits of Agreement (LoA) fell outside the ±0.25C range of clinical significance. Bland-Altman plots of PSI calculated from imaging measurements showed increasing agreement as gastrointestinal temperature rose; however, the LoA fell outside the ±0.5 range of clinical significance. Results of this study confirmed previous research showing thermal imagery is not highly correlated to body core temperature during recovery from moderate heat strain in mild ambient conditions. Measurements display a trend toward increasing correlation at higher body core temperatures. Accuracy was not sufficient at mild to moderate heat strain to allow calculation of individual physiological stress. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Body-Based Gender Recognition Using Images from Visible and Thermal Cameras

PubMed Central

Nguyen, Dat Tien; Park, Kang Ryoung

2016-01-01

Gender information has many useful applications in computer vision systems, such as surveillance systems, counting the number of males and females in a shopping mall, accessing control systems in restricted areas, or any human-computer interaction system. In most previous studies, researchers attempted to recognize gender by using visible light images of the human face or body. However, shadow, illumination, and time of day greatly affect the performance of these methods. To overcome this problem, we propose a new gender recognition method based on the combination of visible light and thermal camera images of the human body. Experimental results, through various kinds of feature extraction and fusion methods, show that our approach is efficient for gender recognition through a comparison of recognition rates with conventional systems. PMID:26828487

Body-Based Gender Recognition Using Images from Visible and Thermal Cameras.

PubMed

Nguyen, Dat Tien; Park, Kang Ryoung

2016-01-27

Gender information has many useful applications in computer vision systems, such as surveillance systems, counting the number of males and females in a shopping mall, accessing control systems in restricted areas, or any human-computer interaction system. In most previous studies, researchers attempted to recognize gender by using visible light images of the human face or body. However, shadow, illumination, and time of day greatly affect the performance of these methods. To overcome this problem, we propose a new gender recognition method based on the combination of visible light and thermal camera images of the human body. Experimental results, through various kinds of feature extraction and fusion methods, show that our approach is efficient for gender recognition through a comparison of recognition rates with conventional systems.

Imaging Spatial Variations in the Dissipation and Transport of Thermal Energy within Individual Silicon Nanowires Using Ultrafast Microscopy.

PubMed

Cating, Emma E M; Pinion, Christopher W; Van Goethem, Erika M; Gabriel, Michelle M; Cahoon, James F; Papanikolas, John M

2016-01-13

Thermal management is an important consideration for most nanoelectronic devices, and an understanding of the thermal conductivity of individual device components is critical for the design of thermally efficient systems. However, it can be difficult to directly probe local changes in thermal conductivity within a nanoscale system. Here, we utilize the time-resolved and diffraction-limited imaging capabilities of ultrafast pump-probe microscopy to determine, in a contact-free configuration, the local thermal conductivity in individual Si nanowires (NWs). By suspending single NWs across microfabricated trenches in a quartz substrate, the properties of the same NW both on and off the substrate are directly compared. We find the substrate has no effect on the recombination lifetime or diffusion length of photogenerated charge carriers; however, it significantly impacts the thermal relaxation properties of the NW. In substrate-supported regions, thermal energy deposited into the lattice by the ultrafast laser pulse dissipates within ∼10 ns through thermal diffusion and coupling to the substrate. In suspended regions, the thermal energy persists for over 100 ns, and we directly image the time-resolved spatial motion of the thermal signal. Quantitative analysis of the transient images permits direct determination of the NW's local thermal conductivity, which we find to be a factor of ∼4 smaller than in bulk Si. Our results point to the strong potential of pump-probe microscopy to be used as an all-optical method to quantify the effects of localized environment and morphology on the thermal transport characteristics of individual nanostructured components.

Micromachined Chip Scale Thermal Sensor for Thermal Imaging.

PubMed

Shekhawat, Gajendra S; Ramachandran, Srinivasan; Jiryaei Sharahi, Hossein; Sarkar, Souravi; Hujsak, Karl; Li, Yuan; Hagglund, Karl; Kim, Seonghwan; Aden, Gary; Chand, Ami; Dravid, Vinayak P

2018-02-27

The lateral resolution of scanning thermal microscopy (SThM) has hitherto never approached that of mainstream atomic force microscopy, mainly due to poor performance of the thermal sensor. Herein, we report a nanomechanical system-based thermal sensor (thermocouple) that enables high lateral resolution that is often required in nanoscale thermal characterization in a wide range of applications. This thermocouple-based probe technology delivers excellent lateral resolution (∼20 nm), extended high-temperature measurements >700 °C without cantilever bending, and thermal sensitivity (∼0.04 °C). The origin of significantly improved figures-of-merit lies in the probe design that consists of a hollow silicon tip integrated with a vertically oriented thermocouple sensor at the apex (low thermal mass) which interacts with the sample through a metallic nanowire (50 nm diameter), thereby achieving high lateral resolution. The efficacy of this approach to SThM is demonstrated by imaging embedded metallic nanostructures in silica core-shell, metal nanostructures coated with polymer films, and metal-polymer interconnect structures. The nanoscale pitch and extremely small thermal mass of the probe promise significant improvements over existing methods and wide range of applications in several fields including semiconductor industry, biomedical imaging, and data storage.

Nighttime activity of moving objects, their mapping and statistic making, on the example of applying thermal imaging and advanced image processing to the research of nocturnal mammals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pregowski, Piotr; Owadowska, Edyta; Pietrzak, Jan; Zwolenik, Slawomir

2005-09-01

The paper presents method of acquiring a new form of statistical information about the changes at scenery, overseen by thermal imaging camera in static configuration. This type of imagers reach uniquely high efficiency during nighttime surveillance and targeting. The technical issue we have solved, resulted from the problem: how to verify the hypothesis that small, nocturnal rodents, like bank voles, use common paths inside their range and that they form a common, rather stable system? Such research has been especially difficult because the mentioned mammals are secretive, move with various speed and due to low contrast to their natural surroundings - as leaves or grass - nearly impossible for other kind of observations from a few meters distance. The main advantage of the elaborated method showed to be both adequately filtered long thermal movies for manual analyses, as well as auto-creation of the synthetic images which present maps of invisible paths and activity of their usage. Additional file with logs describing objects and their dislocations as the ".txt" files allows various, more detailed studies of animal behavior. The obtained results proved that this original method delivers a new, non-invasive, powerful and dynamic concept of solving various ecological problems. Creation of networks consisted of uncooled thermal imagers - of significantly increased availability - with data transmissions to digital centers allows to investigate of moving - particularly heat generated - objects in complete darkness, much wider and much more efficiently than up today. Thus, although our system was elaborated for ecological studies, a similar one can be considered as a tool for chosen tasks in the optical security areas.

D Surface Generation from Aerial Thermal Imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khodaei, B.; Samadzadegan, F.; Dadras Javan, F.; Hasani, H.

2015-12-01

Aerial thermal imagery has been recently applied to quantitative analysis of several scenes. For the mapping purpose based on aerial thermal imagery, high accuracy photogrammetric process is necessary. However, due to low geometric resolution and low contrast of thermal imaging sensors, there are some challenges in precise 3D measurement of objects. In this paper the potential of thermal video in 3D surface generation is evaluated. In the pre-processing step, thermal camera is geometrically calibrated using a calibration grid based on emissivity differences between the background and the targets. Then, Digital Surface Model (DSM) generation from thermal video imagery is performed in four steps. Initially, frames are extracted from video, then tie points are generated by Scale-Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) algorithm. Bundle adjustment is then applied and the camera position and orientation parameters are determined. Finally, multi-resolution dense image matching algorithm is used to create 3D point cloud of the scene. Potential of the proposed method is evaluated based on thermal imaging cover an industrial area. The thermal camera has 640×480 Uncooled Focal Plane Array (UFPA) sensor, equipped with a 25 mm lens which mounted in the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The obtained results show the comparable accuracy of 3D model generated based on thermal images with respect to DSM generated from visible images, however thermal based DSM is somehow smoother with lower level of texture. Comparing the generated DSM with the 9 measured GCPs in the area shows the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) value is smaller than 5 decimetres in both X and Y directions and 1.6 meters for the Z direction.

Geologic applications of thermal-inertia mapping from satellite. [Powder River, Wyoming; Cubeza Prieta, Arizona, and Yellowstone National Park

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Offield, T. W. (Principal Investigator); Watson, K.; Hummer-Miller, S.

1981-01-01

In the Powder River Basin, Wyo., narrow geologic units having thermal inertias which contrast with their surroundings can be discriminated in optimal images. A few subtle thermal inertia anomalies coincide with areas of helium leakage believed to be associated with deep oil and gas concentrations. The most important results involved delineation of tectonic framework elements some of which were not previously recognized. Thermal and thermal inertia images also permit mapping of geomorphic textural domains. A thermal lineament appears to reveal a basement discontinuity which involves the Homestake Mine in the Black Hill, a zone of Tertiary igneous activity and facies control in oil producing horizons. Applications of these data to the Cabeza Prieta, Ariz., area illustrate their potential for igneous rock type discrimination. Extension to Yellowstone National Park resulted in the detection of additional structural information but surface hydrothermal features could not be distinguished with any confidence. A thermal inertia mapping algorithm, a fast and accurate image registration technique, and an efficient topographic slope and elevation correction method were developed.

Introducing two Random Forest based methods for cloud detection in remote sensing images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghasemian, Nafiseh; Akhoondzadeh, Mehdi

2018-07-01

Cloud detection is a necessary phase in satellite images processing to retrieve the atmospheric and lithospheric parameters. Currently, some cloud detection methods based on Random Forest (RF) model have been proposed but they do not consider both spectral and textural characteristics of the image. Furthermore, they have not been tested in the presence of snow/ice. In this paper, we introduce two RF based algorithms, Feature Level Fusion Random Forest (FLFRF) and Decision Level Fusion Random Forest (DLFRF) to incorporate visible, infrared (IR) and thermal spectral and textural features (FLFRF) including Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) and Robust Extended Local Binary Pattern (RELBP_CI) or visible, IR and thermal classifiers (DLFRF) for highly accurate cloud detection on remote sensing images. FLFRF first fuses visible, IR and thermal features. Thereafter, it uses the RF model to classify pixels to cloud, snow/ice and background or thick cloud, thin cloud and background. DLFRF considers visible, IR and thermal features (both spectral and textural) separately and inserts each set of features to RF model. Then, it holds vote matrix of each run of the model. Finally, it fuses the classifiers using the majority vote method. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms, 10 Terra MODIS and 15 Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS images with different spatial resolutions are used in this paper. Quantitative analyses are based on manually selected ground truth data. Results show that after adding RELBP_CI to input feature set cloud detection accuracy improves. Also, the average cloud kappa values of FLFRF and DLFRF on MODIS images (1 and 0.99) are higher than other machine learning methods, Linear Discriminate Analysis (LDA), Classification And Regression Tree (CART), K Nearest Neighbor (KNN) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) (0.96). The average snow/ice kappa values of FLFRF and DLFRF on MODIS images (1 and 0.85) are higher than other traditional methods. The quantitative values on Landsat 8 images show similar trend. Consequently, while SVM and K-nearest neighbor show overestimation in predicting cloud and snow/ice pixels, our Random Forest (RF) based models can achieve higher cloud, snow/ice kappa values on MODIS and thin cloud, thick cloud and snow/ice kappa values on Landsat 8 images. Our algorithms predict both thin and thick cloud on Landsat 8 images while the existing cloud detection algorithm, Fmask cannot discriminate them. Compared to the state-of-the-art methods, our algorithms have acquired higher average cloud and snow/ice kappa values for different spatial resolutions.

Intelligent screening of electrofusion-polyethylene joints based on a thermal NDT method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doaei, Marjan; Tavallali, M. Sadegh

2018-05-01

The combinations of infrared thermal images and artificial intelligence methods have opened new avenues for pushing the boundaries of available testing methods. Hence, in the current study, a novel thermal non-destructive testing method for polyethylene electrofusion joints was combined with k-means clustering algorithms as an intelligent screening tool. The experiments focused on ovality of pipes in the coupler, as well as misalignment of pipes-couplers in 25 mm diameter joints. The temperature responses of each joint to an internal heat pulse were recorded by an IR thermal camera, and further processed to identify the faulty joints. The results represented clustering accuracy of 92%, as well as more than 90% abnormality detection capabilities.

Multipurpose, dual-mode imaging in the 3-5 μm range (MWIR) for artwork diagnostics: A systematic approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daffara, Claudia; Parisotto, Simone; Ambrosini, Dario

2018-05-01

We present a multi-purpose, dual-mode imaging method in the Mid-Wavelength Infrared (MWIR) range (from 3 μm to 5 μm) for a more efficient nondestructive analysis of artworks. Using a setup based on a MWIR thermal camera and multiple radiation sources, two radiometric image datasets are acquired in different acquisition modalities, the image in quasi-reflectance mode (TQR) and the thermal sequence in emission mode. Here, the advantages are: the complementarity of the information; the use of the quasi-reflectance map for calculating the emissivity map; the use of TQR map for a referentiation to the visible of the thermographic images. The concept of the method is presented, the practical feasibility is demonstrated through a custom imaging setup, the potentiality for the nondestructive analysis is shown on a notable application to cultural heritage. The method has been used as experimental tool in support of the restoration of the mural painting "Monocromo" by Leonardo da Vinci. Feedback from the operators and a comparison with some conventional diagnostic techniques is also given to underline the novelty and potentiality of the method.

Dispersion of Co/CNTs via strong electrostatic adsorption method: Thermal treatment effect

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Akbarzadeh, Omid, E-mail: omid.akbarzadeh63@gmail.com; Abdullah, Bawadi, E-mail: bawadi-abdullah@petronas.com.my; Subbarao, Duvvuri, E-mail: duvvuri-subbarao@petronas.com.my

The effect of different thermal treatment temperature on the structure of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and Co particle dispersion on CNTs support is studied using Strong electrostatic adsorption (SEA) method. The samples tested by N{sub 2}-adsorption, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). N{sub 2}-adsorption results showed BET surface area increased using thermal treatment and TEM images showed that increasing the thermal treatment temperature lead to flaky CNTs and defects introduced on the outer surface and Co particle dispersion increased.

Multifractality analysis of crack images from indirect thermal drying of thin-film dewatered sludge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Weiyun; Li, Aimin; Zhang, Xiaomin; Yin, Yulei

2011-07-01

Crack formation is inevitable during sludge drying because of the existence of uneven thermal stress. Experiments have been conducted to study crack pattern formation in thin film sludge. Crack images show that the thinner the sewage sludge film, the more even the crack distribution. The crack changes from a flaky texture to a banded structure with increasing thickness. Multifractal methods are proposed to analyze the crack image of four different thicknesses of dried sludge. Several parameters are conducted for quantification of the crack image and the results indicate that the width of spectra increases with thicker sludge film, that is to say, nonunifromity of crack distribution increases with increasing thickness, which proves that the multifractal method is sensitive enough to quantify the crack distribution and can be seen as a new approach for the changing research of crack images of sewage sludge drying.

Photothermal imaging scanning microscopy

DOEpatents

Chinn, Diane [Pleasanton, CA; Stolz, Christopher J [Lathrop, CA; Wu, Zhouling [Pleasanton, CA; Huber, Robert [Discovery Bay, CA; Weinzapfel, Carolyn [Tracy, CA

2006-07-11

Photothermal Imaging Scanning Microscopy produces a rapid, thermal-based, non-destructive characterization apparatus. Also, a photothermal characterization method of surface and subsurface features includes micron and nanoscale spatial resolution of meter-sized optical materials.

Face recognition in the thermal infrared domain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kowalski, M.; Grudzień, A.; Palka, N.; Szustakowski, M.

2017-10-01

Biometrics refers to unique human characteristics. Each unique characteristic may be used to label and describe individuals and for automatic recognition of a person based on physiological or behavioural properties. One of the most natural and the most popular biometric trait is a face. The most common research methods on face recognition are based on visible light. State-of-the-art face recognition systems operating in the visible light spectrum achieve very high level of recognition accuracy under controlled environmental conditions. Thermal infrared imagery seems to be a promising alternative or complement to visible range imaging due to its relatively high resistance to illumination changes. A thermal infrared image of the human face presents its unique heat-signature and can be used for recognition. The characteristics of thermal images maintain advantages over visible light images, and can be used to improve algorithms of human face recognition in several aspects. Mid-wavelength or far-wavelength infrared also referred to as thermal infrared seems to be promising alternatives. We present the study on 1:1 recognition in thermal infrared domain. The two approaches we are considering are stand-off face verification of non-moving person as well as stop-less face verification on-the-move. The paper presents methodology of our studies and challenges for face recognition systems in the thermal infrared domain.

Photothermal measurements of high Tc superconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fanton, J. T.; Mitzi, D. B.; Kapitulnik, A.; Khuri-Yakub, B. T.; Kino, G. S.; Gazit, D.; Feigelson, R. S.

1989-08-01

We demonstrate a photothermal method for making point measurements of the thermal conductivities of high Tc superconductors. Images made at room temperature on polycrystalline materials show the thermal inhomogeneities. Measurements on single-crystal Bi2Sr2CaCu2Ox compounds reveal a very large anisotropy of about 7:1 in the thermal conductivity.

Investigation of Thermal Effects of Photocoagulation on Retinal Tissue Using Fine-Motion-Sensitive Dynamic Optical Coherence Tomography.

PubMed

Kurokawa, Kazuhiro; Makita, Shuichi; Yasuno, Yoshiaki

2016-01-01

To enable an objective evaluation of photocoagulation, we characterize thermal tissue changes induced by laser irradiation with different laser parameters using optical coherence tomography (OCT). Spectral-domain OCT with a newly developed image processing method was used to monitor the thermal changes of ex vivo porcine retina. A sequence of OCT B-scans was obtained at the same retinal position simultaneously with the photocoagulation. Cross-sectional tissue displacement maps with respect to an OCT image taken before laser irradiation were computed for images taken before, during, and after laser irradiation, by using a correlation-based custom algorithm. Cross-sectional correlation maps (OCT correlation maps) were also computed from an OCT image taken before laser irradiation as a base-line to visualize alterations of tissue microstructure induced by laser irradiation. By systematically controlling laser power and exposure times, tissue displacements and structural changes of 200 retinal regions of 10 porcine eyes were characterized. Thermal tissue changes were characterized by B-scan images, OCT correlation maps, and tissue displacement maps. Larger tissue deformation was induced with higher laser power and shorter exposure time, while the same total laser energy (10 mJ) was applied. The measured tissue displacements revealed the complicated dynamics of tissue displacements. Three types of dynamics were observed; lateral expansion, lateral constriction, and a type showing more complicated dynamics. The results demonstrated the ability of this OCT-based method to evaluate retinal changes induced by laser irradiation. This evaluation could lead to further understanding of thermal effects, and increasing reproducibility of photocoagulation therapy.

Thermal imaging measurement of lateral diffusivity and non-invasive material defect detection

DOEpatents

Sun, Jiangang; Deemer, Chris

2003-01-01

A system and method for determining lateral thermal diffusivity of a material sample using a heat pulse; a sample oriented within an orthogonal coordinate system; an infrared camera; and a computer that has a digital frame grabber, and data acquisition and processing software. The mathematical model used within the data processing software is capable of determining the lateral thermal diffusivity of a sample of finite boundaries. The system and method may also be used as a nondestructive method for detecting and locating cracks within the material sample.

Ultrasound elastographic imaging of thermal lesions and temperature profiles during radiofrequency ablation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Techavipoo, Udomchai

Manual palpation to sense variations in tissue stiffness for disease diagnosis has been regularly performed by clinicians for centuries. However, it is generally limited to large and superficial structures and the ability of the physician performing the palpation. Imaging of tissue stiffness or elastic properties via the aid of modern imaging such as ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging, referred to as elastography, enhances the capability for disease diagnosis. In addition, elastography could be used for monitoring tissue response to minimally invasive ablative therapies, which are performed percutaneously to destruct tumors with minimum damage to surrounding tissue. Monitoring tissue temperature during ablation is another approach to estimate tissue damage. The ultimate goal of this dissertation is to improve the image quality of elastograms and temperature profiles for visualizing thermal lesions during and after ablative therapies. Elastographic imaging of thermal lesions is evaluated by comparison of sizes, shapes, and volumes with the results obtained using gross pathology. Semiautomated segmentation of lesion boundaries on elastograms is also developed. It provides comparable results to those with manual segmentation. Elastograms imaged during radiofrequency ablation in vitro show that the impact of gas bubbles during ablation on the ability to delineate the thermal lesion is small. Two novel methods to reduce noise artifacts in elastograms, and an accurate estimation of displacement vectors are proposed. The first method applies wavelet-denoising algorithms to the displacement estimates. The second method utilizes angular compounding of the elastograms generated using ultrasound signal frames acquired from different insonification angles. These angular frames are also utilized to estimate all tissue displacement vector components in response to a deformation. These enable the generation of normal and shear strain elastograms and Poisson's ratio elastograms, which provide additional valuable information for disease diagnosis. Finally, measurements of temperature dependent variables, including sound speed, attenuation coefficient, and thermal expansion in canine liver tissue, are performed. This information is necessary for the estimation of the temperature profile during ablation. A mapping function between the gradient of timeshifts and tissue temperature is calculated using this information and subsequently applied to estimate temperature profiles.

Superpixel Based Factor Analysis and Target Transformation Method for Martian Minerals Detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, X.; Zhang, X.; Lin, H.

2018-04-01

The Factor analysis and target transformation (FATT) is an effective method to test for the presence of particular mineral on Martian surface. It has been used both in thermal infrared (Thermal Emission Spectrometer, TES) and near-infrared (Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, CRISM) hyperspectral data. FATT derived a set of orthogonal eigenvectors from a mixed system and typically selected first 10 eigenvectors to least square fit the library mineral spectra. However, minerals present only in a limited pixels will be ignored because its weak spectral features compared with full image signatures. Here, we proposed a superpixel based FATT method to detect the mineral distributions on Mars. The simple linear iterative clustering (SLIC) algorithm was used to partition the CRISM image into multiple connected image regions with spectral homogeneous to enhance the weak signatures by increasing their proportion in a mixed system. A least square fitting was used in target transformation and performed to each region iteratively. Finally, the distribution of the specific minerals in image was obtained, where fitting residual less than a threshold represent presence and otherwise absence. We validate our method by identifying carbonates in a well analysed CRISM image in Nili Fossae on Mars. Our experimental results indicate that the proposed method work well both in simulated and real data sets.

A novel algorithm for thermal image encryption.

PubMed

Hussain, Iqtadar; Anees, Amir; Algarni, Abdulmohsen

2018-04-16

Thermal images play a vital character at nuclear plants, Power stations, Forensic labs biological research, and petroleum products extraction. Safety of thermal images is very important. Image data has some unique features such as intensity, contrast, homogeneity, entropy and correlation among pixels that is why somehow image encryption is trickier as compare to other encryptions. With conventional image encryption schemes it is normally hard to handle these features. Therefore, cryptographers have paid attention to some attractive properties of the chaotic maps such as randomness and sensitivity to build up novel cryptosystems. That is why, recently proposed image encryption techniques progressively more depends on the application of chaotic maps. This paper proposed an image encryption algorithm based on Chebyshev chaotic map and S8 Symmetric group of permutation based substitution boxes. Primarily, parameters of chaotic Chebyshev map are chosen as a secret key to mystify the primary image. Then, the plaintext image is encrypted by the method generated from the substitution boxes and Chebyshev map. By this process, we can get a cipher text image that is perfectly twisted and dispersed. The outcomes of renowned experiments, key sensitivity tests and statistical analysis confirm that the proposed algorithm offers a safe and efficient approach for real-time image encryption.

Detection of Fiber Layer-Up Lamination Order of CFRP Composite Using Thermal-Wave Radar Imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Fei; Liu, Junyan; Liu, Yang; Wang, Yang; Gong, Jinlong

2016-09-01

In this paper, thermal-wave radar imaging (TWRI) is used as a nondestructive inspection method to evaluate carbon-fiber-reinforced-polymer (CFRP) composite. An inverse methodology that combines TWRI with numerical optimization technique is proposed to determine the fiber layer-up lamination sequences of anisotropic CFRP composite. A 7-layer CFRP laminate [0°/45°/90°/0°]_{{s}} is heated by a chirp-modulated Gaussian laser beam, and then finite element method (FEM) is employed to calculate the temperature field of CFRP laminates. The phase based on lock-in correlation between reference chirp signal and the thermal-wave signal is performed to obtain the phase image of TWRI, and the least square method is applied to reconstruct the cost function that minimizes the square of the difference between the phase of TWRI inspection and numerical calculation. A hybrid algorithm that combines the simulation annealing with Nelder-Mead simplex research method is employed to solve the reconstructed cost function and find the global optimal solution of the layer-up sequences of CFRP composite. The result shows the feasibility of estimating the fiber layer-up lamination sequences of CFRP composite with optimal discrete and constraint conditions.

Prediction of thermal coagulation from the instantaneous strain distribution induced by high-intensity focused ultrasound

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iwasaki, Ryosuke; Takagi, Ryo; Tomiyasu, Kentaro; Yoshizawa, Shin; Umemura, Shin-ichiro

2017-07-01

The targeting of the ultrasound beam and the prediction of thermal lesion formation in advance are the requirements for monitoring high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) treatment with safety and reproducibility. To visualize the HIFU focal zone, we utilized an acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging-based method. After inducing displacements inside tissues with pulsed HIFU called the push pulse exposure, the distribution of axial displacements started expanding and moving. To acquire RF data immediately after and during the HIFU push pulse exposure to improve prediction accuracy, we attempted methods using extrapolation estimation and applying HIFU noise elimination. The distributions going back in the time domain from the end of push pulse exposure are in good agreement with tissue coagulation at the center. The results suggest that the proposed focal zone visualization employing pulsed HIFU entailing the high-speed ARFI imaging method is useful for the prediction of thermal coagulation in advance.

Employing unmanned aerial vehicle to monitor the health condition of wind turbines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Yishuo; Chiang, Chih-Hung; Hsu, Keng-Tsang; Cheng, Chia-Chi

2018-04-01

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can gather the spatial information of huge structures, such as wind turbines, that can be difficult to obtain with traditional approaches. In this paper, the UAV used in the experiments is equipped with high resolution camera and thermal infrared camera. The high resolution camera can provide a series of images with resolution up to 10 Megapixels. Those images can be used to form the 3D model using the digital photogrammetry technique. By comparing the 3D scenes of the same wind turbine at different times, possible displacement of the supporting tower of the wind turbine, caused by ground movement or foundation deterioration may be determined. The recorded thermal images are analyzed by applying the image segmentation methods to the surface temperature distribution. A series of sub-regions are separated by the differences of the surface temperature. The high-resolution optical image and the segmented thermal image are fused such that the surface anomalies are more easily identified for wind turbines.

Experimental study on water content detection of traditional masonry based on infrared thermal image

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Baoqing; Lei, Zukang

2017-10-01

Based on infrared thermal imaging technology for seepage test of two kinds of brick masonry, find out the relationship between the distribution of one-dimensional two brick surface temperature distribution and one-dimensional surface moisture content were determined after seepage brick masonry minimum temperature zone and water content determination method of the highest point of the regression equation, the relationship between temperature and moisture content of the brick masonry reflected the quantitative and establish the initial wet masonry building disease analysis method, then the infrared technology is applied to the protection of historic buildings in.

Advancing the retrievals of surface emissivity by modelling the spatial distribution of temperature in the thermal hyperspectral scene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shimoni, M.; Haelterman, R.; Lodewyckx, P.

2016-05-01

Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Land Surface Emissivity (LSE) are commonly retrieved from thermal hyperspectral imaging. However, their retrieval is not a straightforward procedure because the mathematical problem is ill-posed. This procedure becomes more challenging in an urban area where the spatial distribution of temperature varies substantially in space and time. For assessing the influence of several spatial variances on the deviation of the temperature in the scene, a statistical model is created. The model was tested using several images from various times in the day and was validated using in-situ measurements. The results highlight the importance of the geometry of the scene and its setting relative to the position of the sun during day time. It also shows that when the position of the sun is in zenith, the main contribution to the thermal distribution in the scene is the thermal capacity of the landcover materials. In this paper we propose a new Temperature and Emissivity Separation (TES) method which integrates 3D surface and landcover information from LIDAR and VNIR hyperspectral imaging data in an attempt to improve the TES procedure for a thermal hyperspectral scene. The experimental results prove the high accuracy of the proposed method in comparison to another conventional TES model.

Detecting thermal phase transitions in corneal stroma by fluorescence micro-imaging analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matteini, P.; Rossi, F.; Ratto, F.; Bruno, I.; Nesi, P.; Pini, R.

2008-02-01

Thermal modifications induced in corneal stroma were investigated by the use of fluorescence microscopy. Freshly extracted porcine corneas were immersed for 5 minutes in a water bath at temperatures in the 35-90°C range and stored in formalin. The samples were then sliced in 200-μm-thick transversal sections and analyzed under a stereomicroscope to assess corneal shrinkage. Fluorescence images of the thermally treated corneal samples were acquired using a slow-scan cooled CCD camera, after staining the slices with Indocyanine Green (ICG) fluorescent dye which allowed to detect fluorescence signal from the whole tissue. All measurements were performed using an inverted epifluorescence microscope equipped with a mercury lamp. The thermally-induced modifications to the corneal specimens were evaluated by studying the grey level distribution in the fluorescence images. For each acquired image, Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) and entropy analyses were performed. The spatial distribution of DFT absolute value indicated the spatial orientation of the lamellar planes, while entropy was used to study the image texture, correlated to the stromal structural transitions. As a result, it was possible to indicate a temperature threshold value (62°C) for high thermal damage, resulting in a disorganization of the lamellar planes and in full agreement with the measured temperature for corneal shrinkage onset. Analysis of the image entropy evidenced five strong modifications in stromal architecture at temperatures of ~45°C, 53°C, 57°C, 66°C, 75°C. The proposed procedure proved to be an effective micro-imaging method capable of detecting subtle changes in corneal tissue subjected to thermal treatment.

Suitability of frequency modulated thermal wave imaging for skin cancer detection-A theoretical prediction.

PubMed

Bhowmik, Arka; Repaka, Ramjee; Mulaveesala, Ravibabu; Mishra, Subhash C

2015-07-01

A theoretical study on the quantification of surface thermal response of cancerous human skin using the frequency modulated thermal wave imaging (FMTWI) technique has been presented in this article. For the first time, the use of the FMTWI technique for the detection and the differentiation of skin cancer has been demonstrated in this article. A three dimensional multilayered skin has been considered with the counter-current blood vessels in individual skin layers along with different stages of cancerous lesions based on geometrical, thermal and physical parameters available in the literature. Transient surface thermal responses of melanoma during FMTWI of skin cancer have been obtained by integrating the heat transfer model for biological tissue along with the flow model for blood vessels. It has been observed from the numerical results that, flow of blood in the subsurface region leads to a substantial alteration on the surface thermal response of the human skin. The alteration due to blood flow further causes a reduction in the performance of the thermal imaging technique during the thermal evaluation of earliest melanoma stages (small volume) compared to relatively large volume. Based on theoretical study, it has been predicted that the method is suitable for detection and differentiation of melanoma with comparatively large volume than the earliest development stages (small volume). The study has also performed phase based image analysis of the raw thermograms to resolve the different stages of melanoma volume. The phase images have been found to be clearly individuate the different development stages of melanoma compared to raw thermograms. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Back-illuminated imager and method for making electrical and optical connections to same

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pain, Bedabrata (Inventor)

2010-01-01

Methods for bringing or exposing metal pads or traces to the backside of a backside-illuminated imager allow the pads or traces to reside on the illumination side for electrical connection. These methods provide a solution to a key packaging problem for backside thinned imagers. The methods also provide alignment marks for integrating color filters and microlenses to the imager pixels residing on the frontside of the wafer, enabling high performance multispectral and high sensitivity imagers, including those with extremely small pixel pitch. In addition, the methods incorporate a passivation layer for protection of devices against external contamination, and allow interface trap density reduction via thermal annealing. Backside-illuminated imagers with illumination side electrical connections are also disclosed.

Characterization of pulsed (plasma focus) neutron source with image plate and application to neutron radiography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andola, Sanjay; Niranjan, Ram; Shaikh, A. M.; Rout, R. K.; Kaushik, T. C.; Gupta, S. C.

2013-02-01

Plasma focus device of Mather type developed in house has been used first time for neutron radiography of different objects. The device gives (1.2±0.3) ×109 neutrons per pulse produced by D-D fusion reaction with a pulse width of 50±5 ns. The method involves exposing sample to be radiographed to thermalized D-D neutrons and recording the image on Fuji-film BAS-ND image plates. The thermal neutron component of the moderated beam was estimated using two image plates: a conventional IP for X-rays and gamma rays, and an IP doped with Gd for detecting neutrons.

Estimation of human emotions using thermal facial information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Hung; Kotani, Kazunori; Chen, Fan; Le, Bac

2014-01-01

In recent years, research on human emotion estimation using thermal infrared (IR) imagery has appealed to many researchers due to its invariance to visible illumination changes. Although infrared imagery is superior to visible imagery in its invariance to illumination changes and appearance differences, it has difficulties in handling transparent glasses in the thermal infrared spectrum. As a result, when using infrared imagery for the analysis of human facial information, the regions of eyeglasses are dark and eyes' thermal information is not given. We propose a temperature space method to correct eyeglasses' effect using the thermal facial information in the neighboring facial regions, and then use Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Eigen-space Method based on class-features (EMC), and PCA-EMC method to classify human emotions from the corrected thermal images. We collected the Kotani Thermal Facial Emotion (KTFE) database and performed the experiments, which show the improved accuracy rate in estimating human emotions.

Integrated thermal disturbance analysis of optical system of astronomical telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Dehua; Jiang, Zibo; Li, Xinnan

2008-07-01

During operation, astronomical telescope will undergo thermal disturbance, especially more serious in solar telescope, which may cause degradation of image quality. As drives careful thermal load investigation and measure applied to assess its effect on final image quality during design phase. Integrated modeling analysis is boosting the process to find comprehensive optimum design scheme by software simulation. In this paper, we focus on the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software-ANSYS-for thermal disturbance analysis and the optical design software-ZEMAX-for optical system design. The integrated model based on ANSYS and ZEMAX is briefed in the first from an overview of point. Afterwards, we discuss the establishment of thermal model. Complete power series polynomial with spatial coordinates is introduced to present temperature field analytically. We also borrow linear interpolation technique derived from shape function in finite element theory to interface the thermal model and structural model and further to apply the temperatures onto structural model nodes. Thereby, the thermal loads are transferred with as high fidelity as possible. Data interface and communication between the two softwares are discussed mainly on mirror surfaces and hence on the optical figure representation and transformation. We compare and comment the two different methods, Zernike polynomials and power series expansion, for representing and transforming deformed optical surface to ZEMAX. Additionally, these methods applied to surface with non-circular aperture are discussed. At the end, an optical telescope with parabolic primary mirror of 900 mm in diameter is analyzed to illustrate the above discussion. Finite Element Model with most interested parts of the telescope is generated in ANSYS with necessary structural simplification and equivalence. Thermal analysis is performed and the resulted positions and figures of the optics are to be retrieved and transferred to ZEMAX, and thus final image quality is evaluated with thermal disturbance.

Effective evaluation of privacy protection techniques in visible and thermal imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nawaz, Tahir; Berg, Amanda; Ferryman, James; Ahlberg, Jörgen; Felsberg, Michael

2017-09-01

Privacy protection may be defined as replacing the original content in an image region with a (less intrusive) content having modified target appearance information to make it less recognizable by applying a privacy protection technique. Indeed, the development of privacy protection techniques also needs to be complemented with an established objective evaluation method to facilitate their assessment and comparison. Generally, existing evaluation methods rely on the use of subjective judgments or assume a specific target type in image data and use target detection and recognition accuracies to assess privacy protection. An annotation-free evaluation method that is neither subjective nor assumes a specific target type is proposed. It assesses two key aspects of privacy protection: "protection" and "utility." Protection is quantified as an appearance similarity, and utility is measured as a structural similarity between original and privacy-protected image regions. We performed an extensive experimentation using six challenging datasets (having 12 video sequences), including a new dataset (having six sequences) that contains visible and thermal imagery. The new dataset is made available online for the community. We demonstrate effectiveness of the proposed method by evaluating six image-based privacy protection techniques and also show comparisons of the proposed method over existing methods.

Acoustic radiation force impulse imaging for real-time observation of lesion development during radiofrequency ablation procedures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fahey, Brian J.; Trahey, Gregg E.

2005-04-01

When performing radiofrequency ablation (RFA) procedures, physicians currently have little or no feedback concerning the success of the treatment until follow-up assessments are made days to weeks later. To be successful, RFA must induce a thermal lesion of sufficient volume to completely destroy a target tumor or completely isolate an aberrant cardiac pathway. Although ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), and CT-based fluoroscopy have found use in guiding RFA treatments, they are deficient in giving accurate assessments of lesion size or boundaries during procedures. As induced thermal lesion size can vary considerably from patient to patient, the current lack of real-time feedback during RFA procedures is troublesome. We have developed a technique for real-time monitoring of thermal lesion size during RFA procedures utilizing acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging. In both ex vivo and in vivo tissues, ARFI imaging provided better thermal lesion contrast and better overall appreciation for lesion size and boundaries relative to conventional sonography. The thermal safety of ARFI imaging for use at clinically realistic depths was also verified through the use of finite element method models. As ARFI imaging is implemented entirely on a diagnostic ultrasound scanner, it is a convenient, inexpensive, and promising modality for monitoring RFA procedures in vivo.

Investigating crater lake warming using ASTER thermal imagery: Case studies at Ruapehu, Poás, Kawah Ijen, and Copahué Volcanoes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trunk, Laura; Bernard, Alain

2008-12-01

A two-channel or split-window algorithm designed to correct for atmospheric conditions was applied to thermal images taken by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) of Lake Yugama on Kusatsu-Shirane volcano in Japan in order to measure the temperature of its crater lake. These temperature calculations were validated using lake water temperatures that were collected on the ground. Overall, the agreement between the temperatures calculated using the split-window method and ground truth is quite good, typically ± 1.5 °C for cloud-free images. Data from fieldwork undertaken in the summer of 2004 at Kusatsu-Shirane allow a comparison of ground-truth data with the radiant temperatures measured using ASTER imagery. Further images were analyzed of Ruapehu, Poás, Kawah Ijen, and Copahué volcanoes to acquire time-series of lake temperatures. A total of 64 images of these 4 volcanoes covering a wide range of geographical locations and climates were analyzed. Results of the split-window algorithm applied to ASTER images are reliable for monitoring thermal changes in active volcanic lakes. These temperature data, when considered in conjunction with traditional volcano monitoring techniques, lead to a better understanding of whether and how thermal changes in crater lakes aid in eruption forecasting.

Noninvasive imaging analysis of biological tissue associated with laser thermal injury.

PubMed

Chang, Cheng-Jen; Yu, De-Yi; Hsiao, Yen-Chang; Ho, Kuang-Hua

2017-04-01

The purpose of our study is to use a noninvasive tomographic imaging technique with high spatial resolution to characterize and monitor biological tissue responses associated with laser thermal injury. Optical doppler tomography (ODT) combines laser doppler flowmetry (LDF) with optical coherence tomography (OCT) to obtain high resolution tomographic velocity and structural images of static and moving constituents in highly scattering biological tissues. A SurgiLase XJ150 carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) laser using a continuous mode of 3 watts (W) was used to create first, second or third degree burns on anesthetized Sprague-Dawley rats. Additional parameters for laser thermal injury were assessed as well. The rationale for using ODT in the evaluation of laser thermal injury offers a means of constructing a high resolution tomographic image of the structure and perfusion of laser damaged skin. In the velocity images, the blood flow is coded at 1300 μm/s and 0 velocity, 1000 μm/s and 0 velocity, 700 μm/s and 0 velocity adjacent to the first, second, and third degree injuries, respectively. ODT produces exceptional spatial resolution while having a non-invasive way of measurement, therefore, ODT is an accurate measuring method for high-resolution fluid flow velocity and structural images for biological tissue with laser thermal injury. Copyright © 2017 Chang Gung University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Localization of thermal anomalies in electrical equipment using Infrared Thermography and support vector machine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laib dit Leksir, Y.; Mansour, M.; Moussaoui, A.

2018-03-01

Analysis and processing of databases obtained from infrared thermal inspections made on electrical installations require the development of new tools to obtain more information to visual inspections. Consequently, methods based on the capture of thermal images show a great potential and are increasingly employed in this field. However, there is a need for the development of effective techniques to analyse these databases in order to extract significant information relating to the state of the infrastructures. This paper presents a technique explaining how this approach can be implemented and proposes a system that can help to detect faults in thermal images of electrical installations. The proposed method classifies and identifies the region of interest (ROI). The identification is conducted using support vector machine (SVM) algorithm. The aim here is to capture the faults that exist in electrical equipments during an inspection of some machines using A40 FLIR camera. After that, binarization techniques are employed to select the region of interest. Later the comparative analysis of the obtained misclassification errors using the proposed method with Fuzzy c means and Ostu, has also be addressed.

Infrared imaging based hyperventilation monitoring through respiration rate estimation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basu, Anushree; Routray, Aurobinda; Mukherjee, Rashmi; Shit, Suprosanna

2016-07-01

A change in the skin temperature is used as an indicator of physical illness which can be detected through infrared thermography. Thermograms or thermal images can be used as an effective diagnostic tool for monitoring and diagnosis of various diseases. This paper describes an infrared thermography based approach for detecting hyperventilation caused due to stress and anxiety in human beings by computing their respiration rates. The work employs computer vision techniques for tracking the region of interest from thermal video to compute the breath rate. Experiments have been performed on 30 subjects. Corner feature extraction using Minimum Eigenvalue (Shi-Tomasi) algorithm and registration using Kanade Lucas-Tomasi algorithm has been used here. Thermal signature around the extracted region is detected and subsequently filtered through a band pass filter to compute the respiration profile of an individual. If the respiration profile shows unusual pattern and exceeds the threshold we conclude that the person is stressed and tending to hyperventilate. Results obtained are compared with standard contact based methods which have shown significant correlations. It is envisaged that the thermal image based approach not only will help in detecting hyperventilation but can assist in regular stress monitoring as it is non-invasive method.

An approach to analyze the breast tissues in infrared images using nonlinear adaptive level sets and Riesz transform features.

PubMed

Prabha, S; Suganthi, S S; Sujatha, C M

2015-01-01

Breast thermography is a potential imaging method for the early detection of breast cancer. The pathological conditions can be determined by measuring temperature variations in the abnormal breast regions. Accurate delineation of breast tissues is reported as a challenging task due to inherent limitations of infrared images such as low contrast, low signal to noise ratio and absence of clear edges. Segmentation technique is attempted to delineate the breast tissues by detecting proper lower breast boundaries and inframammary folds. Characteristic features are extracted to analyze the asymmetrical thermal variations in normal and abnormal breast tissues. An automated analysis of thermal variations of breast tissues is attempted using nonlinear adaptive level sets and Riesz transform. Breast thermal images are initially subjected to Stein's unbiased risk estimate based orthonormal wavelet denoising. These denoised images are enhanced using contrast-limited adaptive histogram equalization method. The breast tissues are then segmented using non-linear adaptive level set method. The phase map of enhanced image is integrated into the level set framework for final boundary estimation. The segmented results are validated against the corresponding ground truth images using overlap and regional similarity metrics. The segmented images are further processed with Riesz transform and structural texture features are derived from the transformed coefficients to analyze pathological conditions of breast tissues. Results show that the estimated average signal to noise ratio of denoised images and average sharpness of enhanced images are improved by 38% and 6% respectively. The interscale consideration adopted in the denoising algorithm is able to improve signal to noise ratio by preserving edges. The proposed segmentation framework could delineate the breast tissues with high degree of correlation (97%) between the segmented and ground truth areas. Also, the average segmentation accuracy and sensitivity are found to be 98%. Similarly, the maximum regional overlap between segmented and ground truth images obtained using volume similarity measure is observed to be 99%. Directionality as a feature, showed a considerable difference between normal and abnormal tissues which is found to be 11%. The proposed framework for breast thermal image analysis that is aided with necessary preprocessing is found to be useful in assisting the early diagnosis of breast abnormalities.

Innovative Methodologies for thermal Energy Release Measurement: case of La Solfatara volcano (Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marfe`, Barbara; Avino, Rosario; Belviso, Pasquale; Caliro, Stefano; Carandente, Antonio; Marotta, Enrica; Peluso, Rosario

2015-04-01

This work is devoted to improve the knowledge on the parameters that control the heat flux anomalies associated with the diffuse degassing processes of volcanic and hydrothermal areas. The methodologies currently used to measure heat flux (i.e. CO2 flux or temperature gradient) are either poorly efficient or effective, and are unable to detect short to medium time (days to months) variation trends in the heat flux. A new method, based on the use of thermal imaging cameras, has been applied to estimate the heat flux and its time variations. This approach will allow faster heat flux measurement than already accredited methods, improving in this way the definition of the activity state of a volcano and allowing a better assessment of the related hazard and risk mitigation. The idea is to extrapolate the heat flux from the ground surface temperature that, in a purely conductive regime, is directly correlated to the shallow temperature gradient. We use thermal imaging cameras, at short distances (meters to hundreds of meters), to quickly obtain a mapping of areas with thermal anomalies and a measure of their temperature. Preliminary studies have been carried out throughout the whole of the La Solfatara crater in order to investigate a possible correlation between the surface temperature and the shallow thermal gradient. We have used a FLIR SC640 thermal camera and K type thermocouples to assess the two measurements at the same time. Results suggest a good correlation between the shallow temperature gradient ΔTs and the surface temperature Ts depurated from background, and despite the campaigns took place during a period of time of a few years, this correlation seems to be stable over the time. This is an extremely motivating result for a further development of a measurement method based only on the use of small range thermal imaging camera. Surveys with thermal cameras may be manually done using a tripod to take thermal images of small contiguous areas and then joining them together in a bigger map of the whole area. However this kind of scanning does not fully solve the low speed problem of traditional techniques: a future development of this technique will be the use of drone-born IR cameras.

Thermographic venous blood flow characterization with external cooling stimulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saxena, Ashish; Ng, E. Y. K.; Raman, Vignesh

2018-05-01

Experimental characterization of blood flow in a human forearm is done with the application of continuous external cooling based active thermography method. Qualitative and quantitative detection of the blood vessel in a thermal image is done, along with the evaluation of blood vessel diameter, blood flow direction, and velocity in the target blood vessel. Subtraction based image manipulation is performed to enhance the feature contrast of the thermal image acquired after the removal of external cooling. To demonstrate the effect of occlusion diseases (obstruction), an external cuff based occlusion is applied after the removal of cooling and its effect on the skin rewarming is studied. Using external cooling, a transit time method based blood flow velocity estimation is done. From the results obtained, it is evident that an external cooling based active thermography method can be used to develop a diagnosis tool for superficial blood vessel diseases.

Micro-scale thermal imaging of CO2 absorption in the thermochemical energy storage of Li metal oxides at high temperature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morikawa, Junko; Takasu, Hiroki; Zamengo, Massimiliano; Kato, Yukitaka

2017-05-01

Li-Metal oxides (typical example: lithium ortho-silicate Li4SiO4) are regarded as a novel solid carbon dioxide CO2 absorbent accompanied by an exothermic reaction. At temperatures above 700°C the sorbent is regenerated with the release of the captured CO2 in an endothermic reaction. As the reaction equilibrium of this reversible chemical reaction is controllable only by the partial pressure of CO2, the system is regarded as a potential candidate for chemical heat storage at high temperatures. In this study, we applied our recent developed mobile type instrumentation of micro-scale infrared thermal imaging system to observe the heat of chemical reaction of Li4SiO4 and CO2 at temperature higher than 600°C or higher. In order to quantify the micro-scale heat transfer and heat exchange in the chemical reaction, the superimpose signal processing system is setup to determine the precise temperature. Under an ambient flow of carbon dioxide, a powder of Li4SiO4 with a diameter 50 micron started to shine caused by an exothermic chemical reaction heat above 600°C. The phenomena was accelerated with increasing temperature up to 700°C. At the same time, the reaction product lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) started to melt with endothermic phase change above 700°C, and these thermal behaviors were captured by the method of thermal imaging. The direct measurement of multiple thermal phenomena at high temperatures is significant to promote an efficient design of chemical heat storage materials. This is the first observation of the exothermic heat of the reaction of Li4SiO4 and CO2 at around 700°C by the thermal imaging method.

Single frequency thermal wave radar: A next-generation dynamic thermography for quantitative non-destructive imaging over wide modulation frequency ranges.

PubMed

Melnikov, Alexander; Chen, Liangjie; Ramirez Venegas, Diego; Sivagurunathan, Koneswaran; Sun, Qiming; Mandelis, Andreas; Rodriguez, Ignacio Rojas

2018-04-01

Single-Frequency Thermal Wave Radar Imaging (SF-TWRI) was introduced and used to obtain quantitative thickness images of coatings on an aluminum block and on polyetherketone, and to image blind subsurface holes in a steel block. In SF-TWR, the starting and ending frequencies of a linear frequency modulation sweep are chosen to coincide. Using the highest available camera frame rate, SF-TWRI leads to a higher number of sampled points along the modulation waveform than conventional lock-in thermography imaging because it is not limited by conventional undersampling at high frequencies due to camera frame-rate limitations. This property leads to large reduction in measurement time, better quality of images, and higher signal-noise-ratio across wide frequency ranges. For quantitative thin-coating imaging applications, a two-layer photothermal model with lumped parameters was used to reconstruct the layer thickness from multi-frequency SF-TWR images. SF-TWRI represents a next-generation thermography method with superior features for imaging important classes of thin layers, materials, and components that require high-frequency thermal-wave probing well above today's available infrared camera technology frame rates.

Single frequency thermal wave radar: A next-generation dynamic thermography for quantitative non-destructive imaging over wide modulation frequency ranges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Melnikov, Alexander; Chen, Liangjie; Ramirez Venegas, Diego; Sivagurunathan, Koneswaran; Sun, Qiming; Mandelis, Andreas; Rodriguez, Ignacio Rojas

2018-04-01

Single-Frequency Thermal Wave Radar Imaging (SF-TWRI) was introduced and used to obtain quantitative thickness images of coatings on an aluminum block and on polyetherketone, and to image blind subsurface holes in a steel block. In SF-TWR, the starting and ending frequencies of a linear frequency modulation sweep are chosen to coincide. Using the highest available camera frame rate, SF-TWRI leads to a higher number of sampled points along the modulation waveform than conventional lock-in thermography imaging because it is not limited by conventional undersampling at high frequencies due to camera frame-rate limitations. This property leads to large reduction in measurement time, better quality of images, and higher signal-noise-ratio across wide frequency ranges. For quantitative thin-coating imaging applications, a two-layer photothermal model with lumped parameters was used to reconstruct the layer thickness from multi-frequency SF-TWR images. SF-TWRI represents a next-generation thermography method with superior features for imaging important classes of thin layers, materials, and components that require high-frequency thermal-wave probing well above today's available infrared camera technology frame rates.

PICASSO: an end-to-end image simulation tool for space and airborne imaging systems II. Extension to the thermal infrared: equations and methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cota, Stephen A.; Lomheim, Terrence S.; Florio, Christopher J.; Harbold, Jeffrey M.; Muto, B. Michael; Schoolar, Richard B.; Wintz, Daniel T.; Keller, Robert A.

2011-10-01

In a previous paper in this series, we described how The Aerospace Corporation's Parameterized Image Chain Analysis & Simulation SOftware (PICASSO) tool may be used to model space and airborne imaging systems operating in the visible to near-infrared (VISNIR). PICASSO is a systems-level tool, representative of a class of such tools used throughout the remote sensing community. It is capable of modeling systems over a wide range of fidelity, anywhere from conceptual design level (where it can serve as an integral part of the systems engineering process) to as-built hardware (where it can serve as part of the verification process). In the present paper, we extend the discussion of PICASSO to the modeling of Thermal Infrared (TIR) remote sensing systems, presenting the equations and methods necessary to modeling in that regime.

Estimating top-of-atmosphere thermal infrared radiance using MERRA-2 atmospheric data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kleynhans, Tania; Montanaro, Matthew; Gerace, Aaron; Kanan, Christopher

2017-05-01

Thermal infrared satellite images have been widely used in environmental studies. However, satellites have limited temporal resolution, e.g., 16 day Landsat or 1 to 2 day Terra MODIS. This paper investigates the use of the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2) reanalysis data product, produced by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) to predict global topof-atmosphere (TOA) thermal infrared radiance. The high temporal resolution of the MERRA-2 data product presents opportunities for novel research and applications. Various methods were applied to estimate TOA radiance from MERRA-2 variables namely (1) a parameterized physics based method, (2) Linear regression models and (3) non-linear Support Vector Regression. Model prediction accuracy was evaluated using temporally and spatially coincident Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) thermal infrared data as reference data. This research found that Support Vector Regression with a radial basis function kernel produced the lowest error rates. Sources of errors are discussed and defined. Further research is currently being conducted to train deep learning models to predict TOA thermal radiance

Combining the 3D model generated from point clouds and thermography to identify the defects presented on the facades of a building

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Yishuo; Chiang, Chih-Hung; Hsu, Keng-Tsang

2018-03-01

Defects presented on the facades of a building do have profound impacts on extending the life cycle of the building. How to identify the defects is a crucial issue; destructive and non-destructive methods are usually employed to identify the defects presented on a building. Destructive methods always cause the permanent damages for the examined objects; on the other hand, non-destructive testing (NDT) methods have been widely applied to detect those defects presented on exterior layers of a building. However, NDT methods cannot provide efficient and reliable information for identifying the defects because of the huge examination areas. Infrared thermography is often applied to quantitative energy performance measurements for building envelopes. Defects on the exterior layer of buildings may be caused by several factors: ventilation losses, conduction losses, thermal bridging, defective services, moisture condensation, moisture ingress, and structure defects. Analyzing the collected thermal images can be quite difficult when the spatial variations of surface temperature are small. In this paper the authors employ image segmentation to cluster those pixels with similar surface temperatures such that the processed thermal images can be composed of limited groups. The surface temperature distribution in each segmented group is homogenous. In doing so, the regional boundaries of the segmented regions can be identified and extracted. A terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) is widely used to collect the point clouds of a building, and those point clouds are applied to reconstruct the 3D model of the building. A mapping model is constructed such that the segmented thermal images can be projected onto the 2D image of the specified 3D building. In this paper, the administrative building in Chaoyang University campus is used as an example. The experimental results not only provide the defect information but also offer their corresponding spatial locations in the 3D model.

Remotely monitoring evaporation rate and soil water status using thermal imaging and "three-temperatures model (3T Model)" under field-scale conditions.

PubMed

Qiu, Guo Yu; Zhao, Ming

2010-03-01

Remote monitoring of soil evaporation and soil water status is necessary for water resource and environment management. Ground based remote sensing can be the bridge between satellite remote sensing and ground-based point measurement. The primary object of this study is to provide an algorithm to estimate evaporation and soil water status by remote sensing and to verify its accuracy. Observations were carried out in a flat field with varied soil water content. High-resolution thermal images were taken with a thermal camera; soil evaporation was measured with a weighing lysimeter; weather data were recorded at a nearby meteorological station. Based on the thermal imaging and the three-temperatures model (3T model), we developed an algorithm to estimate soil evaporation and soil water status. The required parameters of the proposed method were soil surface temperature, air temperature, and solar radiation. By using the proposed method, daily variation in soil evaporation was estimated. Meanwhile, soil water status was remotely monitored by using the soil evaporation transfer coefficient. Results showed that the daily variation trends of measured and estimated evaporation agreed with each other, with a regression line of y = 0.92x and coefficient of determination R(2) = 0.69. The simplicity of the proposed method makes the 3T model a potentially valuable tool for remote sensing.

Shutterless solution for simultaneous focal plane array temperature estimation and nonuniformity correction in uncooled long-wave infrared camera.

PubMed

Cao, Yanpeng; Tisse, Christel-Loic

2013-09-01

In uncooled long-wave infrared (LWIR) microbolometer imaging systems, temperature fluctuations of the focal plane array (FPA) result in thermal drift and spatial nonuniformity. In this paper, we present a novel approach based on single-image processing to simultaneously estimate temperature variances of FPAs and compensate the resulting temperature-dependent nonuniformity. Through well-controlled thermal calibrations, empirical behavioral models are derived to characterize the relationship between the responses of microbolometer and FPA temperature variations. Then, under the assumption that strong dependency exists between spatially adjacent pixels, we estimate the optimal FPA temperature so as to minimize the global intensity variance across the entire thermal infrared image. We make use of the estimated FPA temperature to infer an appropriate nonuniformity correction (NUC) profile. The performance and robustness of the proposed temperature-adaptive NUC method are evaluated on realistic IR images obtained by a 640 × 512 pixels uncooled LWIR microbolometer imaging system operating in a significantly changed temperature environment.

Ultrasound phase contrast thermal imaging with reflex transmission imaging methods in tissue phantoms

PubMed Central

Farny, Caleb H.; Clement, Gregory T.

2009-01-01

Thermal imaging measurements using ultrasound phase contrast have been performed in tissue phantoms heated with a focused ultrasound source. Back projection and reflex transmission imaging principles were employed to detect sound speed-induced changes in the phase caused by an increase in the temperature. The temperature was determined from an empirical relationship for the temperature dependence on sound speed. The phase contrast was determined from changes in the sound field measured with a hydrophone scan conducted before and during applied heating. The lengthy scanning routine used to mimic a large two-dimensional array required a steady-state temperature distribution within the phantom. The temperature distribution in the phantom was validated with magnetic resonance (MR) thermal imaging measurements. The peak temperature was found to agree within 1°C with MR and good agreement was found between the temperature profiles. The spatial resolution was 0.3 × 0.3 × 0.3 mm, comparing favorably with the 0.625 × 0.625 × 1.5 mm MR spatial resolution. PMID:19683380

a Robust Descriptor Based on Spatial and Frequency Structural Information for Visible and Thermal Infrared Image Matching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, Z.; Qin, Q.; Wu, C.; Chang, Y.; Luo, B.

2017-09-01

Due to the differences of imaging principles, image matching between visible and thermal infrared images still exist new challenges and difficulties. Inspired by the complementary spatial and frequency information of geometric structural features, a robust descriptor is proposed for visible and thermal infrared images matching. We first divide two different spatial regions to the region around point of interest, using the histogram of oriented magnitudes, which corresponds to the 2-D structural shape information to describe the larger region and the edge oriented histogram to describe the spatial distribution for the smaller region. Then the two vectors are normalized and combined to a higher feature vector. Finally, our proposed descriptor is obtained by applying principal component analysis (PCA) to reduce the dimension of the combined high feature vector to make our descriptor more robust. Experimental results showed that our proposed method was provided with significant improvements in correct matching numbers and obvious advantages by complementing information within spatial and frequency structural information.

Facial recognition using multisensor images based on localized kernel eigen spaces.

PubMed

Gundimada, Satyanadh; Asari, Vijayan K

2009-06-01

A feature selection technique along with an information fusion procedure for improving the recognition accuracy of a visual and thermal image-based facial recognition system is presented in this paper. A novel modular kernel eigenspaces approach is developed and implemented on the phase congruency feature maps extracted from the visual and thermal images individually. Smaller sub-regions from a predefined neighborhood within the phase congruency images of the training samples are merged to obtain a large set of features. These features are then projected into higher dimensional spaces using kernel methods. The proposed localized nonlinear feature selection procedure helps to overcome the bottlenecks of illumination variations, partial occlusions, expression variations and variations due to temperature changes that affect the visual and thermal face recognition techniques. AR and Equinox databases are used for experimentation and evaluation of the proposed technique. The proposed feature selection procedure has greatly improved the recognition accuracy for both the visual and thermal images when compared to conventional techniques. Also, a decision level fusion methodology is presented which along with the feature selection procedure has outperformed various other face recognition techniques in terms of recognition accuracy.

Results of shuttle EMU thermal vacuum tests incorporating an infrared imaging camera data acquisition system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, James E.; Tepper, Edward H.; Trevino, Louis A.

1991-01-01

Manned tests in Chamber B at NASA JSC were conducted in May and June of 1990 to better quantify the Space Shuttle Extravehicular Mobility Unit's (EMU) thermal performance in the cold environmental extremes of space. Use of an infrared imaging camera with real-time video monitoring of the output significantly added to the scope, quality and interpretation of the test conduct and data acquisition. Results of this test program have been effective in the thermal certification of a new insulation configuration and the '5000 Series' glove. In addition, the acceptable thermal performance of flight garments with visually deteriorated insulation was successfully demonstrated, thereby saving significant inspection and garment replacement cost. This test program also established a new method for collecting data vital to improving crew thermal comfort in a cold environment.

Detection theory for accurate and non-invasive skin cancer diagnosis using dynamic thermal imaging

PubMed Central

Godoy, Sebastián E.; Hayat, Majeed M.; Ramirez, David A.; Myers, Stephen A.; Padilla, R. Steven; Krishna, Sanjay

2017-01-01

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States with over 3.5M annual cases. Presently, visual inspection by a dermatologist has good sensitivity (> 90%) but poor specificity (< 10%), especially for melanoma, which leads to a high number of unnecessary biopsies. Here we use dynamic thermal imaging (DTI) to demonstrate a rapid, accurate and non-invasive imaging system for detection of skin cancer. In DTI, the lesion is cooled down and the thermal recovery is recorded using infrared imaging. The thermal recovery curves of the suspected lesions are then utilized in the context of continuous-time detection theory in order to define an optimal statistical decision rule such that the sensitivity of the algorithm is guaranteed to be at a maximum for every prescribed false-alarm probability. The proposed methodology was tested in a pilot study including 140 human subjects demonstrating a sensitivity in excess of 99% for a prescribed specificity in excess of 99% for detection of skin cancer. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest reported accuracy for any non-invasive skin cancer diagnosis method. PMID:28736673

Pāhoehoe flow cooling, discharge, and coverage rates from thermal image chronometry

USGS Publications Warehouse

Dehn, Jonathan; Hamilton, Christopher M.; Harris, A. J. L.; Herd, Richard A.; James, M.R.; Lodato, Luigi; Steffke, Andrea

2007-01-01

Theoretically- and empirically-derived cooling rates for active pāhoehoe lava flows show that surface cooling is controlled by conductive heat loss through a crust that is thickening with the square root of time. The model is based on a linear relationship that links log(time) with surface cooling. This predictable cooling behavior can be used assess the age of recently emplaced sheet flows from their surface temperatures. Using a single thermal image, or image mosaic, this allows quantification of the variation in areal coverage rates and lava discharge rates over 48 hour periods prior to image capture. For pāhoehoe sheet flow at Kīlauea (Hawai`i) this gives coverage rates of 1–5 m2/min at discharge rates of 0.01–0.05 m3/s, increasing to ∼40 m2/min at 0.4–0.5 m3/s. Our thermal chronometry approach represents a quick and easy method of tracking flow advance over a three-day period using a single, thermal snap-shot.

The implementation of thermal image visualization by HDL based on pseudo-color

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Yong; Zhang, JiangLing

2004-11-01

The pseudo-color method which maps the sampled data to intuitive perception colors is a kind of powerful visualization way. And the all-around system of pseudo-color visualization, which includes the primary principle, model and HDL (Hardware Description Language) implementation for the thermal images, is expatiated on in the paper. The thermal images whose signal is modulated as video reflect the temperature distribution of measured object, so they have the speciality of mass and real-time. The solution to the intractable problem is as follows: First, the reasonable system, i.e. the combining of global pseudo-color visualization and local special area accurate measure, muse be adopted. Then, the HDL pseudo-color algorithms in SoC (System on Chip) carry out the system to ensure the real-time. Finally, the key HDL algorithms for direct gray levels connection coding, proportional gray levels map coding and enhanced gray levels map coding are presented, and its simulation results are showed. The pseudo-color visualization of thermal images implemented by HDL in the paper has effective application in the aspect of electric power equipment test and medical health diagnosis.

Characterization of pulsed (plasma focus) neutron source with image plate and application to neutron radiography

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Andola, Sanjay; Niranjan, Ram; Rout, R. K.

Plasma focus device of Mather type developed in house has been used first time for neutron radiography of different objects. The device gives (1.2{+-}0.3) Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 9} neutrons per pulse produced by D-D fusion reaction with a pulse width of 50{+-}5 ns. The method involves exposing sample to be radiographed to thermalized D-D neutrons and recording the image on Fuji-film BAS-ND image plates. The thermal neutron component of the moderated beam was estimated using two image plates: a conventional IP for X-rays and gamma rays, and an IP doped with Gd for detecting neutrons.

High precision automated face localization in thermal images: oral cancer dataset as test case

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chakraborty, M.; Raman, S. K.; Mukhopadhyay, S.; Patsa, S.; Anjum, N.; Ray, J. G.

2017-02-01

Automated face detection is the pivotal step in computer vision aided facial medical diagnosis and biometrics. This paper presents an automatic, subject adaptive framework for accurate face detection in the long infrared spectrum on our database for oral cancer detection consisting of malignant, precancerous and normal subjects of varied age group. Previous works on oral cancer detection using Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging(DITI) reveals that patients and normal subjects differ significantly in their facial thermal distribution. Therefore, it is a challenging task to formulate a completely adaptive framework to veraciously localize face from such a subject specific modality. Our model consists of first extracting the most probable facial regions by minimum error thresholding followed by ingenious adaptive methods to leverage the horizontal and vertical projections of the segmented thermal image. Additionally, the model incorporates our domain knowledge of exploiting temperature difference between strategic locations of the face. To our best knowledge, this is the pioneering work on detecting faces in thermal facial images comprising both patients and normal subjects. Previous works on face detection have not specifically targeted automated medical diagnosis; face bounding box returned by those algorithms are thus loose and not apt for further medical automation. Our algorithm significantly outperforms contemporary face detection algorithms in terms of commonly used metrics for evaluating face detection accuracy. Since our method has been tested on challenging dataset consisting of both patients and normal subjects of diverse age groups, it can be seamlessly adapted in any DITI guided facial healthcare or biometric applications.

Human body thermal images generated by conduction or radiation heat

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gavriloaia, Gheorghe; Sofron, Emil; Fumarel, Radu

2009-01-01

Humans and animals in general, are usually in a thermal steady state with respect to their surroundings. The tissues heat, generated at normal or diseases states, is lost to environment though several mechanisms: radiation, conduction, convection, evaporation, etc. Skin temperature is not the same on the entire body and a thermal body signature can be got. The temperature at skin level was measured by a thermistor, conduction component and by an IR camera, radiation component. A theoretical analysis using Weinhaum and JIJI model was done. The three images are investigated in order to get a cheap method for the early cancer diagnosis.

MWIR thermal imaging spectrometer based on the acousto-optic tunable filter.

PubMed

Zhao, Huijie; Ji, Zheng; Jia, Guorui; Zhang, Ying; Li, Yansong; Wang, Daming

2017-09-01

Mid-wavelength IR (MWIR) thermal imaging spectrometers are widely used in remote sensing, industrial detection, and military applications. The acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF)-based spectrometer has the advantages of fast tuning, light weight, and no moving parts, which make it ideally suited for MWIR applications. However, when designing an AOTF imaging spectrometer, the traditional method uses a refractive grating or parallel glass model in optical design software to simulate the AOTF, lowering the imaging performance of the optical system. In this paper, an accurate simulating model for an actual MWIR AOTF using the user-defined surface function in ZEMAX is presented, and an AOTF-based MWIR thermal imaging spectrometer is designed and tested successfully. It is based on a MWIR tellurium dioxide (TeO 2 ) AOTF with an operational spectral range from 3.0 to 5.0 μm and a spectral resolution of 30.8 nm at 3.392 μm. The optical system employs a three-mirror off-axis afocal telescope with a 2.4°×2.0° field of view. The operation of the MWIR thermal imaging spectrometer and its image acquisition are computer controlled. Furthermore, the imaging spectrometer is tested in the laboratory, and several experiments are also presented. The experimental results indicate that the proposed AOTF model is efficient, and also show that the imaging spectrometer has the ability to distinguish the real hot target from the interfering target effectively.

Method and Apparatus for the Portable Identification Of Material Thickness And Defects Along Uneven Surfaces Using Spatially Controlled Heat Application

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reilly, Thomas L. (Inventor); Jacobstein, A. Ronald (Inventor); Cramer, K. Elliott (Inventor)

2006-01-01

A method and apparatus for testing a material such as the water-wall tubes in boilers includes the use of a portable thermal line heater having radiation shields to control the amount of thermal radiation that reaches a thermal imager. A procedure corrects for variations in the initial temperature of the material being inspected. A method of calibrating the testing device to determine an equation relating thickness of the material to temperatures created by the thermal line heater uses empirical data derived from tests performed on test specimens for each material type, geometry, density, specific heat, speed at which the line heater is moved across the material and heat intensity.

Visualizing ex vivo radiofrequency and microwave ablation zones using electrode vibration elastography

PubMed Central

DeWall, Ryan J.; Varghese, Tomy; Brace, Chris L.

2012-01-01

Purpose: Electrode vibration elastography is a new shear wave imaging technique that can be used to visualize thermal ablation zones. Prior work has shown the ability of electrode vibration elastography to delineate radiofrequency ablations; however, there has been no previous study of delineation of microwave ablations or radiological–pathological correlations using multiple observers. Methods: Radiofrequency and microwave ablations were formed in ex vivo bovine liver tissue. Their visualization was compared on shear wave velocity and maximum displacement images. Ablation dimensions were compared to gross pathology. Elastographic imaging and gross pathology overlap and interobserver variability were quantified using similarity measures. Results: Elastographic imaging correlated with gross pathology. Correlation of area estimates was better in radiofrequency than in microwave ablations, with Pearson coefficients of 0.79 and 0.54 on shear wave velocity images and 0.90 and 0.70 on maximum displacement images for radiofrequency and microwave ablations, respectively. The absolute relative difference in area between elastographic imaging and gross pathology was 18.9% and 22.9% on shear wave velocity images and 16.0% and 23.1% on maximum displacement images for radiofrequency and microwave ablations, respectively. Conclusions: Statistically significant radiological–pathological correlation was observed in this study, but correlation coefficients were lower than other modulus imaging techniques, most notably in microwave ablations. Observers provided similar delineations for most thermal ablations. These results suggest that electrode vibration elastography is capable of imaging thermal ablations, but refinement of the technique may be necessary before it can be used to monitor thermal ablation procedures clinically. PMID:23127063

Regional thermal-inertia mapping from an experimental satellite ( Powder River basin, Wyoming).

USGS Publications Warehouse

Watson, K.

1982-01-01

A new experimental satellite has provided, for the first time, thermal data that should be useful in reconnaissance geologic exploration. Thermal inertia, a property of geologic materials, can be mapped from these data by applying an algorithm that has been developed using a new thermal model. A simple registration procedure was used on a pair of day and night images of the Powder River basin, Wyoming, to illustrate the method.-from Author

A Novel, Aqueous Surface Treatment To Thermally Stabilize High Resolution Positive Photoresist Images*

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grunwald, John J.; Spencer, Allen C.

1986-07-01

The paper describes a new approach to thermally stabilize the already imaged profile of high resolution positive photoresists such as ULTRAMAC" PR-914. ***XD-4000, an aqueous emulsion of a blend of fluorine-bearing compounds is spun on top of the developed, positive photoresist-imaged wafer, and baked. This allows the photoresist to withstand temperatures up to at least 175 deg. C. while essentially maintaining vertical edge profiles. Also, adverse effects of "outgassing" in harsh environments, ie., plasma and ion implant are greatly minimized by allowing the high resolution imaged photoresist to be post-baked at "elevated" temperatures. Another type of product that accomplishes the same effect is ***XD-4005, an aqueous emulsion of a high temperature-resistant polymer. While the exact mechanism is yet to be identified, it is postulated that absorption of the "polymeric" species into the "skin" of the imaged resist forms a temperature resistant "envelope", thereby allowing high resolution photoresists to also serve in a "high temperature" mode, without reticulation, or other adverse effects due to thermal degradation. SEM's are presented showing imaged ULTRAMAC" PR-914 and ULTRAMAC" **EPA-914 geometries coated with XD-4000 or XD-4005 and followed by plasma etched oxide,polysilicon and aluminum. Selectivity ratios are compared with and without the novel treatment and are shown to be significantly better with the treatment. The surface-treated photoresist for thermal resistance remains easily strippable in solvent-based or plasma media, unlike photoresists that have undergone "PRIST" or other gaseous thermal stabilization methods.

Skin temperature evaluation by infrared thermography: Comparison of two image analysis methods during the nonsteady state induced by physical exercise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Formenti, Damiano; Ludwig, Nicola; Rossi, Alessio; Trecroci, Athos; Alberti, Giampietro; Gargano, Marco; Merla, Arcangelo; Ammer, Kurt; Caumo, Andrea

2017-03-01

The most common method to derive a temperature value from a thermal image in humans is the calculation of the average of the temperature values of all the pixels confined within a demarcated boundary defined region of interest (ROI). Such summary measure of skin temperature is denoted as Troi in this study. Recently, an alternative method for the derivation of skin temperature from the thermal image has been developed. Such novel method (denoted as Tmax) is based on an automated (software-driven) selection of the warmest pixels within the ROI. Troi and Tmax have been compared under basal, steady-state conditions, resulting very well correlated and characterized by a bias of approximately 1 °C (Tmax > Troi). Aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between Tmax and Troi under the nonsteady-state conditions induced by physical exercise. Thermal images of quadriceps of 13 subjects performing a squat exercise were recorded for 120 s before (basal steady state) and for 480 s after the initiation of the exercise (nonsteady state). The thermal images were then analysed to extract Troi and Tmax. Troi and Tmax changed almost in parallel during the nonstead -state. At a closer inspection, it was found that during the nonsteady state the bias between the two methods slightly increased (from 0.7 to 1.1 °C) and the degree of association between them slightly decreased (from Pearson's r = 0.96 to 0.83). Troi and Tmax had different relationships with the skin temperature histogram. Whereas Tmax was the mean, which could be interpreted as the centre of gravity of the histogram, Tmax was related with the extreme upper tail of the histogram. During the nonsteady state, the histogram increased its spread and became slightly more asymmetric. As a result, Troi deviated a little from the 50th percentile, while Tmax remained constantly higher than the 95th percentile. Despite their differences, Troi and Tmax showed a substantial agreement in assessing the changes in skin temperature following physical exercise. Further studies are needed to clarify the relationship existing among Tmax, Troi and cutaneous blood flow during physical exercise.

Remote thermal infrared imaging as an identifier for groundwater dependent ecosystems of esker aquifers in Northern boreal region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rossi, Pekka M.; Korkka-Niemi, Kirsti; Rautio, Anne; Jyväsjärvi, Jussi; Isokangas, Elina; Jaros, Anna; Kløve, Bjørn

2017-04-01

Remote thermal infrared imaging (TIR) is a rapid and feasible method to map groundwater seepages in different surroundings. As the thermal cameras are more available, TIR could be more used as a mapping and management tool for groundwater dependent ecosystems (GDEs). This study demonstrates how TIR was used in a boreal esker aquifer where springs, peatlands, lakes and stream ecosystems are present. Two esker aquifer areas in Finland were mapped with a two-day helicopter based thermal imaging campaign. Imaging included 67 lakes, a bog mire, three headwater streams and a peatland forestry area with ditches. The results of the TIR indicated that many of the lakes had shore seepage points or longer shoreline seepage areas of groundwater. When compared to a previous groundwater dependence study with stable water isotopes of the same lakes, a one-way analysis of covariate (ANCOVA) indicated a correlation between the groundwater dependence and the seepages of a selected lake. The studied mire bog had unmapped springs 0.5 - 1 km beyond the current groundwater protection area of the esker. Also the temperature of the headwater streams referred to a groundwater connection beyond protection limits. The forestry ditches of the discharge zone had a complex temperature pattern due to groundwater seepage. With carefully planned imaging route the TIR resulted to be highly informative and an efficient method to study different GDEs on varying surroundings. The study results emphasize the use of TIR as a standard tool in GDE management planning of boreal eskers comparable to the vegetation based mapping.

Thermal noise calculation method for precise estimation of the signal-to-noise ratio of ultra-low-field MRI with an atomic magnetometer.

PubMed

Yamashita, Tatsuya; Oida, Takenori; Hamada, Shoji; Kobayashi, Tetsuo

2012-02-01

In recent years, there has been considerable interest in developing an ultra-low-field magnetic resonance imaging (ULF-MRI) system using an optically pumped atomic magnetometer (OPAM). However, a precise estimation of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of ULF-MRI has not been carried out. Conventionally, to calculate the SNR of an MR image, thermal noise, also called Nyquist noise, has been estimated by considering a resistor that is electrically equivalent to a biological-conductive sample and is connected in series to a pickup coil. However, this method has major limitations in that the receiver has to be a coil and that it cannot be applied directly to a system using OPAM. In this paper, we propose a method to estimate the thermal noise of an MRI system using OPAM. We calculate the thermal noise from the variance of the magnetic sensor output produced by current-dipole moments that simulate thermally fluctuating current sources in a biological sample. We assume that the random magnitude of the current dipole in each volume element of the biological sample is described by the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. The sensor output produced by each current-dipole moment is calculated either by an analytical formula or a numerical method based on the boundary element method. We validate the proposed method by comparing our results with those obtained by conventional methods that consider resistors connected in series to a pickup coil using single-layered sphere, multi-layered sphere, and realistic head models. Finally, we apply the proposed method to the ULF-MRI model using OPAM as the receiver with multi-layered sphere and realistic head models and estimate their SNR. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Comparison of time-series registration methods in breast dynamic infrared imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riyahi-Alam, S.; Agostini, V.; Molinari, F.; Knaflitz, M.

2015-03-01

Automated motion reduction in dynamic infrared imaging is on demand in clinical applications, since movement disarranges time-temperature series of each pixel, thus originating thermal artifacts that might bias the clinical decision. All previously proposed registration methods are feature based algorithms requiring manual intervention. The aim of this work is to optimize the registration strategy specifically for Breast Dynamic Infrared Imaging and to make it user-independent. We implemented and evaluated 3 different 3D time-series registration methods: 1. Linear affine, 2. Non-linear Bspline, 3. Demons applied to 12 datasets of healthy breast thermal images. The results are evaluated through normalized mutual information with average values of 0.70 ±0.03, 0.74 ±0.03 and 0.81 ±0.09 (out of 1) for Affine, Bspline and Demons registration, respectively, as well as breast boundary overlap and Jacobian determinant of the deformation field. The statistical analysis of the results showed that symmetric diffeomorphic Demons' registration method outperforms also with the best breast alignment and non-negative Jacobian values which guarantee image similarity and anatomical consistency of the transformation, due to homologous forces enforcing the pixel geometric disparities to be shortened on all the frames. We propose Demons' registration as an effective technique for time-series dynamic infrared registration, to stabilize the local temperature oscillation.

Water Leakage Diagnosis in Metro Tunnels by Intergration of Laser Point Cloud and Infrared Thermal Imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, P.; Wu, H.; Liu, C.; Xu, Z.

2018-04-01

Diagnosis of water leakage in metro tunnels is of great significance to the metro tunnel construction and the safety of metro operation. A method that integrates laser scanning and infrared thermal imaging is proposed for the diagnosis of water leakage. The diagnosis of water leakage in this paper is mainly divided into two parts: extraction of water leakage geometry information and extraction of water leakage attribute information. Firstly, the suspected water leakage is obtained by threshold segmentation based on the point cloud of tunnel. And the real water leakage is obtained by the auxiliary interpretation of infrared thermal images. Then, the characteristic of isotherm outline is expressed by solving Centroid Distance Function to determine the type of water leakage. Similarly, the location of leakage silt and the direction of crack are calculated by finding coordinates of feature points on Centroid Distance Function. Finally, a metro tunnel part in Shanghai was selected as the case area to make experiment and the result shown that the proposed method in this paper can be used to diagnosis water leakage disease completely and accurately.

Sparse Reconstruction for Temperature Distribution Using DTS Fiber Optic Sensors with Applications in Electrical Generator Stator Monitoring.

PubMed

Bazzo, João Paulo; Pipa, Daniel Rodrigues; da Silva, Erlon Vagner; Martelli, Cicero; Cardozo da Silva, Jean Carlos

2016-09-07

This paper presents an image reconstruction method to monitor the temperature distribution of electric generator stators. The main objective is to identify insulation failures that may arise as hotspots in the structure. The method is based on temperature readings of fiber optic distributed sensors (DTS) and a sparse reconstruction algorithm. Thermal images of the structure are formed by appropriately combining atoms of a dictionary of hotspots, which was constructed by finite element simulation with a multi-physical model. Due to difficulties for reproducing insulation faults in real stator structure, experimental tests were performed using a prototype similar to the real structure. The results demonstrate the ability of the proposed method to reconstruct images of hotspots with dimensions down to 15 cm, representing a resolution gain of up to six times when compared to the DTS spatial resolution. In addition, satisfactory results were also obtained to detect hotspots with only 5 cm. The application of the proposed algorithm for thermal imaging of generator stators can contribute to the identification of insulation faults in early stages, thereby avoiding catastrophic damage to the structure.

A High Speed Finger-Print Optical Scanning Method

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-01-01

biometrics technologies for authentication, from the view point of convenience and higher security, dactyloscopy is by far the best, much better than the...sensing technologies using static capacitance, thermal or optical detection, the optical detection is by far with the most potential to meet the...present time due to the low resolution of the inherent nature of thermal imaging technique. Besides, this method is easily influenced by environmental

Thermal Effects on Camera Focal Length in Messenger Star Calibration and Orbital Imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burmeister, S.; Elgner, S.; Preusker, F.; Stark, A.; Oberst, J.

2018-04-01

We analyse images taken by the MErcury Surface, Space ENviorment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft for the camera's thermal response in the harsh thermal environment near Mercury. Specifically, we study thermally induced variations in focal length of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS). Within the several hundreds of images of star fields, the Wide Angle Camera (WAC) typically captures up to 250 stars in one frame of the panchromatic channel. We measure star positions and relate these to the known star coordinates taken from the Tycho-2 catalogue. We solve for camera pointing, the focal length parameter and two non-symmetrical distortion parameters for each image. Using data from the temperature sensors on the camera focal plane we model a linear focal length function in the form of f(T) = A0 + A1 T. Next, we use images from MESSENGER's orbital mapping mission. We deal with large image blocks, typically used for the production of a high-resolution digital terrain models (DTM). We analyzed images from the combined quadrangles H03 and H07, a selected region, covered by approx. 10,600 images, in which we identified about 83,900 tiepoints. Using bundle block adjustments, we solved for the unknown coordinates of the control points, the pointing of the camera - as well as the camera's focal length. We then fit the above linear function with respect to the focal plane temperature. As a result, we find a complex response of the camera to thermal conditions of the spacecraft. To first order, we see a linear increase by approx. 0.0107 mm per degree temperature for the Narrow-Angle Camera (NAC). This is in agreement with the observed thermal response seen in images of the panchromatic channel of the WAC. Unfortunately, further comparisons of results from the two methods, both of which use different portions of the available image data, are limited. If leaving uncorrected, these effects may pose significant difficulties in the photogrammetric analysis, specifically these may be responsible for erroneous longwavelength trends in topographic models.

Automatic Detection of Regions in Spinach Canopies Responding to Soil Moisture Deficit Using Combined Visible and Thermal Imagery

PubMed Central

Raza, Shan-e-Ahmed; Smith, Hazel K.; Clarkson, Graham J. J.; Taylor, Gail; Thompson, Andrew J.; Clarkson, John; Rajpoot, Nasir M.

2014-01-01

Thermal imaging has been used in the past for remote detection of regions of canopy showing symptoms of stress, including water deficit stress. Stress indices derived from thermal images have been used as an indicator of canopy water status, but these depend on the choice of reference surfaces and environmental conditions and can be confounded by variations in complex canopy structure. Therefore, in this work, instead of using stress indices, information from thermal and visible light imagery was combined along with machine learning techniques to identify regions of canopy showing a response to soil water deficit. Thermal and visible light images of a spinach canopy with different levels of soil moisture were captured. Statistical measurements from these images were extracted and used to classify between canopies growing in well-watered soil or under soil moisture deficit using Support Vector Machines (SVM) and Gaussian Processes Classifier (GPC) and a combination of both the classifiers. The classification results show a high correlation with soil moisture. We demonstrate that regions of a spinach crop responding to soil water deficit can be identified by using machine learning techniques with a high accuracy of 97%. This method could, in principle, be applied to any crop at a range of scales. PMID:24892284

Laser-induced photo-thermal strain imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Changhoon; Ahn, Joongho; Jeon, Seungwan; Kim, Chulhong

2018-02-01

Vulnerable plaque is the one of the leading causes of cardiovascular disease occurrence. However, conventional intravascular imaging techniques suffer from difficulty in finding vulnerable plaque due to limitation such as lack of physiological information, imaging depth, and depth sensitivity. Therefore, new techniques are needed to help determine the vulnerability of plaque, Thermal strain imaging (TSI) is an imaging technique based on ultrasound (US) wave propagation speed that varies with temperature of medium. During temperature increase, strain occurs in the medium and its variation tendency is depending on the type of tissue, which makes it possible to use for tissue differentiation. Here, we demonstrate laser-induced photo-thermal strain imaging (pTSI) to differentiate tissue using an intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) catheter and a 1210-nm continuous-wave laser for heating lipids intensively. During heating, consecutive US images were obtained from a custom-made phantom made of porcine fat and gelatin. A cross correlation-based speckle-tracking algorithm was then applied to calculate the strain of US images. In the strain images, the positive strain produced in lipids (porcine fat) was clearly differentiated from water-bearing tissue (gelatin). This result shows that laser-induced pTSI could be a new method to distinguish lipids in the plaque and can help to differentiate vulnerability of plaque.

Kernel-aligned multi-view canonical correlation analysis for image recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Shuzhi; Ge, Hongwei; Yuan, Yun-Hao

2016-09-01

Existing kernel-based correlation analysis methods mainly adopt a single kernel in each view. However, only a single kernel is usually insufficient to characterize nonlinear distribution information of a view. To solve the problem, we transform each original feature vector into a 2-dimensional feature matrix by means of kernel alignment, and then propose a novel kernel-aligned multi-view canonical correlation analysis (KAMCCA) method on the basis of the feature matrices. Our proposed method can simultaneously employ multiple kernels to better capture the nonlinear distribution information of each view, so that correlation features learned by KAMCCA can have well discriminating power in real-world image recognition. Extensive experiments are designed on five real-world image datasets, including NIR face images, thermal face images, visible face images, handwritten digit images, and object images. Promising experimental results on the datasets have manifested the effectiveness of our proposed method.

Teaching physics and understanding infrared thermal imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vollmer, Michael; Möllmann, Klaus-Peter

2017-08-01

Infrared thermal imaging is a very rapidly evolving field. The latest trends are small smartphone IR camera accessories, making infrared imaging a widespread and well-known consumer product. Applications range from medical diagnosis methods via building inspections and industrial predictive maintenance etc. also to visualization in the natural sciences. Infrared cameras do allow qualitative imaging and visualization but also quantitative measurements of the surface temperatures of objects. On the one hand, they are a particularly suitable tool to teach optics and radiation physics and many selected topics in different fields of physics, on the other hand there is an increasing need of engineers and physicists who understand these complex state of the art photonics systems. Therefore students must also learn and understand the physics underlying these systems.

Advanced Image Processing for Defect Visualization in Infrared Thermography

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Plotnikov, Yuri A.; Winfree, William P.

1997-01-01

Results of a defect visualization process based on pulse infrared thermography are presented. Algorithms have been developed to reduce the amount of operator participation required in the process of interpreting thermographic images. The algorithms determine the defect's depth and size from the temporal and spatial thermal distributions that exist on the surface of the investigated object following thermal excitation. A comparison of the results from thermal contrast, time derivative, and phase analysis methods for defect visualization are presented. These comparisons are based on three dimensional simulations of a test case representing a plate with multiple delaminations. Comparisons are also based on experimental data obtained from a specimen with flat bottom holes and a composite panel with delaminations.

Evaluation of Methods for Coregistration and Fusion of Rpas-Based 3d Point Clouds and Thermal Infrared Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoegner, L.; Tuttas, S.; Xu, Y.; Eder, K.; Stilla, U.

2016-06-01

This paper discusses the automatic coregistration and fusion of 3d point clouds generated from aerial image sequences and corresponding thermal infrared (TIR) images. Both RGB and TIR images have been taken from a RPAS platform with a predefined flight path where every RGB image has a corresponding TIR image taken from the same position and with the same orientation with respect to the accuracy of the RPAS system and the inertial measurement unit. To remove remaining differences in the exterior orientation, different strategies for coregistering RGB and TIR images are discussed: (i) coregistration based on 2D line segments for every single TIR image and the corresponding RGB image. This method implies a mainly planar scene to avoid mismatches; (ii) coregistration of both the dense 3D point clouds from RGB images and from TIR images by coregistering 2D image projections of both point clouds; (iii) coregistration based on 2D line segments in every single TIR image and 3D line segments extracted from intersections of planes fitted in the segmented dense 3D point cloud; (iv) coregistration of both the dense 3D point clouds from RGB images and from TIR images using both ICP and an adapted version based on corresponding segmented planes; (v) coregistration of both image sets based on point features. The quality is measured by comparing the differences of the back projection of homologous points in both corrected RGB and TIR images.

Thermal-depth matching in dynamic scene based on affine projection and feature registration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Hongyu; Jia, Tong; Wu, Chengdong; Li, Yongqiang

2018-03-01

This paper aims to study the construction of 3D temperature distribution reconstruction system based on depth and thermal infrared information. Initially, a traditional calibration method cannot be directly used, because the depth and thermal infrared camera is not sensitive to the color calibration board. Therefore, this paper aims to design a depth and thermal infrared camera calibration board to complete the calibration of the depth and thermal infrared camera. Meanwhile a local feature descriptors in thermal and depth images is proposed. The belief propagation matching algorithm is also investigated based on the space affine transformation matching and local feature matching. The 3D temperature distribution model is built based on the matching of 3D point cloud and 2D thermal infrared information. Experimental results show that the method can accurately construct the 3D temperature distribution model, and has strong robustness.

Observation of the human body thermoregulation and extraction of its vein signature using NIR and MWIR imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bouzida, Nabila; Bendada, Abdelhakim; Maldague, Xavier P.

2009-05-01

The article aims first to present a new study on the thermal regulatory response of the human skin surface while exposed to a cold environment. Our work has shown that when a cold stress is applied to the left hand, thermal infrared imaging (MWIR spectral band: 3-5 μm) allows a clear observation of a temperature rise on the right hand. Moreover, a frequency analysis was also carried out upon selected vein pixels of the images monitored during the same cold stress experiment. The objective was to identify the specific frequencies that could be linked to some physiological mechanisms of the human body. This kind of study could be very useful for the characterization of possible thermo-physiological pathologies. Besides thermoregulation, we also present in this article some results on the extraction of the hand vein pattern. Firstly, we show some vein extraction results obtained after image processing of the thermal images recorded in the thermal band (MWIR), then we compare this vein pattern to the signature obtained with a camera operating in the NIR spectral band (0.85-1.7 μm). This method could be used as a complementary means for finger print signatures in biometrics.

Thermal hyperspectral chemical imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holma, Hannu; Hyvärinen, Timo; Mattila, Antti-Jussi; Kormano, Ilkka

2012-06-01

Several chemical compounds have their strongest spectral signatures in the thermal region. This paper presents three push-broom thermal hyperspectral imagers. The first operates in MWIR (2.8-5 μm) with 35 nm spectral resolution. It consists of uncooled imaging spectrograph and cryogenically cooled InSb camera, with spatial resolution of 320/640 pixels and image rate to 400 Hz. The second imager covers LWIR in 7.6-12 μm with 32 spectral bands. It employs an uncooled microbolometer array and spectrograph. These imagers have been designed for chemical mapping in reflection mode in industry and laboratory. An efficient line-illumination source has been developed, and it makes possible thermal hyperspectral imaging in reflection with much higher signal and SNR than is obtained from room temperature emission. Application demonstrations including sorting of dark plastics and mineralogical mapping of drill cores are presented. The third imager utilizes a cryo-cooled MCT array with precisely temperature stabilized optics. The optics is not cooled, but instrument radiation is suppressed by special filtering and corrected by BMC (Background-Monitoring-on-Chip) method. The approach provides excellent sensitivity in an instrument which is portable and compact enough for installation in UAVs. The imager has been verified in 7.6 to 12.3 μm to provide NESR of 18 mW/(m2 sr μm) at 10 μm for 300 K target with 100 spectral bands and 384 spatial samples. It results in SNR of higher than 500. The performance makes possible various applications from gas detection to mineral exploration and vegetation surveys. Results from outdoor and airborne experiments are shown.

Parametric study of different contributors to tumor thermal profile

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tepper, Michal; Gannot, Israel

2014-03-01

Treating cancer is one of the major challenges of modern medicine. There is great interest in assessing tumor development in in vivo animal and human models, as well as in in vitro experiments. Existing methods are either limited by cost and availability or by their low accuracy and reproducibility. Thermography holds the potential of being a noninvasive, low-cost, irradiative and easy-to-use method for tumor monitoring. Tumors can be detected in thermal images due to their relatively higher or lower temperature compared to the temperature of the healthy skin surrounding them. Extensive research is performed to show the validity of thermography as an efficient method for tumor detection and the possibility of extracting tumor properties from thermal images, showing promising results. However, deducing from one type of experiment to others is difficult due to the differences in tumor properties, especially between different types of tumors or different species. There is a need in a research linking different types of tumor experiments. In this research, parametric analysis of possible contributors to tumor thermal profiles was performed. The effect of tumor geometric, physical and thermal properties was studied, both independently and together, in phantom model experiments and computer simulations. Theoretical and experimental results were cross-correlated to validate the models used and increase the accuracy of simulated complex tumor models. The contribution of different parameters in various tumor scenarios was estimated and the implication of these differences on the observed thermal profiles was studied. The correlation between animal and human models is discussed.

Intelligent MRTD testing for thermal imaging system using ANN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Junyue; Ma, Dongmei

2006-01-01

The Minimum Resolvable Temperature Difference (MRTD) is the most widely accepted figure for describing the performance of a thermal imaging system. Many models have been proposed to predict it. The MRTD testing is a psychophysical task, for which biases are unavoidable. It requires laboratory conditions such as normal air condition and a constant temperature. It also needs expensive measuring equipments and takes a considerable period of time. Especially when measuring imagers of the same type, the test is time consuming. So an automated and intelligent measurement method should be discussed. This paper adopts the concept of automated MRTD testing using boundary contour system and fuzzy ARTMAP, but uses different methods. It describes an Automated MRTD Testing procedure basing on Back-Propagation Network. Firstly, we use frame grabber to capture the 4-bar target image data. Then according to image gray scale, we segment the image to get 4-bar place and extract feature vector representing the image characteristic and human detection ability. These feature sets, along with known target visibility, are used to train the ANN (Artificial Neural Networks). Actually it is a nonlinear classification (of input dimensions) of the image series using ANN. Our task is to justify if image is resolvable or uncertainty. Then the trained ANN will emulate observer performance in determining MRTD. This method can reduce the uncertainties between observers and long time dependent factors by standardization. This paper will introduce the feature extraction algorithm, demonstrate the feasibility of the whole process and give the accuracy of MRTD measurement.

Applicability of active infrared thermography for screening of human breast: a numerical study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dua, Geetika; Mulaveesala, Ravibabu

2018-03-01

Active infrared thermography is a fast, painless, noncontact, and noninvasive imaging method, complementary to mammography, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging methods for early diagnosis of breast cancer. This technique plays an important role in early detection of breast cancer to women of all ages, including pregnant or nursing women, with different sizes of breast, irrespective of either fatty or dense breast. This proposed complementary technique makes use of infrared emission emanating from the breast. Emanating radiations from the surface of the breast under test are detected with an infrared camera to map the thermal gradients over it, in order to reveal hidden tumors inside it. One of the reliable active infrared thermographic technique, linear frequency modulated thermal wave imaging is adopted to detect tumors present inside the breast. Further, phase and amplitude images are constructed using frequency and time-domain data analysis schemes. Obtained results show the potential of the proposed technique for early diagnosis of breast cancer in fatty as well as dense breasts.

A fast and mobile system for registration of low-altitude visual and thermal aerial images using multiple small-scale UAVs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yahyanejad, Saeed; Rinner, Bernhard

2015-06-01

The use of multiple small-scale UAVs to support first responders in disaster management has become popular because of their speed and low deployment costs. We exploit such UAVs to perform real-time monitoring of target areas by fusing individual images captured from heterogeneous aerial sensors. Many approaches have already been presented to register images from homogeneous sensors. These methods have demonstrated robustness against scale, rotation and illumination variations and can also cope with limited overlap among individual images. In this paper we focus on thermal and visual image registration and propose different methods to improve the quality of interspectral registration for the purpose of real-time monitoring and mobile mapping. Images captured by low-altitude UAVs represent a very challenging scenario for interspectral registration due to the strong variations in overlap, scale, rotation, point of view and structure of such scenes. Furthermore, these small-scale UAVs have limited processing and communication power. The contributions of this paper include (i) the introduction of a feature descriptor for robustly identifying corresponding regions of images in different spectrums, (ii) the registration of image mosaics, and (iii) the registration of depth maps. We evaluated the first method using a test data set consisting of 84 image pairs. In all instances our approach combined with SIFT or SURF feature-based registration was superior to the standard versions. Although we focus mainly on aerial imagery, our evaluation shows that the presented approach would also be beneficial in other scenarios such as surveillance and human detection. Furthermore, we demonstrated the advantages of the other two methods in case of multiple image pairs.

Experimental investigation on the caries characteristic of dental tissues by photothermal radiometry scanning imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Fei; Liu, Jun-yan; Wang, Xiao-chun; Wang, Yang

2018-03-01

In this paper, a one-dimensional (1D) thermal-wave model coupled diffuse-photon-density-wave for three-layer dental tissues using modulated laser stimulation was employed to illustrate the relationship between dental caries characteristic (i.e. caries layer thickness, optical absorption coefficient and optical scattering coefficient) and photothermal radiometry (PTR) signal. Experimental investigation of artificial caries was carried out using PTR scanning imaging. The PTR amplitude and phase delay were increased with dental demineralized treatment. The local caries characteristic parameters were obtained by the best-fitting method based on the 1D thermal-wave model. The PTR scanning imaging measurements illustrated that the optical absorption coefficient and scattering coefficient of caries region were much higher than those of the healthy enamel area. The demineralization thickness of caries region was measured by PTR scanning imaging and its average value shows in good agreement with the digital microscope. Experimental results show that PTR scanning imaging has the merits of high contrast for local inhomogeneity of dental caries; furthermore, this method is an allowance to provide a flexibility for non-contact quantitative evaluation of dental caries.

Image-guided thermal therapy with a dual-contrast magnetic nanoparticle formulation: A feasibility study

PubMed Central

Attaluri, Anilchandra; Seshadri, Madhav; Mirpour, Sahar; Wabler, Michele; Marinho, Thomas; Furqan, Muhammad; Zhou, Haoming; De Paoli, Silvia; Gruettner, Cordula; Gilson, Wesley; DeWeese, Theodore; Garcia, Monica; Ivkov, Robert; Liapi, Eleni

2016-01-01

Purpose/objective The aim of this study was to develop and investigate the properties of a magnetic iron oxide nanoparticle–ethiodised oil formulation for image-guided thermal therapy of liver cancer. Materials and methods The formulation comprises bionised nano-ferrite (BNF) nanoparticles suspended in ethiodised oil, emulsified with polysorbate 20 (BNF-lip). Nanoparticle size was measured via photon correlation spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. In vivo thermal therapy capability was tested in two groups of male Foxn1nu mice bearing subcutaneous HepG2 xenograft tumours. Group I (n =12) was used to screen conditions for group II (n =48). In group II, mice received one of BNF-lip (n =18), BNF alone (n =16), or PBS (n =14), followed by alternating magnetic field (AMF) hyperthermia, with either varied duration (15 or 20 min) or amplitude (0, 16, 20, or 24 kA/m). Image-guided fluoroscopic intra-arterial injection of BNF-lip was tested in New Zealand white rabbits (n =10), bearing liver VX2 tumours. The animals were subsequently imaged with CT and 3 T MRI, up to 7 days post-injection. The tumours were histopathologically evaluated for distribution of BNF-lip. Results The BNF showed larger aggregate diameters when suspended in BNF-lip, compared to clear solution. The BNF-lip formulation produced maximum tumour temperatures with AMF >20 kA/m and showed positive X-ray visibility and substantial shortening of T1 and T2 relaxation time, with sustained intratumoural retention up to 7 days post-injection. On pathology, intratumoural BNF-lip distribution correlated well with CT imaging of intratumoural BNF-lip distribution. Conclusion The BNF-lip formulation has favourable thermal and dual imaging capabilities for image-guided thermal therapy of liver cancer, suggesting further exploration for clinical applications. PMID:27151045

Robust vehicle detection under various environments to realize road traffic flow surveillance using an infrared thermal camera.

PubMed

Iwasaki, Yoichiro; Misumi, Masato; Nakamiya, Toshiyuki

2015-01-01

To realize road traffic flow surveillance under various environments which contain poor visibility conditions, we have already proposed two vehicle detection methods using thermal images taken with an infrared thermal camera. The first method uses pattern recognition for the windshields and their surroundings to detect vehicles. However, the first method decreases the vehicle detection accuracy in winter season. To maintain high vehicle detection accuracy in all seasons, we developed the second method. The second method uses tires' thermal energy reflection areas on a road as the detection targets. The second method did not achieve high detection accuracy for vehicles on left-hand and right-hand lanes except for two center-lanes. Therefore, we have developed a new method based on the second method to increase the vehicle detection accuracy. This paper proposes the new method and shows that the detection accuracy for vehicles on all lanes is 92.1%. Therefore, by combining the first method and the new method, high vehicle detection accuracies are maintained under various environments, and road traffic flow surveillance can be realized.

Robust Vehicle Detection under Various Environments to Realize Road Traffic Flow Surveillance Using an Infrared Thermal Camera

PubMed Central

Iwasaki, Yoichiro; Misumi, Masato; Nakamiya, Toshiyuki

2015-01-01

To realize road traffic flow surveillance under various environments which contain poor visibility conditions, we have already proposed two vehicle detection methods using thermal images taken with an infrared thermal camera. The first method uses pattern recognition for the windshields and their surroundings to detect vehicles. However, the first method decreases the vehicle detection accuracy in winter season. To maintain high vehicle detection accuracy in all seasons, we developed the second method. The second method uses tires' thermal energy reflection areas on a road as the detection targets. The second method did not achieve high detection accuracy for vehicles on left-hand and right-hand lanes except for two center-lanes. Therefore, we have developed a new method based on the second method to increase the vehicle detection accuracy. This paper proposes the new method and shows that the detection accuracy for vehicles on all lanes is 92.1%. Therefore, by combining the first method and the new method, high vehicle detection accuracies are maintained under various environments, and road traffic flow surveillance can be realized. PMID:25763384

Evaluating effects of land pattern with regional characteristic curves: Land cover indicators and estimating building energy use from thermal image data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lewis, Geoffrey Mcdowell

Sustainability is a word that represents a wide spectrum of complex and interrelated topics, but it is fundamentally a concept that describes a balanced relationship with the physical environment. There is a need for timely feedback on that relationship in order for individuals and societies to make informed decisions. Investigating the relationship between the physical form of our cities and regions and the impacts that these regions have on their supporting ecological environment requires both a method for categorizing form and a method for quantifying impact. The latter was addressed through the development of the regional characteristic curve method. This method collects, summarizes, analyzes, and displays spatial data in a graphical form that is intuitive, informative, and has advantages over existing tabular methods. Regional characteristic curves are calculated using concentric rings as the basis for evaluating impact metrics from any kind of areal data. The method was investigated in an examination of spatial change over time in the Ann Arbor region and in a comparison between Ann Arbor and Detroit. Curves for several types of metrics were used, based on land-cover and demographic data. The lack of a suitable energy use data set was highlighted, as well as great impact that energy use causes. One aspect of energy use, energy use in buildings, was singled out for further investigation. The possible link between building energy use and thermal image data collected by satellite was explored. Satellite thermal image data has been shown to be primarily related to variation in land-cover, but remaining variability in satellite data may be related to energy use in buildings. This link was investigated in both summer and winter case studies, revealing no significant relationship in summer and a weak relationship in winter. The winter relationship was also in a counterintuitive direction, in that higher building energy use was associated with cooler thermal image data. The poor spatial resolution and timing of the satellite data collection were not advantageous, so the presence of even a weak and counterintuitive result encouraged further exploration of this topic.

Automated tracking of lava lake level using thermal images at Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai’i

USGS Publications Warehouse

Patrick, Matthew R.; Swanson, Don; Orr, Tim R.

2016-01-01

Tracking the level of the lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u Crater, at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai’i, is an essential part of monitoring the ongoing eruption and forecasting potentially hazardous changes in activity. We describe a simple automated image processing routine that analyzes continuously-acquired thermal images of the lava lake and measures lava level. The method uses three image segmentation approaches, based on edge detection, short-term change analysis, and composite temperature thresholding, to identify and track the lake margin in the images. These relative measurements from the images are periodically calibrated with laser rangefinder measurements to produce real-time estimates of lake elevation. Continuous, automated tracking of the lava level has been an important tool used by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory since 2012 in real-time operational monitoring of the volcano and its hazard potential.

Use of a smart phone based thermo camera for skin prick allergy testing: a feasibility study (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barla, Lindi; Verdaasdonk, Rudolf M.; Rustemeyer, Thomas; Klaessens, John; van der Veen, Albert

2016-02-01

Allergy testing is usually performed by exposing the skin to small quantities of potential allergens on the inner forearm and scratching the protective epidermis to increase exposure. After 15 minutes the dermatologist performs a visual check for swelling and erythema which is subjective and difficult for e.g. dark skin types. A small smart phone based thermo camera (FLIR One) was used to obtain quantitative images in a feasibility study of 17 patients Directly after allergen exposure on the forearm, thermal images were captured at 30 seconds interval and processed to a time lapse movie over 15 minutes. Considering the 'subjective' reading of the dermatologist as golden standard, in 11/17 pts (65%) the evaluation of dermatologist was confirmed by the thermo camera including 5 of 6 patients without allergic response. In 7 patients thermo showed additional spots. Of the 342 sites tested, the dermatologist detected 47 allergies of which 28 (60%) were confirmed by thermo imaging while thermo imaging showed 12 additional spots. The method can be improved with user dedicated acquisition software and better registration between normal and thermal images. The lymphatic reaction seems to shift from the original puncture site. The interpretation of the thermal images is still subjective since collecting quantitative data is difficult due to motion patient during 15 minutes. Although not yet conclusive, thermal imaging shows to be promising to improve the sensitivity and selectivity of allergy testing using a smart phone based camera.

Study Methods to Standardize Thermography NDE

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walker, James L.; Workman, Gary L.

1998-01-01

The purpose of this work is to develop thermographic inspection methods and standards for use in evaluating structural composites and aerospace hardware. Qualification techniques and calibration methods are investigated to standardize the thermographic method for use in the field. Along with the inspections of test standards structural hardware, support hardware is designed and fabricated to aid in the thermographic process. Also, a standard operating procedure is developed for performing inspections with the Bales Thermal Image Processor (TIP). Inspections are performed on a broad range of structural composites. These materials include various graphite/epoxies, graphite/cyanide-ester, graphite/silicon-carbide, graphite phenolic and Keviar/epoxy. Also metal honeycomb (titanium and aluminum faceplates over an aluminum honeycomb core) structures are investigated. Various structural shapes are investigated and the thickness of the structures vary from as few as 3 plies to as many as 80 plies. Special emphasis is placed on characterizing defects in attachment holes and bondlines, in addition to those resulting from impact damage and the inclusion of foreign matter. Image processing through statistical analysis and digital filtering is investigated to enhance the quality and quantify the NDE thermal images when necessary.

Study Methods to Standardize Thermography NDE

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walker, James L.; Workman, Gary L.

1998-01-01

The purpose of this work is to develop thermographic inspection methods and standards for use in evaluating structural composites and aerospace hardware. Qualification techniques and calibration methods are investigated to standardize the thermographic method for use in the field. Along with the inspections of test standards structural hardware, support hardware is designed and fabricated to aid in the thermographic process. Also, a standard operating procedure is developed for performing inspections with the Bales Thermal Image Processor (TIP). Inspections are performed on a broad range of structural composites. These materials include graphite/epoxies, graphite/cyanide-ester, graphite/silicon-carbide, graphite phenolic and Kevlar/epoxy. Also metal honeycomb (titanium and aluminum faceplates over an aluminum honeycomb core) structures are investigated. Various structural shapes are investigated and the thickness of the structures vary from as few as 3 plies to as many as 80 plies. Special emphasis is placed on characterizing defects in attachment holes and bondlines, in addition to those resulting from impact damage and the inclusion of foreign matter. Image processing through statistical analysis and digital filtering is investigated to enhance the quality and quantify the NDE thermal images when necessary.

Basic investigation on acoustic velocity change imaging method for quantitative assessment of fat content in human liver

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mano, Kazune; Tanigawa, Shohei; Hori, Makoto; Yokota, Daiki; Wada, Kenji; Matsunaka, Toshiyuki; Morikawa, Hiroyasu; Horinaka, Hiromichi

2016-07-01

Fatty liver is a disease caused by the excess accumulation of fat in the human liver. The early diagnosis of fatty liver is very important, because fatty liver is the major marker linked to metabolic syndrome. We already proposed the ultrasonic velocity change imaging method to diagnose fatty liver by using the fact that the temperature dependence of ultrasonic velocity is different in water and in fat. For the diagonosis of a fatty liver stage, we attempted a feasibility study of the quantitative assessment of the fat content in the human liver using our ultrasonic velocity change imaging method. Experimental results showed that the fat content in the tissue mimic phantom containing lard was determined by its ultrasonic velocity change in the flat temperature region formed by a circular warming ultrasonic transducer with an acoustic lens having an appropriate focal length. By considering the results of our simulation using a thermal diffusion equation, we determined whether this method could be applied to fatty liver assessment under the condition that the tissue had the thermal relaxation effect caused by blood flow.

Thermal characterization of gallium nitride p-i-n diodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dallas, J.; Pavlidis, G.; Chatterjee, B.; Lundh, J. S.; Ji, M.; Kim, J.; Kao, T.; Detchprohm, T.; Dupuis, R. D.; Shen, S.; Graham, S.; Choi, S.

2018-02-01

In this study, various thermal characterization techniques and multi-physics modeling were applied to understand the thermal characteristics of GaN vertical and quasi-vertical power diodes. Optical thermography techniques typically used for lateral GaN device temperature assessment including infrared thermography, thermoreflectance thermal imaging, and Raman thermometry were applied to GaN p-i-n diodes to determine if each technique is capable of providing insight into the thermal characteristics of vertical devices. Of these techniques, thermoreflectance thermal imaging and nanoparticle assisted Raman thermometry proved to yield accurate results and are the preferred methods of thermal characterization of vertical GaN diodes. Along with this, steady state and transient thermoreflectance measurements were performed on vertical and quasi-vertical GaN p-i-n diodes employing GaN and Sapphire substrates, respectively. Electro-thermal modeling was performed to validate measurement results and to demonstrate the effect of current crowding on the thermal response of quasi-vertical diodes. In terms of mitigating the self-heating effect, both the steady state and transient measurements demonstrated the superiority of the tested GaN-on-GaN vertical diode compared to the tested GaN-on-Sapphire quasi-vertical structure.

A comparison of thermocouple and infrared thermographic analysis of temperature rise on the root surface during the continuous wave of condensation technique.

PubMed

Mc Cullagh, J J; Setchell, D J; Gulabivala, K; Hussey, D L; Biagioni, P; Lamey, P J; Bailey, G

2000-07-01

This study was designed to use two methods of temperature measurement to analyse and quantify the in vitro root surface temperature changes during the initial stage of the continuous wave technique of obturation of 17 single-rooted premolar teeth with standard canal preparations. A model was designed to allow simultaneous temperature measurement with both thermocouples and an infrared thermal imaging system. Two thermocouples were placed on the root surface, one coronally and the other near the root apex. A series of thermal images were recorded by an infrared thermal imaging camera during the downpack procedure. The mean temperature rises on the root surface, as measured by the two thermocouples, averaged 13.9 degrees C over the period of study, whilst the infrared thermal imaging system measured an average rise of 28.4 degrees C at the same sites. Temperatures at the more apical point were higher than those measured coronally. After the first wave of condensation, the second activation of the plugger in the canal prior to its removal always resulted in a secondary rise in temperature. The thermal imaging system detected areas of greater temperature change distant from the two selected thermocouple sites. The continuous wave technique of obturation may result in high temperatures on the external root surface. Infrared thermography is a useful device for mapping patterns of temperature change over a large area.

Using complex networks towards information retrieval and diagnostics in multidimensional imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banerjee, Soumya Jyoti; Azharuddin, Mohammad; Sen, Debanjan; Savale, Smruti; Datta, Himadri; Dasgupta, Anjan Kr; Roy, Soumen

2015-12-01

We present a fresh and broad yet simple approach towards information retrieval in general and diagnostics in particular by applying the theory of complex networks on multidimensional, dynamic images. We demonstrate a successful use of our method with the time series generated from high content thermal imaging videos of patients suffering from the aqueous deficient dry eye (ADDE) disease. Remarkably, network analyses of thermal imaging time series of contact lens users and patients upon whom Laser-Assisted in situ Keratomileusis (Lasik) surgery has been conducted, exhibit pronounced similarity with results obtained from ADDE patients. We also propose a general framework for the transformation of multidimensional images to networks for futuristic biometry. Our approach is general and scalable to other fluctuation-based devices where network parameters derived from fluctuations, act as effective discriminators and diagnostic markers.

Using complex networks towards information retrieval and diagnostics in multidimensional imaging.

PubMed

Banerjee, Soumya Jyoti; Azharuddin, Mohammad; Sen, Debanjan; Savale, Smruti; Datta, Himadri; Dasgupta, Anjan Kr; Roy, Soumen

2015-12-02

We present a fresh and broad yet simple approach towards information retrieval in general and diagnostics in particular by applying the theory of complex networks on multidimensional, dynamic images. We demonstrate a successful use of our method with the time series generated from high content thermal imaging videos of patients suffering from the aqueous deficient dry eye (ADDE) disease. Remarkably, network analyses of thermal imaging time series of contact lens users and patients upon whom Laser-Assisted in situ Keratomileusis (Lasik) surgery has been conducted, exhibit pronounced similarity with results obtained from ADDE patients. We also propose a general framework for the transformation of multidimensional images to networks for futuristic biometry. Our approach is general and scalable to other fluctuation-based devices where network parameters derived from fluctuations, act as effective discriminators and diagnostic markers.

Using complex networks towards information retrieval and diagnostics in multidimensional imaging

PubMed Central

Banerjee, Soumya Jyoti; Azharuddin, Mohammad; Sen, Debanjan; Savale, Smruti; Datta, Himadri; Dasgupta, Anjan Kr; Roy, Soumen

2015-01-01

We present a fresh and broad yet simple approach towards information retrieval in general and diagnostics in particular by applying the theory of complex networks on multidimensional, dynamic images. We demonstrate a successful use of our method with the time series generated from high content thermal imaging videos of patients suffering from the aqueous deficient dry eye (ADDE) disease. Remarkably, network analyses of thermal imaging time series of contact lens users and patients upon whom Laser-Assisted in situ Keratomileusis (Lasik) surgery has been conducted, exhibit pronounced similarity with results obtained from ADDE patients. We also propose a general framework for the transformation of multidimensional images to networks for futuristic biometry. Our approach is general and scalable to other fluctuation-based devices where network parameters derived from fluctuations, act as effective discriminators and diagnostic markers. PMID:26626047

Motion Artifact Reduction in Ultrasound Based Thermal Strain Imaging of Atherosclerotic Plaques Using Time Series Analysis

PubMed Central

Dutta, Debaditya; Mahmoud, Ahmed M.; Leers, Steven A.; Kim, Kang

2013-01-01

Large lipid pools in vulnerable plaques, in principle, can be detected using US based thermal strain imaging (US-TSI). One practical challenge for in vivo cardiovascular application of US-TSI is that the thermal strain is masked by the mechanical strain caused by cardiac pulsation. ECG gating is a widely adopted method for cardiac motion compensation, but it is often susceptible to electrical and physiological noise. In this paper, we present an alternative time series analysis approach to separate thermal strain from the mechanical strain without using ECG. The performance and feasibility of the time-series analysis technique was tested via numerical simulation as well as in vitro water tank experiments using a vessel mimicking phantom and an excised human atherosclerotic artery where the cardiac pulsation is simulated by a pulsatile pump. PMID:24808628

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Yu; Li, Shunbo; Wen, Weijia, E-mail: phwen@ust.hk

A local area temperature monitor is important for precise control of chemical and biological processes in microfluidics. In this work, we developed a facile method to realize micron spatial resolution of temperature mapping in a microfluidic channel quickly and cost effectively. Based on the temperature dependent fluorescence emission of NaYF{sub 4}:Yb{sup 3+}, Er{sup 3+} upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) under near-infrared irradiation, ratio-metric imaging of UCNPs doped polydimethylsiloxane can map detailed temperature distribution in the channel. Unlike some reported strategies that utilize temperature sensitive organic dye (such as Rhodamine) to achieve thermal sensing, our method is highly chemically inert and physically stablemore » without any performance degradation in long term operation. Moreover, this method can be easily scaled up or down, since the spatial and temperature resolution is determined by an optical imaging system. Our method supplied a simple and efficient solution for temperature mapping on a heterogeneous surface where usage of an infrared thermal camera was limited.« less

NASA Tech Briefs, June 2013

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2013-01-01

Topics include: Cloud Absorption Radiometer Autonomous Navigation System - CANS, Software Method for Computed Tomography Cylinder Data Unwrapping, Re-slicing, and Analysis, Discrete Data Qualification System and Method Comprising Noise Series Fault Detection, Simple Laser Communications Terminal for Downlink from Earth Orbit at Rates Exceeding 10 Gb/s, Application Program Interface for the Orion Aerodynamics Database, Hyperspectral Imager-Tracker, Web Application Software for Ground Operations Planning Database (GOPDb) Management, Software Defined Radio with Parallelized Software Architecture, Compact Radar Transceiver with Included Calibration, Software Defined Radio with Parallelized Software Architecture, Phase Change Material Thermal Power Generator, The Thermal Hogan - A Means of Surviving the Lunar Night, Micromachined Active Magnetic Regenerator for Low-Temperature Magnetic Coolers, Nano-Ceramic Coated Plastics, Preparation of a Bimetal Using Mechanical Alloying for Environmental or Industrial Use, Phase Change Material for Temperature Control of Imager or Sounder on GOES Type Satellites in GEO, Dual-Compartment Inflatable Suitlock, Modular Connector Keying Concept, Genesis Ultrapure Water Megasonic Wafer Spin Cleaner, Piezoelectrically Initiated Pyrotechnic Igniter, Folding Elastic Thermal Surface - FETS, Multi-Pass Quadrupole Mass Analyzer, Lunar Sulfur Capture System, Environmental Qualification of a Single-Crystal Silicon Mirror for Spaceflight Use, Planar Superconducting Millimeter-Wave/Terahertz Channelizing Filter, Qualification of UHF Antenna for Extreme Martian Thermal Environments, Ensemble Eclipse: A Process for Prefab Development Environment for the Ensemble Project, ISS Live!, Space Operations Learning Center (SOLC) iPhone/iPad Application, Software to Compare NPP HDF5 Data Files, Planetary Data Systems (PDS) Imaging Node Atlas II, Automatic Calibration of an Airborne Imaging System to an Inertial Navigation Unit, Translating MAPGEN to ASPEN for MER, Support Routines for In Situ Image Processing, and Semi-Supervised Eigenbasis Novelty Detection.

Noncontact detection of dry eye using a custom designed infrared thermal image system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Tai Yuan; Hwa, Chen Kerh; Liu, Po Hsuan; Wu, Ming Hong; Chang, David O.; Su, Po Fang; Chang, Shu Wen; Chiang, Huihua Kenny

2011-04-01

Dry eye syndrome is a common irritating eye disease. Current clinical diagnostic methods are invasive and uncomfortable for patients. This study developed a custom designed noncontact infrared (IR) thermal image system to measure the spatial and temporal variation of the ocular surface temperature over a 6-second eye-open period. This research defined two parameters: the temperature difference value and the compactness value to represent the temperature change and the irregularity of the temperature distribution on the tear film. Using these two parameters, this study achieved discrimination results for the dry eye and the normal eye groups; the sensitivity is 0.84, the specificity is 0.83, and the receiver operating characteristic area is 0.87. The results suggest that the custom designed IR thermal image system may be used as an effective tool for noncontact detection of dry eye.

Noncontact detection of dry eye using a custom designed IR thermal image system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Tai Yuan; Chen, Kerh Hwa; Liu, Po Hsuan; Wu, Ming Hong; Chang, David O.; Chiang, Huihua

2011-03-01

Dry eye syndrome is a common irritating eye disease. Current clinical diagnostic methods are invasive and uncomfortable to patients. A custom designed noncontact infrared (IR) thermal image system was developed to measure the spatial and temporal variation of the ocular surface temperature over a 6-second eye-opening period. We defined two parameters: the temperature difference value and the compactness value to represent the degree of the temperature change and irregularity of the temperature distribution on the tear film. By using these two parameters, in this study, a linear discrimination result for the dry eye and the normal eye groups; the sensitivity is 0.9, the specificity is 0.86 and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) area is 0.91. The result suggests that the custom designed IR thermal image system may be used as an effective tool for noncontact detection of dry eye.

MTF measurements on real time for performance analysis of electro-optical systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stuchi, Jose Augusto; Signoreto Barbarini, Elisa; Vieira, Flavio Pascoal; dos Santos, Daniel, Jr.; Stefani, Mário Antonio; Yasuoka, Fatima Maria Mitsue; Castro Neto, Jarbas C.; Linhari Rodrigues, Evandro Luis

2012-06-01

The need of methods and tools that assist in determining the performance of optical systems is actually increasing. One of the most used methods to perform analysis of optical systems is to measure the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF). The MTF represents a direct and quantitative verification of the image quality. This paper presents the implementation of the software, in order to calculate the MTF of electro-optical systems. The software was used for calculating the MTF of Digital Fundus Camera, Thermal Imager and Ophthalmologic Surgery Microscope. The MTF information aids the analysis of alignment and measurement of optical quality, and also defines the limit resolution of optical systems. The results obtained with the Fundus Camera and Thermal Imager was compared with the theoretical values. For the Microscope, the results were compared with MTF measured of Microscope Zeiss model, which is the quality standard of ophthalmological microscope.

Detection of Thermal Erosion Gullies from High-Resolution Images Using Deep Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, L.; Liu, L.; Jiang, L.; Zhang, T.; Sun, Y.

2017-12-01

Thermal erosion gullies, one type of thermokarst landforms, develop due to thawing of ice-rich permafrost. Mapping the location and extent of thermal erosion gullies can help understand the spatial distribution of thermokarst landforms and their temporal evolution. Remote sensing images provide an effective way for mapping thermokarst landforms, especially thermokarst lakes. However, thermal erosion gullies are challenging to map from remote sensing images due to their small sizes and significant variations in geometric/radiometric properties. It is feasible to manually identify these features, as a few previous studies have carried out. However manual methods are labor-intensive, therefore, cannot be used for a large study area. In this work, we conduct automatic mapping of thermal erosion gullies from high-resolution images by using Deep Learning. Our study area is located in Eboling Mountain (Qinghai, China). Within a 6 km2 peatland area underlain by ice-rich permafrost, at least 20 thermal erosional gullies are well developed. The image used is a 15-cm-resolution Digital Orthophoto Map (DOM) generated in July 2016. First, we extracted 14 gully patches and ten non-gully patches as training data. And we performed image augmentation. Next, we fine-tuned the pre-trained model of DeepLab, a deep-learning algorithm for semantic image segmentation based on Deep Convolutional Neural Networks. Then, we performed inference on the whole DOM and obtained intermediate results in forms of polygons for all identified gullies. At last, we removed misidentified polygons based on a few pre-set criteria on the size and shape of each polygon. Our final results include 42 polygons. Validated against field measurements using GPS, most of the gullies are detected correctly. There are 20 false detections due to the small number and low quality of training images. We also found three new gullies that missed in the field observations. This study shows that (1) despite a challenging mapping task, DeepLab can detect small, irregular-shaped thermal erosion gullies with high accuracy. (2) Automatic detection is critical for mapping thermal erosion gully since manual mapping or field work may miss some targets even in a relatively small region. (3) The quantity and quality of training data are crucial for detection accuracy.

Vineyard water status assessment using on-the-go thermal imaging and machine learning.

PubMed

Gutiérrez, Salvador; Diago, María P; Fernández-Novales, Juan; Tardaguila, Javier

2018-01-01

The high impact of irrigation in crop quality and yield in grapevine makes the development of plant water status monitoring systems an essential issue in the context of sustainable viticulture. This study presents an on-the-go approach for the estimation of vineyard water status using thermal imaging and machine learning. The experiments were conducted during seven different weeks from July to September in season 2016. A thermal camera was embedded on an all-terrain vehicle moving at 5 km/h to take on-the-go thermal images of the vineyard canopy at 1.2 m of distance and 1.0 m from the ground. The two sides of the canopy were measured for the development of side-specific and global models. Stem water potential was acquired and used as reference method. Additionally, reference temperatures Tdry and Twet were determined for the calculation of two thermal indices: the crop water stress index (CWSI) and the Jones index (Ig). Prediction models were built with and without considering the reference temperatures as input of the training algorithms. When using the reference temperatures, the best models casted determination coefficients R2 of 0.61 and 0.58 for cross validation and prediction (RMSE values of 0.190 MPa and 0.204 MPa), respectively. Nevertheless, when the reference temperatures were not considered in the training of the models, their performance statistics responded in the same way, returning R2 values up to 0.62 and 0.65 for cross validation and prediction (RMSE values of 0.190 MPa and 0.184 MPa), respectively. The outcomes provided by the machine learning algorithms support the use of thermal imaging for fast, reliable estimation of a vineyard water status, even suppressing the necessity of supervised acquisition of reference temperatures. The new developed on-the-go method can be very useful in the grape and wine industry for assessing and mapping vineyard water status.

Vineyard water status assessment using on-the-go thermal imaging and machine learning

PubMed Central

Gutiérrez, Salvador; Diago, María P.; Fernández-Novales, Juan

2018-01-01

The high impact of irrigation in crop quality and yield in grapevine makes the development of plant water status monitoring systems an essential issue in the context of sustainable viticulture. This study presents an on-the-go approach for the estimation of vineyard water status using thermal imaging and machine learning. The experiments were conducted during seven different weeks from July to September in season 2016. A thermal camera was embedded on an all-terrain vehicle moving at 5 km/h to take on-the-go thermal images of the vineyard canopy at 1.2 m of distance and 1.0 m from the ground. The two sides of the canopy were measured for the development of side-specific and global models. Stem water potential was acquired and used as reference method. Additionally, reference temperatures Tdry and Twet were determined for the calculation of two thermal indices: the crop water stress index (CWSI) and the Jones index (Ig). Prediction models were built with and without considering the reference temperatures as input of the training algorithms. When using the reference temperatures, the best models casted determination coefficients R2 of 0.61 and 0.58 for cross validation and prediction (RMSE values of 0.190 MPa and 0.204 MPa), respectively. Nevertheless, when the reference temperatures were not considered in the training of the models, their performance statistics responded in the same way, returning R2 values up to 0.62 and 0.65 for cross validation and prediction (RMSE values of 0.190 MPa and 0.184 MPa), respectively. The outcomes provided by the machine learning algorithms support the use of thermal imaging for fast, reliable estimation of a vineyard water status, even suppressing the necessity of supervised acquisition of reference temperatures. The new developed on-the-go method can be very useful in the grape and wine industry for assessing and mapping vineyard water status. PMID:29389982

Materials to enable vehicle and personnel identification from surveillance aircraft equipped with visible and IR cameras

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Keefe, Eoin S.

2005-10-01

As thermal imaging technology matures and ownership costs decrease, there is a trend to equip a greater proportion of airborne surveillance vehicles used by security and defence forces with both visible band and thermal infrared cameras. These cameras are used for tracking vehicles on the ground, to aid in pursuit of villains in vehicles and on foot, while also assisting in the direction and co-ordination of emergency service vehicles as the occasion arises. These functions rely on unambiguous identification of police and the other emergency service vehicles. In the visible band this is achieved by dark markings with high contrast (light) backgrounds on the roof of vehicles. When there is no ambient lighting, for example at night, thermal imaging is used to track both vehicles and people. In the thermal IR, the visible markings are not obvious. At the wavelength thermal imagers operate, either 3-5 microns or 8-12 microns, the dark and light coloured materials have similar low reflectivity. To maximise the usefulness of IR airborne surveillance, a method of passively and unobtrusively marking vehicles concurrently in the visible and thermal infrared is needed. In this paper we discuss the design, application and operation of some vehicle and personnel marking materials and show airborne IR and visible imagery of materials in use.

Image-guided thermal therapy of uterine fibroids

PubMed Central

Shen, Shu-Huei; Fennessy, Fiona; McDannold, Nathan; Jolesz, Ferenc; Tempany, Clare

2009-01-01

Thermal ablation is an established treatment for tumor. The merging of newly developed imaging techniques has allowed precise targeting and real-time thermal mapping. This article provides an overview of the image-guided thermal ablation techniques in the treatment of uterine fibroids. Background on uterine fibroids, including epidemiology, histology, symptoms, imaging findings and current treatment options, is first outlined. After describing the principle of magnetic resonance thermal imaging, we introduce the applications of image-guided thermal therapies, including laser ablation, radiofrequency ablation, cryotherapy and particularly the newest, magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound surgery, and how they apply to uterine fibroid treatment. PMID:19358440

Application of Heat Capacity Mapping Mission data to regional geologic analysis for mineral and energy resource evaluation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Watson, K. (Principal Investigator); Hummer-Miller, S.; Knepper, D. H., Jr.; Krohn, M. D.; Podwysocki, M. H.; Pohn, H. H.; Raines, G. L.; Rowan, L. C.

1983-01-01

Heat Capacity Mapping Mission thermal-inertia images of a diversity of terrains and geologic settings were examined in conjunction with topographic, geologic, geophysical, and LANDSAT data. The images were found to have attributes similar to bedrock maps. In the Cascades region, two new features were identified and a method was developed to characterize regional terranes using linear feature data. Two northeast-trending Lineaments were discovered in the Overthrust Belt of Montana and Idaho. The longer of the two extends from the Idaho-Oregon border, through the Idaho batholith and across the Lewis thrust. It coincides, along segments, with mapped faults and an aeromagnetic pattern change. A major lineament crossing the Colorado Plateau and the Southern Rocky Mountians was detected on several thermal-inertial images and evidence was found for the existence of a geologic discontinuity. Vegetation-covered areas in Richfield and the Silver City quadrangle (Arizona and New Mexico) displayed thermal-inertia differences within heavily vegetation areas although no apreciable correlation was found between vegetation cover and thermal inertia. Resistant ridges and knolls have high thermal inertias and thermal-inertia contrasts occurred at lithologic and fault contacts. In the heavy vegetated Pinaleno Mountains, Arizona, a Lithologic unit obscured on LANDSAT MSS data due to the vegetation cover, exhibited a thermal-inertia contrast with its surroundings.

Development of Innovative Nondestructive Evaluation Technologies for the Inspection of Cracking and Corrosion Under Coatings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lipetzky, Kirsten G.; Novack, Michele R.; Perez, Ignacio; Davis, William R.

2001-11-01

Three different innovative nondestructive evaluation technologies were developed and evaluated for the ability to detect fatigue cracks and corrosion hidden under painted aluminum panels. The three technologies included real-time ultrasound imaging, thermal imaging, and near-field microwave imaging. With each of these nondestructive inspection methods, subtasks were performed in order to optimize each methodology.

Driver head pose tracking with thermal camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bole, S.; Fournier, C.; Lavergne, C.; Druart, G.; Lépine, T.

2016-09-01

Head pose can be seen as a coarse estimation of gaze direction. In automotive industry, knowledge about gaze direction could optimize Human-Machine Interface (HMI) and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Pose estimation systems are often based on camera when applications have to be contactless. In this paper, we explore uncooled thermal imagery (8-14μm) for its intrinsic night vision capabilities and for its invariance versus lighting variations. Two methods are implemented and compared, both are aided by a 3D model of the head. The 3D model, mapped with thermal texture, allows to synthesize a base of 2D projected models, differently oriented and labeled in yaw and pitch. The first method is based on keypoints. Keypoints of models are matched with those of the query image. These sets of matchings, aided with the 3D shape of the model, allow to estimate 3D pose. The second method is a global appearance approach. Among all 2D models of the base, algorithm searches the one which is the closest to the query image thanks to a weighted least squares difference.

Video and thermal imaging system for monitoring interiors of high temperature reaction vessels

DOEpatents

Saveliev, Alexei V [Chicago, IL; Zelepouga, Serguei A [Hoffman Estates, IL; Rue, David M [Chicago, IL

2012-01-10

A system and method for real-time monitoring of the interior of a combustor or gasifier wherein light emitted by the interior surface of a refractory wall of the combustor or gasifier is collected using an imaging fiber optic bundle having a light receiving end and a light output end. Color information in the light is captured with primary color (RGB) filters or complimentary color (GMCY) filters placed over individual pixels of color sensors disposed within a digital color camera in a BAYER mosaic layout, producing RGB signal outputs or GMCY signal outputs. The signal outputs are processed using intensity ratios of the primary color filters or the complimentary color filters, producing video images and/or thermal images of the interior of the combustor or gasifier.

D Object Classification Based on Thermal and Visible Imagery in Urban Area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hasani, H.; Samadzadegan, F.

2015-12-01

The spatial distribution of land cover in the urban area especially 3D objects (buildings and trees) is a fundamental dataset for urban planning, ecological research, disaster management, etc. According to recent advances in sensor technologies, several types of remotely sensed data are available from the same area. Data fusion has been widely investigated for integrating different source of data in classification of urban area. Thermal infrared imagery (TIR) contains information on emitted radiation and has unique radiometric properties. However, due to coarse spatial resolution of thermal data, its application has been restricted in urban areas. On the other hand, visible image (VIS) has high spatial resolution and information in visible spectrum. Consequently, there is a complementary relation between thermal and visible imagery in classification of urban area. This paper evaluates the potential of aerial thermal hyperspectral and visible imagery fusion in classification of urban area. In the pre-processing step, thermal imagery is resampled to the spatial resolution of visible image. Then feature level fusion is applied to construct hybrid feature space include visible bands, thermal hyperspectral bands, spatial and texture features and moreover Principle Component Analysis (PCA) transformation is applied to extract PCs. Due to high dimensionality of feature space, dimension reduction method is performed. Finally, Support Vector Machines (SVMs) classify the reduced hybrid feature space. The obtained results show using thermal imagery along with visible imagery, improved the classification accuracy up to 8% respect to visible image classification.

Thermal Imagery of Groundwater Seeps: Possibilities and Limitations.

PubMed

Mundy, Erin; Gleeson, Tom; Roberts, Mark; Baraer, Michel; McKenzie, Jeffrey M

2017-03-01

Quantifying groundwater flow at seepage faces is crucial because seepage faces influence the hydroecology and water budgets of watersheds, lakes, rivers and oceans, and because measuring groundwater fluxes directly in aquifers is extremely difficult. Seepage faces provide a direct and measurable groundwater flux but there is no existing method to quantitatively image groundwater processes at this boundary. Our objective is to determine the possibilities and limitations of thermal imagery in quantifying groundwater discharge from discrete seeps. We developed a conceptual model of temperature below discrete seeps, observed 20 seeps spectacularly exposed in three dimensions at an unused limestone quarry and conducted field experiments to examine the role of diurnal changes and rock face heterogeneity on thermal imagery. The conceptual model suggests that convective air-water heat exchange driven by temperature differences is the dominant heat transfer mechanism. Thermal imagery is effective at locating and characterizing the flux of groundwater seeps. Areas of active groundwater flow and ice growth can be identified from thermal images in the winter, and seepage rates can be differentiated in the summer. However, the application of thermal imagery is limited by diverse factors including technical issues of image acquisition, diurnal changes in radiation and temperature, and rock face heterogeneity. Groundwater discharge rates could not be directly quantified from thermal imagery using our observations but our conceptual model and experiments suggest that thermal imagery could quantify groundwater discharge when there are large temperature differences, simple cliff faces, non-freezing conditions, and no solar radiation. © 2016, National Ground Water Association.

Pedestrian detection in thermal images: An automated scale based region extraction with curvelet space validation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lakshmi, A.; Faheema, A. G. J.; Deodhare, Dipti

2016-05-01

Pedestrian detection is a key problem in night vision processing with a dozen of applications that will positively impact the performance of autonomous systems. Despite significant progress, our study shows that performance of state-of-the-art thermal image pedestrian detectors still has much room for improvement. The purpose of this paper is to overcome the challenge faced by the thermal image pedestrian detectors, which employ intensity based Region Of Interest (ROI) extraction followed by feature based validation. The most striking disadvantage faced by the first module, ROI extraction, is the failed detection of cloth insulted parts. To overcome this setback, this paper employs an algorithm and a principle of region growing pursuit tuned to the scale of the pedestrian. The statistics subtended by the pedestrian drastically vary with the scale and deviation from normality approach facilitates scale detection. Further, the paper offers an adaptive mathematical threshold to resolve the problem of subtracting the background while extracting cloth insulated parts as well. The inherent false positives of the ROI extraction module are limited by the choice of good features in pedestrian validation step. One such feature is curvelet feature, which has found its use extensively in optical images, but has as yet no reported results in thermal images. This has been used to arrive at a pedestrian detector with a reduced false positive rate. This work is the first venture made to scrutinize the utility of curvelet for characterizing pedestrians in thermal images. Attempt has also been made to improve the speed of curvelet transform computation. The classification task is realized through the use of the well known methodology of Support Vector Machines (SVMs). The proposed method is substantiated with qualified evaluation methodologies that permits us to carry out probing and informative comparisons across state-of-the-art features, including deep learning methods, with six standard and in-house databases. With reference to deep learning, our algorithm exhibits comparable performance. More important is that it has significant lower requirements in terms of compute power and memory, thus making it more relevant for depolyment in resource constrained platforms with significant size, weight and power constraints.

Robust tracking of respiratory rate in high-dynamic range scenes using mobile thermal imaging

PubMed Central

Cho, Youngjun; Julier, Simon J.; Marquardt, Nicolai; Bianchi-Berthouze, Nadia

2017-01-01

The ability to monitor the respiratory rate, one of the vital signs, is extremely important for the medical treatment, healthcare and fitness sectors. In many situations, mobile methods, which allow users to undertake everyday activities, are required. However, current monitoring systems can be obtrusive, requiring users to wear respiration belts or nasal probes. Alternatively, contactless digital image sensor based remote-photoplethysmography (PPG) can be used. However, remote PPG requires an ambient source of light, and does not work properly in dark places or under varying lighting conditions. Recent advances in thermographic systems have shrunk their size, weight and cost, to the point where it is possible to create smart-phone based respiration rate monitoring devices that are not affected by lighting conditions. However, mobile thermal imaging is challenged in scenes with high thermal dynamic ranges (e.g. due to the different environmental temperature distributions indoors and outdoors). This challenge is further amplified by general problems such as motion artifacts and low spatial resolution, leading to unreliable breathing signals. In this paper, we propose a novel and robust approach for respiration tracking which compensates for the negative effects of variations in the ambient temperature and motion artifacts and can accurately extract breathing rates in highly dynamic thermal scenes. The approach is based on tracking the nostril of the user and using local temperature variations to infer inhalation and exhalation cycles. It has three main contributions. The first is a novel Optimal Quantization technique which adaptively constructs a color mapping of absolute temperature to improve segmentation, classification and tracking. The second is the Thermal Gradient Flow method that computes thermal gradient magnitude maps to enhance the accuracy of the nostril region tracking. Finally, we introduce the Thermal Voxel method to increase the reliability of the captured respiration signals compared to the traditional averaging method. We demonstrate the extreme robustness of our system to track the nostril-region and measure the respiratory rate by evaluating it during controlled respiration exercises in high thermal dynamic scenes (e.g. strong correlation (r = 0.9987) with the ground truth from the respiration-belt sensor). We also demonstrate how our algorithm outperformed standard algorithms in settings with different amounts of environmental thermal changes and human motion. We open the tracked ROI sequences of the datasets collected for these studies (i.e. under both controlled and unconstrained real-world settings) to the community to foster work in this area. PMID:29082079

Robust tracking of respiratory rate in high-dynamic range scenes using mobile thermal imaging.

PubMed

Cho, Youngjun; Julier, Simon J; Marquardt, Nicolai; Bianchi-Berthouze, Nadia

2017-10-01

The ability to monitor the respiratory rate, one of the vital signs, is extremely important for the medical treatment, healthcare and fitness sectors. In many situations, mobile methods, which allow users to undertake everyday activities, are required. However, current monitoring systems can be obtrusive, requiring users to wear respiration belts or nasal probes. Alternatively, contactless digital image sensor based remote-photoplethysmography (PPG) can be used. However, remote PPG requires an ambient source of light, and does not work properly in dark places or under varying lighting conditions. Recent advances in thermographic systems have shrunk their size, weight and cost, to the point where it is possible to create smart-phone based respiration rate monitoring devices that are not affected by lighting conditions. However, mobile thermal imaging is challenged in scenes with high thermal dynamic ranges (e.g. due to the different environmental temperature distributions indoors and outdoors). This challenge is further amplified by general problems such as motion artifacts and low spatial resolution, leading to unreliable breathing signals. In this paper, we propose a novel and robust approach for respiration tracking which compensates for the negative effects of variations in the ambient temperature and motion artifacts and can accurately extract breathing rates in highly dynamic thermal scenes. The approach is based on tracking the nostril of the user and using local temperature variations to infer inhalation and exhalation cycles. It has three main contributions. The first is a novel Optimal Quantization technique which adaptively constructs a color mapping of absolute temperature to improve segmentation, classification and tracking. The second is the Thermal Gradient Flow method that computes thermal gradient magnitude maps to enhance the accuracy of the nostril region tracking. Finally, we introduce the Thermal Voxel method to increase the reliability of the captured respiration signals compared to the traditional averaging method. We demonstrate the extreme robustness of our system to track the nostril-region and measure the respiratory rate by evaluating it during controlled respiration exercises in high thermal dynamic scenes (e.g. strong correlation (r = 0.9987) with the ground truth from the respiration-belt sensor). We also demonstrate how our algorithm outperformed standard algorithms in settings with different amounts of environmental thermal changes and human motion. We open the tracked ROI sequences of the datasets collected for these studies (i.e. under both controlled and unconstrained real-world settings) to the community to foster work in this area.

Thermographic mapping of the skin surface in biometric evaluation of cellulite treatment effectiveness.

PubMed

Wilczyński, S; Koprowski, R; Deda, A; Janiczek, M; Kuleczka, N; Błońska-Fajfrowska, B

2017-02-01

Cellulite is one of the worst tolerated aesthetic imperfections. Edema that accompanies cellulite causes disorders of blood flow what may be observed as changes in the skin surface temperature. The aim of this paper was to develop a new method based on the analysis and processing of thermal images of the skin for biometric evaluation of severity of cellulite and monitoring its treatment. The observations of the treatment effects were conducted on 10 females (33.4 ± 6.4 years). Thermal images of the volunteers' thighs were captured before starting the therapy (T 0 ). In the following stages: T 1 , T 2 , and T 3 , thermal images were captured 2 weeks after the first, second and third Alidya treatment administration, respectively. Profiled algorithms were developed to determine the mean Grey Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) contrast in the acquired thermograms. The mean GLCM contrast for the phase T 0 was 70.91, and for the stages T 1 , T 2 , and T 3 : 57.78, 41.80, and 38.53, respectively. The use of proposed method (GLCM contrast) enables biometric evaluation of the effectiveness of cellulite treatment. Traditionally used parameters of infrared analysis such as local points of the maximum and minimum temperature or the median temperatures are not useful in thermal, biometric evaluation of anti-cellulite preparations. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A new approach for categorizing pig lying behaviour based on a Delaunay triangulation method.

PubMed

Nasirahmadi, A; Hensel, O; Edwards, S A; Sturm, B

2017-01-01

Machine vision-based monitoring of pig lying behaviour is a fast and non-intrusive approach that could be used to improve animal health and welfare. Four pens with 22 pigs in each were selected at a commercial pig farm and monitored for 15 days using top view cameras. Three thermal categories were selected relative to room setpoint temperature. An image processing technique based on Delaunay triangulation (DT) was utilized. Different lying patterns (close, normal and far) were defined regarding the perimeter of each DT triangle and the percentages of each lying pattern were obtained in each thermal category. A method using a multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network, to automatically classify group lying behaviour of pigs into three thermal categories, was developed and tested for its feasibility. The DT features (mean value of perimeters, maximum and minimum length of sides of triangles) were calculated as inputs for the MLP classifier. The network was trained, validated and tested and the results revealed that MLP could classify lying features into the three thermal categories with high overall accuracy (95.6%). The technique indicates that a combination of image processing, MLP classification and mathematical modelling can be used as a precise method for quantifying pig lying behaviour in welfare investigations.

Thermal Neutron Tomography for Cultural Heritage at INR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dinca, Marin; Mandescu, Dragos

The neutron and gamma imaging facility placed at the tangential channel of the TRIGA-ACPR from INR was used for tomography investigations on a test object with good results and shortly followed its involvement for tomography investigations on prehistoric statues of clay from the Arges County Museum. This activity was performed in connection with a research contract with IAEA with title ;The neutron and gamma imaging method combined with neutron-based analytical methods for cultural heritage research;, in the frame of a current CRP, that helps curators to reveal the internal structure and composition of the objects. The detector system has been developed based on two interchangeable scintillators, one for thermal neutrons and the other one for gamma radiations, a mirror of float glass coated with aluminum and two interchangeable CCD cameras. Experiments of tomography imaging for two prehistoric statues of clay with CCD STARLIGHT XPRESS SXV-H9 camera with XD-4 type image intensifier are presented in this paper. The tomography reconstructions with Octopus software have shown the potential of good results even for 100 projections/1800. This was a good opportunity for the dissemination of the investigation methods based on neutrons for cultural heritage and beyond this area.

Sparse Reconstruction for Temperature Distribution Using DTS Fiber Optic Sensors with Applications in Electrical Generator Stator Monitoring

PubMed Central

Bazzo, João Paulo; Pipa, Daniel Rodrigues; da Silva, Erlon Vagner; Martelli, Cicero; Cardozo da Silva, Jean Carlos

2016-01-01

This paper presents an image reconstruction method to monitor the temperature distribution of electric generator stators. The main objective is to identify insulation failures that may arise as hotspots in the structure. The method is based on temperature readings of fiber optic distributed sensors (DTS) and a sparse reconstruction algorithm. Thermal images of the structure are formed by appropriately combining atoms of a dictionary of hotspots, which was constructed by finite element simulation with a multi-physical model. Due to difficulties for reproducing insulation faults in real stator structure, experimental tests were performed using a prototype similar to the real structure. The results demonstrate the ability of the proposed method to reconstruct images of hotspots with dimensions down to 15 cm, representing a resolution gain of up to six times when compared to the DTS spatial resolution. In addition, satisfactory results were also obtained to detect hotspots with only 5 cm. The application of the proposed algorithm for thermal imaging of generator stators can contribute to the identification of insulation faults in early stages, thereby avoiding catastrophic damage to the structure. PMID:27618040

Thermal-to-visible transducer (TVT) for thermal-IR imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flusberg, Allen; Swartz, Stephen; Huff, Michael; Gross, Steven

2008-04-01

We have been developing a novel thermal-to-visible transducer (TVT), an uncooled thermal-IR imager that is based on a Fabry-Perot Interferometer (FPI). The FPI-based IR imager can convert a thermal-IR image to a video electronic image. IR radiation that is emitted by an object in the scene is imaged onto an IR-absorbing material that is located within an FPI. Temperature variations generated by the spatial variations in the IR image intensity cause variations in optical thickness, modulating the reflectivity seen by a probe laser beam. The reflected probe is imaged onto a visible array, producing a visible image of the IR scene. This technology can provide low-cost IR cameras with excellent sensitivity, low power consumption, and the potential for self-registered fusion of thermal-IR and visible images. We will describe characteristics of requisite pixelated arrays that we have fabricated.

An FPGA-based heterogeneous image fusion system design method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Le; Lin, Yu-chi; Chen, Yan-hua; Zhao, Mei-rong

2011-08-01

Taking the advantages of FPGA's low cost and compact structure, an FPGA-based heterogeneous image fusion platform is established in this study. Altera's Cyclone IV series FPGA is adopted as the core processor of the platform, and the visible light CCD camera and infrared thermal imager are used as the image-capturing device in order to obtain dualchannel heterogeneous video images. Tailor-made image fusion algorithms such as gray-scale weighted averaging, maximum selection and minimum selection methods are analyzed and compared. VHDL language and the synchronous design method are utilized to perform a reliable RTL-level description. Altera's Quartus II 9.0 software is applied to simulate and implement the algorithm modules. The contrast experiments of various fusion algorithms show that, preferably image quality of the heterogeneous image fusion can be obtained on top of the proposed system. The applied range of the different fusion algorithms is also discussed.

Multi-temporal thermal analyses for submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) detection over large spatial scales in the Mediterranean

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hennig, Hanna; Mallast, Ulf; Merz, Ralf

2015-04-01

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) sites act as important pathways for nutrients and contaminants that deteriorate marine ecosystems. In the Mediterranean it is estimated that 75% of freshwater input is contributed from karst aquifers. Thermal remote sensing can be used for a pre-screening of potential SGD sites in order to optimize field surveys. Although different platforms (ground-, air- and spaceborne) may serve for thermal remote sensing, the most cost-effective are spaceborne platforms (satellites) that likewise cover the largest spatial scale (>100 km per image). Therefore an automatized and objective approach that uses thermal satellite images from Landsat 7 and Landsat 8 was used to localize potential SGD sites on a large spatial scale. The method using descriptive statistic parameter specially range and standard deviation by (Mallast et al., 2014) was adapted to the Mediterranean Sea. Since the method was developed for the Dead Sea were satellite images with cloud cover are rare and no sea level change occurs through tidal cycles it was essential to adapt the method to a region where tidal cycles occur and cloud cover is more frequent . These adaptations include: (1) an automatic and adaptive coastline detection (2) include and process cloud covered scenes to enlarge the data basis, (3) implement tidal data in order to analyze low tide images as SGD is enhanced during these phases and (4) test the applicability for Landsat 8 images that will provide data in the future once Landsat 7 stops working. As previously shown, the range method shows more accurate results compared to the standard deviation. However, the result exclusively depends on two scenes (minimum and maximum) and is largely influenced by outliers. Counteracting on this drawback we developed a new approach. Since it is assumed that sea surface temperature (SST) is stabilized by groundwater at SGD sites, the slope of a bootstrapped linear model fitted to sorted SST per pixel would be less steep than the slope of the surrounding area, resulting in less influence through outliers and an equal weighting of all integrated scenes. Both methods could be used to detect SGD sites in the Mediterranean regardless to the discharge characteristics (diffuse and focused) exceptions are sites with deep emergences. Better results could be shown in bays compared to more exposed sites. Since the range of the SST is mostly influenced by maximum and minimum of the scenes, the slope approach can be seen as a more representative method using all scenes. References: Mallast, U., Gloaguen, R., Friesen, J., Rödiger, T., Geyer, S., Merz, R., Siebert, C., 2014. How to identify groundwater-caused thermal anomalies in lakes based on multi-temporal satellite data in semi-arid regions. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 18 (7), 2773-2787.

Dedicated tool to assess the impact of a rhetorical task on human body temperature.

PubMed

Koprowski, Robert; Wilczyński, Sławomir; Martowska, Katarzyna; Gołuch, Dominik; Wrocławska-Warchala, Emilia

2017-10-01

Functional infrared thermal imaging is a method widely used in medicine, including analysis of the mechanisms related to the effect of emotions on physiological processes. The article shows how the body temperature may change during stress associated with performing a rhetorical task and proposes new parameters useful for dynamic thermal imaging measurements MATERIALS AND METHODS: 29 healthy male subjects were examined. They were given a rhetorical task that induced stress. Analysis and processing of collected body temperature data in a spatial resolution of 256×512pixels and a temperature resolution of 0.1°C enabled to show the dynamics of temperature changes. This analysis was preceded by dedicated image analysis and processing methods RESULTS: The presented dedicated algorithm for image analysis and processing allows for fully automated, reproducible and quantitative assessment of temperature changes and time constants in a sequence of thermal images of the patient. When performing the rhetorical task, the temperature rose by 0.47±0.19°C in 72.41% of the subjects, including 20.69% in whom the temperature decreased by 0.49±0.14°C after 237±141s. For 20.69% of the subjects only a drop in temperature was registered. For the remaining 6.89% of the cases, no temperature changes were registered CONCLUSIONS: The performance of the rhetorical task by the subjects causes body temperature changes. The ambiguous temperature response to the given stress factor indicates the complex mechanisms responsible for regulating stressful situations. Stress associated with the examination itself induces body temperature changes. These changes should always be taken into account in the analysis of infrared data. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nanoscopic imaging of thick heterogeneous soft-matter structures in aqueous solution

PubMed Central

Bartsch, Tobias F.; Kochanczyk, Martin D.; Lissek, Emanuel N.; Lange, Janina R.; Florin, Ernst-Ludwig

2016-01-01

Precise nanometre-scale imaging of soft structures at room temperature poses a major challenge to any type of microscopy because fast thermal fluctuations lead to significant motion blur if the position of the structure is measured with insufficient bandwidth. Moreover, precise localization is also affected by optical heterogeneities, which lead to deformations in the imaged local geometry, the severity depending on the sample and its thickness. Here we introduce quantitative thermal noise imaging, a three-dimensional scanning probe technique, as a method for imaging soft, optically heterogeneous and porous matter with submicroscopic spatial resolution in aqueous solution. By imaging both individual microtubules and collagen fibrils in a network, we demonstrate that structures can be localized with a precision of ∼10 nm and that their local dynamics can be quantified with 50 kHz bandwidth and subnanometre amplitudes. Furthermore, we show how image distortions caused by optically dense structures can be corrected for. PMID:27596919

A novel concept for CT with fixed anodes (FACT): Medical imaging based on the feasibility of thermal load capacity.

PubMed

Kellermeier, Markus; Bert, Christoph; Müller, Reinhold G

2015-07-01

Focussing primarily on thermal load capacity, we describe the performance of a novel fixed anode CT (FACT) compared with a 100 kW reference CT. Being a fixed system, FACT has no focal spot blurring of the X-ray source during projection. Monte Carlo and finite element methods were used to determine the fluence proportional to thermal capacity. Studies of repeated short-time exposures showed that FACT could operate in pulsed mode for an unlimited period. A virtual model for FACT was constructed to analyse various temporal sequences for the X-ray source ring, representing a circular array of 1160 fixed anodes in the gantry. Assuming similar detector properties at a very small integration time, image quality was investigated using an image reconstruction library. Our model showed that approximately 60 gantry rounds per second, i.e. 60 sequential targetings of the 1160 anodes per second, were required to achieve a performance level equivalent to that of the reference CT (relative performance, RP = 1) at equivalent image quality. The optimal projection duration in each direction was about 10 μs. With a beam pause of 1 μs between projections, 78.4 gantry rounds per second with consecutive source activity were thermally possible at a given thermal focal spot. The settings allowed for a 1.3-fold (RP = 1.3) shorter scan time than conventional CT while maintaining radiation exposure and image quality. Based on the high number of rounds, FACT supports a high image frame rate at low doses, which would be beneficial in a wide range of diagnostic and technical applications. Copyright © 2015 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Controllable Fabrication of Au Nanocups by Confined-Space Thermal Dewetting for OCT Imaging.

PubMed

Gao, Aiqin; Xu, Wenjing; Ponce de León, Yenisey; Bai, Yaocai; Gong, Mingfu; Xie, Kongliang; Park, Boris Hyle; Yin, Yadong

2017-07-01

Here, this study reports a novel confined-space thermal dewetting strategy for the fabrication of Au nanocups with tunable diameter, height, and size of cup opening. The nanocup morphology is defined by the cup-shaped void space created by a yolk-shell silica template that spontaneously takes an eccentric configuration during annealing. Thermal dewetting of Au, which is sandwiched between the yolk and shell, leads to the desired nanocup morphology. With strong scattering in near infrared, the Au nanocups exhibit superior efficiency as contrast agents for spectral-domain optical coherence tomography imaging. This confined-space thermal dewetting strategy is scalable and general, and can be potentially extended to the synthesis of novel anisotropic nanostructures of various compositions that are difficult to produce by conventional wet chemical or physical methods, thus opening up opportunities for many new applications. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Improving Thermal Dose Accuracy in Magnetic Resonance-Guided Focused Ultrasound Surgery: Long-Term Thermometry Using a Prior Baseline as a Reference

PubMed Central

Bitton, Rachel R.; Webb, Taylor D.; Pauly, Kim Butts; Ghanouni, Pejman

2015-01-01

Purpose To investigate thermal dose volume (TDV) and non-perfused volume (NPV) of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) treatments in patients with soft tissue tumors, and describe a method for MR thermal dosimetry using a baseline reference. Materials and Methods Agreement between TDV and immediate post treatment NPV was evaluated from MRgFUS treatments of five patients with biopsy-proven desmoid tumors. Thermometry data (gradient echo, 3T) were analyzed over the entire course of the treatments to discern temperature errors in the standard approach. The technique searches previously acquired baseline images for a match using 2D normalized cross-correlation and a weighted mean of phase difference images. Thermal dose maps and TDVs were recalculated using the matched baseline and compared to NPV. Results TDV and NPV showed between 47%–91% disagreement, using the standard immediate baseline method for calculating TDV. Long-term thermometry showed a nonlinear local temperature accrual, where peak additional temperature varied between 4–13°C (mean = 7.8°C) across patients. The prior baseline method could be implemented by finding a previously acquired matching baseline 61% ± 8% (mean ± SD) of the time. We found 7%–42% of the disagreement between TDV and NPV was due to errors in thermometry caused by heat accrual. For all patients, the prior baseline method increased the estimated treatment volume and reduced the discrepancies between TDV and NPV (P = 0.023). Conclusion This study presents a mismatch between in-treatment and post treatment efficacy measures. The prior baseline approach accounts for local heating and improves the accuracy of thermal dose-predicted volume. PMID:26119129

Spatial and Temporal Control of Hyperthermia Using Real Time Ultrasonic Thermal Strain Imaging with Motion Compensation, Phantom Study

PubMed Central

Foiret, Josquin; Ferrara, Katherine W.

2015-01-01

Mild hyperthermia has been successfully employed to induce reversible physiological changes that can directly treat cancer and enhance local drug delivery. In this approach, temperature monitoring is essential to avoid undesirable biological effects that result from thermal damage. For thermal therapies, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has been employed to control real-time Focused Ultrasound (FUS) therapies. However, combined ultrasound imaging and therapy systems offer the benefits of simple, low-cost devices that can be broadly applied. To facilitate such technology, ultrasound thermometry has potential to reliably monitor temperature. Control of mild hyperthermia was previously achieved using a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller based on thermocouple measurements. Despite accurate temporal control of heating, this method is limited by the single position at which the temperature is measured. Ultrasound thermometry techniques based on exploiting the thermal dependence of acoustic parameters (such as longitudinal velocity) can be extended to create thermal maps and allow an accurate monitoring of temperature with good spatial resolution. However, in vivo applications of this technique have not been fully developed due to the high sensitivity to tissue motion. Here, we propose a motion compensation method based on the acquisition of multiple reference frames prior to treatment. The technique was tested in the presence of 2-D and 3-D physiological-scale motion and was found to provide effective real-time temperature monitoring. PID control of mild hyperthermia in presence of motion was then tested with ultrasound thermometry as feedback and temperature was maintained within 0.3°C of the requested value. PMID:26244783

Monitoring of thermal therapy based on shear modulus changes: II. Shear wave imaging of thermal lesions.

PubMed

Arnal, Bastien; Pernot, Mathieu; Tanter, Mickael

2011-08-01

The clinical applicability of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) for noninvasive therapy is currently hampered by the lack of robust and real-time monitoring of tissue damage during treatment. The goal of this study is to show that the estimation of local tissue elasticity from shear wave imaging (SWI) can lead to a precise mapping of the lesion. HIFU treatment and monitoring were respectively performed using a confocal setup consisting of a 2.5-MHz single element transducer focused at 34 mm on ex vivo samples and an 8-MHz ultrasound diagnostic probe. Ultrasound-based strain imaging was combined with shear wave imaging on the same device. The SWI sequences consisted of 2 successive shear waves induced at different lateral positions. Each wave was created with pushing beams of 100 μs at 3 depths. The shear wave propagation was acquired at 17,000 frames/s, from which the elasticity map was recovered. HIFU sonications were interleaved with fast imaging acquisitions, allowing a duty cycle of more than 90%. Thus, elasticity and strain mapping was achieved every 3 s, leading to real-time monitoring of the treatment. When thermal damage occurs, tissue stiffness was found to increase up to 4-fold and strain imaging showed strong shrinkages that blur the temperature information. We show that strain imaging elastograms are not easy to interpret for accurate lesion characterization, but SWI provides a quantitative mapping of the thermal lesion. Moreover, the concept of shear wave thermometry (SWT) developed in the companion paper allows mapping temperature with the same method. Combined SWT and shear wave imaging can map the lesion stiffening and temperature outside the lesion, which could be used to predict the eventual lesion growth by thermal dose calculation. Finally, SWI is shown to be robust to motion and reliable in vivo on sheep muscle.

The CHANDRA X-Ray Observatory: Thermal Design, Verification, and Early Orbit Experience

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boyd, David A.; Freeman, Mark D.; Lynch, Nicolie; Lavois, Anthony R. (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

The CHANDRA X-ray Observatory (formerly AXAF), one of NASA's "Great Observatories" was launched aboard the Shuttle in July 1999. CHANDRA comprises a grazing-incidence X-ray telescope of unprecedented focal-length, collecting area and angular resolution -- better than two orders of magnitude improvement in imaging performance over any previous soft X-ray (0.1-10 keV) mission. Two focal-plane instruments, one with a 150 K passively-cooled detector, provide celestial X-ray images and spectra. Thermal control of CHANDRA includes active systems for the telescope mirror and environment and the optical bench, and largely passive systems for the focal plans instruments. Performance testing of these thermal control systems required 1-1/2 years at increasing levels of integration, culminating in thermal-balance testing of the fully-configured observatory during the summer of 1998. This paper outlines details of thermal design tradeoffs and methods for both the Observatory and the two focal-plane instruments, the thermal verification philosophy of the Chandra program (what to test and at what level), and summarizes the results of the instrument, optical system and observatory testing.

Enhanced facial recognition for thermal imagery using polarimetric imaging.

PubMed

Gurton, Kristan P; Yuffa, Alex J; Videen, Gorden W

2014-07-01

We present a series of long-wave-infrared (LWIR) polarimetric-based thermal images of facial profiles in which polarization-state information of the image-forming radiance is retained and displayed. The resultant polarimetric images show enhanced facial features, additional texture, and details that are not present in corresponding conventional thermal imagery. It has been generally thought that conventional thermal imagery (MidIR or LWIR) could not produce the detailed spatial information required for reliable human identification due to the so-called "ghosting" effect often seen in thermal imagery of human subjects. By using polarimetric information, we are able to extract subtle surface features of the human face, thus improving subject identification. Polarimetric image sets considered include the conventional thermal intensity image, S0, the two Stokes images, S1 and S2, and a Stokes image product called the degree-of-linear-polarization image.

Non-invasive Measurement of Thermal Diffusivity Using High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound and Through-Transmission Ultrasonic Imaging.

PubMed

Yeshurun, Lilach; Azhari, Haim

2016-01-01

Thermal diffusivity at the site ablated by high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) plays an important role in the final therapeutic outcome, as it influences the temperature's spatial and temporal distribution. Moreover, as tissue thermal diffusivity is different in tumors as compared with normal tissue, it could also potentially be used as a new source of imaging contrast. The aim of this study was to examine the feasibility of combining through-transmission ultrasonic imaging and HIFU to estimate thermal diffusivity non-invasively. The concept was initially evaluated using a computer simulation. Then it was experimentally tested on phantoms made of agar and ex vivo porcine fat. A computerized imaging system combined with a HIFU system was used to heat the phantoms to temperatures below 42°C to avoid irreversible damage. Through-transmission scanning provided the time-of-flight values in a region of interest during its cooling process. The time-of-flight values were consequently converted into mean values of speed of sound. Using the speed-of-sound profiles along with the developed model, we estimated the changes in temperature profiles over time. These changes in temperature profiles were then used to calculate the corresponding thermal diffusivity of the studied specimen. Thermal diffusivity for porcine fat was found to be lower by one order of magnitude than that obtained for agar (0.313×10(-7)m(2)/s vs. 4.83×10(-7)m(2)/s, respectively, p < 0.041). The fact that there is a substantial difference between agar and fat implies that non-invasive all-ultrasound thermal diffusivity mapping is feasible. The suggested method may particularly be suitable for breast scanning. Copyright © 2016 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Nonuniformity correction of imaging systems with a spatially nonhomogeneous radiation source.

PubMed

Gutschwager, Berndt; Hollandt, Jörg

2015-12-20

We present a novel method of nonuniformity correction of imaging systems in a wide optical spectral range by applying a radiation source with an unknown and spatially nonhomogeneous radiance or radiance temperature distribution. The benefit of this method is that it can be applied with radiation sources of arbitrary spatial radiance or radiance temperature distribution and only requires the sufficient temporal stability of this distribution during the measurement process. The method is based on the recording of several (at least three) images of a radiation source and a purposeful row- and line-shift of these sequent images in relation to the first primary image. The mathematical procedure is explained in detail. Its numerical verification with a source of a predefined nonhomogenous radiance distribution and a thermal imager of a predefined nonuniform focal plane array responsivity is presented.

Evaluation of sonic IR for NDE at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miller, W O

2001-02-01

Sonic IR was evaluated as an NDE technique at LLNL using a commercial ThermoSoniX system from Indigo Systems Corp. The main effort was to detect small cracks in aluminum oxide, a dense stiff ceramic. Test coupons were made containing 0.2-mm cracks by surface grinding, 1-mm cracks by compression with a Vickers bit, and 4-mm cracks by 3-point bending. Only the 3-point bend cracks produced thermal images. Several parts shattered during testing, perhaps by being forced at resonance by the 20-kHz acoustic probe. Tests on damaged carbon composite coupons produced thermal images that were in excellent agreement with ultrasonic inspection. Themore » composite results also showed some dependence on contact location of the acoustic probe, and on the method of support. Tests on glass with surface damage produced weak images at the pits. Tests on metal ballistic targets produced thermal images at the impact sites. Modal analyses suggest that the input frequency should be matched to the desired response, and also that forced resonance damaged some parts.« less

Multiscale Modeling of UHTC: Thermal Conductivity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lawson, John W.; Murry, Daw; Squire, Thomas; Bauschlicher, Charles W.

2012-01-01

We are developing a multiscale framework in computational modeling for the ultra high temperature ceramics (UHTC) ZrB2 and HfB2. These materials are characterized by high melting point, good strength, and reasonable oxidation resistance. They are candidate materials for a number of applications in extreme environments including sharp leading edges of hypersonic aircraft. In particular, we used a combination of ab initio methods, atomistic simulations and continuum computations to obtain insights into fundamental properties of these materials. Ab initio methods were used to compute basic structural, mechanical and thermal properties. From these results, a database was constructed to fit a Tersoff style interatomic potential suitable for atomistic simulations. These potentials were used to evaluate the lattice thermal conductivity of single crystals and the thermal resistance of simple grain boundaries. Finite element method (FEM) computations using atomistic results as inputs were performed with meshes constructed on SEM images thereby modeling the realistic microstructure. These continuum computations showed the reduction in thermal conductivity due to the grain boundary network.

Correlation between Plantar Foot Temperature and Diabetic Neuropathy: A Case Study by Using an Infrared Thermal Imaging Technique

PubMed Central

Bagavathiappan, Subramnaiam; Philip, John; Jayakumar, Tammana; Raj, Baldev; Rao, Pallela Narayana Someshwar; Varalakshmi, Muthukrishnan; Mohan, Viswanathan

2010-01-01

Background Diabetic neuropathy consists of multiple clinical manifestations of which loss of sensation is most prominent. High temperatures under the foot coupled with reduced or complete loss of sensation can predispose the patient to foot ulceration. The aim of this study was to look at the correlation between plantar foot temperature and diabetic neuropathy using a noninvasive infrared thermal imaging technique. Methods Infrared thermal imaging, a remote and noncontact experimental tool, was used to study the plantar foot temperatures of 112 subjects with type 2 diabetes selected from a tertiary diabetes centre in South India. Results Patients with diabetic neuropathy (defined as vibration perception threshold (VPT) values on biothesiometry greater than 20 V) had a higher foot temperature (32–35 °C) compared to patients without neuropathy (27–30 °C). Diabetic subjects with neuropathy also had higher mean foot temperature (MFT) (p = .001) compared to non-neuropathic subjects. MFT also showed a positive correlation with right great toe (r = 0.301, p = .001) and left great toe VPT values (r = 0.292, p = .002). However, there was no correlation between glycated hemoglobin and MFT. Conclusion Infrared thermal imaging may be used as an additional tool for evaluation of high risk diabetic feet. PMID:21129334

Thermally enhanced signal strength and SNR improvement of photoacoustic radar module

PubMed Central

Wang, Wei; Mandelis, Andreas

2014-01-01

A thermally enhanced method for improving photoacoustic imaging depth and signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio is presented in this paper. Experimental results showed that the maximum imaging depth increased by 20% through raising the temperature of absorbing biotissues (ex-vivo beef muscle) uniformly from 37 to 43°C, and the SNR was increased by 8%. The parameters making up the Gruneisen constant were investigated experimentally and theoretically. The studies showed that the Gruneisen constant of biotissues increases with temperature, and the results were found to be consistent with the photoacousitc radar theory. PMID:25136501

Detection of suspicious pain regions on a digital infrared thermal image using the multimodal function optimization.

PubMed

Lee, Junghoon; Lee, Joosung; Song, Sangha; Lee, Hyunsook; Lee, Kyoungjoung; Yoon, Youngro

2008-01-01

Automatic detection of suspicious pain regions is very useful in the medical digital infrared thermal imaging research area. To detect those regions, we use the SOFES (Survival Of the Fitness kind of the Evolution Strategy) algorithm which is one of the multimodal function optimization methods. We apply this algorithm to famous diseases, such as a foot of the glycosuria, the degenerative arthritis and the varicose vein. The SOFES algorithm is available to detect some hot spots or warm lines as veins. And according to a hundred of trials, the algorithm is very fast to converge.

Method of improving the performance of lenses for use in thermal infrared

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McDowell, M. W.; Klee, H. W.

1980-10-01

A method is described whereby the field performance of an all-germanium triplet, as used for imaging radiation in the 8 to 13 micron waveband, can be improved. The principle of the method, which could also be used to improve the performance of achromatic triplets or aspherized doublets, involves the use of a field flattener lens which replaces the germanium window of the detector. The curvature of this lens can be optimized to minimize field curvature, which together with chromatic aberration is one of the most serious residuals of thermal imaging systems with relative apertures of around f/0.7. It is also shown that for such relative apertures, and for typical fields of less than 15 degrees, at 100 mm focal length, the location of the aperture stop is not a significant design parameter. This arises as a result of the intrinsic optical properties of germanium.

Profiling defect depth in composite materials using thermal imaging NDE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Obeidat, Omar; Yu, Qiuye; Han, Xiaoyan

2018-04-01

Sonic Infrared (IR) NDE, is a relatively new NDE technology; it has been demonstrated as a reliable and sensitive method to detect defects. SIR uses ultrasonic excitation with IR imaging to detect defects and flaws in the structures being inspected. An IR camera captures infrared radiation from the target for a period of time covering the ultrasound pulse. This period of time may be much longer than the pulse depending on the defect depth and the thermal properties of the materials. With the increasing deployment of composites in modern aerospace and automobile structures, fast, wide-area and reliable NDE methods are necessary. Impact damage is one of the major concerns in modern composites. Damage can occur at a certain depth without any visual indication on the surface. Defect depth information can influence maintenance decisions. Depth profiling relies on the time delays in the captured image sequence. We'll present our work on the defect depth profiling by using the temporal information of IR images. An analytical model is introduced to describe heat diffusion from subsurface defects in composite materials. Depth profiling using peak time is introduced as well.

Investigation of the use of thermography for research and clinical applications in pregnant women

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Topalidou, Anastasia; Downe, Soo

2016-03-01

Background: The possibility of using thermal imaging, as a non-invasive method, in medicine may provide potential ability of advanced imaging. Objective: The conduction of a preliminary study in healthy non-pregnant females in order to investigate the imaging ability of thermography and its implementation; and to determine hot and cold areas in order to create a "map" of temperature distribution of the abdomen and the torso. Methods: Participants were 18-45 years old non-pregnant women (n = 10), who were measured at 4 different distances. Two thermal imaging cameras and their corresponding software were used to measure abdomen, low back, left and right side of the torso. Results: There were no statistically significant differences in the mean values of the exported temperatures according the distance and the angle between the camera and the subject. The inferior part of the rectus abdominis muscle recorded the coldest zone and the umbilicus appeared as the most prominent hot spot. Conclusions: Thermography shows to be a potential non-invasive technique offering new options in the evaluation of pregnant and laboring women.

Applicability of active infrared thermography for screening of human breast: a numerical study.

PubMed

Dua, Geetika; Mulaveesala, Ravibabu

2018-03-01

Active infrared thermography is a fast, painless, noncontact, and noninvasive imaging method, complementary to mammography, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging methods for early diagnosis of breast cancer. This technique plays an important role in early detection of breast cancer to women of all ages, including pregnant or nursing women, with different sizes of breast, irrespective of either fatty or dense breast. This proposed complementary technique makes use of infrared emission emanating from the breast. Emanating radiations from the surface of the breast under test are detected with an infrared camera to map the thermal gradients over it, in order to reveal hidden tumors inside it. One of the reliable active infrared thermographic technique, linear frequency modulated thermal wave imaging is adopted to detect tumors present inside the breast. Further, phase and amplitude images are constructed using frequency and time-domain data analysis schemes. Obtained results show the potential of the proposed technique for early diagnosis of breast cancer in fatty as well as dense breasts. (2018) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).

Noninvasive thermal ablation of hepatocellular carcinoma by using magnetic resonance imaging-guided focused ultrasound.

PubMed

Jolesz, Ferenc A; Hynynen, Kullervo; McDannold, Nathan; Freundlich, David; Kopelman, Doron

2004-11-01

A number of minimally invasive methods have been tested for the thermal ablation of liver tumors as an alternative to surgical resection. The use of focused ultrasound transducers to ablate deep tumors offers the first completely noninvasive alternative to these techniques. By increasing the flexibility of this technology with modern phased-array transducer design and by combining it with magnetic resonance imaging for targeting and online guidance, a powerful tool results with the potential to offer treatment to a larger population of patients, to reduce trauma to the patient, and to reduce the cost of treatment. In this article, we review previous work with focused ultrasound in the liver and recent experimental results with magnetic resonance imaging guidance.

Imaging of blood antigen distribution on blood cells by thermal lens microscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kimura, Hiroko; Sekiguchi, Kazuya; Nagao, Fumiko; Mukaida, Masahiro; Kitamori, Takehiko; Sawada, Tsuguo

2000-05-01

Blood group antigens on a cell were measured by a new microscopic method, i.e. thermal lens microscopy which involves spectrometry using a laser-induced thermal-lens effect. The blood group antigen was immunologically stained using antibody labeled with colloidal gold. Human leukocyte antigens (HLA) on lymphocytes and mononuclear leukocytes were observed by the thermal lens microscope, and Lewis blood group antigens on erythrocytes and polymorphonuclear leukocytes were also observed. The antigen distribution on each cell-surface was imaged using this technique. In spite of convex surface of living cells, colloidal gold was correctly quantified by adjusting the deviation of the focal point of the probe laser by the phase of the signal. In the measurement of leukocyte antigens, antigens of HLA-A, -B, -C loci on the lymphocytes were identified and quantitated by using a single cell. The image of HLA-A, -B, -C antigen distribution on a mononuclear leukocyte was obtained. In the measurement of erythrocyte antigens, a small quantity of Lewis antigens was detected on the cord erythrocytes. Localized small quantities of membrane antigens are better quantitated without extraction or cytolysis. Our thermal lens microscope is a powerful and highly sensitive analytical tool for detecting and quantitating localized antigens in single cells and/or cell-surface-associated molecules.

Joint functional impairment and thermal alterations in patients with Psoriatic Arthritis: A thermal imaging study.

PubMed

Capo, A; Ismail, E; Cardone, D; Celletti, E; Auriemma, M; Sabatini, E; Merla, A; Amerio, P

2015-11-01

Functional infrared imaging (fIRI) is used to provide information on circulation, thermal properties and thermoregulatory function of the cutaneous tissue in several clinical settings. This study aims to evaluate the application of fIRI in Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA) assessment, evaluating the thermoregulatory alterations due to joint inflammation in PsA patients both in basal conditions and after a mild functional (isometric) exercise; fIRI outcomes were compared with those provided by Power Doppler Ultrasonography (PWD-US). 10 patients with PsA and 11 healthy controls were enrolled in the study. The cutaneous temperature dynamics of 20 regions of interest located on the dominant hand were recorded by means of high-resolution thermal imaging at baseline and after a functional exercise. Higher temperature values and faster temperature variations characterized the PsA group compared to healthy controls, confirming that the PsA-related inflammatory state alters the normal thermal proprieties of the skin overlying inflamed joints. fIRI outcomes correlated with the PWD-US findings. fIRI applied to the study of the response to a functional stimulus may represent an innovative, non-invasive, and operator-independent method for the assessment of peripheral PsA. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Assessment of man's thermal comfort in practice

PubMed Central

Fanger, P. O.

1973-01-01

Fanger, P. O. (1973).British Journal of Industrial Medicine,30, 313-324. Assessment of man's thermal comfort in practice. A review is given of existing knowledge regarding the conditions for thermal comfort. Both physiological and environmental comfort conditions are discussed. Comfort criteria are shown diagrammatically, and their application is illustrated by numerous practical examples. Furthermore, the effect on the comfort conditions of age, adaptation, sex, seasonal and circadian rhythm, and unilateral heating or cooling of the body is discussed. The term `climate monotony' is considered. A method is recommended for the evaluation of the quality of thermal environments in practice. Images PMID:4584998

Thermalnet: a Deep Convolutional Network for Synthetic Thermal Image Generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kniaz, V. V.; Gorbatsevich, V. S.; Mizginov, V. A.

2017-05-01

Deep convolutional neural networks have dramatically changed the landscape of the modern computer vision. Nowadays methods based on deep neural networks show the best performance among image recognition and object detection algorithms. While polishing of network architectures received a lot of scholar attention, from the practical point of view the preparation of a large image dataset for a successful training of a neural network became one of major challenges. This challenge is particularly profound for image recognition in wavelengths lying outside the visible spectrum. For example no infrared or radar image datasets large enough for successful training of a deep neural network are available to date in public domain. Recent advances of deep neural networks prove that they are also capable to do arbitrary image transformations such as super-resolution image generation, grayscale image colorisation and imitation of style of a given artist. Thus a natural question arise: how could be deep neural networks used for augmentation of existing large image datasets? This paper is focused on the development of the Thermalnet deep convolutional neural network for augmentation of existing large visible image datasets with synthetic thermal images. The Thermalnet network architecture is inspired by colorisation deep neural networks.

Thermal imaging as a biometrics approach to facial signature authentication.

PubMed

Guzman, A M; Goryawala, M; Wang, Jin; Barreto, A; Andrian, J; Rishe, N; Adjouadi, M

2013-01-01

A new thermal imaging framework with unique feature extraction and similarity measurements for face recognition is presented. The research premise is to design specialized algorithms that would extract vasculature information, create a thermal facial signature and identify the individual. The proposed algorithm is fully integrated and consolidates the critical steps of feature extraction through the use of morphological operators, registration using the Linear Image Registration Tool and matching through unique similarity measures designed for this task. The novel approach at developing a thermal signature template using four images taken at various instants of time ensured that unforeseen changes in the vasculature over time did not affect the biometric matching process as the authentication process relied only on consistent thermal features. Thirteen subjects were used for testing the developed technique on an in-house thermal imaging system. The matching using the similarity measures showed an average accuracy of 88.46% for skeletonized signatures and 90.39% for anisotropically diffused signatures. The highly accurate results obtained in the matching process clearly demonstrate the ability of the thermal infrared system to extend in application to other thermal imaging based systems. Empirical results applying this approach to an existing database of thermal images proves this assertion.

Effectiveness of digital infrared thermal imaging in detecting lower extremity deep venous thrombosis.

PubMed

Deng, Fangge; Tang, Qing; Zeng, Guangqiao; Wu, Hua; Zhang, Nuofu; Zhong, Nanshan

2015-05-01

The authors aimed to determine the effectiveness of infrared thermal imaging (IRTI) as a novel, noninvasive technique in adjunctive diagnostic screening for lower limb deep venous thrombosis (DVT). The authors used an infrared thermal imaging sensor to examine the lower limbs of 64 DVT patients and 64 healthy volunteers. The DVT patients had been definitively diagnosed with either Doppler vascular compression ultrasonography or angiography. The mean area temperature (T_area) and mean linear temperature (T_line) in the region of interest were determined with infrared thermal imaging. Images were evaluated with qualitative pseudocolor analysis to verify specific color-temperature responses and with quantitative temperature analysis. Differences in T_area and T_line between the DVT limb and the nonaffected limb in each DVT patient and temperature differences (TDs) in T_area (TDarea) and T_line (TDline) between DVT patients and non-DVT volunteers were compared. Qualitative pseudocolor analysis revealed visible asymmetry between the DVT side and non-DVT side in the presentation and distribution characteristics (PDCs) of infrared thermal images. The DVT limbs had areas of abnormally high temperature, indicating the presence of DVT. Of the 64 confirmed DVT patients, 62 (96.88%) were positive by IRTI detection. Among these 62 IRTI-positive cases, 53 (82.81%) showed PDCs that agreed with the DVT regions detected by Doppler vascular compression ultrasonography or angiography. In nine patients (14.06%), IRTI PDCs did not definitively agree with the DVT regions established with other testing methods, but still correctly indicated the DVT-affected limb. There was a highly significant difference between DVT and non-DVT sides in DVT patients (P < 0.01). The TDarea and TDline in non-DVT volunteers ranged from 0.19 ± 0.15 °C to 0.21 °C ± 0.17 °C; those in DVT patients ranged from 0.86 °C ± 0.71 °C to 1.03 °C ± 0.79 °C (P < 0.01). Infrared thermal imaging can be effectively used in DVT detection and adjunctive diagnostic screening because of its specific infrared PDCs and TDs values.

Interfacial thermal resistance and thermal rectification in carbon nanotube film-copper systems.

PubMed

Duan, Zheng; Liu, Danyang; Zhang, Guang; Li, Qingwei; Liu, Changhong; Fan, Shoushan

2017-03-02

Thermal rectification occurring at interfaces is an important research area, which contains deep fundamental physics and has extensive application prospects. In general, the measurement of interfacial thermal rectification is based on measuring interfacial thermal resistance (ITR). However, ITRs measured via conventional methods cannot avoid extra thermal resistance asymmetry due to the contact between the sample and the thermometer. In this study, we employed a non-contact infrared thermal imager to monitor the temperature of super-aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) films and obtain the ITRs between the CNT films and copper. The ITRs along the CNT-copper direction and the reverse direction are in the ranges of 2.2-3.6 cm 2 K W -1 and 9.6-11.9 cm 2 K W -1 , respectively. The obvious difference in the ITRs of the two directions shows a significant thermal rectification effect, and the rectifying coefficient ranges between 0.57 and 0.68. The remarkable rectification factor is extremely promising for the manufacture of thermal transistors with a copper/CNT/copper structure and further thermal logic devices. Moreover, our method could be extended to other 2-dimensional materials, such as graphene and MoS 2 , for further explorations.

Scanning fluorescent microthermal imaging apparatus and method

DOEpatents

Barton, Daniel L.; Tangyunyong, Paiboon

1998-01-01

A scanning fluorescent microthermal imaging (FMI) apparatus and method is disclosed, useful for integrated circuit (IC) failure analysis, that uses a scanned and focused beam from a laser to excite a thin fluorescent film disposed over the surface of the IC. By collecting fluorescent radiation from the film, and performing point-by-point data collection with a single-point photodetector, a thermal map of the IC is formed to measure any localized heating associated with defects in the IC.

The radiobrightness thermal inertia measure of soil moisture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

England, Anthony W.; Galantowicz, John F.; Schretter, Mindy S.

1992-01-01

Radiobrightness thermal inertia (RTI) is proposed as a method for using day-night differences in satellite-sensed radiobrightness to monitor the moisture of Great Plains soils. Diurnal thermal and radiobrightness models are used to examine the sensitivity of the RTI method. Model predictions favor use of the 37.0 and 85.5 GHz, H-polarized channels of the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I). The model further predicts that overflight times near 2:00 AM/PM would be nearly optimal for RTI, that midnight/noon and 4:00 AM/PM are nearly as good, but that the 6:00 AM/PM overflight times of the current SSM/I are particularly poor. Data from the 37.0 GHz channel of the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) are used to demonstrate that the method is plausible.

Representation of thermal infrared imaging data in the DICOM using XML configuration files.

PubMed

Ruminski, Jacek

2007-01-01

The DICOM standard has become a widely accepted and implemented format for the exchange and storage of medical imaging data. Different imaging modalities are supported however there is not a dedicated solution for thermal infrared imaging in medicine. In this article we propose new ideas and improvements to final proposal of the new DICOM Thermal Infrared Imaging structures and services. Additionally, we designed, implemented and tested software packages for universal conversion of existing thermal imaging files to the DICOM format using XML configuration files. The proposed solution works fast and requires minimal number of user interactions. The XML configuration file enables to compose a set of attributes for any source file format of thermal imaging camera.

Improving thermal dose accuracy in magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound surgery: Long-term thermometry using a prior baseline as a reference.

PubMed

Bitton, Rachel R; Webb, Taylor D; Pauly, Kim Butts; Ghanouni, Pejman

2016-01-01

To investigate thermal dose volume (TDV) and non-perfused volume (NPV) of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) treatments in patients with soft tissue tumors, and describe a method for MR thermal dosimetry using a baseline reference. Agreement between TDV and immediate post treatment NPV was evaluated from MRgFUS treatments of five patients with biopsy-proven desmoid tumors. Thermometry data (gradient echo, 3T) were analyzed over the entire course of the treatments to discern temperature errors in the standard approach. The technique searches previously acquired baseline images for a match using 2D normalized cross-correlation and a weighted mean of phase difference images. Thermal dose maps and TDVs were recalculated using the matched baseline and compared to NPV. TDV and NPV showed between 47%-91% disagreement, using the standard immediate baseline method for calculating TDV. Long-term thermometry showed a nonlinear local temperature accrual, where peak additional temperature varied between 4-13°C (mean = 7.8°C) across patients. The prior baseline method could be implemented by finding a previously acquired matching baseline 61% ± 8% (mean ± SD) of the time. We found 7%-42% of the disagreement between TDV and NPV was due to errors in thermometry caused by heat accrual. For all patients, the prior baseline method increased the estimated treatment volume and reduced the discrepancies between TDV and NPV (P = 0.023). This study presents a mismatch between in-treatment and post treatment efficacy measures. The prior baseline approach accounts for local heating and improves the accuracy of thermal dose-predicted volume. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Radiofrequency Ablation, MR Thermometry, and High-Spatial-Resolution MR Parametric Imaging with a Single, Minimally Invasive Device.

PubMed

Ertürk, M Arcan; Sathyanarayana Hegde, Shashank; Bottomley, Paul A

2016-12-01

Purpose To develop and demonstrate in vitro and in vivo a single interventional magnetic resonance (MR)-active device that integrates the functions of precise identification of a tissue site with the delivery of radiofrequency (RF) energy for ablation, high-spatial-resolution thermal mapping to monitor thermal dose, and quantitative MR imaging relaxometry to document ablation-induced tissue changes for characterizing ablated tissue. Materials and Methods All animal studies were approved by the institutional animal care and use committee. A loopless MR imaging antenna composed of a tuned microcable either 0.8 or 2.2 mm in diameter with an extended central conductor was switched between a 3-T MR imaging unit and an RF power source to monitor and perform RF ablation in bovine muscle and human artery samples in vitro and in rabbits in vivo. High-spatial-resolution (250-300-μm) proton resonance frequency shift MR thermometry was interleaved with ablations. Quantitative spin-lattice (T1) and spin-spin (T2) relaxation time MR imaging mapping was performed before and after ablation. These maps were compared with findings from gross tissue examination of the region of ablated tissue after MR imaging. Results High-spatial-resolution MR imaging afforded temperature mapping in less than 8 seconds for monitoring ablation temperatures in excess of 85°C delivered by the same device. This produced irreversible thermal injury and necrosis. Quantitative MR imaging relaxation time maps demonstrated up to a twofold variation in mean regional T1 and T2 after ablation versus before ablation. Conclusion A simple, integrated, minimally invasive interventional probe that provides image-guided therapy delivery, thermal mapping of dose, and detection of ablation-associated MR imaging parametric changes was developed and demonstrated. With this single-device approach, coupling-related safety concerns associated with multiple conductor approaches were avoided. © RSNA, 2016 Online supplemental material is available for this article.

Thermographic Imaging of the Space Shuttle During Re-Entry Using a Near Infrared Sensor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zalameda, Joseph N.; Horvath, Thomas J.; Kerns, Robbie V.; Burke, Eric R.; Taylor, Jeff C.; Spisz, Tom; Gibson, David M.; Shea, Edward J.; Mercer, C. David; Schwartz, Richard J.;

Evaluation of tear evaporation from ocular surface by functional infrared thermography.

PubMed

Tan, Jen-Hong; Ng, E Y K; Acharya, U Rajendra

2010-11-01

A novel technique was developed to measure tear evaporation and monitor its variation with respect to time, for the studying of ocular physiology based on dynamic functional infrared thermography and the first law of thermodynamics using the measured ocular surface temperatures (OSTs). This is a noninvasive, noncontact temperature measuring method that is widely applied in the field of biomedicine. A simple method based on the ocular thermal data was proposed to measure the rate of tear evaporation. The OST of 60 normal subjects were recorded in the form of sequential thermal images. For each thermal sequence, the ocular region was selected and warped to a standard form. Thermal data within the regions were processed, on the basis of the first law of thermodynamics to derive the evaporation rate. For elder subjects (aged above 35), the rate was determined to be 55.82 Wm(-2) and for younger subjects, the rate was 58.9 Wm(-2). The corneal rate of evaporation in elder subjects was found statistically (p < 0.11) larger than their younger counterparts. The rate of blinking was observed to be related to the variation of evaporation rate. The authors have measured the evaporation rate on a sequence of thermographic images. A region of interest was selected at first and the same region on all the images were warped into a standard form. Calculations were performed based on the thermal data in those regions to obtain the values of interest. The authors found that the tear evaporation rate for subjects of all age groups was 57.36 +/- 12.73 Wm(-2) and the corneal tear evaporation was higher in elder subjects. The corneal rate of evaporation fluctuated in a larger magnitude in subjects who blinked more than average.

Applications of emerging imaging techniques for meat quality and safety detection and evaluation: A review.

PubMed

Xiong, Zhenjie; Sun, Da-Wen; Pu, Hongbin; Gao, Wenhong; Dai, Qiong

2017-03-04

With improvement in people's living standards, many people nowadays pay more attention to quality and safety of meat. However, traditional methods for meat quality and safety detection and evaluation, such as manual inspection, mechanical methods, and chemical methods, are tedious, time-consuming, and destructive, which cannot meet the requirements of modern meat industry. Therefore, seeking out rapid, non-destructive, and accurate inspection techniques is important for the meat industry. In recent years, a number of novel and noninvasive imaging techniques, such as optical imaging, ultrasound imaging, tomographic imaging, thermal imaging, and odor imaging, have emerged and shown great potential in quality and safety assessment. In this paper, a detailed overview of advanced applications of these emerging imaging techniques for quality and safety assessment of different types of meat (pork, beef, lamb, chicken, and fish) is presented. In addition, advantages and disadvantages of each imaging technique are also summarized. Finally, future trends for these emerging imaging techniques are discussed, including integration of multiple imaging techniques, cost reduction, and developing powerful image-processing algorithms.

Contrast Enhanced Microscopy Digital Image Correlation: A General Method to Contact-Free Coefficient of Thermal Expansion Measurement of Polymer Films

Treesearch

Jairo A. Diaz; Robert J. Moon; Jeffrey P. Youngblood

2014-01-01

Thermal expansion represents a vital indicator of the processing history and dimensional stability of materials. Solvent-sensitive, thin, and compliant samples are particularly challenging to test. Here we describe how textures highlighted by contrast enhanced optical microscopy modes (i.e., polarized light (PL), phase contrast (PC)) and bright field (BF) can be used...

Applications of HCMM satellite data to the study of urban heating patterns

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carlson, T. N. (Principal Investigator)

1980-01-01

A research summary is presented and is divided into two major areas, one developmental and the other basic science. In the first three sub-categories are discussed: image processing techniques, especially the method whereby surface temperature image are converted to images of surface energy budget, moisture availability and thermal inertia; model development; and model verification. Basic science includes the use of a method to further the understanding of the urban heat island and anthropogenic modification of the surface heating, evaporation over vegetated surfaces, and the effect of surface heat flux on plume spread.

An efficient approach for pixel decomposition to increase the spatial resolution of land surface temperature images from MODIS thermal infrared band data.

PubMed

Wang, Fei; Qin, Zhihao; Li, Wenjuan; Song, Caiying; Karnieli, Arnon; Zhao, Shuhe

2014-12-25

Land surface temperature (LST) images retrieved from the thermal infrared (TIR) band data of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) have much lower spatial resolution than the MODIS visible and near-infrared (VNIR) band data. The coarse pixel scale of MODIS LST images (1000 m under nadir) have limited their capability in applying to many studies required high spatial resolution in comparison of the MODIS VNIR band data with pixel scale of 250-500 m. In this paper we intend to develop an efficient approach for pixel decomposition to increase the spatial resolution of MODIS LST image using the VNIR band data as assistance. The unique feature of this approach is to maintain the thermal radiance of parent pixels in the MODIS LST image unchanged after they are decomposed into the sub-pixels in the resulted image. There are two important steps in the decomposition: initial temperature estimation and final temperature determination. Therefore the approach can be termed double-step pixel decomposition (DSPD). Both steps involve a series of procedures to achieve the final result of decomposed LST image, including classification of the surface patterns, establishment of LST change with normalized difference of vegetation index (NDVI) and building index (NDBI), reversion of LST into thermal radiance through Planck equation, and computation of weights for the sub-pixels of the resulted image. Since the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) with much higher spatial resolution than MODIS data was on-board the same platform (Terra) as MODIS for Earth observation, an experiment had been done in the study to validate the accuracy and efficiency of our approach for pixel decomposition. The ASTER LST image was used as the reference to compare with the decomposed LST image. The result showed that the spatial distribution of the decomposed LST image was very similar to that of the ASTER LST image with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 2.7 K for entire image. Comparison with the evaluation DisTrad (E-DisTrad) and re-sampling methods for pixel decomposition also indicate that our DSPD has the lowest RMSE in all cases, including urban region, water bodies, and natural terrain. The obvious increase in spatial resolution remarkably uplifts the capability of the coarse MODIS LST images in highlighting the details of LST variation. Therefore it can be concluded that, in spite of complicated procedures, the proposed DSPD approach provides an alternative to improve the spatial resolution of MODIS LST image hence expand its applicability to the real world.

Using shape contexts method for registration of contra lateral breasts in thermal images.

PubMed

Etehadtavakol, Mahnaz; Ng, Eddie Yin-Kwee; Gheissari, Niloofar

2014-12-10

To achieve symmetric boundaries for left and right breasts boundaries in thermal images by registration. The proposed method for registration consists of two steps. In the first step, shape context, an approach as presented by Belongie and Malik was applied for registration of two breast boundaries. The shape context is an approach to measure shape similarity. Two sets of finite sample points from shape contours of two breasts are then presented. Consequently, the correspondences between the two shapes are found. By finding correspondences, the sample point which has the most similar shape context is obtained. In this study, a line up transformation which maps one shape onto the other has been estimated in order to complete shape. The used of a thin plate spline permitted good estimation of a plane transformation which has capability to map unselective points from one shape onto the other. The obtained aligning transformation of boundaries points has been applied successfully to map the two breasts interior points. Some of advantages for using shape context method in this work are as follows: (1) no special land marks or key points are needed; (2) it is tolerant to all common shape deformation; and (3) although it is uncomplicated and straightforward to use, it gives remarkably powerful descriptor for point sets significantly upgrading point set registration. Results are very promising. The proposed algorithm was implemented for 32 cases. Boundary registration is done perfectly for 28 cases. We used shape contexts method that is simple and easy to implement to achieve symmetric boundaries for left and right breasts boundaries in thermal images.

Simulation of sampling effects in FPAs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cook, Thomas H.; Hall, Charles S.; Smith, Frederick G.; Rogne, Timothy J.

1991-09-01

The use of multiplexers and large focal plane arrays in advanced thermal imaging systems has drawn renewed attention to sampling and aliasing issues in imaging applications. As evidenced by discussions in a recent workshop, there is no clear consensus among experts whether aliasing in sensor designs can be readily tolerated, or must be avoided at all cost. Further, there is no straightforward, analytical method that can answer the question, particularly when considering image interpreters as different as humans and autonomous target recognizers (ATR). However, the means exist for investigating sampling and aliasing issues through computer simulation. The U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Command (TACOM) Thermal Image Model (TTIM) provides realistic sensor imagery that can be evaluated by both human observers and TRs. This paper briefly describes the history and current status of TTIM, explains the simulation of FPA sampling effects, presents validation results of the FPA sensor model, and demonstrates the utility of TTIM for investigating sampling effects in imagery.

Optical Assessment of Caries Lesion Structure and Activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Robert Chulsung

New, more sophisticated diagnostic tools are needed for the detection and characterization of caries lesions in the early stages of development. It is not sufficient to simply detect caries lesions, methods are needed to assess the activity of the lesion and determine if chemical or surgical intervention is needed. Previous studies have demonstrated that polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) can be used to nondestructively image the subsurface lesion structure and measure the thickness of the highly mineralized surface zone. Other studies have demonstrated that the rate of dehydration can be correlated with the lesion activity and that the rate can be measured using optical methods. The main objective of this work was to test the hypothesis that optical methods can be used to assess lesion activity on tooth coronal and root surfaces. Simulated caries models were used to develop and validate an algorithm for detecting and measuring the highly mineralized surface layer using PS-OCT. This work confirmed that the algorithm was capable of estimating the thickness of the highly mineralized surface layer with high accuracy. Near-infrared (NIR) reflectance and thermal imaging methods were used to assess activity of caries lesions by measuring the state of lesion hydration. NIR reflectance imaging performed the best for artificial enamel and natural coronal caries lesion samples, particularly at wavelengths coincident with the water absorption band at 1460-nm. However, thermal imaging performed the best for artificial dentin and natural root caries lesion samples. These novel optical methods outperformed the conventional methods (ICDAS II) in accurately assessing lesion activity of natural coronal and root caries lesions. Infrared-based imaging methods have shown potential for in-vivo applications to objectively assess caries lesion activity in a single examination. It is likely that if future clinical trials are a success, this novel imaging technology will be employed for the detection and monitoring of early carious lesions without the use of ionizing radiation, thereby enabling conservative non-surgical intervention and the preservation of healthy tissue structure.

A multiple functional connector for high-resolution optical satellites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

She, Fengke; Zheng, Gangtie

2017-11-01

For earth observation satellites, perturbations from actuators, such as CMGs and momentum wheels, and thermal loadings from support structures often have significant impact on the image quality of an optical. Therefore, vibration isolators and thermal deformation releasing devices nowadays often become important parts of an image satellite. However, all these devices will weak the connection stiffness between the optical instrument and the satellite bus structure. This will cause concern of the attitude control system design for worrying about possible negative effect on the attitude control. Therefore, a connection design satisfying all three requirements is a challenge of advanced image satellites. Chinese scientists have proposed a large aperture high-resolution satellite for earth observation. To meet all these requirements and ensure image quality, specified multiple function connectors are designed to meet these challenging requirements, which are: isolating vibration, releasing thermal deformation and ensuring whole satellite dynamic properties [1]. In this paper, a parallel spring guide flexure is developed for both vibration isolation and thermal deformation releasing. The stiffness of the flexure is designed to meet the vibration isolation requirement. To attenuate vibration, and more importantly to satisfy the stability requirement of the attitude control system, metal damping, which has many merits for space applications, are applied in this connecter to provide a high damping ratio and nonlinear stiffness. The capability of the connecter for vibration isolation and attenuation is validated through numerical simulation and experiments. Connecter parameter optimization is also conducted to meet both requirements of thermal deformation releasing and attitude control. Analysis results show that the in-orbit attitude control requirement is satisfied while the thermal releasing performance is optimized. The design methods and analysis results are also provided in the present paper.

Thermal Writing 1987

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peckham, Robert F.

1987-04-01

The creating of intelligent marks on a substrate by means of thermal energy has been in use for thousands of years, e.g., branding of livestock and burning images onto wood. During the past 30 years, this type of imaging has been significantly refined. Recent advances allow the creation of color images, 16 shades of gray and letter quality printing on white substrates. Permanent images are now being written with direct thermal processes. The foregoing make thermal writing very attractive for numerous applications. The general technology of how thermal writing is accomplished today, its applications, and why society should use thermal writing are the topics of this paper. To attempt to cover in great technical detail all of the current advancements in thermal writing is beyond our scope here. What is intended is the proposition that THERMAL WRITING is a superior form of creating images on paper substrates for Society's on demand hard copy requirements. First let's look at how thermal writing is being accomplished with today's technologies.

Thermal protection during percutaneous thermal ablation procedures: interest of carbon dioxide dissection and temperature monitoring.

PubMed

Buy, Xavier; Tok, Chung-Hong; Szwarc, Daniel; Bierry, Guillaume; Gangi, Afshin

2009-05-01

Percutaneous image-guided thermal ablation of tumor is widely used, and thermal injury to collateral structures is a known complication of this technique. To avoid thermal damage to surrounding structures, several protection techniques have been reported. We report the use of a simple and effective protective technique combining carbon dioxide dissection and thermocouple: CO(2) displaces the nontarget structures, and its low thermal conductivity provides excellent insulation; insertion of a thermocouple in contact with vulnerable structures achieves continuous thermal monitoring. We performed percutaneous thermal ablation of 37 tumors in 35 patients (4 laser, 10 radiofrequency, and 23 cryoablations) with protection of adjacent vulnerable structures by using CO(2) dissection combined with continuous thermal monitoring with thermocouple. Tumor locations were various (19 intra-abdominal tumors including 4 livers and 9 kidneys, 18 musculoskeletal tumors including 11 spinal tumors). CO(2) volume ranged from 10 ml (epidural space) to 1500 ml (abdominal). Repeated insufflations were performed if necessary, depending on the information given by the thermocouple and imaging control. Dissection with optimal thermal protection was achieved in all cases except two patients where adherences (one postoperative, one arachnoiditis) blocked proper gaseous distribution. No complication referred to this technique was noted. This safe, cost-effective, and simple method increases the safety and the success rate of percutaneous thermal ablation procedures. It also offers the potential to increase the number of tumors that can be treated via a percutaneous approach.

Measuring Volcanic Thermal Output

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reath, K.

2017-12-01

In most cases, volcanic eruptions are preceded by some form of unrest that can be used as an early warning sign of an impending eruption or provide insight into changing hazards during an eruption, contingent upon this unrest being properly monitored and understood. Many ground and satellite monitoring techniques have been developed to identify the varying types volcanic unrest, including seismic, degassing, deformation, and thermal measurements. High spatial resolution thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing, such as the thermal images acquired by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) sensor, have proven particularly effective at identifying and tracking variations in thermal unrest in the form of volcanic thermal anomalies. However, the majority of ASTER thermal anomaly studies have focused on tracking the variations in the temperature of the hottest pixel above background in the anomaly. Whereas, this remains a valid method as it reveals valuable information about variations occurring at the main vent of a volcano, it does not incorporate the thermal output of the entire anomaly, which typically expands beyond one pixel due to the heating of the surrounding area. By developing a weighted area method that considers both the thermal anomaly area and temperature the total thermal output of an anomaly can be measured. It some case studies, such as the period before the 2016 Sabancaya eruption, both temperature and area increase before an eruptive event. Here, the weighted area methods demonstrates a clearer increase in thermal unrest than the traditional above temperature method. In other case studies, such as the thermal anomaly observed at Lascar volcano, the area of the anomaly remains relatively constant. This limits the variation in values between these two methods. However, by incorporating data from both of these methods, valuable interpretations can be made about the dynamics of the main vent where compared to the full thermal system. A variety of volcanoes will be demonstrated in this presentation to understand the conditions where this technique is most helpful and how the weighted area method enables a more complete analysis of the volcanic processes occurring both before and during eruption.

A scan-angle correction for thermal infrared multispectral data using side lapping images

USGS Publications Warehouse

Watson, K.

1996-01-01

Thermal infrared multispectral scanner (TIMS) images, acquired with side lapping flight lines, provide dual angle observations of the same area on the ground and can thus be used to estimate variations in the atmospheric transmission with scan angle. The method was tested using TIMS aircraft data for six flight lines with about 30% sidelap for an area within Joshua Tree National Park, California. Generally the results correspond to predictions for the transmission scan-angle coefficient based on a standard atmospheric model although some differences were observed at the longer wavelength channels. A change was detected for the last pair of lines that may indicate either spatial or temporal atmospheric variation. The results demonstrate that the method provides information for correcting regional survey data (requiring multiple adjacent flight lines) that can be important in detecting subtle changes in lithology.

Passive Infrared Thermographic Imaging for Mobile Robot Object Identification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hinders, M. K.; Fehlman, W. L.

2010-02-01

The usefulness of thermal infrared imaging as a mobile robot sensing modality is explored, and a set of thermal-physical features used to characterize passive thermal objects in outdoor environments is described. Objects that extend laterally beyond the thermal camera's field of view, such as brick walls, hedges, picket fences, and wood walls as well as compact objects that are laterally within the thermal camera's field of view, such as metal poles and tree trunks, are considered. Classification of passive thermal objects is a subtle process since they are not a source for their own emission of thermal energy. A detailed analysis is included of the acquisition and preprocessing of thermal images, as well as the generation and selection of thermal-physical features from these objects within thermal images. Classification performance using these features is discussed, as a precursor to the design of a physics-based model to automatically classify these objects.

Security surveillance challenges and proven thermal imaging capabilities in real-world applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Francisco, Glen L.; Roberts, Sharon

2004-09-01

Uncooled thermal imaging was first introduced to the public in early 1980's by Raytheon (legacy Texas Instruments Defense Segment Electronics Group) as a solution for military applications. Since the introduction of this technology, Raytheon has remained the leader in this market as well as introduced commercial versions of thermal imaging products specifically designed for security, law enforcement, fire fighting, automotive and industrial uses. Today, low cost thermal imaging for commercial use in security applications is a reality. Organizations of all types have begun to understand the advantages of using thermal imaging as a means to solve common surveillance problems where other popular technologies fall short. Thermal imaging has proven to be a successful solution for common security needs such as: ¸ vision at night where lighting is undesired and 24x7 surveillance is needed ¸ surveillance over waterways, lakes and ports where water and lighting options are impractical ¸ surveillance through challenging weather conditions where other technologies will be challenged by atmospheric particulates ¸ low maintenance requirements due to remote or difficult locations ¸ low cost over life of product Thermal imaging is now a common addition to the integrated security package. Companies are relying on thermal imaging for specific applications where no other technology can perform.

Infrared identification of internal overheating components inside an electric control cabinet by inverse heat transfer problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Li; Wang, Ye; Liu, Huikai; Yan, Guanghui; Kou, Wei

2014-11-01

The components overheating inside an object, such as inside an electric control cabinet, a moving object, and a running machine, can easily lead to equipment failure or fire accident. The infrared remote sensing method is used to inspect the surface temperature of object to identify the overheating components inside the object in recent years. It has important practical application of using infrared thermal imaging surface temperature measurement to identify the internal overheating elements inside an electric control cabinet. In this paper, through the establishment of test bench of electric control cabinet, the experimental study was conducted on the inverse identification technology of internal overheating components inside an electric control cabinet using infrared thermal imaging. The heat transfer model of electric control cabinet was built, and the temperature distribution of electric control cabinet with internal overheating element is simulated using the finite volume method (FVM). The outer surface temperature of electric control cabinet was measured using the infrared thermal imager. Combining the computer image processing technology and infrared temperature measurement, the surface temperature distribution of electric control cabinet was extracted, and using the identification algorithm of inverse heat transfer problem (IHTP) the position and temperature of internal overheating element were identified. The results obtained show that for single element overheating inside the electric control cabinet the identifying errors of the temperature and position were 2.11% and 5.32%. For multiple elements overheating inside the electric control cabinet the identifying errors of the temperature and positions were 3.28% and 15.63%. The feasibility and effectiveness of the method of IHTP and the correctness of identification algorithm of FVM were validated.

Diffraction imaging for in situ characterization of double-crystal X-ray monochromators

DOE PAGES

Stoupin, Stanislav; Liu, Zunping; Heald, Steve M.; ...

2015-10-30

In this paper, imaging of the Bragg-reflected X-ray beam is proposed and validated as an in situ method for characterization of the performance of double-crystal monochromators under the heat load of intense synchrotron radiation. A sequence of images is collected at different angular positions on the reflectivity curve of the second crystal and analyzed. The method provides rapid evaluation of the wavefront of the exit beam, which relates to local misorientation of the crystal planes along the beam footprint on the thermally distorted first crystal. The measured misorientation can be directly compared with the results of finite element analysis. Finally,more » the imaging method offers an additional insight into the local intrinsic crystal quality over the footprint of the incident X-ray beam.« less

[Study on Hollow Brick Wall's Surface Temperature with Infrared Thermal Imaging Method].

PubMed

Tang, Ming-fang; Yin, Yi-hua

2015-05-01

To address the characteristic of uneven surface temperature of hollow brick wall, the present research adopts soft wares of both ThermaCAM P20 and ThermaCAM Reporter to test the application of infrared thermal image technique in measuring surface temperature of hollow brick wall, and further analyzes the thermal characteristics of hollow brick wall, and building material's impact on surface temperature distribution including hollow brick, masonry mortar, and so on. The research selects the construction site of a three-story-high residential, carries out the heat transfer experiment, and further examines the exterior wall constructed by 3 different hollow bricks including sintering shale hollow brick, masonry mortar and brick masonry. Infrared thermal image maps are collected, including 3 kinds of sintering shale hollow brick walls under indoor heating in winter; and temperature data of wall surface, and uniformity and frequency distribution are also collected for comparative analysis between 2 hollow bricks and 2 kinds of mortar masonry. The results show that improving heat preservation of hollow brick aid masonry mortar can effectively improve inner wall surface temperature and indoor thermal environment; non-uniformity of surface temperature decreases from 0. 6 to 0. 4 °C , and surface temperature frequency distribution changes from the asymmetric distribution into a normal distribution under the condition that energy-saving sintering shale hollow brick wall is constructed by thermal mortar replacing cement mortar masonry; frequency of average temperature increases as uniformity of surface temperature increases. This research provides a certain basis for promotion and optimization of hollow brick wall's thermal function.

Survey of the Pompeii (IT) archaeological Regions with the multispectral thermal airborne TASI data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pignatti, Stefano; Palombo, Angelo; Pascucci, Simone; Santini, Federico; Laneve, Giovanni

2017-04-01

Thermal remote sensing, as a tool for analyzing environmental variables with regards to archaeological prospecting, has been growing ever mainly because airborne surveys allow to provide to archaeologists images at meter scale. The importance of this study lies in the evaluation of TIR imagery in view of the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) imagery, for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage, that should provide at low cost very high spatial resolution thermal imaging. The research aims at analyzing the potential of the thermal imaging [1] on some selected areas of the Pompeii archaeological park. To this purpose, on December the 7th, 2015, a TASI-600, an [2] airborne multispectral thermal imagery (32 channels from 8 to 11.5 nm with a spectral resolution of 100nm and a spatial resolution of 1m/pixel) has surveyed the archaeological Pompeii Regions. Thermal images have been corrected, calibrated in order to obtain land surface temperatures (LST) and emissivity data set to be applied for the further analysis. The thermal data pre-processing has included: ii) radiometric calibration of the raw data and the correction of the blinking pixel; ii) atmospheric correction performed by using MODTRAN; iii) Temperature Emissivity Separation (TES) to obtain emissivity and LST maps [3]. Our objective is to shows the major results of the IR survey, the pre-processing of the multispectral thermal imagery. LST and emissivity maps have been analysed to describe the thermal/emissivity pattern of the different Regions as function of the presence, in first subsurface, of archaeological features. The obtained preliminary results are encouraging, even though, the vegetation cover, covering the different Pompeii Regions, is one of the major issues affecting the usefulness of the TIR sensing. Of course, LST anomalies and emissivity maps need to be further integrated with the classical geophysical investigation techniques to have a complete validation and to better evaluate the usefulness of the IR sensing References 1. Pascucci S., Cavalli R M., Palombo A. & Pignatti S. (2010), Suitability of CASI and ATM airborne remote sensing data for archaeological subsurface structure detection under different land cover: the Arpi case study (Italy). In Journal of Geophysics and Engineering, Vol. 7 (2), pp. 183-189. 2. Pignatti, S.; Lapenna, V.; Palombo, A.; Pascucci, S.; Pergola, N.; Cuomo, V. 2011. An advanced tool of the CNR IMAA EO facilities: Overview of the TASI-600 hyperspectral thermal spectrometer. 3rd Hyperspectral Image and Signal Processing: Evolution in Remote Sensing Conference (WHISPERS), 2011; DOI 10.1109/WHISPERS.2011.6080890. 3. Z.L. Li, F. Becker, M.P Stoll and Z. Wan. 1999. Evaluation of six methods for extracting relative emissivity spectra from thermal infrared images. Remote Sensing of Environment, vol. 69, 197-214.

Detection of micro solder balls using active thermography and probabilistic neural network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Zhenzhi; Wei, Li; Shao, Minghui; Lu, Xingning

2017-03-01

Micro solder ball/bump has been widely used in electronic packaging. It has been challenging to inspect these structures as the solder balls/bumps are often embedded between the component and substrates, especially in flip-chip packaging. In this paper, a detection method for micro solder ball/bump based on the active thermography and the probabilistic neural network is investigated. A VH680 infrared imager is used to capture the thermal image of the test vehicle, SFA10 packages. The temperature curves are processed using moving average technique to remove the peak noise. And the principal component analysis (PCA) is adopted to reconstruct the thermal images. The missed solder balls can be recognized explicitly in the second principal component image. Probabilistic neural network (PNN) is then established to identify the defective bump intelligently. The hot spots corresponding to the solder balls are segmented from the PCA reconstructed image, and statistic parameters are calculated. To characterize the thermal properties of solder bump quantitatively, three representative features are selected and used as the input vector in PNN clustering. The results show that the actual outputs and the expected outputs are consistent in identification of the missed solder balls, and all the bumps were recognized accurately, which demonstrates the viability of the PNN in effective defect inspection in high-density microelectronic packaging.

New Numerical Approaches To thermal Convection In A Compositionally Stratified Fluid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Puckett, E. G.; Turcotte, D. L.; Kellogg, L. H.; Lokavarapu, H. V.; He, Y.; Robey, J.

2016-12-01

Seismic imaging of the mantle has revealed large and small scale heterogeneities in the lower mantle; specifically structures known as large low shear velocity provinces (LLSVP) below Africa and the South Pacific. Most interpretations propose that the heterogeneities are compositional in nature, differing from the overlying mantle, an interpretation that would be consistent with chemical geodynamic models. The LLSVP's are thought to be very old, meaning they have persisted thoughout much of Earth's history. Numerical modeling of persistent compositional interfaces present challenges to even state-of-the-art numerical methodology. It is extremely difficult to maintain sharp composition boundaries which migrate and distort with time dependent fingering without compositional diffusion and / or artificial diffusion. The compositional boundary must persist indefinitely. In this work we present computations of an initial compositionally stratified fluid that is subject to a thermal gradient ΔT = T1 - T0 across the height D of a rectangular domain over a range of buoyancy numbers B and Rayleigh numbers Ra. In these computations we compare three numerical approaches to modeling the movement of two distinct, thermally driven, compositional fields; namely, a high-order Finte Element Method (FEM) that employs artifical viscosity to preserve the maximum and minimum values of the compositional field, a Discontinous Galerkin (DG) method with a Bound Preserving (BP) limiter, and a Volume-of-Fluid (VOF) interface tracking algorithm. Our computations demonstrate that the FEM approach has far too much numerical diffusion to yield meaningful results, the DGBP method yields much better resuts but with small amounts of each compositional field being (numerically) entrained within the other compositional field, while the VOF method maintains a sharp interface between the two compositions throughout the computation. In the figure we show a comparison of between the three methods for a computation made with B = 1.111 and Ra = 10,000 after the flow has reached 'steady state'. (R) the images computed with the standard FEM method (with artifical viscosity), (C) the images computed with the DGBP method (with no artifical viscosity or diffusion due to discretization errors) and (L) the images computed with the VOF algorithm.

Emlen funnel experiments revisited: methods update for studying compass orientation in songbirds.

PubMed

Bianco, Giuseppe; Ilieva, Mihaela; Veibäck, Clas; Öfjäll, Kristoffer; Gadomska, Alicja; Hendeby, Gustaf; Felsberg, Michael; Gustafsson, Fredrik; Åkesson, Susanne

2016-10-01

Migratory songbirds carry an inherited capacity to migrate several thousand kilometers each year crossing continental landmasses and barriers between distant breeding sites and wintering areas. How individual songbirds manage with extreme precision to find their way is still largely unknown. The functional characteristics of biological compasses used by songbird migrants has mainly been investigated by recording the birds directed migratory activity in circular cages, so-called Emlen funnels. This method is 50 years old and has not received major updates over the past decades. The aim of this work was to compare the results from newly developed digital methods with the established manual methods to evaluate songbird migratory activity and orientation in circular cages.We performed orientation experiments using the European robin ( Erithacus rubecula ) using modified Emlen funnels equipped with thermal paper and simultaneously recorded the songbird movements from above. We evaluated and compared the results obtained with five different methods. Two methods have been commonly used in songbirds' orientation experiments; the other three methods were developed for this study and were based either on evaluation of the thermal paper using automated image analysis, or on the analysis of videos recorded during the experiment.The methods used to evaluate scratches produced by the claws of birds on the thermal papers presented some differences compared with the video analyses. These differences were caused mainly by differences in scatter, as any movement of the bird along the sloping walls of the funnel was recorded on the thermal paper, whereas video evaluations allowed us to detect single takeoff attempts by the birds and to consider only this behavior in the orientation analyses. Using computer vision, we were also able to identify and separately evaluate different behaviors that were impossible to record by the thermal paper.The traditional Emlen funnel is still the most used method to investigate compass orientation in songbirds under controlled conditions. However, new numerical image analysis techniques provide a much higher level of detail of songbirds' migratory behavior and will provide an increasing number of possibilities to evaluate and quantify specific behaviors as new algorithms will be developed.

Diffraction phase microscopy imaging and multi-physics modeling of the nanoscale thermal expansion of a suspended resistor.

PubMed

Wang, Xiaozhen; Lu, Tianjian; Yu, Xin; Jin, Jian-Ming; Goddard, Lynford L

2017-07-04

We studied the nanoscale thermal expansion of a suspended resistor both theoretically and experimentally and obtained consistent results. In the theoretical analysis, we used a three-dimensional coupled electrical-thermal-mechanical simulation and obtained the temperature and displacement field of the suspended resistor under a direct current (DC) input voltage. In the experiment, we recorded a sequence of images of the axial thermal expansion of the central bridge region of the suspended resistor at a rate of 1.8 frames/s by using epi-illumination diffraction phase microscopy (epi-DPM). This method accurately measured nanometer level relative height changes of the resistor in a temporally and spatially resolved manner. Upon application of a 2 V step in voltage, the resistor exhibited a steady-state increase in resistance of 1.14 Ω and in relative height of 3.5 nm, which agreed reasonably well with the predicted values of 1.08 Ω and 4.4 nm, respectively.

Low cost thermal camera for use in preclinical detection of diabetic peripheral neuropathy in primary care setting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joshi, V.; Manivannan, N.; Jarry, Z.; Carmichael, J.; Vahtel, M.; Zamora, G.; Calder, C.; Simon, J.; Burge, M.; Soliz, P.

2018-02-01

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) accounts for around 73,000 lower-limb amputations annually in the US on patients with diabetes. Early detection of DPN is critical. Current clinical methods for diagnosing DPN are subjective and effective only at later stages. Until recently, thermal cameras used for medical imaging have been expensive and hence prohibitive to be installed in primary care setting. The objective of this study is to compare results from a low-cost thermal camera with a high-end thermal camera used in screening for DPN. Thermal imaging has demonstrated changes in microvascular function that correlates with nerve function affected by DPN. The limitations for using low-cost cameras for DPN imaging are: less resolution (active pixels), frame rate, thermal sensitivity etc. We integrated two FLIR Lepton (80x60 active pixels, 50° HFOV, thermal sensitivity < 50mK) as one unit. Right and left cameras record the videos of right and left foot respectively. A compactible embedded system (raspberry pi3 model Bv1.2) is used to configure the sensors, capture and stream the video via ethernet. The resulting video has 160x120 active pixels (8 frames/second). We compared the temperature measurement of feet obtained using low-cost camera against the gold standard highend FLIR SC305. Twelve subjects (aged 35-76) were recruited. Difference in the temperature measurements between cameras was calculated for each subject and the results show that the difference between the temperature measurements of two cameras (mean difference=0.4, p-value=0.2) is not statistically significant. We conclude that the low-cost thermal camera system shows potential for use in detecting early-signs of DPN in under-served and rural clinics.

Scanning fluorescent microthermal imaging apparatus and method

DOEpatents

Barton, D.L.; Tangyunyong, P.

1998-01-06

A scanning fluorescent microthermal imaging (FMI) apparatus and method is disclosed, useful for integrated circuit (IC) failure analysis, that uses a scanned and focused beam from a laser to excite a thin fluorescent film disposed over the surface of the IC. By collecting fluorescent radiation from the film, and performing point-by-point data collection with a single-point photodetector, a thermal map of the IC is formed to measure any localized heating associated with defects in the IC. 1 fig.

Single-cell photoacoustic thermometry

PubMed Central

Gao, Liang; Wang, Lidai; Li, Chiye; Liu, Yan; Ke, Haixin; Zhang, Chi

2013-01-01

Abstract. A novel photoacoustic thermometric method is presented for simultaneously imaging cells and sensing their temperature. With three-seconds-per-frame imaging speed, a temperature resolution of 0.2°C was achieved in a photo-thermal cell heating experiment. Compared to other approaches, the photoacoustic thermometric method has the advantage of not requiring custom-developed temperature-sensitive biosensors. This feature should facilitate the conversion of single-cell thermometry into a routine lab tool and make it accessible to a much broader biological research community. PMID:23377004

Thermal particle image velocity estimation of fire plume flow

Treesearch

Xiangyang Zhou; Lulu Sun; Shankar Mahalingam; David R. Weise

2003-01-01

For the purpose of studying wildfire spread in living vegetation such as chaparral in California, a thermal particle image velocity (TPIV) algorithm for nonintrusively measuring flame gas velocities through thermal infrared (IR) imagery was developed. By tracing thermal particles in successive digital IR images, the TPIV algorithm can estimate the velocity field in a...

Three-dimensional dynamic thermal imaging of structural flaws by dual-band infrared computed tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DelGrande, Nancy; Dolan, Kenneth W.; Durbin, Philip F.; Gorvad, Michael R.; Kornblum, B. T.; Perkins, Dwight E.; Schneberk, Daniel J.; Shapiro, Arthur B.

1993-11-01

We discuss three-dimensional dynamic thermal imaging of structural flaws using dual-band infrared (DBIR) computed tomography. Conventional (single-band) thermal imaging is difficult to interpret. It yields imprecise or qualitative information (e.g., when subsurface flaws produce weak heat flow anomalies masked by surface clutter). We use the DBIR imaging technique to clarify interpretation. We capture the time history of surface temperature difference patterns at the epoxy-glue disbond site of a flash-heated lap joint. This type of flawed structure played a significant role in causing damage to the Aloha Aircraft fuselage on the aged Boeing 737 jetliner. The magnitude of surface-temperature differences versus time for 0.1 mm air layer compared to 0.1 mm glue layer, varies from 0.2 to 1.6 degree(s)C, for simultaneously scanned front and back surfaces. The scans are taken every 42 ms from 0 to 8 s after the heat flash. By ratioing 3 - 5 micrometers and 8 - 12 micrometers DBIR images, we located surface temperature patterns from weak heat flow anomalies at the disbond site and remove the emissivity mask from surface paint of roughness variations. Measurements compare well with calculations based on TOPAX3D, a three-dimensional, finite element computer model. We combine infrared, ultrasound and x-ray imaging methods to study heat transfer, bond quality and material differences associated with the lap joint disbond site.

Development of a high-resolution infrared thermographic imaging method as a diagnostic tool for acute undifferentiated limp in young children.

PubMed

Owen, R; Ramlakhan, S; Saatchi, R; Burke, D

2018-06-01

Acute limp is a common presenting condition in the paediatric emergency department. There are a number of causes of acute limp that include traumatic injury, infection and malignancy. These causes in young children are not easily distinguished. In this pilot study, an infrared thermographic imaging technique to diagnose acute undifferentiated limp in young children was developed. Following required ethics approval, 30 children (mean age = 5.2 years, standard deviation = 3.3 years) were recruited. The exposed lower limbs of participants were imaged using a high-resolution thermal camera. Using predefined regions of interest (ROI), any skin surface temperature difference between the healthy and affected legs was statistically analysed, with the aim of identifying limp. In all examined ROIs, the median skin surface temperature for the affected limb was higher than that of the healthy limb. The small sample size recruited for each group, however, meant that the statistical tests of significant difference need to be interpreted in this context. Thermal imaging showed potential in helping with the diagnosis of acute limp in children. Repeating a similar study with a larger sample size will be beneficial to establish reproducibility of the results. Graphical abstract A young child with an acute undifferentiated limp undergoes thermal imaging and the follow on image analysis assists the limp diagnosis.

Infrared thermal facial image sequence registration analysis and verification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Chieh-Li; Jian, Bo-Lin

2015-03-01

To study the emotional responses of subjects to the International Affective Picture System (IAPS), infrared thermal facial image sequence is preprocessed for registration before further analysis such that the variance caused by minor and irregular subject movements is reduced. Without affecting the comfort level and inducing minimal harm, this study proposes an infrared thermal facial image sequence registration process that will reduce the deviations caused by the unconscious head shaking of the subjects. A fixed image for registration is produced through the localization of the centroid of the eye region as well as image translation and rotation processes. Thermal image sequencing will then be automatically registered using the two-stage genetic algorithm proposed. The deviation before and after image registration will be demonstrated by image quality indices. The results show that the infrared thermal image sequence registration process proposed in this study is effective in localizing facial images accurately, which will be beneficial to the correlation analysis of psychological information related to the facial area.

Arctic Clouds Infrared Imaging Field Campaign Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shaw, J. A.

2016-03-01

The Infrared Cloud Imager (ICI), a passive thermal imaging system, was deployed at the North Slope of Alaska site in Barrow, Alaska, from July 2012 to July 2014 for measuring spatial-temporal cloud statistics. Thermal imaging of the sky from the ground provides high radiometric contrast during night and polar winter when visible sensors and downward-viewing thermal sensors experience low contrast. In addition to demonstrating successful operation in the Arctic for an extended period and providing data for Arctic cloud studies, a primary objective of this deployment was to validate novel instrument calibration algorithms that will allow more compact ICI instrumentsmore » to be deployed without the added expense, weight, size, and operational difficulty of a large-aperture onboard blackbody calibration source. This objective was successfully completed with a comparison of the two-year data set calibrated with and without the onboard blackbody. The two different calibration methods produced daily-average cloud amount data sets with correlation coefficient = 0.99, mean difference = 0.0029 (i.e., 0.29% cloudiness), and a difference standard deviation = 0.054. Finally, the ICI instrument generally detected more thin clouds than reported by other ARM cloud products available as of late 2015.« less

Mid-infrared photodetectors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Guyot-Sionnest, Philippe; Keuleyan, Sean E.; Lhuillier, Emmanuel

2016-04-19

Nanoparticles, methods of manufacture, devices comprising the nanoparticles, methods of their manufacture, and methods of their use are provided herein. The nanoparticles and devices having photoabsorptions in the range of 1.7 .mu.m to 12 .mu.m and can be used as photoconductors, photodiodes, phototransistors, charge-coupled devices (CCD), luminescent probes, lasers, thermal imagers, night-vision systems, and/or photodetectors.

Multiscale Modeling of Ultra High Temperature Ceramics (UHTC) ZrB2 and HfB2: Application to Lattice Thermal Conductivity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lawson, John W.; Daw, Murray S.; Squire, Thomas H.; Bauschlicher, Charles W.

2012-01-01

We are developing a multiscale framework in computational modeling for the ultra high temperature ceramics (UHTC) ZrB2 and HfB2. These materials are characterized by high melting point, good strength, and reasonable oxidation resistance. They are candidate materials for a number of applications in extreme environments including sharp leading edges of hypersonic aircraft. In particular, we used a combination of ab initio methods, atomistic simulations and continuum computations to obtain insights into fundamental properties of these materials. Ab initio methods were used to compute basic structural, mechanical and thermal properties. From these results, a database was constructed to fit a Tersoff style interatomic potential suitable for atomistic simulations. These potentials were used to evaluate the lattice thermal conductivity of single crystals and the thermal resistance of simple grain boundaries. Finite element method (FEM) computations using atomistic results as inputs were performed with meshes constructed on SEM images thereby modeling the realistic microstructure. These continuum computations showed the reduction in thermal conductivity due to the grain boundary network.

Scanning thermal microscopy based on a quartz tuning fork and a micro-thermocouple in active mode (2ω method).

PubMed

Bontempi, Alexia; Nguyen, Tran Phong; Salut, Roland; Thiery, Laurent; Teyssieux, Damien; Vairac, Pascal

2016-06-01

A novel probe for scanning thermal microscope using a micro-thermocouple probe placed on a Quartz Tuning Fork (QTF) is presented. Instead of using an external deflection with a cantilever beam for contact detection, an original combination of piezoelectric resonator and thermal probe is employed. Due to a non-contact photothermal excitation principle, the high quality factor of the QTF allows the probe-to-surface contact detection. Topographic and thermal scanning images obtained on a specific sample points out the interest of our system as an alternative to cantilevered resistive probe systems which are the most spread.

Scanning thermal microscopy based on a quartz tuning fork and a micro-thermocouple in active mode (2ω method)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bontempi, Alexia; Nguyen, Tran Phong; Salut, Roland

A novel probe for scanning thermal microscope using a micro-thermocouple probe placed on a Quartz Tuning Fork (QTF) is presented. Instead of using an external deflection with a cantilever beam for contact detection, an original combination of piezoelectric resonator and thermal probe is employed. Due to a non-contact photothermal excitation principle, the high quality factor of the QTF allows the probe-to-surface contact detection. Topographic and thermal scanning images obtained on a specific sample points out the interest of our system as an alternative to cantilevered resistive probe systems which are the most spread.

Fabrication of Cellulose Nanofiber/AlOOH Aerogel for Flame Retardant and Thermal Insulation

PubMed Central

Fan, Bitao; Chen, Shujun; Yao, Qiufang; Sun, Qingfeng; Jin, Chunde

2017-01-01

Cellulose nanofiber/AlOOH aerogel for flame retardant and thermal insulation was successfully prepared through a hydrothermal method. Their flame retardant and thermal insulation properties were investigated. The morphology image of the cellulose nanofiber/AlOOH exhibited spherical AlOOH with an average diameter of 0.5 μm that was wrapped by cellulose nanofiber or adhered to them. Cellulose nanofiber/AlOOH composite aerogels exhibited excellent flame retardant and thermal insulation properties through the flammability test, which indicated that the as-prepared composite aerogels would have a promising future in the application of some important areas such as protection of lightweight construction materials. PMID:28772670

Time series analysis of infrared satellite data for detecting thermal anomalies: a hybrid approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koeppen, W. C.; Pilger, E.; Wright, R.

2011-07-01

We developed and tested an automated algorithm that analyzes thermal infrared satellite time series data to detect and quantify the excess energy radiated from thermal anomalies such as active volcanoes. Our algorithm enhances the previously developed MODVOLC approach, a simple point operation, by adding a more complex time series component based on the methods of the Robust Satellite Techniques (RST) algorithm. Using test sites at Anatahan and Kīlauea volcanoes, the hybrid time series approach detected ~15% more thermal anomalies than MODVOLC with very few, if any, known false detections. We also tested gas flares in the Cantarell oil field in the Gulf of Mexico as an end-member scenario representing very persistent thermal anomalies. At Cantarell, the hybrid algorithm showed only a slight improvement, but it did identify flares that were undetected by MODVOLC. We estimate that at least 80 MODIS images for each calendar month are required to create good reference images necessary for the time series analysis of the hybrid algorithm. The improved performance of the new algorithm over MODVOLC will result in the detection of low temperature thermal anomalies that will be useful in improving our ability to document Earth's volcanic eruptions, as well as detecting low temperature thermal precursors to larger eruptions.

Monitoring of concentrated radiation beam for photovoltaic and thermal solar energy conversion applications.

PubMed

Parretta, Antonio; Privato, Carlo; Nenna, Giuseppe; Antonini, Andrea; Stefancich, Marco

2006-10-20

Methods for evaluating the light intensity distribution on receivers of concentrated solar radiation systems are described. They are based on the use of Lambertian diffusers in place of the illuminated receiver and on the acquisition of the scattered light, in reflection or transmission mode, by a CCD camera. The spatial distribution of intensity radiation is then numerically derived from the recorded images via a proprietary code. The details of the method are presented and a short survey of the main applications of the method in the photovoltaic and thermal solar energy conversion field is proposed. Methods for investigating the Lambertian character of commercial diffusers are also discussed.

Pedestrian Detection and Tracking from Low-Resolution Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Thermal Imagery

PubMed Central

Ma, Yalong; Wu, Xinkai; Yu, Guizhen; Xu, Yongzheng; Wang, Yunpeng

2016-01-01

Driven by the prominent thermal signature of humans and following the growing availability of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), more and more research efforts have been focusing on the detection and tracking of pedestrians using thermal infrared images recorded from UAVs. However, pedestrian detection and tracking from the thermal images obtained from UAVs pose many challenges due to the low-resolution of imagery, platform motion, image instability and the relatively small size of the objects. This research tackles these challenges by proposing a pedestrian detection and tracking system. A two-stage blob-based approach is first developed for pedestrian detection. This approach first extracts pedestrian blobs using the regional gradient feature and geometric constraints filtering and then classifies the detected blobs by using a linear Support Vector Machine (SVM) with a hybrid descriptor, which sophisticatedly combines Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG) and Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) features in order to achieve accurate detection. This research further proposes an approach for pedestrian tracking. This approach employs the feature tracker with the update of detected pedestrian location to track pedestrian objects from the registered videos and extracts the motion trajectory data. The proposed detection and tracking approaches have been evaluated by multiple different datasets, and the results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods. This research is expected to significantly benefit many transportation applications, such as the multimodal traffic performance measure, pedestrian behavior study and pedestrian-vehicle crash analysis. Future work will focus on using fused thermal and visual images to further improve the detection efficiency and effectiveness. PMID:27023564

Pedestrian Detection and Tracking from Low-Resolution Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Thermal Imagery.

PubMed

Ma, Yalong; Wu, Xinkai; Yu, Guizhen; Xu, Yongzheng; Wang, Yunpeng

2016-03-26

Driven by the prominent thermal signature of humans and following the growing availability of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), more and more research efforts have been focusing on the detection and tracking of pedestrians using thermal infrared images recorded from UAVs. However, pedestrian detection and tracking from the thermal images obtained from UAVs pose many challenges due to the low-resolution of imagery, platform motion, image instability and the relatively small size of the objects. This research tackles these challenges by proposing a pedestrian detection and tracking system. A two-stage blob-based approach is first developed for pedestrian detection. This approach first extracts pedestrian blobs using the regional gradient feature and geometric constraints filtering and then classifies the detected blobs by using a linear Support Vector Machine (SVM) with a hybrid descriptor, which sophisticatedly combines Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG) and Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) features in order to achieve accurate detection. This research further proposes an approach for pedestrian tracking. This approach employs the feature tracker with the update of detected pedestrian location to track pedestrian objects from the registered videos and extracts the motion trajectory data. The proposed detection and tracking approaches have been evaluated by multiple different datasets, and the results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods. This research is expected to significantly benefit many transportation applications, such as the multimodal traffic performance measure, pedestrian behavior study and pedestrian-vehicle crash analysis. Future work will focus on using fused thermal and visual images to further improve the detection efficiency and effectiveness.

Nanoscale thermal imaging of dissipation in quantum systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Halbertal, D.; Cuppens, J.; Shalom, M. Ben; Embon, L.; Shadmi, N.; Anahory, Y.; Naren, H. R.; Sarkar, J.; Uri, A.; Ronen, Y.; Myasoedov, Y.; Levitov, L. S.; Joselevich, E.; Geim, A. K.; Zeldov, E.

2016-11-01

Energy dissipation is a fundamental process governing the dynamics of physical, chemical and biological systems. It is also one of the main characteristics that distinguish quantum from classical phenomena. In particular, in condensed matter physics, scattering mechanisms, loss of quantum information or breakdown of topological protection are deeply rooted in the intricate details of how and where the dissipation occurs. Yet the microscopic behaviour of a system is usually not formulated in terms of dissipation because energy dissipation is not a readily measurable quantity on the micrometre scale. Although nanoscale thermometry has gained much recent interest, existing thermal imaging methods are not sensitive enough for the study of quantum systems and are also unsuitable for the low-temperature operation that is required. Here we report a nano-thermometer based on a superconducting quantum interference device with a diameter of less than 50 nanometres that resides at the apex of a sharp pipette: it provides scanning cryogenic thermal sensing that is four orders of magnitude more sensitive than previous devices—below 1 μK Hz-1/2. This non-contact, non-invasive thermometry allows thermal imaging of very low intensity, nanoscale energy dissipation down to the fundamental Landauer limit of 40 femtowatts for continuous readout of a single qubit at one gigahertz at 4.2 kelvin. These advances enable the observation of changes in dissipation due to single-electron charging of individual quantum dots in carbon nanotubes. They also reveal a dissipation mechanism attributable to resonant localized states in graphene encapsulated within hexagonal boron nitride, opening the door to direct thermal imaging of nanoscale dissipation processes in quantum matter.

Image restoration method based on Hilbert transform for full-field optical coherence tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Na, Jihoon; Choi, Woo June; Choi, Eun Seo; Ryu, Seon Young; Lee, Byeong Ha

2008-01-01

A full-field optical coherence tomography (FF-OCT) system utilizing a simple but novel image restoration method suitable for a high-speed system is demonstrated. An en-face image is retrieved from only two phase-shifted interference fringe images through using the mathematical Hilbert transform. With a thermal light source, a high-resolution FF-OCT system having axial and transverse resolutions of 1 and 2.2 μm, respectively, was implemented. The feasibility of the proposed scheme is confirmed by presenting the obtained en-face images of biological samples such as a piece of garlic and a gold beetle. The proposed method is robust to the error in the amount of the phase shift and does not leave residual fringes. The use of just two interference images and the strong immunity to phase errors provide great advantages in the imaging speed and the system design flexibility of a high-speed high-resolution FF-OCT system.

Detection and classification of stress using thermal imaging technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hong, Kan; Yuen, Peter; Chen, Tong; Tsitiridis, Aristeidis; Kam, Firmin; Jackman, James; James, David; Richardson, Mark; Oxford, William; Piper, Jonathan; Thomas, Francis; Lightman, Stafford

2009-09-01

This paper reports how Electro-Optics (EO) technologies such as thermal and hyperspectral [1-3] imaging methods can be used for the detection of stress remotely. Emotional or physical stresses induce a surge of adrenaline in the blood stream under the command of the sympathetic nerve system, which, cannot be suppressed by training. The onset of this alleviated level of adrenaline triggers a number of physiological chain reactions in the body, such as dilation of pupil and an increased feed of blood to muscles etc. The capture of physiological responses, specifically the increase of blood volume to pupil, have been reported by Pavlidis's pioneer thermal imaging work [4-7] who has shown a remarkable increase of skin temperature in the periorbital region at the onset of stress. Our data has shown that other areas such as the forehead, neck and cheek also exhibit alleviated skin temperatures dependent on the types of stressors. Our result has also observed very similar thermal patterns due to physical exercising, to the one that induced by other physical stressors, apparently in contradiction to Pavlidis's work [8]. Furthermore, we have found patches of alleviated temperature regions in the forehead forming patterns characteristic to the types of stressors, dependent on whether they are physical or emotional in origin. These stress induced thermal patterns have been seen to be quite distinct to the one resulting from having high fever.

Superimpose methods for uncooled infrared camera applied to the micro-scale thermal characterization of composite materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morikawa, Junko

2015-05-01

The mobile type apparatus for a quantitative micro-scale thermography using a micro-bolometer was developed based on our original techniques such as an achromatic lens design to capture a micro-scale image in long-wave infrared, a video signal superimposing for the real time emissivity correction, and a pseudo acceleration of a timeframe. The total size of the instrument was designed as it was put in the 17 cm x 28 cm x 26 cm size carrying box. The video signal synthesizer enabled to record a direct digital signal of monitoring temperature or positioning data. The encoded digital signal data embedded in each image was decoded to read out. The protocol to encode/decode the measured data was originally defined. The mixed signals of IR camera and the imposed data were applied to the pixel by pixel emissivity corrections and the pseudo-acceleration of the periodical thermal phenomena. Because the emissivity of industrial materials and biological tissues were usually inhomogeneous, it has the different temperature dependence on each pixel. The time-scale resolution for the periodic thermal event was improved with the algorithm for "pseudoacceleration". It contributes to reduce the noise by integrating the multiple image data, keeping a time resolution. The anisotropic thermal properties of some composite materials such as thermal insulating materials of cellular plastics and the biometric composite materials were analyzed using these techniques.

Monitoring local heating around an interventional MRI antenna with RF radiometry

PubMed Central

Ertürk, M. Arcan; El-Sharkawy, AbdEl-Monem M.; Bottomley, Paul A.

2015-01-01

Purpose: Radiofrequency (RF) radiometry uses thermal noise detected by an antenna to measure the temperature of objects independent of medical imaging technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Here, an active interventional MRI antenna can be deployed as a RF radiometer to measure local heating, as a possible new method of monitoring device safety and thermal therapy. Methods: A 128 MHz radiometer receiver was fabricated to measure the RF noise voltage from an interventional 3 T MRI loopless antenna and calibrated for temperature in a uniformly heated bioanalogous gel phantom. Local heating (ΔT) was induced using the antenna for RF transmission and measured by RF radiometry, fiber-optic thermal sensors, and MRI thermometry. The spatial thermal sensitivity of the antenna radiometer was numerically computed using a method-of-moment electric field analyses. The gel’s thermal conductivity was measured by MRI thermometry, and the localized time-dependent ΔT distribution computed from the bioheat transfer equation and compared with radiometry measurements. A “H-factor” relating the 1 g-averaged ΔT to the radiometric temperature was introduced to estimate peak temperature rise in the antenna’s sensitive region. Results: The loopless antenna radiometer linearly tracked temperature inside a thermally equilibrated phantom up to 73 °C to within ±0.3 °C at a 2 Hz sample rate. Computed and MRI thermometric measures of peak ΔT agreed within 13%. The peak 1 g-average temperature was H = 1.36 ± 0.02 times higher than the radiometric temperature for any media with a thermal conductivity of 0.15–0.50 (W/m)/K, indicating that the radiometer can measure peak 1 g-averaged ΔT in physiologically relevant tissue within ±0.4 °C. Conclusions: Active internal MRI detectors can serve as RF radiometers at the MRI frequency to provide accurate independent measures of local and peak temperature without the artifacts that can accompany MRI thermometry or the extra space needed to accommodate alternative thermal transducers. A RF radiometer could be integrated in a MRI scanner to permit “self-monitoring” for assuring device safety and/or monitoring delivery of thermal therapy. PMID:25735295

Formation of the image on the receiver of thermal radiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akimenko, Tatiana A.

2018-04-01

The formation of the thermal picture of the observed scene with the verification of the quality of the thermal images obtained is one of the important stages of the technological process that determine the quality of the thermal imaging observation system. In this article propose to consider a model for the formation of a thermal picture of a scene, which must take into account: the features of the object of observation as the source of the signal; signal transmission through the physical elements of the thermal imaging system that produce signal processing at the optical, photoelectronic and electronic stages, which determines the final parameters of the signal and its compliance with the requirements for thermal information and measurement systems.

Thermal imaging as a lie detection tool at airports.

PubMed

Warmelink, Lara; Vrij, Aldert; Mann, Samantha; Leal, Sharon; Forrester, Dave; Fisher, Ronald P

2011-02-01

We tested the accuracy of thermal imaging as a lie detection tool in airport screening. Fifty-one passengers in an international airport departure hall told the truth or lied about their forthcoming trip in an interview. Their skin temperature was recorded via a thermal imaging camera. Liars' skin temperature rose significantly during the interview, whereas truth tellers' skin temperature remained constant. On the basis of these different patterns, 64% of truth tellers and 69% of liars were classified correctly. The interviewers made veracity judgements independently from the thermal recordings. The interviewers outperformed the thermal recordings and classified 72% of truth tellers and 77% of liars correctly. Accuracy rates based on the combination of thermal imaging scores and interviewers' judgements were the same as accuracy rates based on interviewers' judgements alone. Implications of the findings for the suitability of thermal imaging as a lie detection tool in airports are discussed.

Mid-Infrared Lifetime Imaging for Viability Evaluation of Lettuce Seeds Based on Time-Dependent Thermal Decay Characterization

PubMed Central

Kim, Ghiseok; Kim, Geon Hee; Ahn, Chi-Kook; Yoo, Yoonkyu; Cho, Byoung-Kwan

2013-01-01

An infrared lifetime thermal imaging technique for the measurement of lettuce seed viability was evaluated. Thermal emission signals from mid-infrared images of healthy seeds and seeds aged for 24, 48, and 72 h were obtained and reconstructed using regression analysis. The emission signals were fitted with a two-term exponential model that had two amplitudes and two time variables as lifetime parameters. The lifetime thermal decay parameters were significantly different for seeds with different aging times. Single-seed viability was visualized using thermal lifetime images constructed from the calculated lifetime parameter values. The time-dependent thermal signal decay characteristics, along with the decay amplitude and delay time images, can be used to distinguish aged lettuce seeds from normal seeds. PMID:23529120

Nanostructured Antireflective and Thermoisolative Cicada Wings.

PubMed

Morikawa, Junko; Ryu, Meguya; Seniutinas, Gediminas; Balčytis, Armandas; Maximova, Ksenia; Wang, Xuewen; Zamengo, Massimiliano; Ivanova, Elena P; Juodkazis, Saulius

2016-05-10

Inter-related mechanical, thermal, and optical macroscopic properties of biomaterials are defined at the nanoscale by their constituent structures and patterns, which underpin complex functions of an entire bio-object. Here, the temperature diffusivity of a cicada (Cyclochila australasiae) wing with nanotextured surfaces was measured using two complementary techniques: a direct contact method and IR imaging. The 4-6-μm-thick wing section was shown to have a thermal diffusivity of α⊥ = (0.71 ± 0.15) × 10(-7) m(2)/s, as measured by the contact temperature wave method along the thickness of the wing; it corresponds to the inherent thermal property of the cuticle. The in-plane thermal diffusivity value of the wing was determined by IR imaging and was considerably larger at α∥ = (3.6 ± 0.2) × 10(-7) m(2)/s as a result of heat transport via air. Optical properties of wings covered with nanospikes were numerically simulated using an accurate 3D model of the wing pattern and showed that light is concentrated between spikes where intensity is enhanced by up to 3- to 4-fold. The closely packed pattern of nanospikes reduces the reflectivity of the wing throughout the visible light spectrum and over a wide range of incident angles, hence acting as an antireflection coating.

Evaluation of coating thickness by thermal wave imaging: A comparative study of pulsed and lock-in infrared thermography - Part I: Simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shrestha, Ranjit; Kim, Wontae

2017-06-01

This paper investigates the possibilities of evaluating non-uniform coating thickness using thermal wave imaging method. A comparative study of pulsed thermography (PT) and lock-in thermography (LIT) based on evaluating the accuracy of predicted coating thickness is presented. In this study, a transient thermal finite element model was created in ANSYS 15. A single square pulse heating for PT and a sinusoidal heating at different modulation frequencies for LIT were used to stimulate the sample according to the experimental procedures. The response of thermally excited surface was recorded and data processing with Fourier transform was carried out to obtain the phase angle. Then calculated phase angle was correlated with the coating thickness. The method demonstrated potential in the evaluation of coating thickness and was successfully applied to measure the non-uniform top layers ranging from 0.1 mm to 0.6 mm; within an accuracy of 0.0003-0.0023 mm for PT and 0.0003-0.0067 mm for LIT. The simulation model enabled a better understanding of PT and LIT and provided a means of establishing the required experimental set-up parameters. This also led to optimization of experimental configurations, thus limiting the number of physical tests necessary.

A new method of field MRTD test

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Zhibin; Song, Yan; Liu, Xianhong; Xiao, Wenjian

2014-09-01

MRTD is an important indicator to measure the imaging performance of infrared camera. In the traditional laboratory test, blackbody is used as simulated heat source which is not only expensive and bulky but also difficult to meet field testing requirements of online automatic infrared camera MRTD. To solve this problem, this paper introduces a new detection device for MRTD, which uses LED as a simulation heat source and branded plated zinc sulfide glass carved four-bar target as a simulation target. By using high temperature adaptability cassegrain collimation system, the target is simulated to be distance-infinite so that it can be observed by the human eyes to complete the subjective test, or collected to complete objective measurement by image processing. This method will use LED to replace blackbody. The color temperature of LED is calibrated by thermal imager, thereby, the relation curve between the LED temperature controlling current and the blackbody simulation temperature difference is established, accurately achieved the temperature control of the infrared target. Experimental results show that the accuracy of the device in field testing of thermal imager MRTD can be limited within 0.1K, which greatly reduces the cost to meet the project requirements with a wide application value.

Application methods of infrared thermal images in the health care field of traditional Chinese medicine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Ziru; Zhang, Xusheng

2008-12-01

Infrared thermal imaging (ITI) is the potential imaging technique for the health care field of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Successful application demands obeying the characteristics and regularity of the ITI of human body and designing rigorous trials. First, the influence of time must be taken into account as the ITI of human body varies with time markedly. Second, relative magnitude is preferred to be the index of the image features. Third, scatter diagrams and the method of least square could present important information for evaluating the health care effect. A double-blind placebo-controlled randomized trial was undertaken to study the influences of Shengsheng capsule, one of the TCM health food with immunity adjustment function, on the ITI of human body. The results showed that the effect of Shengsheng capsule to people with weak constitution or in the period of being weak could be reflected objectively by ITI. The relative efficacy rate was 81.3% for the trial group and 30.0% for the control group, there was significant difference between the two groups (P=0.003). So the sensitivity and objectivity of ITI are of great importance to the health care field of TCM.

The analysis and rationale behind the upgrading of existing standard definition thermal imagers to high definition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goss, Tristan M.

2016-05-01

With 640x512 pixel format IR detector arrays having been on the market for the past decade, Standard Definition (SD) thermal imaging sensors have been developed and deployed across the world. Now with 1280x1024 pixel format IR detector arrays becoming readily available designers of thermal imager systems face new challenges as pixel sizes reduce and the demand and applications for High Definition (HD) thermal imaging sensors increases. In many instances the upgrading of existing under-sampled SD thermal imaging sensors into more optimally sampled or oversampled HD thermal imaging sensors provides a more cost effective and reduced time to market option than to design and develop a completely new sensor. This paper presents the analysis and rationale behind the selection of the best suited HD pixel format MWIR detector for the upgrade of an existing SD thermal imaging sensor to a higher performing HD thermal imaging sensor. Several commercially available and "soon to be" commercially available HD small pixel IR detector options are included as part of the analysis and are considered for this upgrade. The impact the proposed detectors have on the sensor's overall sensitivity, noise and resolution is analyzed, and the improved range performance is predicted. Furthermore with reduced dark currents due to the smaller pixel sizes, the candidate HD MWIR detectors are operated at higher temperatures when compared to their SD predecessors. Therefore, as an additional constraint and as a design goal, the feasibility of achieving upgraded performance without any increase in the size, weight and power consumption of the thermal imager is discussed herein.

Thermographic imaging of the space shuttle during re-entry using a near-infrared sensor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zalameda, Joseph N.; Horvath, Thomas J.; Kerns, Robbie V.; Burke, Eric R.; Taylor, Jeff C.; Spisz, Tom; Gibson, David M.; Shea, Edward J.; Mercer, C. David; Schwartz, Richard J.; Tack, Steve; Bush, Brett C.; Dantowitz, Ronald F.; Kozubal, Marek J.

2012-06-01

High resolution calibrated near infrared (NIR) imagery of the Space Shuttle Orbiter was obtained during hypervelocity atmospheric re-entry of the STS-119, STS-125, STS-128, STS-131, STS-132, STS-133, and STS-134 missions. This data has provided information on the distribution of surface temperature and the state of the airflow over the windward surface of the Orbiter during descent. The thermal imagery complemented data collected with onboard surface thermocouple instrumentation. The spatially resolved global thermal measurements made during the Orbiter's hypersonic re-entry will provide critical flight data for reducing the uncertainty associated with present day ground-to-flight extrapolation techniques and current state-of-the-art empirical boundary-layer transition or turbulent heating prediction methods. Laminar and turbulent flight data is critical for the validation of physics-based, semi-empirical boundary-layer transition prediction methods as well as stimulating the validation of laminar numerical chemistry models and the development of turbulence models supporting NASA's next-generation spacecraft. In this paper we provide details of the NIR imaging system used on both air and land-based imaging assets. The paper will discuss calibrations performed on the NIR imaging systems that permitted conversion of captured radiant intensity (counts) to temperature values. Image processing techniques are presented to analyze the NIR data for vignetting distortion, best resolution, and image sharpness.

Superimpose signal processing method for micro-scale thermal imaging of solar salts at high temperature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morikawa, Junko; Zamengo, Massimiliano; Kato, Yukitaka

2016-05-01

The global interest in energy applications activates the advanced study about the molten salts in the usage of fluids in the power cycle, such as for transport and heat storage in solar power facilities. However, the basic properties of molten salts show a general scattering in characterization especially in thermal properties. It is suggested that new studies are required on the measurement of thermal properties of solar salts using recent technologies. In this study, micro-scale heat transfer and phase change in molten salts are presented using our originally developed device: the micro-bolometer Infrared focal plane arrays (IR FPA) measuring system is a portable type instrument, which is re-designed to measure the thermal phenomena in high temperature up to 700 °C or higher. The superimpose system is newly setup adjusted to the signal processing in high temperature to realize the quantitative thermal imaging, simultaneously. The portable type apparatus for a quantitative micro-scale thermography using a micro-bolometer has been proposed based on an achromatic lens design to capture a micro-scale image in the long-wave infrared, a video signal superimposing for the real time emissivity correction, and a pseudo acceleration of a timeframe. Combined with the superimpose technique, the micro-scale thermal imaging in high temperature is achieved and the molten flows of the solar salts, sodium nitrate, and potassium nitrate are successfully observed. The solar salt, the mixture of sodium nitrate and potassium nitrate, shows a different shape of exothermic heat front morphology in the lower phase transition (solidification) temperature than the nitrates on cooling. The proposed measuring technique will be utilized to accelerate the screening step to determine the phase diagram and the eutectics of the multiple mixtures of candidate molten salts, which may be used as heat transport medium from the concentrated solar power to a processing plant for thermal energy storage.

Frame Rate Considerations for Real-Time Abdominal Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse Imaging

PubMed Central

Fahey, Brian J.; Palmeri, Mark L.; Trahey, Gregg E.

2008-01-01

With the advent of real-time Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse (ARFI) imaging, elevated frame rates are both desirable and relevant from a clinical perspective. However, fundamental limitations on frame rates are imposed by thermal safety concerns related to incident radiation force pulses. Abdominal ARFI imaging utilizes a curvilinear scanning geometry that results in markedly different tissue heating patterns than those previously studied for linear arrays or mechanically-translated concave transducers. Finite Element Method (FEM) models were used to simulate these tissue heating patterns and to analyze the impact of tissue heating on frame rates available for abdominal ARFI imaging. A perfusion model was implemented to account for cooling effects due to blood flow and frame rate limitations were evaluated in the presence of normal, reduced and negligible tissue perfusions. Conventional ARFI acquisition techniques were also compared to ARFI imaging with parallel receive tracking in terms of thermal efficiency. Additionally, thermocouple measurements of transducer face temperature increases were acquired to assess the frame rate limitations imposed by cumulative heating of the imaging array. Frame rates sufficient for many abdominal imaging applications were found to be safely achievable utilizing available ARFI imaging techniques. PMID:17521042

NASA Electronic Parts and Packaging (NEPP) Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Agarwal, Shri

2012-01-01

Recent Findings from Audits, New Technology Data Reviews a) Disabled Chip Burn-ins A recent audit for a QML device discovered that the chip was disabled during the static burn-in, thus it was not drawing any current. Recommendation: For new SMDs add a statement within the burn-in paragraphs stating that the parts shall be kept in their enabled state during the burn-in. b) Class Q 160-hr/125oC Burn-in This is being interpreted as a static burn-in (even for CMOS technology). Recommendation: Provide clarification in MIL-STD-883, Test Method 5004. c) At Frequency (Dynamic) Burn-ins Test equipment limitation is being cited for not doing burn-ins at the application frequency. Recommendation: The burn-in task group to discuss and provide guidance. When the SMD says that the part can be used at 200 MHz, then doing burn-in at 6 MHz (cited as burn-in equipment limitation frequency) is not going to be meaningful! d) Two Static Burn-ins Some manufacturers are doing electrical testing between the two static burn-ins, whereas others do electricals after completing both static burn-ins. Recommendation: Provide clarification in MIL-STD-883, Test Method 5004. e) Thermal Imaging For a device with hot spots, the thermal resistance, junction-to-case, would be much higher than the guidelines given in MIL-STD-1835. One of the suppliers used thermal imaging to find hot spots on the die. Recommendation: Assign a task group to evaluate the effectiveness of thermal imaging at the product development stage.

Tunable Multifunctional Thermal Metamaterials: Manipulation of Local Heat Flux via Assembly of Unit-Cell Thermal Shifters

PubMed Central

Park, Gwanwoo; Kang, Sunggu; Lee, Howon; Choi, Wonjoon

2017-01-01

Thermal metamaterials, designed by transformation thermodynamics are artificial structures that can actively control heat flux at a continuum scale. However, fabrication of them is very challenging because it requires a continuous change of thermal properties in materials, for one specific function. Herein, we introduce tunable thermal metamaterials that use the assembly of unit-cell thermal shifters for a remarkable enhancement in multifunctionality as well as manufacturability. Similar to the digitization of a two-dimensional image, designed thermal metamaterials by transformation thermodynamics are disassembled as unit-cells thermal shifters in tiny areas, representing discretized heat flux lines in local spots. The programmed-reassembly of thermal shifters inspired by LEGO enable the four significant functions of thermal metamaterials—shield, concentrator, diffuser, and rotator—in both simulation and experimental verification using finite element method and fabricated structures made from copper and PDMS. This work paves the way for overcoming the structural and functional limitations of thermal metamaterials. PMID:28106156

Tunable Multifunctional Thermal Metamaterials: Manipulation of Local Heat Flux via Assembly of Unit-Cell Thermal Shifters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Gwanwoo; Kang, Sunggu; Lee, Howon; Choi, Wonjoon

2017-01-01

Thermal metamaterials, designed by transformation thermodynamics are artificial structures that can actively control heat flux at a continuum scale. However, fabrication of them is very challenging because it requires a continuous change of thermal properties in materials, for one specific function. Herein, we introduce tunable thermal metamaterials that use the assembly of unit-cell thermal shifters for a remarkable enhancement in multifunctionality as well as manufacturability. Similar to the digitization of a two-dimensional image, designed thermal metamaterials by transformation thermodynamics are disassembled as unit-cells thermal shifters in tiny areas, representing discretized heat flux lines in local spots. The programmed-reassembly of thermal shifters inspired by LEGO enable the four significant functions of thermal metamaterials—shield, concentrator, diffuser, and rotator—in both simulation and experimental verification using finite element method and fabricated structures made from copper and PDMS. This work paves the way for overcoming the structural and functional limitations of thermal metamaterials.

Multiscale Modeling of Grain Boundaries in ZrB2: Structure, Energetics, and Thermal Resistance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lawson, John W.; Daw, Murray S.; Squire, Thomas H.; Bauschlicher, Charles W., Jr.

2012-01-01

A combination of ab initio, atomistic and finite element methods (FEM) were used to investigate the structures, energetics and lattice thermal conductance of grain boundaries for the ultra high temperature ceramic ZrB2. Atomic models of idealized boundaries were relaxed using density functional theory. Information about bonding across the interfaces was determined from the electron localization function. The Kapitza conductance of larger scale versions of the boundary models were computed using non-equilibrium molecular dynamics. The interfacial thermal parameters together with single crystal thermal conductivities were used as parameters in microstructural computations. FEM meshes were constructed on top of microstructural images. From these computations, the effective thermal conductivity of the polycrystalline structure was determined.

A robust sub-pixel edge detection method of infrared image based on tremor-based retinal receptive field model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Kun; Yang, Hu; Chen, Xiaomei; Ni, Guoqiang

2008-03-01

Because of complex thermal objects in an infrared image, the prevalent image edge detection operators are often suitable for a certain scene and extract too wide edges sometimes. From a biological point of view, the image edge detection operators work reliably when assuming a convolution-based receptive field architecture. A DoG (Difference-of- Gaussians) model filter based on ON-center retinal ganglion cell receptive field architecture with artificial eye tremors introduced is proposed for the image contour detection. Aiming at the blurred edges of an infrared image, the subsequent orthogonal polynomial interpolation and sub-pixel level edge detection in rough edge pixel neighborhood is adopted to locate the foregoing rough edges in sub-pixel level. Numerical simulations show that this method can locate the target edge accurately and robustly.

An Approach for the Visualization of Temperature Distribution in Tissues According to Changes in Ultrasonic Backscattered Energy

PubMed Central

Li, Qiang; Liu, Hao-Li; Chen, Wen-Shiang

2013-01-01

Previous studies developed ultrasound temperature-imaging methods based on changes in backscattered energy (CBE) to monitor variations in temperature during hyperthermia. In conventional CBE imaging, tracking and compensation of the echo shift due to temperature increase need to be done. Moreover, the CBE image does not enable visualization of the temperature distribution in tissues during nonuniform heating, which limits its clinical application in guidance of tissue ablation treatment. In this study, we investigated a CBE imaging method based on the sliding window technique and the polynomial approximation of the integrated CBE (ICBEpa image) to overcome the difficulties of conventional CBE imaging. We conducted experiments with tissue samples of pork tenderloin ablated by microwave irradiation to validate the feasibility of the proposed method. During ablation, the raw backscattered signals were acquired using an ultrasound scanner for B-mode and ICBEpa imaging. The experimental results showed that the proposed ICBEpa image can visualize the temperature distribution in a tissue with a very good contrast. Moreover, tracking and compensation of the echo shift were not necessary when using the ICBEpa image to visualize the temperature profile. The experimental findings suggested that the ICBEpa image, a new CBE imaging method, has a great potential in CBE-based imaging of hyperthermia and other thermal therapies. PMID:24260041

Making Heat Visible: Promoting Energy Conservation Behaviors Through Thermal Imaging.

PubMed

Goodhew, Julie; Pahl, Sabine; Auburn, Tim; Goodhew, Steve

2015-12-01

Householders play a role in energy conservation through the decisions they make about purchases and installations such as insulation, and through their habitual behavior. The present U.K. study investigated the effect of thermal imaging technology on energy conservation, by measuring the behavioral effect after householders viewed images of heat escaping from or cold air entering their homes. In Study 1 ( n = 43), householders who received a thermal image reduced their energy use at a 1-year follow-up, whereas householders who received a carbon footprint audit and a non-intervention control demonstrated no change. In Study 2 ( n = 87), householders were nearly 5 times more likely to install draught proofing measures after seeing a thermal image. The effect was especially pronounced for actions that addressed an issue visible in the images. Findings indicate that using thermal imaging to make heat loss visible can promote energy conservation.

Comparison of the signal-to-noise characteristics of quantum versus thermal ghost imaging

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

O'Sullivan, Malcolm N.; Chan, Kam Wai Clifford; Boyd, Robert W.

2010-11-15

We present a theoretical comparison of the signal-to-noise characteristics of quantum versus thermal ghost imaging. We first calculate the signal-to-noise ratio of each process in terms of its controllable experimental conditions. We show that a key distinction is that a thermal ghost image always resides on top of a large background; the fluctuations in this background constitutes an intrinsic noise source for thermal ghost imaging. In contrast, there is a negligible intrinsic background to a quantum ghost image. However, for practical reasons involving achievable illumination levels, acquisition times for thermal ghost images are often much shorter than those for quantummore » ghost images. We provide quantitative predictions for the conditions under which each process provides superior performance. Our conclusion is that each process can provide useful functionality, although under complementary conditions.« less

IRIS family of IRCCD thermal imagers integrating long-life cryogenic coolers, sophisticated algorithms for image enhancement, and hot points detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dupuy, Pascal; Harter, Jean

1995-09-01

Iris is a modular infrared thermal image developed by SAGEM since 1988, based on a 288 by 4 IRCCD detector. The first section of the presentation gives a description of the different modules of the IRIS thermal imager and their evolution in recent years. The second section covers the description of the major evolution, namely the integrated detector cooler assembly (IDCA), using a SOFRADIR 288 by 4 detector and a SAGEM microcooler, now integrated in the IRIS thermal imagers. The third section gives the description of two functions integrated in the IRIS thermal imager: (1) image enhancement, using a digital convolution filter, and (2) automatic hot points detection and tracking, offering an assistance to surveillance and automatic detection. The last section presents several programs for navy, air forces, and land applications for which IRIS has already been selected and achieved.

Inverting a dispersive scene's side-scanned image

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Harger, R. O.

1983-01-01

Consideration is given to the problem of using a remotely sensed, side-scanned image of a time-variant scene, which changes according to a dispersion relation, to estimate the structure at a given moment. Additive thermal noise is neglected in the models considered in the formal treatment. It is shown that the dispersion relation is normalized by the scanning velocity, as is the group scanning velocity component. An inversion operation is defined for noise-free images generated by SAR. The method is extended to the inversion of noisy imagery, and a formulation is defined for spectral density estimation. Finally, the methods for a radar system are used for the case of sonar.

Simultaneous Noncontact Precision Imaging of Microstructural and Thickness Variation in Dielectric Materials Using Terahertz Energy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roth, Don J.; Seebo, Jeffrey P.; Winfree, William P.

2008-01-01

This article describes a noncontact single-sided terahertz electromagnetic measurement and imaging method that simultaneously characterizes microstructural (egs. spatially-lateral density) and thickness variation in dielectric (insulating) materials. The method was demonstrated for two materials-Space Shuttle External Tank sprayed-on foam insulation and a silicon nitride ceramic. It is believed that this method can be used as an inspection method for current and future NASA thermal protection system and other dielectric material inspection applications, where microstructural and thickness variation require precision mapping. Scale-up to more complex shapes such as cylindrical structures and structures with beveled regions would appear to be feasible.

Contrast Enhancement for Thermal Acoustic Breast Cancer Imaging via Resonant Stimulation

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-01

AD_________________ Award Number: W81XWH-06-1-0389 TITLE: Contrast Enhancement for Thermal...5a. CONTRACT NUMBER Contrast Enhancement for Thermal Acoustic Breast Cancer Imaging via Resonant Stimulation 5b. GRANT NUMBER W81XWH-06-1-0389...13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 14. ABSTRACT This research plans to develop enhanced contrast thermal acoustic imaging (TAI) technology for the

Industrial application of thermal image processing and thermal control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kong, Lingxue

2001-09-01

Industrial application of infrared thermography is virtually boundless as it can be used in any situations where there are temperature differences. This technology has particularly been widely used in automotive industry for process evaluation and system design. In this work, thermal image processing technique will be introduced to quantitatively calculate the heat stored in a warm/hot object and consequently, a thermal control system will be proposed to accurately and actively manage the thermal distribution within the object in accordance with the heat calculated from the thermal images.

Non-invasive estimation of temperature using diagnostic ultrasound during HIFU therapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Georg, O.; Wilkens, V.

2017-03-01

The use of HIFU for thermal ablation of human tissues requires safe real-time monitoring of the lesion formation during the treatment to avoid damage of the surrounding healthy tissues and to control temperature rise. Besides MR imaging, several methods have been proposed for temperature imaging using diagnostic ultrasound, and echoshift estimation (using speckle tracking) is the most promising and commonly used technique. It is based on the thermal dependence of the ultrasound echo that accounts for two different physical phenomena: local change in speed of sound and thermal expansion of the propagating medium due to changes in temperature. In our experiments we have used two separate transducers: HIFU exposure was performed using a 1.06 MHz single element focusing transducer of 64 mm aperture and 63.2 mm focal length; the ultrasound diagnostic probe of 11 MHz operated in B-mode for image guidance. The temperature measurements were performed in an agar-based tissue-mimicking phantom. To verify the obtained results, numerical modeling of the acoustic and temperature fields was carried out using KZK and Pennes Bioheat equations, as well as measurements with thermocouples were performed.

Kalman filtered MR temperature imaging for laser induced thermal therapies.

PubMed

Fuentes, D; Yung, J; Hazle, J D; Weinberg, J S; Stafford, R J

2012-04-01

The feasibility of using a stochastic form of Pennes bioheat model within a 3-D finite element based Kalman filter (KF) algorithm is critically evaluated for the ability to provide temperature field estimates in the event of magnetic resonance temperature imaging (MRTI) data loss during laser induced thermal therapy (LITT). The ability to recover missing MRTI data was analyzed by systematically removing spatiotemporal information from a clinical MR-guided LITT procedure in human brain and comparing predictions in these regions to the original measurements. Performance was quantitatively evaluated in terms of a dimensionless L(2) (RMS) norm of the temperature error weighted by acquisition uncertainty. During periods of no data corruption, observed error histories demonstrate that the Kalman algorithm does not alter the high quality temperature measurement provided by MR thermal imaging. The KF-MRTI implementation considered is seen to predict the bioheat transfer with RMS error < 4 for a short period of time, ∆t < 10 s, until the data corruption subsides. In its present form, the KF-MRTI method currently fails to compensate for consecutive for consecutive time periods of data loss ∆t > 10 sec.

Automated coronal hole identification via multi-thermal intensity segmentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garton, Tadhg M.; Gallagher, Peter T.; Murray, Sophie A.

2018-01-01

Coronal holes (CH) are regions of open magnetic fields that appear as dark areas in the solar corona due to their low density and temperature compared to the surrounding quiet corona. To date, accurate identification and segmentation of CHs has been a difficult task due to their comparable intensity to local quiet Sun regions. Current segmentation methods typically rely on the use of single Extreme Ultra-Violet passband and magnetogram images to extract CH information. Here, the coronal hole identification via multi-thermal emission recognition algorithm (CHIMERA) is described, which analyses multi-thermal images from the atmospheric image assembly (AIA) onboard the solar dynamics observatory (SDO) to segment coronal hole boundaries by their intensity ratio across three passbands (171 Å, 193 Å, and 211 Å). The algorithm allows accurate extraction of CH boundaries and many of their properties, such as area, position, latitudinal and longitudinal width, and magnetic polarity of segmented CHs. From these properties, a clear linear relationship was identified between the duration of geomagnetic storms and coronal hole areas. CHIMERA can therefore form the basis of more accurate forecasting of the start and duration of geomagnetic storms.

Surface Chemistry Manipulation of Gold Nanorods Displays High Cellular Uptake In Vitro While Preserving Optical Properties for Bio-Imaging and Photo-Thermal Applications

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-28

PROPERTIES FOR BIO -IMAGING AND PHOTO-THERMAL APPLICATIONS ANTHONY B. POLITO III, Maj, USAF, BSC, PhD, MT(ASCP)SBB March 2016 Final Report for March...HIGH CELLULAR UPTAKE IN VITRO WHILE PRESERVING OPTICAL PROPERTIES FOR BIO -IMAGING AND PHOTO-THERMAL APPLICATIONS. 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b...These findings identify MTAB-TA GNRs as prime candidates for use in nano-based bio -imaging and photo-thermal applications. 15. SUBJECT TERMS

Automatic visibility retrieval from thermal camera images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dizerens, Céline; Ott, Beat; Wellig, Peter; Wunderle, Stefan

2017-10-01

This study presents an automatic visibility retrieval of a FLIR A320 Stationary Thermal Imager installed on a measurement tower on the mountain Lagern located in the Swiss Jura Mountains. Our visibility retrieval makes use of edges that are automatically detected from thermal camera images. Predefined target regions, such as mountain silhouettes or buildings with high thermal differences to the surroundings, are used to derive the maximum visibility distance that is detectable in the image. To allow a stable, automatic processing, our procedure additionally removes noise in the image and includes automatic image alignment to correct small shifts of the camera. We present a detailed analysis of visibility derived from more than 24000 thermal images of the years 2015 and 2016 by comparing them to (1) visibility derived from a panoramic camera image (VISrange), (2) measurements of a forward-scatter visibility meter (Vaisala FD12 working in the NIR spectra), and (3) modeled visibility values using the Thermal Range Model TRM4. Atmospheric conditions, mainly water vapor from European Center for Medium Weather Forecast (ECMWF), were considered to calculate the extinction coefficients using MODTRAN. The automatic visibility retrieval based on FLIR A320 images is often in good agreement with the retrieval from the systems working in different spectral ranges. However, some significant differences were detected as well, depending on weather conditions, thermal differences of the monitored landscape, and defined target size.

Method and apparatus for detecting irregularities on or in the wall of a vessel

DOEpatents

Bowling, Michael Keith

2000-09-12

A method of detecting irregularities on or in the wall of a vessel by detecting localized spatial temperature differentials on the wall surface, comprising scanning the vessel surface with a thermal imaging camera and recording the position of the or each region for which the thermal image from the camera is indicative of such a temperature differential across the region. The spatial temperature differential may be formed by bacterial growth on the vessel surface; alternatively, it may be the result of defects in the vessel wall such as thin regions or pin holes or cracks. The detection of leaks through the vessel wall may be enhanced by applying a pressure differential or a temperature differential across the vessel wall; the testing for leaks may be performed with the vessel full or empty, and from the inside or the outside.

Temperature measurement by thermal strain imaging with diagnostic power ultrasound, with potential for thermal index determination.

PubMed

Liang, Hai-Dong; Zhou, Li-Xia; Wells, Peter N T; Halliwell, Michael

2009-05-01

Over the years, there has been a substantial increase in acoustic exposure in diagnostic ultrasound as new imaging modalities with higher intensities and frame rates have been introduced; and more electronic components have been packed into the probe head, so that there is a tendency for it to become hotter. With respect to potential thermal effects, including those which may be hazardous occurring during ultrasound scanning, there is a correspondingly growing need for in vivo techniques to guide the operator as to the actual temperature rise occurring in the examined tissues. Therefore, an in vivo temperature estimator would be of considerable practical value. The commonly-used method of tissue thermal index (TI) measurement with a hydrophone in water could underestimate the actual value of TI (in one report by as much as 2.9 times). To obtain meaningful results, it is necessary to map the temperature elevation in 2-D (or 3-D) space. We present methodology, results and validation of a 2-D spatial and temporal thermal strain ultrasound temperature estimation technique in phantoms, and its apparently novel application in tracking the evolution of heat deposition at diagnostic exposure levels. The same ultrasound probe is used for both transmission and reception. The displacement and thermal strain estimation methods are similar to those used in high-intensity focused ultrasound thermal monitoring. The use of radiofrequency signals permits the application of cross correlation as a similarity measurement for tracking feature displacement. The displacement is used to calculate the thermal strain directly related to the temperature rise. Good agreement was observed between the temperature rise and the ultrasound power and scan duration. Thermal strain up to 1.4% was observed during 4000-s scan. Based on the results obtained for the temperature range studied in this work, the technique demonstrates potential for applicability in phantom (and possibly in vivo tissue) temperature measurement for the determination of TI.

Real Time Fatigue Damage Growth Assessment of a Composite Three-Stringer Panel Using Passive Thermography

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zalameda, Joseph N.; Burke, Eric R.; Horne, Michael R.; Bly, James B.

2015-01-01

Fatigue testing of advanced composite structures is critical to validate both structural designs and damage prediction models. In-situ inspection methods are necessary to track damage onset and growth as a function of load cycles. Passive thermography is a large area, noncontact inspection technique that is used to detect composite damage onset and growth in real time as a function of fatigue cycles. The thermal images are acquired in synchronicity to the applied compressive load using a dual infrared camera acquisition system for full (front and back) coverage. Image processing algorithms are investigated to increase defect contrast areas. The thermal results are compared to non-immersion ultrasound inspections and acoustic emission data.

Thermal-Wave Imaging.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosencwaig, Allan

1982-01-01

Thermal features of and beneath the surface of a sample can be detected and imaged with a thermal-wave microscope. Various methodologies for the excitation and detection of thermal waves are discussed, and several applications, primarily in microelectronics, are presented. (Author)

Experimental Verification of Sparse Aperture Mask for Low Order Wavefront Sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Subedi, Hari; Kasdin, N. Jeremy

2017-01-01

To directly image exoplanets, future space-based missions are equipped with coronagraphs which manipulate the diffraction of starlight and create regions of high contrast called dark holes. Theoretically, coronagraphs can be designed to achieve the high level of contrast required to image exoplanets, which are billions of times dimmer than their host stars, however the aberrations caused by optical imperfections and thermal fluctuations cause the degradation of contrast in the dark holes. Focal plane wavefront control (FPWC) algorithms using deformable mirrors (DMs) are used to mitigate the quasi-static aberrations caused by optical imperfections. Although the FPWC methods correct the quasi-static aberrations, they are blind to dynamic errors caused by telescope jitter and thermal fluctuations. At Princeton's High Contrast Imaging Lab we have developed a new technique that integrates a sparse aperture mask with the coronagraph to estimate these low-order dynamic wavefront errors. This poster shows the effectiveness of a SAM Low-Order Wavefront Sensor in estimating and correcting these errors via simulation and experiment and compares the results to other methods, such as the Zernike Wavefront Sensor planned for WFIRST.

An Efficient Approach for Pixel Decomposition to Increase the Spatial Resolution of Land Surface Temperature Images from MODIS Thermal Infrared Band Data

PubMed Central

Wang, Fei; Qin, Zhihao; Li, Wenjuan; Song, Caiying; Karnieli, Arnon; Zhao, Shuhe

2015-01-01

Land surface temperature (LST) images retrieved from the thermal infrared (TIR) band data of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) have much lower spatial resolution than the MODIS visible and near-infrared (VNIR) band data. The coarse pixel scale of MODIS LST images (1000 m under nadir) have limited their capability in applying to many studies required high spatial resolution in comparison of the MODIS VNIR band data with pixel scale of 250–500 m. In this paper we intend to develop an efficient approach for pixel decomposition to increase the spatial resolution of MODIS LST image using the VNIR band data as assistance. The unique feature of this approach is to maintain the thermal radiance of parent pixels in the MODIS LST image unchanged after they are decomposed into the sub-pixels in the resulted image. There are two important steps in the decomposition: initial temperature estimation and final temperature determination. Therefore the approach can be termed double-step pixel decomposition (DSPD). Both steps involve a series of procedures to achieve the final result of decomposed LST image, including classification of the surface patterns, establishment of LST change with normalized difference of vegetation index (NDVI) and building index (NDBI), reversion of LST into thermal radiance through Planck equation, and computation of weights for the sub-pixels of the resulted image. Since the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) with much higher spatial resolution than MODIS data was on-board the same platform (Terra) as MODIS for Earth observation, an experiment had been done in the study to validate the accuracy and efficiency of our approach for pixel decomposition. The ASTER LST image was used as the reference to compare with the decomposed LST image. The result showed that the spatial distribution of the decomposed LST image was very similar to that of the ASTER LST image with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 2.7 K for entire image. Comparison with the evaluation DisTrad (E-DisTrad) and re-sampling methods for pixel decomposition also indicate that our DSPD has the lowest RMSE in all cases, including urban region, water bodies, and natural terrain. The obvious increase in spatial resolution remarkably uplifts the capability of the coarse MODIS LST images in highlighting the details of LST variation. Therefore it can be concluded that, in spite of complicated procedures, the proposed DSPD approach provides an alternative to improve the spatial resolution of MODIS LST image hence expand its applicability to the real world. PMID:25609048

Reliability of a novel thermal imaging system for temperature assessment of healthy feet.

PubMed

Petrova, N L; Whittam, A; MacDonald, A; Ainarkar, S; Donaldson, A N; Bevans, J; Allen, J; Plassmann, P; Kluwe, B; Ring, F; Rogers, L; Simpson, R; Machin, G; Edmonds, M E

2018-01-01

Thermal imaging is a useful modality for identifying preulcerative lesions ("hot spots") in diabetic foot patients. Despite its recognised potential, at present, there is no readily available instrument for routine podiatric assessment of patients at risk. To address this need, a novel thermal imaging system was recently developed. This paper reports the reliability of this device for temperature assessment of healthy feet. Plantar skin foot temperatures were measured with the novel thermal imaging device (Diabetic Foot Ulcer Prevention System (DFUPS), constructed by Photometrix Imaging Ltd) and also with a hand-held infrared spot thermometer (Thermofocus® 01500A3, Tecnimed, Italy) after 20 min of barefoot resting with legs supported and extended in 105 subjects (52 males and 53 females; age range 18 to 69 years) as part of a multicentre clinical trial. The temperature differences between the right and left foot at five regions of interest (ROIs), including 1st and 4th toes, 1st, 3rd and 5th metatarsal heads were calculated. The intra-instrument agreement (three repeated measures) and the inter-instrument agreement (hand-held thermometer and thermal imaging device) were quantified using intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) and the 95% confidence intervals (CI). Both devices showed almost perfect agreement in replication by instrument. The intra-instrument ICCs for the thermal imaging device at all five ROIs ranged from 0.95 to 0.97 and the intra-instrument ICCs for the hand-held-thermometer ranged from 0.94 to 0.97. There was substantial to perfect inter-instrument agreement between the hand-held thermometer and the thermal imaging device and the ICCs at all five ROIs ranged between 0.94 and 0.97. This study reports the performance of a novel thermal imaging device in the assessment of foot temperatures in healthy volunteers in comparison with a hand-held infrared thermometer. The newly developed thermal imaging device showed very good agreement in repeated temperature assessments at defined ROIs as well as substantial to perfect agreement in temperature assessment with the hand-held infrared thermometer. In addition to the reported non-inferior performance in temperature assessment, the thermal imaging device holds the potential to provide an instantaneous thermal image of all sites of the feet (plantar, dorsal, lateral and medial views). Diabetic Foot Ulcer Prevention System NCT02317835, registered December 10, 2014.

Thermal wave interference with high-power VCSEL arrays for locating vertically oriented subsurface defects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thiel, Erik; Kreutzbruck, Marc; Studemund, Taarna; Ziegler, Mathias

2018-04-01

Among the photothermal methods, full-field thermal imaging is used to characterize materials, to determine thicknesses of layers, or to find inhomogeneities such as voids or cracks. The use of classical light sources such as flash lamps (impulse heating) or halogen lamps (modulated heating) led to a variety of nondestructive testing methods, in particular, lock-in and flash-thermography. In vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), laser light is emitted perpendicularly to the surface with a symmetrical beam profile. Due to the vertical structure, they can be arranged in large arrays of many thousands of individual lasers, which allows power scaling into the kilowatt range. Recently, a high-power yet very compact version of such a VCSEL-array became available that offers both the fast timing behavior of a laser as well as the large illumination area of a lamp. Moreover, it allows a spatial and temporal control of the heating because individual parts of the array can be controlled arbitrarily in frequency, amplitude, and phase. In conjunction with a fast infrared camera, such structured heating opens up a field of novel thermal imaging and testing methods. As a first demonstration of this approach, we chose a testing problem very challenging to conventional thermal infrared testing: The detection of very thin subsurface defects perpendicularly oriented to the surface of metallic samples. First, we generate destructively interfering thermal wave fields, which are then affected by the presence of defects within their reach. It turned out that this technique allows highly sensitive detection of subsurface defects down to depths in excess of the usual thermographic rule of thumb, with no need for a reference or surface preparation.

Nakagami-m parametric imaging for characterization of thermal coagulation and cavitation erosion induced by HIFU.

PubMed

Han, Meng; Wang, Na; Guo, Shifang; Chang, Nan; Lu, Shukuan; Wan, Mingxi

2018-07-01

Nowadays, both thermal and mechanical ablation techniques of HIFU associated with cavitation have been developed for noninvasive treatment. A specific challenge for the successful clinical implementation of HIFU is to achieve real-time imaging for the evaluation and determination of therapy outcomes such as necrosis or homogenization. Ultrasound Nakagami-m parametric imaging highlights the degrading shadowing effects of bubbles and can be used for tissue characterization. The aim of this study is to investigate the performance of Nakagami-m parametric imaging for evaluating and differentiating thermal coagulation and cavitation erosion induced by HIFU. Lesions were induced in basic bovine serum albumin (BSA) phantoms and ex vivo porcine livers using a 1.6 MHz single-element transducer. Thermal and mechanical lesions induced by two types of HIFU sequences respectively were evaluated using Nakagami-m parametric imaging and ultrasound B-mode imaging. The lesion sizes estimated using Nakagami-m parametric imaging technique were all closer to the actual sizes than those of B-mode imaging. The p-value obtained from the t-test between the mean m values of thermal coagulation and cavitation erosion was smaller than 0.05, demonstrating that the m values of thermal lesions were significantly different from that of mechanical lesions, which was confirmed by ex vivo experiments and histologic examination showed that different changes result from HIFU exposure, one of tissue dehydration resulting from the thermal effect, and the other of tissue homogenate resulting from mechanical effect. This study demonstrated that Nakagami-m parametric imaging is a potential real-time imaging technique for evaluating and differentiating thermal coagulation and cavitation erosion. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spatio-thermal depth correction of RGB-D sensors based on Gaussian processes in real-time

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heindl, Christoph; Pönitz, Thomas; Stübl, Gernot; Pichler, Andreas; Scharinger, Josef

2018-04-01

Commodity RGB-D sensors capture color images along with dense pixel-wise depth information in real-time. Typical RGB-D sensors are provided with a factory calibration and exhibit erratic depth readings due to coarse calibration values, ageing and thermal influence effects. This limits their applicability in computer vision and robotics. We propose a novel method to accurately calibrate depth considering spatial and thermal influences jointly. Our work is based on Gaussian Process Regression in a four dimensional Cartesian and thermal domain. We propose to leverage modern GPUs for dense depth map correction in real-time. For reproducibility we make our dataset and source code publicly available.

Determination of thermal wave reflection coefficient to better estimate defect depth using pulsed thermography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sirikham, Adisorn; Zhao, Yifan; Mehnen, Jörn

2017-11-01

Thermography is a promising method for detecting subsurface defects, but accurate measurement of defect depth is still a big challenge because thermographic signals are typically corrupted by imaging noise and affected by 3D heat conduction. Existing methods based on numerical models are susceptible to signal noise and methods based on analytical models require rigorous assumptions that usually cannot be satisfied in practical applications. This paper presents a new method to improve the measurement accuracy of subsurface defect depth through determining the thermal wave reflection coefficient directly from observed data that is usually assumed to be pre-known. This target is achieved through introducing a new heat transfer model that includes multiple physical parameters to better describe the observed thermal behaviour in pulsed thermographic inspection. Numerical simulations are used to evaluate the performance of the proposed method against four selected state-of-the-art methods. Results show that the accuracy of depth measurement has been improved up to 10% when noise level is high and thermal wave reflection coefficients is low. The feasibility of the proposed method in real data is also validated through a case study on characterising flat-bottom holes in carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates which has a wide application in various sectors of industry.

Evaluation method based on the image correlation for laser jamming image

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Che, Jinxi; Li, Zhongmin; Gao, Bo

2013-09-01

The jamming effectiveness evaluation of infrared imaging system is an important part of electro-optical countermeasure. The infrared imaging devices in the military are widely used in the searching, tracking and guidance and so many other fields. At the same time, with the continuous development of laser technology, research of laser interference and damage effect developed continuously, laser has been used to disturbing the infrared imaging device. Therefore, the effect evaluation of the infrared imaging system by laser has become a meaningful problem to be solved. The information that the infrared imaging system ultimately present to the user is an image, so the evaluation on jamming effect can be made from the point of assessment of image quality. The image contains two aspects of the information, the light amplitude and light phase, so the image correlation can accurately perform the difference between the original image and disturbed image. In the paper, the evaluation method of digital image correlation, the assessment method of image quality based on Fourier transform, the estimate method of image quality based on error statistic and the evaluation method of based on peak signal noise ratio are analysed. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of these methods are analysed. Moreover, the infrared disturbing images of the experiment result, in which the thermal infrared imager was interfered by laser, were analysed by using these methods. The results show that the methods can better reflect the jamming effects of the infrared imaging system by laser. Furthermore, there is good consistence between evaluation results by using the methods and the results of subjective visual evaluation. And it also provides well repeatability and convenient quantitative analysis. The feasibility of the methods to evaluate the jamming effect was proved. It has some extent reference value for the studying and developing on electro-optical countermeasures equipments and effectiveness evaluation.

Feasibility of real-time MR thermal dose mapping for predicting radiofrequency ablation outcome in the myocardium in vivo.

PubMed

Toupin, Solenn; Bour, Pierre; Lepetit-Coiffé, Matthieu; Ozenne, Valéry; Denis de Senneville, Baudouin; Schneider, Rainer; Vaussy, Alexis; Chaumeil, Arnaud; Cochet, Hubert; Sacher, Frédéric; Jaïs, Pierre; Quesson, Bruno

2017-01-25

Clinical treatment of cardiac arrhythmia by radiofrequency ablation (RFA) currently lacks quantitative and precise visualization of lesion formation in the myocardium during the procedure. This study aims at evaluating thermal dose (TD) imaging obtained from real-time magnetic resonance (MR) thermometry on the heart as a relevant indicator of the thermal lesion extent. MR temperature mapping based on the Proton Resonance Frequency Shift (PRFS) method was performed at 1.5 T on the heart, with 4 to 5 slices acquired per heartbeat. Respiratory motion was compensated using navigator-based slice tracking. Residual in-plane motion and related magnetic susceptibility artifacts were corrected online. The standard deviation of temperature was measured on healthy volunteers (N = 5) in both ventricles. On animals, the MR-compatible catheter was positioned and visualized in the left ventricle (LV) using a bSSFP pulse sequence with active catheter tracking. Twelve MR-guided RFA were performed on three sheep in vivo at various locations in left ventricle (LV). The dimensions of the thermal lesions measured on thermal dose images, on 3D T1-weighted (T1-w) images acquired immediately after the ablation and at gross pathology were correlated. MR thermometry uncertainty was 1.5 °C on average over more than 96% of the pixels covering the left and right ventricles, on each volunteer. On animals, catheter repositioning in the LV with active slice tracking was successfully performed and each ablation could be monitored in real-time by MR thermometry and thermal dosimetry. Thermal lesion dimensions on TD maps were found to be highly correlated with those observed on post-ablation T1-w images (R = 0.87) that also correlated (R = 0.89) with measurements at gross pathology. Quantitative TD mapping from real-time rapid CMR thermometry during catheter-based RFA is feasible. It provides a direct assessment of the lesion extent in the myocardium with precision in the range of one millimeter. Real-time MR thermometry and thermal dosimetry may improve safety and efficacy of the RFA procedure by offering a reliable indicator of therapy outcome during the procedure.

Ultrasonic infrared thermal wave nondestructive evaluation for crack detection of several aerospace materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Weichao; Shen, Jingling; Zhang, Cunlin; Tao, Ning; Feng, Lichun

2008-03-01

The applications of ultrasonic infrared thermal wave nondestructive evaluation for crack detection of several materials, which often used in aviation alloy. For instance, steel and carbon fiber. It is difficult to test cracks interfacial or vertical with structure's surface by the traditional nondestructive testing methods. Ultrasonic infrared thermal wave nondestructive testing technology uses high-power and low-frequency ultrasonic as heat source to excite the sample and an infrared video camera as a detector to detect the surface temperature. The ultrasonic emitter launch pulses of ultrasonic into the skin of the sample, which causes the crack interfaces to rub and dissipate energy as heat, and then caused local increase in temperature at one of the specimen surfaces. The infrared camera images the returning thermal wave reflections from subsurface cracks. A computer collects and processes the thermal images according to different properties of samples to get the satisfied effect. In this paper, a steel plate with fatigue crack we designed and a juncture of carbon fiber composite that has been used in a space probe were tested and get satisfying results. The ultrasonic infrared thermal wave nondestructive detection is fast, sensitive for cracks, especially cracks that vertical with structure's surface. It is significative for nondestructive testing in manufacture produce and application of aviation, cosmography and optoelectronics.

Development and testing of an optoacoustic imaging system for monitoring and guiding prostate cancer therapies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spirou, Gloria M.; Vitkin, I. Alex; Wilson, B. C.; Whelan, William M.; Henrichs, Paul M.; Mehta, Ketan; Miller, Tom; Yee, Andrew; Meador, James; Oraevsky, Alexander A.

2004-07-01

Laser Optoacoustic Imaging System (LOIS) combines high tissue contrast based on the optical properties of tissue and high spatial resolution based on ultrawide-band ultrasonic detection. Patients undergoing thermal or photodynamic therapy of prostate cancer may benefit from capability of LOIS to detect and monitor treatment-induced changes in tissue optical properties and blood flow. The performance of a prototype LOIS was evaluated via 2D optoacoustic images of dye-colored objects of various shapes, small tubes with blood simulating veins and arteries, and thermally coagulated portions of chicken breasts imbedded tissue-mimicking gelatin phantoms. The optoacoustic image contrast was proportional to the ratio of the absorption coefficient between the embedded objects and the surrounding gel. The contrast of the venous blood relative to the background exceeded 250%, and the contrast of the thermally coagulated portions of flesh relative to the untreated tissue ranged between -100% to +200%, dependent on the optical wavelength. We used a 32-element optoacoustic transducer array and a novel design of low-noise preamplifiers and wide-band amplifiers to perform these studies. The system was optimized for imaging at a depth of ~50 mm. The system spatial resolution was better than 1-mm. The advantages and limitations of various signal-processing methods were investigated. LOIS demonstrates clinical potential for non- or minimally-invasive monitoring of treatment-induced tissue changes.

The Evolution of Nondestructive Evaluation Methods for the Space Shuttle External Tank Thermal Protection System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walker, James L.; Richter, Joel D.

2006-01-01

Three nondestructive evaluation methods are being developed to identify defects in the foam thermal protection system (TPS) of the Space Shuttle External Tank (ET). Shearography is being developed to identify shallow delaminations, shallow voids and crush damage in the foam while terahertz imaging and backscatter radiography are being developed to identify voids and cracks in thick foam regions. The basic theory of operation along with factors affecting the results of these methods will be described. Also, the evolution of these methods from lab tools to implementation on the ET will be discussed. Results from both test panels and flight tank inspections will be provided to show the range in defect sizes and types that can be readily detected.

Non-Invasive In Vivo Ultrasound Temperature Estimation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bayat, Mahdi

New emerging technologies in thermal therapy require precise monitoring and control of the delivered thermal dose in a variety of situations. The therapeutic temperature changes in target tissues range from few degrees for releasing chemotherapy drugs encapsulated in the thermosensitive liposomes to boiling temperatures in complete ablation of tumors via cell necrosis. High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) has emerged as a promising modality for noninvasive surgery due to its ability to create precise mechanical and thermal effects at the target without affecting surrounding tissues. An essential element in all these procedures, however, is accurate estimation of the target tissue temperature during the procedure to ensure its safety and efficacy. The advent of diagnostic imaging tools for guidance of thermal therapy was a key factor in the clinical acceptance of these minimally invasive or noninvasive methods. More recently, ultrasound and magnetic resonance (MR) thermography techniques have been proposed for guidance, monitoring, and control of noninvasive thermal therapies. MR thermography has shown acceptable sensitivity and accuracy in imaging temperature change and it is currently FDA-approved on clinical HIFU units. However, it suffers from limitations like cost of integration with ultrasound therapy system and slow rate of imaging for real time guidance. Ultrasound, on the other hand, has the advantage of real time imaging and ease of integration with the therapy system. An infinitesimal model for imaging temperature change using pulse-echo ultrasound has been demonstrated, including in vivo small-animal imaging. However, this model suffers from limitations that prevent demonstration in more clinically-relevant settings. One limitation stems from the infinitesimal nature of the model, which results in spatial inconsistencies of the estimated temperature field. Another limitation is the sensitivity to tissue motion and deformation during in vivo, which could result in significant artifacts. The first part of this thesis addresses the first limitation by introducing the Recursive Echo Strain Filter (RESF) as a new temperature reconstruction model which largely corrects for the spatial inconsistencies resulting from the infinitesimal model. The performance of this model is validated using the data collected during sub therapeutic temperature changes in the tissue mimicking phantom as well as ex vivo tissue blocks. The second part of this thesis deals with in vivo ultrasound thermography. Tissue deformations caused by natural motions (e.g. respiration, gasping, blood pulsation etc) can create non-thermal changes to the ultrasound echoes which are not accounted for in the derivation of physical model for temperature estimation. These fluctuations can create severe artifacts in the estimated temperature field. Using statistical signal processing techniques an adaptive method is presented which takes advantage of the localized and global availability of these interference patterns and use this data to enhance the estimated temperature in the region of interest. We then propose a model based technique for continuous tracking of temperature in the presence of natural motion and deformation. The method uses the direct discretization of the transient bioheat equation to derive a state space model of temperature change. This model is then used to build a linear estimator based on the Kalman filtering capable of robust estimation of temperature change in the presence of tissue motion and deformation. The robustness of the adaptive and model-based models in removing motion and deformation artifacts is demonstrated using data from in vivo experiments. Both methods are shown to provide effective cancellation of the artifacts with minimal effect on the expected temperature dynamics.

Multispectral thermal airborne TASI-600 data to study the Pompeii (IT) archaeological area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palombo, Angelo; Pascucci, Simone; Pergola, Nicola; Pignatti, Stefano; Santini, Federico; Soldovieri, Francesco

2016-04-01

The management of archaeological areas refers to the conservation of the ruins/buildings and the eventual prospection of new areas having an archaeological potential. In this framework, airborne remote sensing is a well-developed geophysical tool for supporting the archaeological surveys of wide areas. The spectral regions applied in archaeological remote sensing spans from the VNIR to the TIR. In particular, the archaeological thermal imaging considers that materials absorb, emit, transmit, and reflect the thermal infrared radiation at different rate according to their composition, density and moisture content. Despite its potential, thermal imaging in archaeological applications are scarce. Among them, noteworthy are the ones related to the use of Landsat and ASTER [1] and airborne remote sensing [2, 3, 4 and 5]. In view of these potential in Cultural Heritage applications, the present study aims at analysing the usefulness of the high spatial resolution thermal imaging on the Pompeii archaeological park. To this purpose TASI-600 [6] airborne multispectral thermal imagery (32 channels from 8 to 11.5 nm with a spectral resolution of 100nm and a spatial resolution of 1m/pixel) was acquired on December the 7th, 2015. Airborne survey has been acquired to get useful information on the building materials (both ancient and of consolidation) characteristics and, whenever possible, to retrieve quick indicators on their conservation status. Thermal images will be, moreover, processed to have an insight of the critical environmental issues impacting the structures (e.g. moisture). The proposed study shows the preliminary results of the airborne deployments, the pre-processing of the multispectral thermal imagery and the retrieving of accurate land surface temperatures (LST). LST map will be analysed to describe the thermal pattern of the city of Pompeii and detect any thermal anomalies. As far as the ongoing TASI-600 sensors pre-processing, it will include: (a) radiometric calibration of the raw data by using the RADCORR software provided by ITRES (Canada) and the application of a new correction tool for blinking pixel correction, developed by CNR (Italy); (b) atmospheric compensation of the TIR data by applying the ISAC (In-Scene Atmospheric Compensation) algorithm [7]; (c) Temperature Emissivity Separation (TES) according to the methods described by [8] to obtain a LST map. The obtained preliminary results are encouraging, even though, suitable integration approaches with the classical geophysical investigation techniques have to be improved for a rapid and cost-effective assessment of the buildings status. The importance of this study, moreover, is related to the evaluation of the impact of the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) imaging in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage that can provide: i) low cost imaging; ii) very high spatial resolution thermal imaging. References 1. Scollar, I., Tabbagh, A., Hesse, A., Herzog, A., 1990. Archaeological Prospecting andRemote Sensing. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Seitz, C., Altenbach, H., 2011. Project ARCHEYE: the quadrocopter as the archaeologists eye. Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spat. Inf. Sci. 38 2. Sever, T.L., Wagner, D.W., 1991. Analysis of prehistoric roadways in Chaco Canyonusing remotely sensed data. In: Trombold, C.D. (Ed.), Ancient Road Networksand Settlement Hierarchies in the New World. Cambridge University Press,Cambridge, pp. 42 3. Pascucci S., Cavalli R M., Palombo A. & Pignatti S. (2010), Suitability of CASI and ATM airborne remote sensing data for archaeological subsurface structure detection under different land cover: the Arpi case study (Italy). In Journal of Geophysics and Engineering, Vol. 7 (2), pp. 183-189. 4. Bassani C., Cavalli R.M., Goffredo, R., Palombo A., Pascucci S. & Pignatti S. (2009), Specific spectral bands for different land cover contexts to improve the efficiency of remote sensing archaeological prospection: The Arpi case study. In Journal of Cultural Heritage, Vol. 10, pp. 41-48 5. Cavalli R.M., Marino C.M. & Pignatti S. (2000), Environmental Studies Through Active and Passive Airborne Remote Sensing Systems. In Non-Destructive Techniques Applied to Landscape Archaeology, The Archaeology Mediterranean Landscapes 4, Oxbow Books, Oxford, pp. 31-37, ISBN 1900188740; 6. Pignatti, S.; Lapenna, V.; Palombo, A.; Pascucci, S.; Pergola, N.; Cuomo, V. 2011. An advanced tool of the CNR IMAA EO facilities: Overview of the TASI-600 hyperspectral thermal spectrometer. 3rd Hyperspectral Image and Signal Processing: Evolution in Remote Sensing Conference (WHISPERS), 2011; DOI 10.1109/WHISPERS.2011.6080890. 7. Johnson, B. R. and S. J. Young, 1998. In-Scene Atmospheric Compensation: Application to SEBASS Data Collected at the ARM Site. Technical Report, Space and Environment Technology Center, The Aerospace Corporation, May 1998. 8. Z.L. Li, F. Becker, M.P Stoll and Z. Wan. 1999. Evaluation of six methods for extracting relative emissivity spectra from thermal infrared images. Remote Sensing of Environment, vol. 69, 197-214.

HeatWave: the next generation of thermography devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moghadam, Peyman; Vidas, Stephen

2014-05-01

Energy sustainability is a major challenge of the 21st century. To reduce environmental impact, changes are required not only on the supply side of the energy chain by introducing renewable energy sources, but also on the demand side by reducing energy usage and improving energy efficiency. Currently, 2D thermal imaging is used for energy auditing, which measures the thermal radiation from the surfaces of objects and represents it as a set of color-mapped images that can be analysed for the purpose of energy efficiency monitoring. A limitation of such a method for energy auditing is that it lacks information on the geometry and location of objects with reference to each other, particularly across separate images. Such a limitation prevents any quantitative analysis to be done, for example, detecting any energy performance changes before and after retrofitting. To address these limitations, we have developed a next generation thermography device called Heat Wave. Heat Wave is a hand-held 3D thermography device that consists of a thermal camera, a range sensor and color camera, and can be used to generate precise 3D model of objects with augmented temperature and visible information. As an operator holding the device smoothly waves it around the objects of interest, Heat Wave can continuously track its own pose in space and integrate new information from the range and thermal and color cameras into a single, and precise 3D multi-modal model. Information from multiple viewpoints can be incorporated together to improve the accuracy, reliability and robustness of the global model. The approach also makes it possible to reduce any systematic errors associated with the estimation of surface temperature from the thermal images.

A study of thermographic diagnosis system and imaging algorithm by distributed thermal data using single infrared sensor.

PubMed

Yoon, Se Jin; Noh, Si Cheol; Choi, Heung Ho

2007-01-01

The infrared diagnosis device provides two-dimensional images and patient-oriented results that can be easily understood by the inspection target by using infrared cameras; however, it has disadvantages such as large size, high price, and inconvenient maintenance. In this regard, this study has proposed small-sized diagnosis device for body heat using a single infrared sensor and implemented an infrared detection system using a single infrared sensor and an algorithm that represents thermography using the obtained data on the temperature of the point source. The developed systems had the temperature resolution of 0.1 degree and the reproducibility of +/-0.1 degree. The accuracy was 90.39% at the error bound of +/-0 degree and 99.98% at that of +/-0.1 degree. In order to evaluate the proposed algorithm and system, the infrared images of camera method was compared. The thermal images that have clinical meaning were obtained from a patient who has lesion to verify its clinical applicability.

Geologic applications of thermal-inertia mapping from satellite. [Powder River Basin, Wyoming

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Offield, T. W. (Principal Investigator); Miller, S. H.; Watson, K.

1979-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. After digitization, a noise rejection filter was applied to data obtained by USGS aircraft. An albedo image was formed by combining three bands of visible data. Along with the day and nighttime thermal data, the albedo image was used to construct a relative thermal-inertia image. This image, registered to a topographic base, shows there are thermal property differences in the vicinity of the contact between the Fort Union and Wasatch formations in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming.

Liquid ingress recognition in honeycomb structure by pulsed thermography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Dapeng; Zeng, Zhi; Tao, Ning; Zhang, Cunlin; Zhang, Zheng

2013-05-01

Pulsed thermography has been proven to be a fast and effective method to detect fluid ingress in aircraft honeycomb structure; however, water and hydraulic oil may have similar appearance in the thermal image sequence. It is meaningful to identify what kind of liquid ingress it is for aircraft maintenance. In this study, honeycomb specimens with glass fiber and aluminum skin are injected different kinds of liquids: water and oil. Pulsed thermography is adopted; a recognition method is proposed to first get the reference curve by linear fitting the beginning of the logarithmic curve, and then an algorithm based on the thermal contrast between liquid and reference is used to recognize what kind of fluid it is by calculating their thermal properties. It is verified with the results of theory and the finite element simulation.

Real-time simulation of thermal shadows with EMIT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klein, Andreas; Oberhofer, Stefan; Schätz, Peter; Nischwitz, Alfred; Obermeier, Paul

2016-05-01

Modern missile systems use infrared imaging for tracking or target detection algorithms. The development and validation processes of these missile systems need high fidelity simulations capable of stimulating the sensors in real-time with infrared image sequences from a synthetic 3D environment. The Extensible Multispectral Image Generation Toolset (EMIT) is a modular software library developed at MBDA Germany for the generation of physics-based infrared images in real-time. EMIT is able to render radiance images in full 32-bit floating point precision using state of the art computer graphics cards and advanced shader programs. An important functionality of an infrared image generation toolset is the simulation of thermal shadows as these may cause matching errors in tracking algorithms. However, for real-time simulations, such as hardware in the loop simulations (HWIL) of infrared seekers, thermal shadows are often neglected or precomputed as they require a thermal balance calculation in four-dimensions (3D geometry in one-dimensional time up to several hours in the past). In this paper we will show the novel real-time thermal simulation of EMIT. Our thermal simulation is capable of simulating thermal effects in real-time environments, such as thermal shadows resulting from the occlusion of direct and indirect irradiance. We conclude our paper with the practical use of EMIT in a missile HWIL simulation.

Thermal Image of Coffee-Seed Germ Obtained by Photoacoustic Microscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Domínguez-Pacheco, A.; Hernández Aguilar, C.; Cruz-Orea, Alfredo; Isaac Alemán, E.; Martínez Ortiz, E.

2013-09-01

Photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) has been shown to be a suitable technique to obtain thermal images of a wide variety of samples from semiconductors to biological material. In PAM, the incidence of a modulated laser beam on a sample within a photoacoustic (PA) cell, hermetically sealed, produces a PA signal which depends on the thermal and optical properties of the studied sample. By making a sweep of the modulated laser beam on the sample surface, it is possible to obtain the PA signal as a function of their x- y coordinates, and from this signal, it is possible to reconstruct thermal images of the sample. In this study, thermal images of a coffee-seed germ were obtained, with a difference of 12 h between them, by using the PAM technique. Thermal differences observed between images give information which reflects degradation due to the fact that germ cells undergo changes as a function of time. The thermal images obtained by the PAM technique could be applied to biological materials that have a complex constitution (not homogeneous) in their structures, and thermal differences can be observed. PAM is a non-destructive technique, which is an important feature for this type of study. Other applications of this technique can be performed in the agricultural and biotechnological areas.

Thermal remote sensing as a part of Exupéry volcano fast response system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zakšek, Klemen; Hort, Matthias

2010-05-01

In order to understand the eruptive potential of a volcanic system one has to characterize the actual state of stress of a volcanic system that involves proper monitoring strategies. As several volcanoes in highly populated areas especially in south east Asia are still nearly unmonitored a mobile volcano monitoring system is currently being developed in Germany. One of the major novelties of this mobile volcano fast response system called Exupéry is the direct inclusion of satellite based observations. Remote sensing data are introduced together with ground based field measurements into the GIS database, where the statistical properties of all recorded data are estimated. Using physical modelling and statistical methods we hope to constrain the probability of future eruptions. The emphasis of this contribution is on using thermal remote sensing as tool for monitoring active volcanoes. One can detect thermal anomalies originating from a volcano by comparing signals in mid and thermal infrared spectra. A reliable and effective thermal anomalies detection algorithm was developed by Wright (2002) for MODIS sensor; it is based on the threshold of the so called normalized thermal index (NTI). This is the method we use in Exupéry, where we characterize each detected thermal anomaly by temperature, area, heat flux and effusion rate. The recent work has shown that radiant flux is the most robust parameter for this characterization. Its derivation depends on atmosphere, satellite viewing angle and sensor characteristics. Some of these influences are easy to correct using standard remote sensing pre-processing techniques, however, some noise still remains in data. In addition, satellites in polar orbits have long revisit times and thus they might fail to follow a fast evolving volcanic crisis due to long revisit times. Thus we are currently testing Kalman filter on simultaneous use of MODIS and AVHRR data to improve the thermal anomaly characterization. The advantage of this technique is that it increases the temporal resolution through using images from different satellites having different resolution and sensitivity. This algorithm has been tested for an eruption at Mt. Etna (2002) and successfully captures more details of the eruption evolution than would be seen by using only one satellite source. At the moment for Exupéry, merely MODIS (a sensor aboard NASA's Terra and Aqua satellite) data are used for the operational use. As MODIS is a meteorological sensor, it is suitable also for producing general overview images of the crisis area. Therefore, for each processed MODIS image we also produce RGB image where some basic meteorological features are classified: e.g. clouds, volcanic ash plumes, ocean, etc. In the case of detected hotspot an additional image is created; it contains the original measured radiances of the selected channels for the crisis area. All anomaly and processing parameters are additionally written into an XML file. The results are available in web GIS in the worst case two hours after NASA provides level 1b data online.

Requirement of spatiotemporal resolution for imaging intracellular temperature distribution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hiroi, Noriko; Tanimoto, Ryuichi; , Kaito, Ii; Ozeki, Mitsunori; Mashimo, Kota; Funahashi, Akira

2017-04-01

Intracellular temperature distribution is an emerging target in biology nowadays. Because thermal diffusion is rapid dynamics in comparison with molecular diffusion, we need a spatiotemporally high-resolution imaging technology to catch this phenomenon. We demonstrate that time-lapse imaging which consists of single-shot 3D volume images acquired at high-speed camera rate is desired for the imaging of intracellular thermal diffusion based on the simulation results of thermal diffusion from a nucleus to cytosol.

Precise Temperature Mapping of GaN-Based LEDs by Quantitative Infrared Micro-Thermography

PubMed Central

Chang, Ki Soo; Yang, Sun Choel; Kim, Jae-Young; Kook, Myung Ho; Ryu, Seon Young; Choi, Hae Young; Kim, Geon Hee

2012-01-01

A method of measuring the precise temperature distribution of GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) by quantitative infrared micro-thermography is reported. To reduce the calibration error, the same measuring conditions were used for both calibration and thermal imaging; calibration was conducted on a highly emissive black-painted area on a dummy sapphire wafer loaded near the LED wafer on a thermoelectric cooler mount. We used infrared thermal radiation images of the black-painted area on the dummy wafer and an unbiased LED wafer at two different temperatures to determine the factors that degrade the accuracy of temperature measurement, i.e., the non-uniform response of the instrument, superimposed offset radiation, reflected radiation, and emissivity map of the LED surface. By correcting these factors from the measured infrared thermal radiation images of biased LEDs, we determined a precise absolute temperature image. Consequently, we could observe from where the local self-heat emerges and how it distributes on the emitting area of the LEDs. The experimental results demonstrated that highly localized self-heating and a remarkable temperature gradient, which are detrimental to LED performance and reliability, arise near the p-contact edge of the LED surface at high injection levels owing to the current crowding effect. PMID:22666050

Thermal infrared imagery as a tool for analysing the variability of surface saturated areas at various temporal and spatial scales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glaser, Barbara; Antonelli, Marta; Pfister, Laurent; Klaus, Julian

2017-04-01

Surface saturated areas are important for the on- and offset of hydrological connectivity within the hillslope-riparian-stream continuum. This is reflected in concepts such as variable contributing areas or critical source areas. However, we still lack a standardized method for areal mapping of surface saturation and for observing its spatiotemporal variability. Proof-of-concept studies in recent years have shown the potential of thermal infrared (TIR) imagery to record surface saturation dynamics at various temporal and spatial scales. Thermal infrared imagery is thus a promising alternative to conventional approaches, such as the squishy boot method or the mapping of vegetation. In this study we use TIR images to investigate the variability of surface saturated areas at different temporal and spatial scales in the forested Weierbach catchment (0.45 km2) in western Luxembourg. We took TIR images of the riparian zone with a hand-held FLIR infrared camera at fortnightly intervals over 18 months at nine different locations distributed over the catchment. Not all of the acquired images were suitable for a derivation of the surface saturated areas, as various factors influence the usability of the TIR images (e.g. temperature contrasts, shadows, fog). Nonetheless, we obtained a large number of usable images that provided a good insight into the dynamic behaviour of surface saturated areas at different scales. The images revealed how diverse the evolution of surface saturated areas can be throughout the hydrologic year. For some locations with similar morphology or topography we identified diverging saturation dynamics, while other locations with different morphology / topography showed more similar behaviour. Moreover, we were able to assess the variability of the dynamics of expansion / contraction of saturated areas within the single locations, which can help to better understand the mechanisms behind surface saturation development.

A review on the application of medical infrared thermal imaging in hands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sousa, Elsa; Vardasca, Ricardo; Teixeira, Sérgio; Seixas, Adérito; Mendes, Joaquim; Costa-Ferreira, António

2017-09-01

Infrared Thermal (IRT) imaging is a medical imaging modality to study skin temperature in real time, providing physiological information about the underlining structures. One of the most accessible body sites to be investigated using such imaging method is the hands, which can reflect valuable information about conditions affecting the upper limbs. The aim of this review is to acquaint the successful applications of IRT in the hands with a medical scope, opening horizons for future applications based in the achieved results. A systematic literature review was performed in order to assess in which applications medical IRT imaging was applied to the hands. The literature search was conducted in the reference databases: PubMed, Scopus and ISI Web of Science, making use of keywords (hand, thermography, infrared imaging, thermal imaging) combination that were present at the title and abstract. No temporal restriction was made. As a result, 4260 articles were identified, after removal of duplicates, 3224 articles remained and from first title and abstract filtering, a total of 388 articles were considered. After application of exclusion criteria (non-availability, non-clinical applications, reviews, case studies, written in other languages than English and using liquid crystal thermography), 146 articles were considered for this review. It can be verified that thermography provides useful diagnostic and monitoring information of conditions that directly or indirectly related to hands, as well as aiding in the treatment assessment. Trends and future challenges for IRT applications on hands are provided to stimulate researchers and clinicians to explore and address them.

Apparatus and method for temperature mapping a turbine component in a high temperature combustion environment

DOEpatents

Baleine, Erwan; Sheldon, Danny M

2014-06-10

Method and system for calibrating a thermal radiance map of a turbine component in a combustion environment. At least one spot (18) of material is disposed on a surface of the component. An infrared (IR) imager (14) is arranged so that the spot is within a field of view of the imager to acquire imaging data of the spot. A processor (30) is configured to process the imaging data to generate a sequence of images as a temperature of the combustion environment is increased. A monitor (42, 44) may be coupled to the processor to monitor the sequence of images of to determine an occurrence of a physical change of the spot as the temperature is increased. A calibration module (46) may be configured to assign a first temperature value to the surface of the turbine component when the occurrence of the physical change of the spot is determined.

Solar Pumped High Power Solid State Laser for Space Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fork, Richard L.; Laycock, Rustin L.; Green, Jason J. A.; Walker, Wesley W.; Cole, Spencer T.; Frederick, Kevin B.; Phillips, Dane J.

2004-01-01

Highly coherent laser light provides a nearly optimal means of transmitting power in space. The simplest most direct means of converting sunlight to coherent laser light is a solar pumped laser oscillator. A key need for broadly useful space solar power is a robust solid state laser oscillator capable of operating efficiently in near Earth space at output powers in the multi hundred kilowatt range. The principal challenges in realizing such solar pumped laser oscillators are: (1) the need to remove heat from the solid state laser material without introducing unacceptable thermal shock, thermal lensing, or thermal stress induced birefringence to a degree that improves on current removal rates by several orders of magnitude and (2) to introduce sunlight at an effective concentration (kW/sq cm of laser cross sectional area) that is several orders of magnitude higher than currently available while tolerating a pointing error of the spacecraft of several degrees. We discuss strategies for addressing these challenges. The need to remove the high densities of heat, e.g., 30 kW/cu cm, while keeping the thermal shock, thermal lensing and thermal stress induced birefringence loss sufficiently low is addressed in terms of a novel use of diamond integrated with the laser material, such as Ti:sapphire in a manner such that the waste heat is removed from the laser medium in an axial direction and in the diamond in a radial direction. We discuss means for concentrating sunlight to an effective areal density of the order of 30 kW/sq cm. The method integrates conventional imaging optics, non-imaging optics and nonlinear optics. In effect we use a method that combines some of the methods of optical pumping solid state materials and optical fiber, but also address laser media having areas sufficiently large, e.g., 1 cm diameter to handle the multi-hundred kilowatt level powers needed for space solar power.

Evaluation of experimental methods for assessing safety for ultrasound radiation force elastography.

PubMed

Skurczynski, M J; Duck, F A; Shipley, J A; Bamber, J C; Melodelima, D

2009-08-01

Standard test tools have been evaluated for the assessment of safety associated with a prototype transducer intended for a novel radiation force elastographic imaging system. In particular, safety has been evaluated by direct measurement of temperature rise, using a standard thermal test object, and detection of inertial cavitation from acoustic emission. These direct measurements have been compared with values of the thermal index and mechanical index, calculated from acoustic measurements in water using standard formulae. It is concluded that measurements using a thermal test object can be an effective alternative to the calculation of thermal index for evaluating thermal hazard. Measurement of the threshold for cavitation was subject to considerable variability, and it is concluded that the mechanical index still remains the preferred standard means for assessing cavitation hazard.

A diurnal animation of thermal images from a day-night pair

USGS Publications Warehouse

Watson, K.

2000-01-01

Interpretation of thermal images is often complicated because the physical property information is contained in both the spatial and temporal variations of the data and thermal models are necessary to extract and display this information. A linearized radiative transfer solution to the surface flux has been used to derive a function that is invariant with respect to thermal inertia. This relationship makes it possible to predict the temperature variation at any time in the diurnal cycle using only two distinct measurements (e.g., noon and midnight). An animation can then be constructed from a pair of day-night images to view both the spatial and temporal temperature changes throughout the diurnal cycle. A more complete solution for the invariant function, using the method of Laplace transforms and based on the linearized solution, was introduced. These results indicate that the linear model does not provide a sufficiently accurate estimate. Using standard conditions (latitude 30??, solar declination 0??, acquisition times at noon and midnight), this new relationship was used to predict temperature throughout the diurnal cycle to an rms error of 0.2??C, which is close to the system noise of most thermal scanners. The method was further extended to include the primary effects of topographic slope with similar accuracy. The temperature was computed at 48 equally spaced times in the diurnal cycle with this algorithm using a co-registered day and night TIMS (Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner) data pair (330 pixels, 450 lilies) acquired of the Carlin, Nevada, area and a co-registered DEM (Digital Elevation Model). (Any reader can view the results by downloading the animation file from an identified tip site). The results illustrate the power of animation to display subtle temporal and spatial temperature changes, which can provide clues to structural controls and material property differences. This 'visual change' approach could significantly increase the use of thermal data for environmental, hazard, and resource studies. Published by Elsevier Science Inc., 2000.A linearized radiative transfer solution of determining the surface flux is proposed to predict the temperature variation at any time in the diurnal cycle using only two distinct measurements. An animation is constructed from a pair of day-night images to view the spatial and temporal temperature changes throughout the diurnal cycle. The results illustrate the effectiveness of animation to display subtle temporal and spatial temperature changes, which can provide clues to structural controls and material property differences.

The Effect of Penetration Depth on Thermal Contrast of NDT by Thermography

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chu, Tsuchin Philip; DiGregorio, Anthony; Russell, Samuel S.

1999-01-01

Nondestructive evaluation by Thermography (TNDE) is generally classified into two categories, the passive approach and the active approach. The passive approach is usually performed by measuring the natural temperature difference between the ambient and the material or structure to be tested. The active approach, on the other hand, requires the application of an external energy source to stimulate the material for inspection. A laser, a heater, a hot air blower, a high power thermal pulse, mechanical, or electromagnetic energy may provide the energy sources. For the external heating method to inspect materials for defects and imperfection at ambient temperature, a very short burst of heat can be introduced to one of the surfaces or slow heating of the side opposite to the side being observed. Due to the interruption of the heat flow through the defects, the thermal images will reveal the defective area by contrasting against the surrounding good materials. This technique is called transient Thermography, pulse video Thermography, or thermal wave imaging. As an empirical rule, the radius of the smallest defect should be at least one to two times larger than its depth under the surface. Thermography is being used to inspect void, debond, impact damage, and porosity in composite materials. It has been shown that most of the defects and imperfection can be detected. However, the current method of inspection using thermographic technique is more of an art than a practical scientific and engineering approach. The success rate of determining the defect location and defect type is largely depend on the experience of the person who operates thermography system and performs the inspection. The operator has to try different type of heat source, different duration of its application time, as well as experimenting with the thermal image acquisition time and interval during the inspection process. Further-more, the complexity of the lay-up and structure of composites makes it more difficult to determine the optimal operating condition for revealing the defects. In order to develop an optimal thermography inspection procedure, we must understand the thermal behavior inside the material subjected to transient heat in order to interpret the thermal images correctly. Fabrication of finite element models of characteristic defects in composite materials subjected to transient heat will enable the development of appropriate procedure for thermography inspection. Design of phantom defects could be modeled and behavior characterized prior to physically building these test parts. Since production of phantom test parts can be very time consuming and laborious, it is important to design good representative defects.

Detecting ship targets in spaceborne infrared image based on modeling radiation anomalies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Haibo; Zou, Zhengxia; Shi, Zhenwei; Li, Bo

2017-09-01

Using infrared imaging sensors to detect ship target in the ocean environment has many advantages compared to other sensor modalities, such as better thermal sensitivity and all-weather detection capability. We propose a new ship detection method by modeling radiation anomalies for spaceborne infrared image. The proposed method can be decomposed into two stages, where in the first stage, a test infrared image is densely divided into a set of image patches and the radiation anomaly of each patch is estimated by a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM), and thereby target candidates are obtained from anomaly image patches. In the second stage, target candidates are further checked by a more discriminative criterion to obtain the final detection result. The main innovation of the proposed method is inspired by the biological mechanism that human eyes are sensitive to the unusual and anomalous patches among complex background. The experimental result on short wavelength infrared band (1.560 - 2.300 μm) and long wavelength infrared band (10.30 - 12.50 μm) of Landsat-8 satellite shows the proposed method achieves a desired ship detection accuracy with higher recall than other classical ship detection methods.

Combination of satellite based thermal remote sensing and in situ radon measurements and field observations to detect (submarine) groundwater discharge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mallast, U.; Schubert, M.; Schmidt, A.; Knoeller, K.; Stollberg, R.; Siebert, C.; Merz, R.

2012-12-01

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is an important factor in the understanding and sustainable management of coastal freshwater aquifers in many highly populated coastal areas worldwide. This is not only due to the fact that SGD represents (i) a significant pathway for transfer of matter between land and sea as it supplies nutrients and trace metals to coastal oceans and (ii) a contamination threat to the near-shore marine environment resulting from land-based activities. It means also that potentially significant freshwater quantities are lost to the sea in e.g. arid areas, where groundwater is the main water resource (IAEA, 2007). The quantitative estimation of SGD is complicated due to its large temporal and spatial variability. Several studies attempted to quantify SGD rates using seepage meters, piezometers or geochemical tracers (Taniguchi et al., 2002). In most of these studies the actual SGD locations were known. In cases of unknown discharge locations airborne- and recently spaceborne-thermal remote sensing were used for detection (Roxburgh, 1985; Wilson and Rocha, 2012). Presented approaches applied only single images that represent only a temporal snapshot and hence possibly a non-representative picture of the discharge behavior (e.g. stormdriven or dry periods). Due to the continuous satellite image recording (Landsat TM/ETM+), numerous images exist that can be exploited against the background of temperature contrasts between discharging groundwater and ocean water. Hence, integrating multiple images recorded at different times does not only account for the intermittent character of groundwater discharge but enables to derive representative SGD information. We will present a satellite-based multi-thermal image method which exploits the fact that continuously discharging groundwater stabilizes the temperature at the discharge location and hence displays small temperature variability. In contrast, ambient unaffected areas clearly follow the seasonal air temperature course resulting in high temperature variability. The temperature variability analysis in combination with a pre-processing step in which images with surface-runoff influence are excluded outlines thermal anomalies that are directly attributable to SGD areas. We applied this method at three different locations along the Dead Sea (Israel/ Palestine), the Black Sea (Romania) and the Mediterranean Sea (France). The sites represent similar hydrogeological conditions (limestone) but different topographical (steep and flat) settings, groundwater temperatures and climatic conditions. We will show that despite these differences, which result in diverse SGD amounts and flux character, the method is capable of indicating areas where continuous SGD occurs over large spatial scales. Based on the thermal indications that were used as a prescreening tool in situ radon measurements and in case of the Dead Sea field observations were pursued to validate the thermal indications. We will show that both results match. Hence we state that our approach represents a promising tool (i) to detect SGD on large spatial scales particularly in areas where a priori no or limited information is available and (ii) to reduce time and financial efforts in pursuing subsequent SGD measurements as the outlined areas can be set as focus areas.

Thermal Infrared Imaging-Based Computational Psychophysiology for Psychometrics.

PubMed

Cardone, Daniela; Pinti, Paola; Merla, Arcangelo

2015-01-01

Thermal infrared imaging has been proposed as a potential system for the computational assessment of human autonomic nervous activity and psychophysiological states in a contactless and noninvasive way. Through bioheat modeling of facial thermal imagery, several vital signs can be extracted, including localized blood perfusion, cardiac pulse, breath rate, and sudomotor response, since all these parameters impact the cutaneous temperature. The obtained physiological information could then be used to draw inferences about a variety of psychophysiological or affective states, as proved by the increasing number of psychophysiological studies using thermal infrared imaging. This paper presents therefore a review of the principal achievements of thermal infrared imaging in computational physiology with regard to its capability of monitoring psychophysiological activity.

Physics Based Modeling and Rendering of Vegetation in the Thermal Infrared

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, J. A.; Ballard, J. R., Jr.

1999-01-01

We outline a procedure for rendering physically-based thermal infrared images of simple vegetation scenes. Our approach incorporates the biophysical processes that affect the temperature distribution of the elements within a scene. Computer graphics plays a key role in two respects. First, in computing the distribution of scene shaded and sunlit facets and, second, in the final image rendering once the temperatures of all the elements in the scene have been computed. We illustrate our approach for a simple corn scene where the three-dimensional geometry is constructed based on measured morphological attributes of the row crop. Statistical methods are used to construct a representation of the scene in agreement with the measured characteristics. Our results are quite good. The rendered images exhibit realistic behavior in directional properties as a function of view and sun angle. The root-mean-square error in measured versus predicted brightness temperatures for the scene was 2.1 deg C.

Neural network application for thermal image recognition of low-resolution objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, Yi-Chin; Wu, Bo-Wen

2007-02-01

In the ever-changing situation on a battle field, accurate recognition of a distant object is critical to a commander's decision-making and the general public's safety. Efficiently distinguishing between an enemy's armoured vehicles and ordinary civilian houses under all weather conditions has become an important research topic. This study presents a system for recognizing an armoured vehicle by distinguishing marks and contours. The characteristics of 12 different shapes and 12 characters are used to explore thermal image recognition under the circumstance of long distance and low resolution. Although the recognition capability of human eyes is superior to that of artificial intelligence under normal conditions, it tends to deteriorate substantially under long-distance and low-resolution scenarios. This study presents an effective method for choosing features and processing images. The artificial neural network technique is applied to further improve the probability of accurate recognition well beyond the limit of the recognition capability of human eyes.

Location precision analysis of stereo thermal anti-sniper detection system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Yuqing; Lu, Ya; Zhang, Xiaoyan; Jin, Weiqi

2012-06-01

Anti-sniper detection devices are the urgent requirement in modern warfare. The precision of the anti-sniper detection system is especially important. This paper discusses the location precision analysis of the anti-sniper detection system based on the dual-thermal imaging system. It mainly discusses the following two aspects which produce the error: the digital quantitative effects of the camera; effect of estimating the coordinate of bullet trajectory according to the infrared images in the process of image matching. The formula of the error analysis is deduced according to the method of stereovision model and digital quantitative effects of the camera. From this, we can get the relationship of the detecting accuracy corresponding to the system's parameters. The analysis in this paper provides the theory basis for the error compensation algorithms which are put forward to improve the accuracy of 3D reconstruction of the bullet trajectory in the anti-sniper detection devices.

Image processing with the radial Hilbert transform of photo-thermal imaging for carious detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El-Sharkawy, Yasser H.

2014-03-01

Knowledge of heat transfer in biological bodies has many diagnostic and therapeutic applications involving either raising or lowering of temperature, and often requires precise monitoring of the spatial distribution of thermal histories that are produced during a treatment protocol. The present paper therefore aims to design and implementation of laser therapeutic and imaging system used for carious tracking and drilling by develop a mathematical algorithm using Hilbert transform for edge detection of photo-thermal imaging. photothermal imaging has the ability to penetrate and yield information about an opaque medium well beyond the range of conventional optical imaging. Owing to this ability, Q- switching Nd:YAG laser at wavelength 1064 nm has been extensively used in human teeth to study the sub-surface deposition of laser radiation. The high absorption coefficient of the carious rather than normal region rise its temperature generating IR thermal radiation captured by high resolution thermal camera. Changing the pulse repetition frequency of the laser pulses affects the penetration depth of the laser, which can provide three-dimensional (3D) images in arbitrary planes and allow imaging deep within a solid tissue.

Infrared/microwave (IR/MW) micromirror array beam combiner design and analysis.

PubMed

Tian, Yi; Lv, Lijun; Jiang, Liwei; Wang, Xin; Li, Yanhong; Yu, Haiming; Feng, Xiaochen; Li, Qi; Zhang, Li; Li, Zhuo

2013-08-01

We investigated the design method of an infrared (IR)/microwave (MW) micromirror array type of beam combiner. The size of micromirror is in microscopic levels and comparable to MW wavelengths, so that the MW will not react in these dimensions, whereas the much shorter optical wavelengths will be reflected by them. Hence, the MW multilayered substrate was simplified and designed using transmission line theory. The beam combiner used an IR wavefront-division imaging technique to reflect the IR radiation image to the unit under test (UUT)'s pupil in a parallel light path. In addition, the boresight error detected by phase monopulse radar was analyzed using a moment-of method (MoM) and multilevel fast multipole method (MLFMM) acceleration technique. The boresight error introduced by the finite size of the beam combiner was less than 1°. Finally, in order to verify the wavefront-division imaging technique, a prototype of a micromirror array was fabricated, and IR images were tested. The IR images obtained by the thermal imager verified the correctness of the wavefront-division imaging technique.

Nanoscale thermal imaging of dissipation in quantum systems and in encapsulated graphene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Halbertal, Dorri

Energy dissipation is a fundamental process governing the dynamics of physical systems. In condensed matter physics, in particular, scattering mechanisms, loss of quantum information, or breakdown of topological protection are deeply rooted in the intricate details of how and where the dissipation occurs. Despite its vital importance the microscopic behavior of a system is usually not formulated in terms of dissipation because the latter is not a readily measureable quantity on the microscale. While the motivation is clear, existing thermal imaging methods lack the necessary sensitivity and are unsuitable for low temperature operation required for the study of quantum systems. We developed a superconducting quantum interference nano thermometer device with sub 50 nm diameter that resides at the apex of a sharp pipette and provides scanning cryogenic thermal sensing with four orders of magnitude improved thermal sensitivity of below 1 uK/sqrtHz. The noncontact noninvasive thermometry allows thermal imaging of very low nanoscale energy dissipation down to the fundamental Landauer limitý of 40 fW for continuous readout of a single qubit at 1 GHz at 4.2 K. These advances enable observation of dissipation due to single electron charging of individual quantum dots in carbon nanotubes, opening the door to direct imaging of nanoscale dissipation processes in quantum matter. In this talk I will describe the technique and present a study of hBN encapsulated graphene which reveals a novel dissipation mechanism due to atomic-scale resonant localized states at the edges of graphene. These results provide a direct valuable glimpse into the electron thermalization process in systems with weak electron-phonon interactions. Funded by European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme (Grant No. 655416), Minerva Foundation with funding from the Federal German Ministry of Education and Research, Rosa and Emilio Segré Research Award, and the MISTI.

Thermal imaging in screening of joint inflammation and rheumatoid arthritis in children.

PubMed

Lasanen, R; Piippo-Savolainen, E; Remes-Pakarinen, T; Kröger, L; Heikkilä, A; Julkunen, P; Karhu, J; Töyräs, J

2015-02-01

Potential of modern thermal imaging for screening and differentiation of joint inflammation has not been assessed in child and juvenile patient populations, typically demanding groups in diagnostics of musculoskeletal disorders. We hypothesize that thermal imaging can detect joint inflammation in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis or autoimmune disease with arthritis such as systemic lupus erythematosus. To evaluate the hypothesis, we studied 58 children exhibiting symptoms of joint inflammation. First, the patients' joints were examined along clinical procedure supplemented with ultrasound imaging when deemed necessary by the clinician. Second, thermal images were acquired from patients' knees and ankles. Results of thermal imaging were compared to clinical evaluations in knee and ankle. The temperatures were significantly (pmax = 0.044, pmean < 0.001) higher in inflamed ankle joints, but not in inflamed knee joints. No significant difference was found between the skin surface temperatures of medial and lateral aspects of ankle joints. In knee joints the mean temperatures of medial and lateral aspect differed significantly (p = 0.004). We have demonstrated that thermal imaging may have potential for detecting joint inflammation in ankle joints of children. For knee joints our results are inconclusive and further research is warranted.

Method of fabricating an imaging X-ray spectrometer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alcorn, G. E. (Inventor); Burgess, A. S. (Inventor)

1986-01-01

A process for fabricating an X-ray spectrometer having imaging and energy resolution of X-ray sources is discussed. The spectrometer has an array of adjoinging rectangularly shaped detector cells formed in a silicon body. The walls of the cells are created by laser drilling holes completely through the silicon body and diffusing n(+) phosphorous doping material therethrough. A thermally migrated aluminum electrode is formed centrally through each of the cells.

Making Ceramic/Polymer Parts By Extrusion Stereolithography

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stuffle, Kevin; Mulligan, A.; Creegan, P.; Boulton, J. M.; Lombardi, J. L.; Calvert, P. D.

1996-01-01

Extrusion stereolithography developmental method of computer-controlled manufacturing of objects out of ceramic/polymer composite materials. Computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) software used to create image of desired part and translate image into motion commands for combination of mechanisms moving resin dispenser. Extrusion performed in coordination with motion of dispenser so buildup of extruded material takes on size and shape of desired part. Part thermally cured after deposition.

Nanoparticle light scattering on interferometric surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hayrapetyan, K.; Arif, K. M.; Savran, C. A.; Nolte, D. D.

2011-03-01

We present a model based on Mie Surface Double Interaction (MSDI) to explore bead-based detection mechanisms using imaging and scanning. The application goal of this work is to explore the trade-offs between the sensitivity and throughput among various detection methods. Experimentally we use thermal oxide on silicon to establish and control surface interferometric conditions. Surface-captured gold beads are detected using Molecular Interferometric Imaging (MI2) and Spinning-Disc Interferometry (SDI).

Backscatter X-Ray Development for Space Vehicle Thermal Protection Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bartha, Bence B.; Hope, Dale; Vona, Paul; Born, Martin; Corak, Tony

2011-06-01

The Backscatter X-Ray (BSX) imaging technique is used for various single sided inspection purposes. Previously developed BSX techniques for spray-on-foam insulation (SOFI) have been used for detecting defects in Space Shuttle External Tank foam insulation. The developed BSX hardware and techniques are currently being enhanced to advance Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) methods for future space vehicle applications. Various Thermal Protection System (TPS) materials were inspected using the enhanced BSX imaging techniques, investigating the capability of the method to detect voids and other discontinuities at various locations within each material. Calibration standards were developed for the TPS materials in order to characterize and develop enhanced BSX inspection capabilities. The ability of the BSX technique to detect both manufactured and natural defects was also studied and compared to through-transmission x-ray techniques. The energy of the x-ray, source to object distance, angle of x-ray, focal spot size and x-ray detector configurations were parameters playing a significant role in the sensitivity of the BSX technique to image various materials and defects. The image processing of the results also showed significant increase in the sensitivity of the technique. The experimental results showed BSX to be a viable inspection technique for space vehicle TPS systems.

Research on multi-source image fusion technology in haze environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, GuoDong; Piao, Yan; Li, Bing

2017-11-01

In the haze environment, the visible image collected by a single sensor can express the details of the shape, color and texture of the target very well, but because of the haze, the sharpness is low and some of the target subjects are lost; Because of the expression of thermal radiation and strong penetration ability, infrared image collected by a single sensor can clearly express the target subject, but it will lose detail information. Therefore, the multi-source image fusion method is proposed to exploit their respective advantages. Firstly, the improved Dark Channel Prior algorithm is used to preprocess the visible haze image. Secondly, the improved SURF algorithm is used to register the infrared image and the haze-free visible image. Finally, the weighted fusion algorithm based on information complementary is used to fuse the image. Experiments show that the proposed method can improve the clarity of the visible target and highlight the occluded infrared target for target recognition.

Infrared imaging - A validation technique for computational fluid dynamics codes used in STOVL applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hardman, R. R.; Mahan, J. R.; Smith, M. H.; Gelhausen, P. A.; Van Dalsem, W. R.

1991-01-01

The need for a validation technique for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes in STOVL applications has led to research efforts to apply infrared thermal imaging techniques to visualize gaseous flow fields. Specifically, a heated, free-jet test facility was constructed. The gaseous flow field of the jet exhaust was characterized using an infrared imaging technique in the 2 to 5.6 micron wavelength band as well as conventional pitot tube and thermocouple methods. These infrared images are compared to computer-generated images using the equations of radiative exchange based on the temperature distribution in the jet exhaust measured with the thermocouple traverses. Temperature and velocity measurement techniques, infrared imaging, and the computer model of the infrared imaging technique are presented and discussed. From the study, it is concluded that infrared imaging techniques coupled with the radiative exchange equations applied to CFD models are a valid method to qualitatively verify CFD codes used in STOVL applications.

Agricultural aircraft and thermal imaging - from detecting sand boils at the levee to irrigation management

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Thermal imaging has many potential uses from aerial platforms. A thermal imaging camera was brought into service to detect potential leakage and sand boils at the Mississippi River levee during the flood period of April and May, 2011. This camera was mounted on an agricultural aircraft and operated ...

Infrared thermography: A non-invasive window into thermal physiology.

PubMed

Tattersall, Glenn J

2016-12-01

Infrared thermography is a non-invasive technique that measures mid to long-wave infrared radiation emanating from all objects and converts this to temperature. As an imaging technique, the value of modern infrared thermography is its ability to produce a digitized image or high speed video rendering a thermal map of the scene in false colour. Since temperature is an important environmental parameter influencing animal physiology and metabolic heat production an energetically expensive process, measuring temperature and energy exchange in animals is critical to understanding physiology, especially under field conditions. As a non-contact approach, infrared thermography provides a non-invasive complement to physiological data gathering. One caveat, however, is that only surface temperatures are measured, which guides much research to those thermal events occurring at the skin and insulating regions of the body. As an imaging technique, infrared thermal imaging is also subject to certain uncertainties that require physical modelling, which is typically done via built-in software approaches. Infrared thermal imaging has enabled different insights into the comparative physiology of phenomena ranging from thermogenesis, peripheral blood flow adjustments, evaporative cooling, and to respiratory physiology. In this review, I provide background and guidelines for the use of thermal imaging, primarily aimed at field physiologists and biologists interested in thermal biology. I also discuss some of the better known approaches and discoveries revealed from using thermal imaging with the objective of encouraging more quantitative assessment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Investigation of nanoparticle agglomeration on the effective thermal conductivity of a composite material

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Webb, Anthony J.

Phase Change Materials (PCMs), like paraffin wax, can be used for passive thermal management of portable electronics if their overall bulk thermal conductivity is increased through the addition of highly conducting nanoparticles. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is used to investigate the influence of nanoparticle agglomeration on the overall conductive thermal transport in a nanoenhanced composite by dictating the thermal conductivity of individual elements according to their local inclusion volume fraction and characteristics inside a low conducting PCM matrix. The inclusion density distribution is dictated by an agglomeration factor, and the effective thermal conductivity of each element is calculated from the nanoparticle volume fraction using a method similar to the Representative Volume Element (RVE) methodology. FEA studies are performed for 2-D and 3-D models. In the 2-D model, the grain boundary is fixed at x = 0 for simplicity. For the 3-D model, the grain boundary geometry is randomly varied. A negligible 2-D effect on thermal transport in the 2-D model is seen, so a 1-D thermal resistance network is created for comparison, and the results agree within 4%.The influence of the agglomeration factor and contact Biot number on the overall bulk thermal conductivity is determined by applying Fourier's Law on the entire simulated composite. For the 2-D and 3-D models with a contact Biot number above 1, the overall bulk thermal conductivity decreases prior to the percolation threshold being met and then increases with increasing agglomeration. Finally, a MatlabRTM based image processing tool is created to estimate the agglomeration factor based on an experimental image of a nanoparticle distribution, with a calculated approximate agglomeration value of Beta*L = 5 which results in a bulk thermal conductivity of 0.278 W/(m-K).

Infrared thermal imagers for avionic applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uda, Gianni; Livi, Massimo; Olivieri, Monica; Sabatini, Maurizio; Torrini, Daniele; Baldini, Stefano; Bardazzi, Riccardo; Falli, Pietro; Maestrini, Mauro

1999-07-01

This paper deals with the design of two second generation thermal imagers that Alenia Difesa OFFICINE GALILEO has successfully developed for the Navigation FLIR of the NH90 Tactical Transportation Helicopter (NH90 TTH) and for the Electro-Optical Surveillance and Tracking System for the Italian 'Guardia di Finanza' ATR42 Maritime Patrol Aircraft (ATR42 MPA). Small size, lightweight and low power consumption have been the main design goals of the two programs. In particular the NH90 TTH Thermal Imager is a compact camera operating in the 8 divided by 12 micrometers bandwidth with a single wide field of view. The thermal imager developed for the ATR42 MPA features a three remotely switchable fields of view objective equipped with diffractive optics. Performance goals, innovative design aspects and test results of these two thermal imagers are reported.

Antibacterial Carbon Nanotubes by Impregnation with Copper Nanostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palza, Humberto; Saldias, Natalia; Arriagada, Paulo; Palma, Patricia; Sanchez, Jorge

2017-08-01

The addition of metal-based nanoparticles on carbon nanotubes (CNT) is a relevant method producing multifunctional materials. In this context, CNT were dispersed in an ethanol/water solution containing copper acetate for their impregnation with different copper nanostructures by either a non-thermal or a thermal post-synthesis treatment. Our simple method is based on pure CNT in an air atmosphere without any other reagents. Particles without thermal treatment were present as a well-dispersed layered copper hydroxide acetate nanostructures on CNT, as confirmed by scanning and transmission (TEM) electron microscopies, and showing a characteristic x-ray diffraction peak at 6.6°. On the other hand, by thermal post-synthesis treatment at 300°C, these layered nanostructures became Cu2O nanoparticles of around 20 nm supported on CNT, as confirmed by TEM images and x-ray diffraction peaks. These copper nanostructures present on the CNT surface rendered antibacterial behavior to the resulting hybrid materials against both Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. These findings present for the first time a simple method for producing antibacterial CNT by direct impregnation of copper nanostructures.

Ultrasonically Encoded Photoacoustic Flowgraphy in Biological Tissue

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Lidai; Xia, Jun; Yao, Junjie; Maslov, Konstantin I.; Wang, Lihong V.

2013-11-01

Blood flow speed is an important functional parameter. Doppler ultrasound flowmetry lacks sufficient sensitivity to slow blood flow (several to tens of millimeters per second) in deep tissue. To address this challenge, we developed ultrasonically encoded photoacoustic flowgraphy combining ultrasonic thermal tagging with photoacoustic imaging. Focused ultrasound generates a confined heat source in acoustically absorptive fluid. Thermal waves propagate with the flow and are directly visualized in pseudo color using photoacoustic computed tomography. The Doppler shift is employed to calculate the flow speed. This method requires only acoustic and optical absorption, and thus is applicable to continuous fluid. A blood flow speed as low as 0.24mm·s-1 was successfully measured. Deep blood flow imaging was experimentally demonstrated under 5-mm-thick chicken breast tissue.

Early Detection of Breast Cancer by Using Handycam Camera Manipulation as Thermal Camera Imaging with Images Processing Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riantana, R.; Arie, B.; Adam, M.; Aditya, R.; Nuryani; Yahya, I.

2017-02-01

One important thing to pay attention for detecting breast cancer is breast temperature changes. Indications symptoms of breast tissue abnormalities marked by a rise in temperature of the breast. Handycam in night vision mode interferences by external infrared can penetrate into the skin better and can make an infrared image becomes clearer. The program is capable to changing images from a camcorder into a night vision thermal image by breaking RGB into Grayscale matrix structure. The matrix rearranged in the new matrix with double data type so that it can be processed into contour color chart to differentiate the distribution of body temperature. In this program are also features of contrast scale setting of the image is processed so that the color can be set as desired. There was Also a contrast adjustment feature inverse scale that is useful to reverse the color scale so that colors can be changed opposite. There is improfile function used to retrieves the intensity values of pixels along a line what we want to show the distribution of intensity in a graph of relationship between the intensity and the pixel coordinates.

Monitoring local heating around an interventional MRI antenna with RF radiometry

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ertürk, M. Arcan; El-Sharkawy, AbdEl-Monem M.; Bottomley, Paul A., E-mail: bottoml@mri.jhu.edu

Purpose: Radiofrequency (RF) radiometry uses thermal noise detected by an antenna to measure the temperature of objects independent of medical imaging technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Here, an active interventional MRI antenna can be deployed as a RF radiometer to measure local heating, as a possible new method of monitoring device safety and thermal therapy. Methods: A 128 MHz radiometer receiver was fabricated to measure the RF noise voltage from an interventional 3 T MRI loopless antenna and calibrated for temperature in a uniformly heated bioanalogous gel phantom. Local heating (ΔT) was induced using the antenna for RFmore » transmission and measured by RF radiometry, fiber-optic thermal sensors, and MRI thermometry. The spatial thermal sensitivity of the antenna radiometer was numerically computed using a method-of-moment electric field analyses. The gel’s thermal conductivity was measured by MRI thermometry, and the localized time-dependent ΔT distribution computed from the bioheat transfer equation and compared with radiometry measurements. A “H-factor” relating the 1 g-averaged ΔT to the radiometric temperature was introduced to estimate peak temperature rise in the antenna’s sensitive region. Results: The loopless antenna radiometer linearly tracked temperature inside a thermally equilibrated phantom up to 73 °C to within ±0.3 °C at a 2 Hz sample rate. Computed and MRI thermometric measures of peak ΔT agreed within 13%. The peak 1 g-average temperature was H = 1.36 ± 0.02 times higher than the radiometric temperature for any media with a thermal conductivity of 0.15–0.50 (W/m)/K, indicating that the radiometer can measure peak 1 g-averaged ΔT in physiologically relevant tissue within ±0.4 °C. Conclusions: Active internal MRI detectors can serve as RF radiometers at the MRI frequency to provide accurate independent measures of local and peak temperature without the artifacts that can accompany MRI thermometry or the extra space needed to accommodate alternative thermal transducers. A RF radiometer could be integrated in a MRI scanner to permit “self-monitoring” for assuring device safety and/or monitoring delivery of thermal therapy.« less

KENIS: a high-performance thermal imager developed using the OSPREY IR detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goss, Tristan M.; Baker, Ian M.

2000-07-01

`KENIS', a complete, high performance, compact and lightweight thermal imager, is built around the `OSPREY' infrared detector from BAE systems Infrared Ltd. The `OSPREY' detector uses a 384 X 288 element CMT array with a 20 micrometers pixel size and cooled to 120 K. The relatively small pixel size results in very compact cryogenics and optics, and the relatively high operating temperature provides fast start-up time, low power consumption and long operating life. Requiring single input supply voltage and consuming less than 30 watts of power, the thermal imager generates both analogue and digital format outputs. The `KENIS' lens assembly features a near diffraction limited dual field-of-view optical system that has been designed to be athermalized and switches between fields in less than one second. The `OSPREY' detector produces near background limited performance with few defects and has special, pixel level circuitry to eliminate crosstalk and blooming effects. This, together with signal processing based on an effective two-point fixed pattern noise correction algorithm, results in high quality imagery and a thermal imager that is suitable for most traditional thermal imaging applications. This paper describes the rationale used in the development of the `KENIS' thermal imager, and highlights the potential performance benefits to the user's system, primarily gained by selecting the `OSPREY' infra-red detector within the core of the thermal imager.

Thermal error analysis and compensation for digital image/volume correlation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, Bing

2018-02-01

Digital image/volume correlation (DIC/DVC) rely on the digital images acquired by digital cameras and x-ray CT scanners to extract the motion and deformation of test samples. Regrettably, these imaging devices are unstable optical systems, whose imaging geometry may undergo unavoidable slight and continual changes due to self-heating effect or ambient temperature variations. Changes in imaging geometry lead to both shift and expansion in the recorded 2D or 3D images, and finally manifest as systematic displacement and strain errors in DIC/DVC measurements. Since measurement accuracy is always the most important requirement in various experimental mechanics applications, these thermal-induced errors (referred to as thermal errors) should be given serious consideration in order to achieve high accuracy, reproducible DIC/DVC measurements. In this work, theoretical analyses are first given to understand the origin of thermal errors. Then real experiments are conducted to quantify thermal errors. Three solutions are suggested to mitigate or correct thermal errors. Among these solutions, a reference sample compensation approach is highly recommended because of its easy implementation, high accuracy and in-situ error correction capability. Most of the work has appeared in our previously published papers, thus its originality is not claimed. Instead, this paper aims to give a comprehensive overview and more insights of our work on thermal error analysis and compensation for DIC/DVC measurements.

Thermal Characterization of Defects in Aircraft Structures Via Spatially Controlled Heat Application

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cramer, K. Elliott; Winfree, William P.

1997-01-01

Recent advances in thermal imaging technology have spawned a number of new thermal NDE techniques that provide quantitative information about flaws in aircraft structures. Thermography has a number of advantages as an inspection technique. It is a totally noncontacting, nondestructive, imaging technology capable of inspecting a large area in a matter of a few seconds. The development of fast, inexpensive image processors have aided in the attractiveness of thermography as an NDE technique. These image processors have increased the signal to noise ratio of thermography and facilitated significant advances in post-processing. The resulting digital images enable archival records for comparison with later inspections thus providing a means of monitoring the evolution of damage in a particular structure. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Langley Research Center has developed a thermal NDE technique designed to image a number of potential flaws in aircraft structures. The technique involves injecting a small, spatially controlled heat flux into the outer surface of an aircraft. Images of fatigue cracking, bond integrity and material loss due to corrosion are generated from measurements of the induced surface temperature variations. This paper will present a discussion of the development of the thermal imaging system as well as the techniques used to analyze the resulting thermal images. Spatial tailoring of the heat coupled with the analysis techniques represent a significant improvement in the delectability of flaws over conventional thermal imaging. Results of laboratory experiments on fabricated crack, disbond and material loss samples will be presented to demonstrate the capabilities of the technique. An integral part of the development of this technology is the use of analytic and computational modeling. The experimental results will be compared with these models to demonstrate the utility of such an approach.

Landsat and Thermal Infrared Imaging

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arvidson, Terry; Barsi, Julia; Jhabvala, Murzy; Reuter, Dennis

2012-01-01

The purpose of this chapter is to describe the collection of thermal images by Landsat sensors already on orbit and to introduce the new thermal sensor to be launched in 2013. The chapter describes the thematic mapper (TM) and enhanced thematic mapper plus (ETM+) sensors, the calibration of their thermal bands, and the design and prelaunch calibration of the new thermal infrared sensor (TIRS).

Thermal Infrared Imaging-Based Computational Psychophysiology for Psychometrics

PubMed Central

Cardone, Daniela; Pinti, Paola; Merla, Arcangelo

2015-01-01

Thermal infrared imaging has been proposed as a potential system for the computational assessment of human autonomic nervous activity and psychophysiological states in a contactless and noninvasive way. Through bioheat modeling of facial thermal imagery, several vital signs can be extracted, including localized blood perfusion, cardiac pulse, breath rate, and sudomotor response, since all these parameters impact the cutaneous temperature. The obtained physiological information could then be used to draw inferences about a variety of psychophysiological or affective states, as proved by the increasing number of psychophysiological studies using thermal infrared imaging. This paper presents therefore a review of the principal achievements of thermal infrared imaging in computational physiology with regard to its capability of monitoring psychophysiological activity. PMID:26339284

Scintillometer networks for calibration and validation of energy balance and soil moisture remote sensing algorithms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hendrickx, Jan M. H.; Kleissl, Jan; Gómez Vélez, Jesús D.; Hong, Sung-ho; Fábrega Duque, José R.; Vega, David; Moreno Ramírez, Hernán A.; Ogden, Fred L.

2007-04-01

Accurate estimation of sensible and latent heat fluxes as well as soil moisture from remotely sensed satellite images poses a great challenge. Yet, it is critical to face this challenge since the estimation of spatial and temporal distributions of these parameters over large areas is impossible using only ground measurements. A major difficulty for the calibration and validation of operational remote sensing methods such as SEBAL, METRIC, and ALEXI is the ground measurement of sensible heat fluxes at a scale similar to the spatial resolution of the remote sensing image. While the spatial length scale of remote sensing images covers a range from 30 m (LandSat) to 1000 m (MODIS) direct methods to measure sensible heat fluxes such as eddy covariance (EC) only provide point measurements at a scale that may be considerably smaller than the estimate obtained from a remote sensing method. The Large Aperture scintillometer (LAS) flux footprint area is larger (up to 5000 m long) and its spatial extent better constraint than that of EC systems. Therefore, scintillometers offer the unique possibility of measuring the vertical flux of sensible heat averaged over areas comparable with several pixels of a satellite image (up to about 40 Landsat thermal pixels or about 5 MODIS thermal pixels). The objective of this paper is to present our experiences with an existing network of seven scintillometers in New Mexico and a planned network of three scintillometers in the humid tropics of Panama and Colombia.

Theoretical scheme of thermal-light many-ghost imaging by Nth-order intensity correlation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liu Yingchuan; College of Mathematics and Physics, University of South China, Hengyang 421001; Kuang Leman

2011-05-15

In this paper, we propose a theoretical scheme of many-ghost imaging in terms of Nth-order correlated thermal light. We obtain the Gaussian thin lens equations in the many-ghost imaging protocol. We show that it is possible to produce N-1 ghost images of an object at different places in a nonlocal fashion by means of a higher order correlated imaging process with an Nth-order correlated thermal source and correlation measurements. We investigate the visibility of the ghost images in the scheme and obtain the upper bounds of the visibility for the Nth-order correlated thermal-light ghost imaging. It is found that themore » visibility of the ghost images can be dramatically enhanced when the order of correlation becomes larger. It is pointed out that the many-ghost imaging phenomenon is an observable physical effect induced by higher order coherence or higher order correlations of optical fields.« less

Feasibility of Using Ultrasonic Nakagami Imaging for Monitoring Microwave-Induced Thermal Lesion in Ex Vivo Porcine Liver.

PubMed

Zhang, Siyuan; Han, Yuqiang; Zhu, Xingguang; Shang, Shaoqiang; Huang, Guojing; Zhang, Lei; Niu, Gang; Wang, Supin; He, Xijing; Wan, Mingxi

2017-02-01

The feasibility of using ultrasonic Nakagami imaging to evaluate thermal lesions induced by microwave ablation (MWA) in ex vivo porcine liver was explored. Dynamic changes in echo amplitudes and Nakagami parameters in the region of the MWA-induced thermal lesion, as well as the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) between the MWA-induced thermal lesion and the surrounding normal tissue, were calculated simultaneously during the MWA procedure. After MWA exposure, a bright hyper-echoic region appeared in ultrasonic B-mode and Nakagami parameter images as an indicator of the thermal lesion. Mean values of the Nakagami parameter in the thermal lesion region increased to 0.58, 0.71 and 0.91 after 1, 3 and 5 min of MVA. There were no significant differences in envelope amplitudes in the thermal lesion region among ultrasonic B-mode images obtained after different durations of MWA. Unlike ultrasonic B-mode images, Nakagami images were less affected by the shadow effect in monitoring of MWA exposure, and a fairly complete hyper-echoic region was observed in the Nakagami image. The mean value of the Nakagami parameter increased from approximately 0.47 to 0.82 during MWA exposure. At the end of the postablation stage, the mean value of the Nakagami parameter decreased to 0.55 and was higher than that before MWA exposure. CNR values calculated for Nakagami parameter images increased from 0.13 to approximately 0.61 during MWA and then decreased to 0.26 at the end of the post-ablation stage. The corresponding CNR values calculated for ultrasonic B-mode images were 0.24, 0.42 and 0.17. This preliminary study on ex vivo porcine liver suggested that Nakagami imaging have potential use in evaluating the formation of MWA-induced thermal lesions. Further in vivo studies are needed to evaluate the potential application. Copyright © 2016 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Body temperature in premature infants during the first week of life: Exploration using infrared thermal imaging.

PubMed

Knobel-Dail, Robin B; Holditch-Davis, Diane; Sloane, Richard; Guenther, B D; Katz, Laurence M

2017-10-01

Hypothermia is a problem for very premature infants after birth and leads to increased morbidity and mortality. Previously we found very premature infants exhibit abnormal thermal patterns, keeping foot temperatures warmer than abdominal temperatures for their first 12h of life. We explored the utility of infrared thermography as a non-invasive method for measuring body temperature in premature infants in an attempt to regionally examine differential temperatures. Our use of infrared imaging to measure abdominal and foot temperature for extremely premature infants in heated, humid incubators was successful and in close agreement using Bland and Altman technique with temperatures measured by skin thermistors. Our study methods demonstrated that it was feasible to capture full body temperatures of extremely premature infants while they were resting in a heated, humid incubator using a Flir SC640 infrared camera. This technology offers researchers and clinicians a method to examine acute changes in perfusion differentials in premature infants which may lead to morbidity. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Use of Thermal Imaging in the Evaluation of the Symmetry of Muscle Activity in Various Types of Exercises (Symmetrical and Asymmetrical)

PubMed Central

Chudecka, Monika; Lubkowska, Anna; Leźnicka, Katarzyna; Krupecki, Krzysztof

2015-01-01

In order to achieve higher efficiency of training and thus better athletic performance, new research and diagnostic methods are constantly being developed, particularly those that are non-invasive. One such a method is thermography, suitable for quantitative and therefore objective evaluation of variables, such as changes in the temperature of the skin covering working muscles. The aim of this study was to use a thermal imaging infrared camera to evaluate temperature changes of symmetric body surfaces over symmetrically working muscles of male scullers after exercising on a two-oared rowing ergometer and compare these to asymmetrically working muscles of handball players after an endurance training session containing elements of an actual game. In the scullers, the mean temperature of body surfaces was always lower post than pre exercise, with no significant differences in an average temperature drop between the opposite sides, indicating that the work of the muscles involved in the physical exertion on the rowing ergometer was symmetrical. In contrast, in the handball players, skin temperatures in symmetric areas over the asymmetrically working muscles showed statistically significant differences between sides, which was associated with the functional asymmetry of training. This study indicates that thermal imaging may be useful for coaches in the evaluation of technical preparations in sports in which equal involvement of symmetric muscles is a condition of success, e.g. in scullers. PMID:26839614

The Feasibility of Conformal Thermal Therapy with Transurethral Ultrasound Heating Applicators and MR Temperature Feedback

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choy, Vanessa; Tang, Kee; Wachsmuth, Jeff; Chopra, Rajiv; Bronskill, Michael

2006-05-01

Transurethral thermal therapy offers a minimally invasive alternative for the treatment of prostate diseases including benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer. Accurate heating of a targeted region of the gland can be achieved through the use of a rotating directional heating source incorporating planar ultrasound transducers, and the implementation of active temperature feedback along the beam direction during heating provided by magnetic resonance (MR) thermometry. The performance of this control method with practical spatial, temporal, and temperature resolution (such as angular alignment, spatial resolution, update rate for temperature feedback (imaging time), and the presence of noise) for thermal feedback using a clinical 1.5 T MR scanner was investigated in simulations. As expected, the control algorithm was most sensitive to the presence of noise, with noticeable degradation in its performance above ±2°C of temperature uncertainty. With respect to temporal resolution, acceptable performance was achieved at update rates of 5s or faster. The control algorithm was relatively insensitive to reduced spatial resolution due to the broad nature of the heating pattern produced by the heating applicator, this provides an opportunity to improve signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The overall simulation results confirm that existing clinical 1.5T MR imagers are capable of providing adequate temperature feedback for transurethral thermal therapy without special pulse sequences or enhanced imaging hardware.

Kalman Filtered MR Temperature Imaging for Laser Induced Thermal Therapies

PubMed Central

Fuentes, D.; Yung, J.; Hazle, J. D.; Weinberg, J. S.; Stafford, R. J.

2013-01-01

The feasibility of using a stochastic form of Pennes bioheat model within a 3D finite element based Kalman filter (KF) algorithm is critically evaluated for the ability to provide temperature field estimates in the event of magnetic resonance temperature imaging (MRTI) data loss during laser induced thermal therapy (LITT). The ability to recover missing MRTI data was analyzed by systematically removing spatiotemporal information from a clinical MR-guided LITT procedure in human brain and comparing predictions in these regions to the original measurements. Performance was quantitatively evaluated in terms of a dimensionless L2 (RMS) norm of the temperature error weighted by acquisition uncertainty. During periods of no data corruption, observed error histories demonstrate that the Kalman algorithm does not alter the high quality temperature measurement provided by MR thermal imaging. The KF-MRTI implementation considered is seen to predict the bioheat transfer with RMS error < 4 for a short period of time, Δt < 10sec, until the data corruption subsides. In its present form, the KF-MRTI method currently fails to compensate for consecutive for consecutive time periods of data loss Δt > 10sec. PMID:22203706

Simple thermal to thermal face verification method based on local texture descriptors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grudzien, A.; Palka, Norbert; Kowalski, M.

2017-08-01

Biometrics is a science that studies and analyzes physical structure of a human body and behaviour of people. Biometrics found many applications ranging from border control systems, forensics systems for criminal investigations to systems for access control. Unique identifiers, also referred to as modalities are used to distinguish individuals. One of the most common and natural human identifiers is a face. As a result of decades of investigations, face recognition achieved high level of maturity, however recognition in visible spectrum is still challenging due to illumination aspects or new ways of spoofing. One of the alternatives is recognition of face in different parts of light spectrum, e.g. in infrared spectrum. Thermal infrared offer new possibilities for human recognition due to its specific properties as well as mature equipment. In this paper we present the scheme of subject's verification methodology by using facial images in thermal range. The study is focused on the local feature extraction methods and on the similarity metrics. We present comparison of two local texture-based descriptors for thermal 1-to-1 face recognition.

A preliminary study of the thermal measurement with nMAG gel dosimeter by MRI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chuang, Chun-Chao; Shao, Chia-Ho; Shih, Cheng-Ting; Yeh, Yu-Chen; Lu, Cheng-Chang; Chuang, Keh-Shih; Wu, Jay

2014-11-01

The methacrylic acid (nMAG) gel dosimeter is an effective tool for 3-dimensional quality assurance of radiation therapy. In addition to radiation induced polymerization effects, the nMAG gel also responds to temperature variation. In this study, we proposed a new method to evaluate the thermal response in thermal therapy using nMAG gel and magnetic resonance image (MRI) scans. Several properties of nMAG have been investigated including the R2 relaxation rate, temperature sensitivity, and temperature linearity of the thermal dose response. nMAG was heated by the double-boiling method in the range of 37-45 °C. MRI scans were performed with the head coil receiver. The temperature to R2 response curve was analyzed and simple linear regression was performed with an R-square value of 0.9835. The measured data showed a well inverse linear relationship between R2 and temperature. We conclude that the nMAG polymer gel dosimeter shows great potential as a technique to evaluate the temperature rise during thermal surgery.

Contrast Enhancement for Thermal Acoustic Breast Cancer Imaging via Resonant Stimulation

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-03-01

structures,” Appl . Opt., vol. 39, no. 31, pp. 5872–5883, 2000. [12] D. Feng, Y. Xu, G. Ku, and L. V. Wang, “Microwave-induced thermoa- coustic tomography...image recon- struction,” Appl . Opt., vol. 39, no. 32, pp. 5971–5977, 2000. [14] G. Kossoff, E. K. Fry, and J. Jellins, “Average velocity of ultrasound...P. Stoica, and R. Wu, “Microwave imaging via adaptive beamforming methods for breast cancer detection,” J. Electro- magn. Waves Appl ., vol. 20, no. 1

The 2006 lava dome eruption of Merapi Volcano (Indonesia): Detailed analysis using MODIS TIR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carr, Brett B.; Clarke, Amanda B.; Vanderkluysen, Loÿc

2016-02-01

Merapi is one of Indonesia's most active and dangerous volcanoes. Prior to the 2010 VEI 4 eruption, activity at Merapi during the 20th century was characterized by the growth and collapse of a series of lava domes. Periods of very slow growth were punctuated by short episodes of increased eruption rates characterized by dome collapse-generated pyroclastic density currents (PDCs). An eruptive event of this type occurred in May-June, 2006. For effusive eruptions such as this, detailed extrusion rate records are important for understanding the processes driving the eruption and the hazards presented by the eruption. We use thermal infrared (TIR) images from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites to estimate extrusion rates at Merapi Volcano during the 2006 eruption using the method of Harris and Ripepe (2007). We compile a set of 75 nighttime MODIS images of the eruptive period to produce a detailed time series of thermal radiance and extrusion rate that reveal multiple phases of the 2006 eruption. These data closely correspond to the published ground-based observational record and improve observation density and detail during the eruption sequence. Furthermore, additional analysis of radiance values for thermal anomalies in Band 21 (λ = 3.959 μm) of MODIS images results in a new framework for detecting different styles of activity. We successfully discriminate among slow dome growth, rapid dome growth, and PDC-producing dome collapse. We also demonstrate a positive correlation between PDC frequency and extrusion rate, and provide evidence that extrusion rate can increase in response to external events such as dome collapses or tectonic earthquakes. This study represents a new method of documenting volcanic activity that can be applied to other similar volcanic systems.

Self-heating and failure in scalable graphene devices

DOE PAGES

Beechem, Thomas E.; Shaffer, Ryan A.; Nogan, John; ...

2016-06-09

Self-heating induced failure of graphene devices synthesized from both chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and epitaxial means is compared using a combination of infrared thermography and Raman imaging. Despite a larger thermal resistance, CVD devices dissipate >3x the amount of power before failure than their epitaxial counterparts. The discrepancy arises due to morphological irregularities implicit to the graphene synthesis method that induce localized heating. As a result, morphology, rather than thermal resistance, therefore dictates power handling limits in graphene devices.

Aircraft engine-mounted camera system for long wavelength infrared imaging of in-service thermal barrier coated turbine blades

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Markham, James; Cosgrove, Joseph; Scire, James; Haldeman, Charles; Agoos, Ian

2014-12-01

This paper announces the implementation of a long wavelength infrared camera to obtain high-speed thermal images of an aircraft engine's in-service thermal barrier coated turbine blades. Long wavelength thermal images were captured of first-stage blades. The achieved temporal and spatial resolutions allowed for the identification of cooling-hole locations. The software and synchronization components of the system allowed for the selection of any blade on the turbine wheel, with tuning capability to image from leading edge to trailing edge. Its first application delivered calibrated thermal images as a function of turbine rotational speed at both steady state conditions and during engine transients. In advance of presenting these data for the purpose of understanding engine operation, this paper focuses on the components of the system, verification of high-speed synchronized operation, and the integration of the system with the commercial jet engine test bed.

Aircraft engine-mounted camera system for long wavelength infrared imaging of in-service thermal barrier coated turbine blades.

PubMed

Markham, James; Cosgrove, Joseph; Scire, James; Haldeman, Charles; Agoos, Ian

2014-12-01

This paper announces the implementation of a long wavelength infrared camera to obtain high-speed thermal images of an aircraft engine's in-service thermal barrier coated turbine blades. Long wavelength thermal images were captured of first-stage blades. The achieved temporal and spatial resolutions allowed for the identification of cooling-hole locations. The software and synchronization components of the system allowed for the selection of any blade on the turbine wheel, with tuning capability to image from leading edge to trailing edge. Its first application delivered calibrated thermal images as a function of turbine rotational speed at both steady state conditions and during engine transients. In advance of presenting these data for the purpose of understanding engine operation, this paper focuses on the components of the system, verification of high-speed synchronized operation, and the integration of the system with the commercial jet engine test bed.

Thermal Transfer Compared To The Fourteen Other Imaging Technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Leary, John W.

1989-07-01

A quiet revolution in the world of imaging has been underway for the past few years. The older technologies of dot matrix, daisy wheel, thermal paper and pen plotters have been increasingly displaced by laser, ink jet and thermal transfer. The net result of this revolution is improved technologies that afford superior imaging, quiet operation, plain paper usage, instant operation, and solid state components. Thermal transfer is one of the processes that incorporates these benefits. Among the imaging application for thermal transfer are: 1. Bar code labeling and scanning. 2. New systems for airline ticketing, boarding passes, reservations, etc. 3. Color computer graphics and imaging. 4. Copying machines that copy in color. 5. Fast growing communications media such as facsimile. 6. Low cost word processors and computer printers. 7. New devices that print pictures from video cameras or television sets. 8. Cameras utilizing computer chips in place of film.

Low thermal emissivity surfaces using AgNW thin films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pantoja, Elisa; Bhatt, Rajendra; Liu, Anping; Gupta, Mool C.

2017-12-01

The properties of silver nanowire (AgNW) films in the optical and infrared spectral regime offer an interesting opportunity for a broad range of applications that require low-emissivity coatings. This work reports a method to reduce the thermal emissivity of substrates by the formation of low-emissivity AgNW coating films from solution. The spectral emissivity was characterized by thermal imaging with an FLIR camera, followed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. In a combined experimental and simulation study, we provide fundamental data of the transmittance, reflectance, haze, and emissivity of AgNW thin films. Emissivity values were finely tuned by modifying the concentration of the metal nanowires in the films. The simulation models based on the transfer matrix method developed for the AgNW thin films provided optical values that show a good agreement with the measurements.

An automatic detection method for the boiler pipe header based on real-time image acquisition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Long, Yi; Liu, YunLong; Qin, Yongliang; Yang, XiangWei; Li, DengKe; Shen, DingJie

2017-06-01

Generally, an endoscope is used to test the inner part of the thermal power plants boiler pipe header. However, since the endoscope hose manual operation, the length and angle of the inserted probe cannot be controlled. Additionally, it has a big blind spot observation subject to the length of the endoscope wire. To solve these problems, an automatic detection method for the boiler pipe header based on real-time image acquisition and simulation comparison techniques was proposed. The magnetic crawler with permanent magnet wheel could carry the real-time image acquisition device to complete the crawling work and collect the real-time scene image. According to the obtained location by using the positioning auxiliary device, the position of the real-time detection image in a virtual 3-D model was calibrated. Through comparing of the real-time detection images and the computer simulation images, the defects or foreign matter fall into could be accurately positioning, so as to repair and clean up conveniently.

Experimental Verification of Modeled Thermal Distribution Produced by a Piston Source in Physiotherapy Ultrasound

PubMed Central

Lopez-Haro, S. A.; Leija, L.

2016-01-01

Objectives. To present a quantitative comparison of thermal patterns produced by the piston-in-a-baffle approach with those generated by a physiotherapy ultrasonic device and to show the dependency among thermal patterns and acoustic intensity distributions. Methods. The finite element (FE) method was used to model an ideal acoustic field and the produced thermal pattern to be compared with the experimental acoustic and temperature distributions produced by a real ultrasonic applicator. A thermal model using the measured acoustic profile as input is also presented for comparison. Temperature measurements were carried out with thermocouples inserted in muscle phantom. The insertion place of thermocouples was monitored with ultrasound imaging. Results. Modeled and measured thermal profiles were compared within the first 10 cm of depth. The ideal acoustic field did not adequately represent the measured field having different temperature profiles (errors 10% to 20%). Experimental field was concentrated near the transducer producing a region with higher temperatures, while the modeled ideal temperature was linearly distributed along the depth. The error was reduced to 7% when introducing the measured acoustic field as the input variable in the FE temperature modeling. Conclusions. Temperature distributions are strongly related to the acoustic field distributions. PMID:27999801

Automated thermal mapping techniques using chromatic image analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Buck, Gregory M.

1989-01-01

Thermal imaging techniques are introduced using a chromatic image analysis system and temperature sensitive coatings. These techniques are used for thermal mapping and surface heat transfer measurements on aerothermodynamic test models in hypersonic wind tunnels. Measurements are made on complex vehicle configurations in a timely manner and at minimal expense. The image analysis system uses separate wavelength filtered images to analyze surface spectral intensity data. The system was initially developed for quantitative surface temperature mapping using two-color thermographic phosphors but was found useful in interpreting phase change paint and liquid crystal data as well.

THERMAL-INERTIA MAPPING IN VEGETATED TERRAIN FROM HEAT CAPACITY MAPPING MISSION SATELLITE DATA.

USGS Publications Warehouse

Watson, Ken; Hummer-Miller, Susanne

1984-01-01

Thermal-inertia data, derived from the Heat Capacity Mapping Mission (HCMM) satellite, were analyzed in areas of varying amounts of vegetation cover. Thermal differences which appear to correlate with lithologic differences have been observed previously in areas of substantial vegetation cover. However, the energy exchange occurring within the canopy is much more complex than that used to develop the methods employed to produce thermal-inertia images. Because adequate models are lacking at present, the interpretation is largely dependent on comparison, correlation, and inference. Two study areas were selected in the western United States: the Richfield, Utah and the Silver City, Arizona-New Mexico, 1 degree multiplied by 2 degree quadrangles. Many thermal-inertia highs were found to be associated with geologic-unit boundaries, faults, and ridges. Lows occur in valleys with residual soil cover.

Image quality (IQ) guided multispectral image compression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Yufeng; Chen, Genshe; Wang, Zhonghai; Blasch, Erik

2016-05-01

Image compression is necessary for data transportation, which saves both transferring time and storage space. In this paper, we focus on our discussion on lossy compression. There are many standard image formats and corresponding compression algorithms, for examples, JPEG (DCT -- discrete cosine transform), JPEG 2000 (DWT -- discrete wavelet transform), BPG (better portable graphics) and TIFF (LZW -- Lempel-Ziv-Welch). The image quality (IQ) of decompressed image will be measured by numerical metrics such as root mean square error (RMSE), peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), and structural Similarity (SSIM) Index. Given an image and a specified IQ, we will investigate how to select a compression method and its parameters to achieve an expected compression. Our scenario consists of 3 steps. The first step is to compress a set of interested images by varying parameters and compute their IQs for each compression method. The second step is to create several regression models per compression method after analyzing the IQ-measurement versus compression-parameter from a number of compressed images. The third step is to compress the given image with the specified IQ using the selected compression method (JPEG, JPEG2000, BPG, or TIFF) according to the regressed models. The IQ may be specified by a compression ratio (e.g., 100), then we will select the compression method of the highest IQ (SSIM, or PSNR). Or the IQ may be specified by a IQ metric (e.g., SSIM = 0.8, or PSNR = 50), then we will select the compression method of the highest compression ratio. Our experiments tested on thermal (long-wave infrared) images (in gray scales) showed very promising results.

Correction of Proton Resonance Frequency Shift Temperature Maps for Magnetic Field Disturbances Caused by Breathing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shmatukha, Andriy V.; Bakker, Chris J. G.

2006-05-01

Respiratory Induced Resonance Offset (RIRO) is a periodic disturbance of the magnetic field due to breathing. Such disturbances handicap the accuracy of the Proton Resonance Frequency Shift (PRFS) method of MRI temperature mapping in anatomies situated nearby the lungs and chest wall. In this work, we propose a method capable of minimizing errors caused by RIRO in PRFS temperature maps. In this method, a set of baseline images characterizing RIRO at a variety of respiratory cycle instants is acquired before the thermal treatment starts. During the treatment, the temperature evolution is found from two successive images. Then, the calculated temperature changes are corrected for the additional contribution caused by RIRO using the pre-treatment baseline images acquired at the identical instances of the respiratory cycle. Our method is shown to improve the accuracy and stability of PRFS temperature maps in the presence of RIRO and motion in phantom and volunteer experiments.

Fast Monte Carlo-assisted simulation of cloudy Earth backgrounds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adler-Golden, Steven; Richtsmeier, Steven C.; Berk, Alexander; Duff, James W.

2012-11-01

A calculation method has been developed for rapidly synthesizing radiometrically accurate ultraviolet through longwavelengthinfrared spectral imagery of the Earth for arbitrary locations and cloud fields. The method combines cloudfree surface reflectance imagery with cloud radiance images calculated from a first-principles 3-D radiation transport model. The MCScene Monte Carlo code [1-4] is used to build a cloud image library; a data fusion method is incorporated to speed convergence. The surface and cloud images are combined with an upper atmospheric description with the aid of solar and thermal radiation transport equations that account for atmospheric inhomogeneity. The method enables a wide variety of sensor and sun locations, cloud fields, and surfaces to be combined on-the-fly, and provides hyperspectral wavelength resolution with minimal computational effort. The simulations agree very well with much more time-consuming direct Monte Carlo calculations of the same scene.

A novel false color mapping model-based fusion method of visual and infrared images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qi, Bin; Kun, Gao; Tian, Yue-xin; Zhu, Zhen-yu

2013-12-01

A fast and efficient image fusion method is presented to generate near-natural colors from panchromatic visual and thermal imaging sensors. Firstly, a set of daytime color reference images are analyzed and the false color mapping principle is proposed according to human's visual and emotional habits. That is, object colors should remain invariant after color mapping operations, differences between infrared and visual images should be enhanced and the background color should be consistent with the main scene content. Then a novel nonlinear color mapping model is given by introducing the geometric average value of the input visual and infrared image gray and the weighted average algorithm. To determine the control parameters in the mapping model, the boundary conditions are listed according to the mapping principle above. Fusion experiments show that the new fusion method can achieve the near-natural appearance of the fused image, and has the features of enhancing color contrasts and highlighting the infrared brilliant objects when comparing with the traditional TNO algorithm. Moreover, it owns the low complexity and is easy to realize real-time processing. So it is quite suitable for the nighttime imaging apparatus.

Pedestrian detection from thermal images: A sparse representation based approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qi, Bin; John, Vijay; Liu, Zheng; Mita, Seiichi

2016-05-01

Pedestrian detection, a key technology in computer vision, plays a paramount role in the applications of advanced driver assistant systems (ADASs) and autonomous vehicles. The objective of pedestrian detection is to identify and locate people in a dynamic environment so that accidents can be avoided. With significant variations introduced by illumination, occlusion, articulated pose, and complex background, pedestrian detection is a challenging task for visual perception. Different from visible images, thermal images are captured and presented with intensity maps based objects' emissivity, and thus have an enhanced spectral range to make human beings perceptible from the cool background. In this study, a sparse representation based approach is proposed for pedestrian detection from thermal images. We first adopted the histogram of sparse code to represent image features and then detect pedestrian with the extracted features in an unimodal and a multimodal framework respectively. In the unimodal framework, two types of dictionaries, i.e. joint dictionary and individual dictionary, are built by learning from prepared training samples. In the multimodal framework, a weighted fusion scheme is proposed to further highlight the contributions from features with higher separability. To validate the proposed approach, experiments were conducted to compare with three widely used features: Haar wavelets (HWs), histogram of oriented gradients (HOG), and histogram of phase congruency (HPC) as well as two classification methods, i.e. AdaBoost and support vector machine (SVM). Experimental results on a publicly available data set demonstrate the superiority of the proposed approach.

Seeing Below the Drop: Direct Nano-to-microscale Imaging of Complex Interfaces involving Solid, Liquid, and Gas Phases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rykaczewski, Konrad; Landin, Trevan; Walker, Marlon L.; Scott, John Henry J.; Varanasi, Kripa K.

2012-11-01

Nanostructured surfaces with special wetting properties have the potential to transform number of industries, including power generation, water desalination, gas and oil production, and microelectronics thermal management. Predicting the wetting properties of these surfaces requires detailed knowledge of the geometry and the composition of the contact volume linking the droplet to the underlying substrate. Surprisingly, a general nano-to-microscale method for direct imaging of such interfaces has previously not been developed. Here we introduce a three dimensional imaging method which resolves this one-hundred-year-old metrology gap in wetting research. Specifically, we demonstrate direct nano-to-microscale imaging of complex fluidic interfaces using cryofixation in combination with cryo-FIB/SEM. We show that application of this method yields previously unattainable quantitative information about the interfacial geometry of water condensed on silicon nanowire forests with hydrophilic and hydrophobic surface termination in the presence or absence of an intermediate water repelling oil. We also discuss imaging artifacts and the advantages of secondary and backscatter electron imaging, Energy Dispersive Spectrometry (EDS), and three dimensional FIB/SEM tomography.

Intricacies of Using Kevlar and Thermal Knives in a Deployable Release System: Issues and Solutions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stewart, Alphonso C.; Hair, Jason H.; Broduer, Steve (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The utilization of Kevlar cord and thermal knives in a deployable release system produces a number of issues that must be addressed in the design of the system. This paper proposes design considerations that minimize the major issues, thermal knife failure, Kevlar cord relaxation, and the measurement of the cord tension. Design practices can minimize the potential for thermal knife laminate and element damage that result in failure of the knife. A process for in-situ inspection of the knife with resistance, rather than continuity, checks and 10x zoom optical imaging can detect damaged knives. Tests allow the characterization of the behavior of the particular Kevlar cord in use and the development of specific pre-stretching techniques and initial tension values needed to meet requirements. A new method can accurately measure the tension of the Kevlar cord using a guitar tuner, because more conventional methods do not apply to arimid cords such as Kevlar.

Intricacies of Using Kevlar Cord and Thermal Knives in a Deployable Release System: Issues and Solutions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stewart, Alphonso; Hair, Jason H.

2002-01-01

The utilization of Kevlar cord and thermal knives in a deployable release system produces a number of issues that must be addressed in the design of the system. This paper proposes design considerations that minimize the major issues, thermal knife failure, Kevlar cord relaxation, and the measurement of the cord tension. Design practices can minimize the potential for thermal knife laminate and element damage that result in failure of the knife. A process for in-situ inspection of the knife with resistance, rather than continuity, checks and 10x zoom optical imaging can detect damaged knives. Tests allow the characterization of the behavior of the particular Kevlar cord in use and the development of specific prestretching techniques and initial tension values needed to meet requirements. A new method can accurately measure the tension of the Kevlar cord using a guitar tuner, because more conventional methods do not apply to arimid cords such as Kevlar.

Intricacies of Using Kevlar Cord and Thermal Knives in a Deployable Release System: Issues and Solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stewart, Alphonso; Hair, Jason H.

2002-04-01

The utilization of Kevlar cord and thermal knives in a deployable release system produces a number of issues that must be addressed in the design of the system. This paper proposes design considerations that minimize the major issues, thermal knife failure, Kevlar cord relaxation, and the measurement of the cord tension. Design practices can minimize the potential for thermal knife laminate and element damage that result in failure of the knife. A process for in-situ inspection of the knife with resistance, rather than continuity, checks and 10x zoom optical imaging can detect damaged knives. Tests allow the characterization of the behavior of the particular Kevlar cord in use and the development of specific prestretching techniques and initial tension values needed to meet requirements. A new method can accurately measure the tension of the Kevlar cord using a guitar tuner, because more conventional methods do not apply to arimid cords such as Kevlar.

Physiology-based face recognition in the thermal infrared spectrum.

PubMed

Buddharaju, Pradeep; Pavlidis, Ioannis T; Tsiamyrtzis, Panagiotis; Bazakos, Mike

2007-04-01

The current dominant approaches to face recognition rely on facial characteristics that are on or over the skin. Some of these characteristics have low permanency can be altered, and their phenomenology varies significantly with environmental factors (e.g., lighting). Many methodologies have been developed to address these problems to various degrees. However, the current framework of face recognition research has a potential weakness due to its very nature. We present a novel framework for face recognition based on physiological information. The motivation behind this effort is to capitalize on the permanency of innate characteristics that are under the skin. To establish feasibility, we propose a specific methodology to capture facial physiological patterns using the bioheat information contained in thermal imagery. First, the algorithm delineates the human face from the background using the Bayesian framework. Then, it localizes the superficial blood vessel network using image morphology. The extracted vascular network produces contour shapes that are characteristic to each individual. The branching points of the skeletonized vascular network are referred to as Thermal Minutia Points (TMPs) and constitute the feature database. To render the method robust to facial pose variations, we collect for each subject to be stored in the database five different pose images (center, midleft profile, left profile, midright profile, and right profile). During the classification stage, the algorithm first estimates the pose of the test image. Then, it matches the local and global TMP structures extracted from the test image with those of the corresponding pose images in the database. We have conducted experiments on a multipose database of thermal facial images collected in our laboratory, as well as on the time-gap database of the University of Notre Dame. The good experimental results show that the proposed methodology has merit, especially with respect to the problem of low permanence over time. More importantly, the results demonstrate the feasibility of the physiological framework in face recognition and open the way for further methodological and experimental research in the area.

Subpixel edge estimation with lens aberrations compensation based on the iterative image approximation for high-precision thermal expansion measurements of solids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Inochkin, F. M.; Kruglov, S. K.; Bronshtein, I. G.; Kompan, T. A.; Kondratjev, S. V.; Korenev, A. S.; Pukhov, N. F.

2017-06-01

A new method for precise subpixel edge estimation is presented. The principle of the method is the iterative image approximation in 2D with subpixel accuracy until the appropriate simulated is found, matching the simulated and acquired images. A numerical image model is presented consisting of three parts: an edge model, object and background brightness distribution model, lens aberrations model including diffraction. The optimal values of model parameters are determined by means of conjugate-gradient numerical optimization of a merit function corresponding to the L2 distance between acquired and simulated images. Computationally-effective procedure for the merit function calculation along with sufficient gradient approximation is described. Subpixel-accuracy image simulation is performed in a Fourier domain with theoretically unlimited precision of edge points location. The method is capable of compensating lens aberrations and obtaining the edge information with increased resolution. Experimental method verification with digital micromirror device applied to physically simulate an object with known edge geometry is shown. Experimental results for various high-temperature materials within the temperature range of 1000°C..2400°C are presented.

Telethermography with thermostimulus in the study of temporal arteritis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Di Carlo, Aldo

2004-12-01

Giant-cell arteritis or Horton's arteritis (HA) is an immunomediated disease of large vessels. In particular it affects temporal arteries; its outcome is generally benign, but in some cases brain strokes or blindness are possible. Paraclinical diagnostic tools and, in particular, imaging techniques are very useful for diagnosing and monitoring the evolution. The method of thermostimulus applied to traditional telethermography (Ts-TTG) is particularly useful in the study of HA. While direct thermography (TTG) is limited in the evaluating fluximetric data because of its reduced sensitivity (no more than 0.1 °C), the thermostimulus technique allows us to know exactly the minimal variations in blood flow of these arteries. This method uses a thermogenerator connected with a thermal probe, a latex balloon containing a mixture of alcohol-water. Once this liquid reaches the temperature of the thermal stress (5 °C × 20 s), the probe is applied by contact on the cutaneous area of interest. Thermal insulation enables us to see, immediately after the thermal stimulus, a time-lag in the thermal recovery of these two components, respectively that of the artery (mean time of thermal recovery ⩽20 s) and that of the surrounding healthy skin (mean time of thermal recovery ⩾60 s). Moreover, applying the thermal stimulus successively on the two temporal areas, there will be a temporal difference in their respective thermal recoveries, also in cases of very low thermal differences (<0.01 °C). A group of 10 subjects affected by monolateral temporal arteritis was examined in a retrospective study. The results demonstrate the usefulness of this innovative method that, among other advantages, excludes the possibility of false negatives.

Real-time temperature feedback for nanoparticles based tumor thermal treatment (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steinberg, Idan; Tamir, Gil; Gannot, Israel

2017-02-01

Systemic hyperthermia therapy exploits the fact that cancer cells are more sensitive to elevated temperatures than healthy tissue. Systemic application of hyperthermia externally usually leads to low efficiency treatment. Recently, our group and others have proposed an antibody conjugated magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) approach to overcome the limitation of systemic hyperthermia. MNPs can bind specifically to the tumor sites, thus delivering internal highly effective targeted hyperthermia. However, such internal mechanism requires more complicated controls and monitoring. This current work presents a deep tissue temperature monitoring method to control hyperthermia effectiveness and minimize collateral damage to surrounding tissues. A low-frequency narrowband modulation of the RF field used for MNP heating leads to the generation of diffused thermal waves which propagate to the tissue surface and captured by a thermal camera. A Fourier domain, analytical heat transfer model is used for temperature monitoring algorithm. The ill-posed thermal inverse problem is solved efficiently by iterating over the source power until both the amplitude and phase match the recorded thermal image sequence. The narrow bandwidth thermal stimulation enables acquiring deep signals with high SNR. We show that thermal transverse resolution improves as the stimulation frequency increases even slightly above DC, enabling better heat source transverse separation and margin identification in the case of distributed tumors. These results can be used as a part of an overall image and treat system for efficient detection of tumors, manipulation of MNPs and monitoring MNP based hyperthermia.

Ghost imaging with bucket detection and point detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, De-Jian; Yin, Rao; Wang, Tong-Biao; Liao, Qing-Hua; Li, Hong-Guo; Liao, Qinghong; Liu, Jiang-Tao

2018-04-01

We experimentally investigate ghost imaging with bucket detection and point detection in which three types of illuminating sources are applied: (a) pseudo-thermal light source; (b) amplitude modulated true thermal light source; (c) amplitude modulated laser source. Experimental results show that the quality of ghost images reconstructed with true thermal light or laser beam is insensitive to the usage of bucket or point detector, however, the quality of ghost images reconstructed with pseudo-thermal light in bucket detector case is better than that in point detector case. Our theoretical analysis shows that the reason for this is due to the first order transverse coherence of the illuminating source.

Pulse compression favourable aperiodic infrared imaging approach for non-destructive testing and evaluation of bio-materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mulaveesala, Ravibabu; Dua, Geetika; Arora, Vanita; Siddiqui, Juned A.; Muniyappa, Amarnath

2017-05-01

In recent years, aperiodic, transient pulse compression favourable infrared imaging methodologies demonstrated as reliable, quantitative, remote characterization and evaluation techniques for testing and evaluation of various biomaterials. This present work demonstrates a pulse compression favourable aperiodic thermal wave imaging technique, frequency modulated thermal wave imaging technique for bone diagnostics, especially by considering the bone with tissue, skin and muscle over layers. In order to find the capabilities of the proposed frequency modulated thermal wave imaging technique to detect the density variations in a multi layered skin-fat-muscle-bone structure, finite element modeling and simulation studies have been carried out. Further, frequency and time domain post processing approaches have been adopted on the temporal temperature data in order to improve the detection capabilities of frequency modulated thermal wave imaging.

Automatic Detection of Diseased Tomato Plants Using Thermal and Stereo Visible Light Images

PubMed Central

Raza, Shan-e-Ahmed; Prince, Gillian; Clarkson, John P.; Rajpoot, Nasir M.

2015-01-01

Accurate and timely detection of plant diseases can help mitigate the worldwide losses experienced by the horticulture and agriculture industries each year. Thermal imaging provides a fast and non-destructive way of scanning plants for diseased regions and has been used by various researchers to study the effect of disease on the thermal profile of a plant. However, thermal image of a plant affected by disease has been known to be affected by environmental conditions which include leaf angles and depth of the canopy areas accessible to the thermal imaging camera. In this paper, we combine thermal and visible light image data with depth information and develop a machine learning system to remotely detect plants infected with the tomato powdery mildew fungus Oidium neolycopersici. We extract a novel feature set from the image data using local and global statistics and show that by combining these with the depth information, we can considerably improve the accuracy of detection of the diseased plants. In addition, we show that our novel feature set is capable of identifying plants which were not originally inoculated with the fungus at the start of the experiment but which subsequently developed disease through natural transmission. PMID:25861025

Estimation of the temperature spatial variability in confined spaces based on thermal imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Augustyn, Grzegorz; Jurasz, Jakub; Jurczyk, Krzysztof; Korbiel, Tomasz; Mikulik, Jerzy; Pawlik, Marcin; Rumin, Rafał

2017-11-01

In developed countries the salaries of office workers are several times higher than the total cost of maintaining and operating the building. Therefore even a small improvement in human work productivity and performance as a result of enhancing the quality of their work environment may lead to a meaningful economic benefits. The air temperature is the most commonly used indicator in assessing the indoor environment quality. What is more, it is well known that thermal comfort has the biggest impact on employees performance and their ability to work efficiently. In majority of office buildings, indoor temperature is managed by heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) appliances. However the way how they are currently managed and controlled leads to the nonhomogeneous distribution of temperature in certain space. An approach to determining the spatial variability of temperature in confined spaces was introduced based on thermal imaging temperature measurements. The conducted research and obtained results enabled positive verification of the method and creation of surface plot illustrating the temperature variability.

Estimating spatially distributed soil texture using time series of thermal remote sensing - a case study in central Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Müller, Benjamin; Bernhardt, Matthias; Jackisch, Conrad; Schulz, Karsten

2016-09-01

For understanding water and solute transport processes, knowledge about the respective hydraulic properties is necessary. Commonly, hydraulic parameters are estimated via pedo-transfer functions using soil texture data to avoid cost-intensive measurements of hydraulic parameters in the laboratory. Therefore, current soil texture information is only available at a coarse spatial resolution of 250 to 1000 m. Here, a method is presented to derive high-resolution (15 m) spatial topsoil texture patterns for the meso-scale Attert catchment (Luxembourg, 288 km2) from 28 images of ASTER (advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer) thermal remote sensing. A principle component analysis of the images reveals the most dominant thermal patterns (principle components, PCs) that are related to 212 fractional soil texture samples. Within a multiple linear regression framework, distributed soil texture information is estimated and related uncertainties are assessed. An overall root mean squared error (RMSE) of 12.7 percentage points (pp) lies well within and even below the range of recent studies on soil texture estimation, while requiring sparser sample setups and a less diverse set of basic spatial input. This approach will improve the generation of spatially distributed topsoil maps, particularly for hydrologic modeling purposes, and will expand the usage of thermal remote sensing products.

Thermography During Thermal Test of the Gaia Deployable Sunshield Assembly Qualification Model in the ESTEC Large Space Simulator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simpson, R.; Broussely, M.; Edwards, G.; Robinson, D.; Cozzani, A.; Casarosa, G.

2012-07-01

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and The European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) have performed for the first time successful surface temperature measurements using infrared thermal imaging in the ESTEC Large Space Simulator (LSS) under vacuum and with the Sun Simulator (SUSI) switched on during thermal qualification tests of the GAIA Deployable Sunshield Assembly (DSA). The thermal imager temperature measurements, with radiosity model corrections, show good agreement with thermocouple readings on well characterised regions of the spacecraft. In addition, the thermal imaging measurements identified potentially misleading thermocouple temperature readings and provided qualitative real-time observations of the thermal and spatial evolution of surface structure changes and heat dissipation during hot test loadings, which may yield additional thermal and physical measurement information through further research.

Achieving thermography with a thermal security camera using uncooled amorphous silicon microbolometer image sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yu-Wei; Tesdahl, Curtis; Owens, Jim; Dorn, David

2012-06-01

Advancements in uncooled microbolometer technology over the last several years have opened up many commercial applications which had been previously cost prohibitive. Thermal technology is no longer limited to the military and government market segments. One type of thermal sensor with low NETD which is available in the commercial market segment is the uncooled amorphous silicon (α-Si) microbolometer image sensor. Typical thermal security cameras focus on providing the best image quality by auto tonemaping (contrast enhancing) the image, which provides the best contrast depending on the temperature range of the scene. While this may provide enough information to detect objects and activities, there are further benefits of being able to estimate the actual object temperatures in a scene. This thermographic ability can provide functionality beyond typical security cameras by being able to monitor processes. Example applications of thermography[2] with thermal camera include: monitoring electrical circuits, industrial machinery, building thermal leaks, oil/gas pipelines, power substations, etc...[3][5] This paper discusses the methodology of estimating object temperatures by characterizing/calibrating different components inside a thermal camera utilizing an uncooled amorphous silicon microbolometer image sensor. Plots of system performance across camera operating temperatures will be shown.

An improved contrast enhancement algorithm for infrared images based on adaptive double plateaus histogram equalization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Shuo; Jin, Weiqi; Li, Li; Li, Yiyang

2018-05-01

Infrared thermal images can reflect the thermal-radiation distribution of a particular scene. However, the contrast of the infrared images is usually low. Hence, it is generally necessary to enhance the contrast of infrared images in advance to facilitate subsequent recognition and analysis. Based on the adaptive double plateaus histogram equalization, this paper presents an improved contrast enhancement algorithm for infrared thermal images. In the proposed algorithm, the normalized coefficient of variation of the histogram, which characterizes the level of contrast enhancement, is introduced as feedback information to adjust the upper and lower plateau thresholds. The experiments on actual infrared images show that compared to the three typical contrast-enhancement algorithms, the proposed algorithm has better scene adaptability and yields better contrast-enhancement results for infrared images with more dark areas or a higher dynamic range. Hence, it has high application value in contrast enhancement, dynamic range compression, and digital detail enhancement for infrared thermal images.

Measurement of Respiration Rate and Depth Through Difference in Temperature Between Skin Surface and Nostril by Using Thermal Image.

PubMed

Jeong, Hieyong; Matsuura, Yutaka; Ohno, Yuko

2017-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to propose a method to measure a respiration rate (RR) and depth at once through difference in temperature between the skin surface and nostril by using a thermal image. Although there have been a lot of devices for contact RR monitoring, it was considered that the subjects could be inconvenienced by having the sensing device in contact with their body. Our algorithm enabled us to make a breathing periodic function (BPF) under the non-contact and non-invasive condition through temperature differences near the nostril during the breath. As a result, it was proved that our proposed method was able to classify differences in breathing pattern between normal, deep, and shallow breath (P < 0.001). These results lead us to conclude that the RR and depth is simultaneously measured by the proposed algorithm of BPF without any contact or invasive procedure.

The Lunar Rock Size Frequency Distribution from Diviner Infrared Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elder, C. M.; Hayne, P. O.; Piqueux, S.; Bandfield, J.; Williams, J. P.; Ghent, R. R.; Paige, D. A.

2016-12-01

Knowledge of the rock size frequency distribution on a planetary body is important for understanding its geologic history and for selecting landing sites. The rock size frequency distribution can be estimated by counting rocks in high resolution images, but most bodies in the solar system have limited areas with adequate coverage. We propose an alternative method to derive and map rock size frequency distributions using multispectral thermal infrared data acquired at multiple times during the night. We demonstrate this new technique for the Moon using data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Diviner radiometer in conjunction with three dimensional thermal modeling, leveraging the differential cooling rates of different rock sizes. We assume an exponential rock size frequency distribution, which has been shown to yield a good fit to rock populations in various locations on the Moon, Mars, and Earth [2, 3] and solve for the best radiance fits as a function of local time and wavelength. This method presents several advantages: 1) unlike other thermally derived rock abundance techniques, it is sensitive to rocks smaller than the diurnal skin depth; 2) it does not result in apparent decrease in rock abundance at night; and 3) it can be validated using images taken at the lunar surface. This method yields both the fraction of the surface covered in rocks of all sizes and the exponential factor, which defines the rate of drop-off in the exponential function at large rock sizes. We will present maps of both these parameters for the Moon, and provide a geological interpretation. In particular, this method reveals rocks in the lunar highlands that are smaller than previous thermal methods could detect. [1] Bandfield J. L. et al. (2011) JGR, 116, E00H02. [2] Golombek and Rapp (1997) JGR, 102, E2, 4117-4129. [3] Cintala, M.J. and K.M. McBride (1995) NASA Technical Memorandum 104804.

Nonuniformity correction of infrared cameras by reading radiance temperatures with a spatially nonhomogeneous radiation source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gutschwager, Berndt; Hollandt, Jörg

2017-01-01

We present a novel method of nonuniformity correction (NUC) of infrared cameras and focal plane arrays (FPA) in a wide optical spectral range by reading radiance temperatures and by applying a radiation source with an unknown and spatially nonhomogeneous radiance temperature distribution. The benefit of this novel method is that it works with the display and the calculation of radiance temperatures, it can be applied to radiation sources of arbitrary spatial radiance temperature distribution, and it only requires sufficient temporal stability of this distribution during the measurement process. In contrast to this method, an initially presented method described the calculation of NUC correction with the reading of monitored radiance values. Both methods are based on the recording of several (at least three) images of a radiation source and a purposeful row- and line-shift of these sequent images in relation to the first primary image. The mathematical procedure is explained in detail. Its numerical verification with a source of a predefined nonhomogeneous radiance temperature distribution and a thermal imager of a predefined nonuniform FPA responsivity is presented.

Visual information without thermal energy may induce thermoregulatory-like cardiovascular responses

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Human core body temperature is kept quasi-constant regardless of varying thermal environments. It is well known that physiological thermoregulatory systems are under the control of central and peripheral sensory organs that are sensitive to thermal energy. If these systems wrongly respond to non-thermal stimuli, it may disturb human homeostasis. Methods Fifteen participants viewed video images evoking hot or cold impressions in a thermally constant environment. Cardiovascular indices were recorded during the experiments. Correlations between the ‘hot-cold’ impression scores and cardiovascular indices were calculated. Results The changes of heart rate, cardiac output, and total peripheral resistance were significantly correlated with the ‘hot-cold’ impression scores, and the tendencies were similar to those in actual thermal environments corresponding to the impressions. Conclusions The present results suggest that visual information without any thermal energy can affect physiological thermoregulatory systems at least superficially. To avoid such ‘virtual’ environments disturbing human homeostasis, further study and more attention are needed. PMID:24373765

An Automatic Image-Based Modelling Method Applied to Forensic Infography

PubMed Central

Zancajo-Blazquez, Sandra; Gonzalez-Aguilera, Diego; Gonzalez-Jorge, Higinio; Hernandez-Lopez, David

2015-01-01

This paper presents a new method based on 3D reconstruction from images that demonstrates the utility and integration of close-range photogrammetry and computer vision as an efficient alternative to modelling complex objects and scenarios of forensic infography. The results obtained confirm the validity of the method compared to other existing alternatives as it guarantees the following: (i) flexibility, permitting work with any type of camera (calibrated and non-calibrated, smartphone or tablet) and image (visible, infrared, thermal, etc.); (ii) automation, allowing the reconstruction of three-dimensional scenarios in the absence of manual intervention, and (iii) high quality results, sometimes providing higher resolution than modern laser scanning systems. As a result, each ocular inspection of a crime scene with any camera performed by the scientific police can be transformed into a scaled 3d model. PMID:25793628

Photothermal imaging of melanin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kerimo, Josef; DiMarzio, Charles A.

2013-02-01

We present photothermal images of melanin using modulation with two laser beams. Strong melanin absorption followed by efficient nonradiative relaxation caused heating and an increase in temperature. This temperature effect was used as an imaging contrast to detect melanin. Melanin from several samples including Sepia officinalis, black human hair, and live zebra fish, were imaged with a high signal-to-noise ratio. For the imaging, we focused two near infrared laser beams (pump and probe) collinearly with different wavelengths and the pump was modulated in amplitude. The thermally induced variations in the refractive index, at the modulation frequency, were detected by the scattering of the probe beam. The Photothermal method brings several imaging benefits including the lack of background interference and the possibility of imaging for an extended period of time without photodamage to the melanin. The dependence of the photothermal signal on the laser power, modulation frequency, and spatial offset of the probe is discussed. The new photothermal imaging method is promising and provides background-free and label-free imaging of melanin and can be implemented with low-cost CW lasers.

A method for diagnosing surface parameters using geostationary satellite imagery and a boundary-layer model. M.S. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Polansky, A. C.

1982-01-01

A method for diagnosing surface parameters on a regional scale via geosynchronous satellite imagery is presented. Moisture availability, thermal inertia, atmospheric heat flux, and total evaporation are determined from three infrared images obtained from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES). Three GOES images (early morning, midafternoon, and night) are obtained from computer tape. Two temperature-difference images are then created. The boundary-layer model is run, and its output is inverted via cubic regression equations. The satellite imagery is efficiently converted into output-variable fields. All computations are executed on a PDP 11/34 minicomputer. Output fields can be produced within one hour of the availability of aligned satellite subimages of a target area.

Low-cost compact thermal imaging sensors for body temperature measurement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Myung-Soo; Han, Seok Man; Kim, Hyo Jin; Shin, Jae Chul; Ahn, Mi Sook; Kim, Hyung Won; Han, Yong Hee

2013-06-01

This paper presents a 32x32 microbolometer thermal imaging sensor for human body temperature measurement. Waferlevel vacuum packaging technology allows us to get a low cost and compact imaging sensor chip. The microbolometer uses V-W-O film as sensing material and ROIC has been designed 0.35-um CMOS process in UMC. A thermal image of a human face and a hand using f/1 lens convinces that it has a potential of human body temperature for commercial use.

High performance thermal imaging for the 21st century

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clarke, David J.; Knowles, Peter

2003-01-01

In recent years IR detector technology has developed from early short linear arrays. Such devices require high performance signal processing electronics to meet today's thermal imaging requirements for military and para-military applications. This paper describes BAE SYSTEMS Avionics Group's Sensor Integrated Modular Architecture thermal imager which has been developed alongside the group's Eagle 640×512 arrays to provide high performance imaging capability. The electronics architecture also supprots High Definition TV format 2D arrays for future growth capability.

New Frontiers for Applications of Thermal Infrared Imaging Devices: Computational Psychopshysiology in the Neurosciences

PubMed Central

Cardone, Daniela; Merla, Arcangelo

2017-01-01

Thermal infrared imaging has been proposed, and is now used, as a tool for the non-contact and non-invasive computational assessment of human autonomic nervous activity and psychophysiological states. Thanks to a new generation of high sensitivity infrared thermal detectors and the development of computational models of the autonomic control of the facial cutaneous temperature, several autonomic variables can be computed through thermal infrared imaging, including localized blood perfusion rate, cardiac pulse rate, breath rate, sudomotor and stress responses. In fact, all of these parameters impact on the control of the cutaneous temperature. The physiological information obtained through this approach, could then be used to infer about a variety of psychophysiological or emotional states, as proved by the increasing number of psychophysiology or neurosciences studies that use thermal infrared imaging. This paper presents a review of the principal achievements of thermal infrared imaging in computational psychophysiology, focusing on the capability of the technique for providing ubiquitous and unwired monitoring of psychophysiological activity and affective states. It also presents a summary on the modern, up-to-date infrared sensors technology. PMID:28475155

New Frontiers for Applications of Thermal Infrared Imaging Devices: Computational Psychopshysiology in the Neurosciences.

PubMed

Cardone, Daniela; Merla, Arcangelo

2017-05-05

Thermal infrared imaging has been proposed, and is now used, as a tool for the non-contact and non-invasive computational assessment of human autonomic nervous activity and psychophysiological states. Thanks to a new generation of high sensitivity infrared thermal detectors and the development of computational models of the autonomic control of the facial cutaneous temperature, several autonomic variables can be computed through thermal infrared imaging, including localized blood perfusion rate, cardiac pulse rate, breath rate, sudomotor and stress responses. In fact, all of these parameters impact on the control of the cutaneous temperature. The physiological information obtained through this approach, could then be used to infer about a variety of psychophysiological or emotional states, as proved by the increasing number of psychophysiology or neurosciences studies that use thermal infrared imaging. This paper presents a review of the principal achievements of thermal infrared imaging in computational psychophysiology, focusing on the capability of the technique for providing ubiquitous and unwired monitoring of psychophysiological activity and affective states. It also presents a summary on the modern, up-to-date infrared sensors technology.

NCTM workshop splinter session, IR thermal measurement instruments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaplan, Herbert

1989-06-01

The splinter session dealing with commercial industrial thermal measurement state-of-the-hardware had a total attendance of 15. Two papers were presented in the splinter session as follows: (1) Development of an Infrared Imaging System for the Surface Tension Driven Convection Experiment, Alexander D. Pline, NASA LeRC; (2) A Space-qualified PtSi Thermal Imaging System, Robert W. Astheimer, Barnes Engineering Div., EDO Corp. In addition a brief description of SPRITE detector technology was presented by Richard F. Leftwich of Magnovox. As anticipated, the discussions were concerned mainly with thermal imaging figures of merit rather than those for point measurement instruments. The need for uniform guidelines whereby infrared thermal imaging instruments could be specified and evaluated was identified as most important, particularly where temperature measurements are required. Presently there are differences in the way different manufacturers present significant performance parameters in their instrument data sheets. Furthermore, the prospective user has difficulty relating these parameters to actual measurement needs, and procedures by which performance can be verified are poorly defined. The current availability of powerful thermal imaging diagnostic software was discussed.

NCTM workshop splinter session, IR thermal measurement instruments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaplan, Herbert

1989-01-01

The splinter session dealing with commercial industrial thermal measurement state-of-the-hardware had a total attendance of 15. Two papers were presented in the splinter session as follows: (1) Development of an Infrared Imaging System for the Surface Tension Driven Convection Experiment, Alexander D. Pline, NASA LeRC; (2) A Space-qualified PtSi Thermal Imaging System, Robert W. Astheimer, Barnes Engineering Div., EDO Corp. In addition a brief description of SPRITE detector technology was presented by Richard F. Leftwich of Magnovox. As anticipated, the discussions were concerned mainly with thermal imaging figures of merit rather than those for point measurement instruments. The need for uniform guidelines whereby infrared thermal imaging instruments could be specified and evaluated was identified as most important, particularly where temperature measurements are required. Presently there are differences in the way different manufacturers present significant performance parameters in their instrument data sheets. Furthermore, the prospective user has difficulty relating these parameters to actual measurement needs, and procedures by which performance can be verified are poorly defined. The current availability of powerful thermal imaging diagnostic software was discussed.

Comparison of Areas in Shadow from Imaging and Altimetry in the North Polar Region of Mercury and Implications for Polar Ice Deposits

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Deutsch, Ariel N.; Chabot, Nancy L.; Mazarico, Erwan; Ernst, Carolyn M.; Head, James W.; Neumann, Gregory A.; Solomon, Sean C.

2016-01-01

Earth-based radar observations and results from the MESSENGER mission have provided strong evidence that permanently shadowed regions near Mercury's poles host deposits of water ice. MESSENGER's complete orbital image and topographic datasets enable Mercury's surface to be observed and modeled under an extensive range of illumination conditions. The shadowed regions of Mercury's north polar region from 65 deg N to 90 deg N were mapped by analyzing Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) images and by modeling illumination with Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) topographic data. The two independent methods produced strong agreement in identifying shadowed areas. All large radar-bright deposits, those hosted within impact craters greater than or equal to 6 km in diameter, collocate with regions of shadow identified by both methods. However, only approximately 46% of the persistently shadowed areas determined from images and approximately 43% of the permanently shadowed areas derived from altimetry host radar-bright materials. Some sizable regions of shadow that do not host radar-bright deposits experience thermal conditions similar to those that do. The shadowed craters that lack radar-bright materials show a relation with longitude that is not related to the thermal environment, suggesting that the Earth-based radar observations of these locations may have been limited by viewing geometry, but it is also possible that water ice in these locations is insulated by anomalously thick lag deposits or that these shadowed regions do not host water ice.

Clinical evaluation of MR temperature monitoring of laser-induced thermotherapy in human liver using the proton-resonance-frequency method and predictive models of cell death.

PubMed

Kickhefel, Antje; Rosenberg, Christian; Weiss, Clifford R; Rempp, Hansjörg; Roland, Joerg; Schick, Fritz; Hosten, Norbert

2011-03-01

To assess the feasibility, precision, and accuracy of real-time temperature mapping (TMap) during laser-induced thermotherapy (LITT) for clinical practice in patients liver with a gradient echo (GRE) sequence using the proton resonance frequency (PRF) method. LITT was performed on 34 lesions in 18 patients with simultaneous real-time visualization of relative temperature changes. Correlative contrast-enhanced T1-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) images of the liver were acquired after treatment using the same slice positions and angulations as TMap images acquired during LITT. For each slice, TMap and follow-up images were registered for comparison. Afterwards, segmentation based on temperature (T) >52°C on TMap and based on necrosis seen on follow-up images was performed. These segmented structures were overlaid and divided into zones where the TMap was found to either over- or underestimate necrosis on the postcontrast images. Regions with T>52°C after 20 minutes were defined as necrotic tissue based on data received from two different thermal dose models. The average intersecting region of TMap and necrotic zone was 87% ± 5%, the overestimated 13% ± 4%, and the underestimated 13% ± 5%. This study demonstrates that MR temperature mapping appears reasonably capable of predicting tissue necrosis on the basis of indicating regions having greater temperatures than 52°C and could be used to monitor and adjust the thermal therapy appropriately during treatment. Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Comparison of areas in shadow from imaging and altimetry in the north polar region of Mercury and implications for polar ice deposits

PubMed Central

Deutsch, Ariel N.; Chabot, Nancy L.; Mazarico, Erwan; Ernst, Carolyn M.; Head, James W.; Neumann, Gregory A.; Solomon, Sean C.

2017-01-01

Earth-based radar observations and results from the MESSENGER mission have provided strong evidence that permanently shadowed regions near Mercury's poles host deposits of water ice. MESSENGER's complete orbital image and topographic datasets enable Mercury's surface to be observed and modeled under an extensive range of illumination conditions. The shadowed regions of Mercury's north polar region from 65°N to 90°N were mapped by analyzing Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) images and by modeling illumination with Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) topographic data. The two independent methods produced strong agreement in identifying shadowed areas. All large radar-bright deposits, those hosted within impact craters ≥6 km in diameter, collocate with regions of shadow identified by both methods. However, only ∼46% of the persistently shadowed areas determined from images and ∼43% of the permanently shadowed areas derived from altimetry host radar-bright materials. Some sizable regions of shadow that do not host radar-bright deposits experience thermal conditions similar to those that do. The shadowed craters that lack radar-bright materials show a relation with longitude that is not related to the thermal environment, suggesting that the Earth-based radar observations of these locations may have been limited by viewing geometry, but it is also possible that water ice in these locations is insulated by anomalously thick lag deposits or that these shadowed regions do not host water ice. PMID:29332948

Proton Radiography of a Thermal Explosion in PBX9501

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smilowitz, L.; Henson, B. F.; Romero, J. J.; Sandstrom, M. M.; Asay, B. W.; Schwartz, C.; Saunders, A.; Merrill, F.; Morris, C.; Murray, M. M.; McNeil, W. V.; Marr-Lyon, M.; Rightley, P. M.

2007-12-01

The understanding of thermal explosions and burn propagation lags that of detonations and shock propagation. Diagnostics such as high energy radiography have been used to image shocks, but have been previously precluded from use in thermal explosions due to their stringent timing requirements: shock propagation can be synchronized to an external diagnostic while thermal explosion can not. This issue is solved by following the evolution of the ignition volume in a thermal explosion and using a laser pulse to provide a temperature jump in that central volume during the final thermal runaway leading to ignition. Thermal explosion experiments have been conducted at the Los Alamos Proton Radiography facility and have yielded images of the evolution of ignition, post-ignition burn propagation, and case failure in a radially confined cylinder of PBX 9501. This paper presents images taken during the hours long quasistatic heating, the final minutes of thermal runaway, and the post ignition burn propagation.

Patellar Skin Surface Temperature by Thermography Reflects Knee Osteoarthritis Severity

PubMed Central

Denoble, Anna E.; Hall, Norine; Pieper, Carl F.; Kraus, Virginia B.

2010-01-01

Background: Digital infrared thermal imaging is a means of measuring the heat radiated from the skin surface. Our goal was to develop and assess the reproducibility of serial infrared measurements of the knee and to assess the association of knee temperature by region of interest with radiographic severity of knee Osteoarthritis (rOA). Methods: A total of 30 women (15 Cases with symptomatic knee OA and 15 age-matched Controls without knee pain or knee OA) participated in this study. Infrared imaging was performed with a Meditherm Med2000™ Pro infrared camera. The reproducibility of infrared imaging of the knee was evaluated through determination of intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) for temperature measurements from two images performed 6 months apart in Controls whose knee status was not expected to change. The average cutaneous temperature for each of five knee regions of interest was extracted using WinTes software. Knee x-rays were scored for severity of rOA based on the global Kellgren-Lawrence grading scale. Results: The knee infrared thermal imaging procedure used here demonstrated long-term reproducibility with high ICCs (0.50–0.72 for the various regions of interest) in Controls. Cutaneous temperature of the patella (knee cap) yielded a significant correlation with severity of knee rOA (R = 0.594, P = 0.02). Conclusion: The skin temperature of the patellar region correlated with x-ray severity of knee OA. This method of infrared knee imaging is reliable and as an objective measure of a sign of inflammation, temperature, indicates an interrelationship of inflammation and structural knee rOA damage. PMID:21151853

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Thompson, Logan C.; Ciesielski, Peter N.; Jarvis, Mark W.

Here, biomass particles can experience variable thermal conditions during fast pyrolysis due to differences in their size and morphology, and from local temperature variations within a reactor. These differences lead to increased heterogeneity of the chemical products obtained in the pyrolysis vapors and bio-oil. Here we present a simple, high-throughput method to investigate the thermal history experienced by large ensembles of particles during fast pyrolysis by imaging and quantitative image analysis. We present a correlation between the surface luminance (darkness) of the biochar particle and the highest temperature that it experienced during pyrolysis. Next, we apply this correlation to large,more » heterogeneous ensembles of char particles produced in a laminar entrained flow reactor (LEFR). The results are used to interpret the actual temperature distributions delivered by the reactor over a range of operating conditions.« less

Spatial-temporal features of thermal images for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Estupinan Roldan, Kevin; Ortega Piedrahita, Marco A.; Benitez, Hernan D.

2014-02-01

Disorders associated with repeated trauma account for about 60% of all occupational illnesses, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) being the most consulted today. Infrared Thermography (IT) has come to play an important role in the field of medicine. IT is non-invasive and detects diseases based on measuring temperature variations. IT represents a possible alternative to prevalent methods for diagnosis of CTS (i.e. nerve conduction studies and electromiography). This work presents a set of spatial-temporal features extracted from thermal images taken in healthy and ill patients. Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers test this feature space with Leave One Out (LOO) validation error. The results of the proposed approach show linear separability and lower validation errors when compared to features used in previous works that do not account for temperature spatial variability.

Determination of the microbolometric FPA's responsivity with imaging system's radiometric considerations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gogler, Slawomir; Bieszczad, Grzegorz; Krupinski, Michal

2013-10-01

Thermal imagers and used therein infrared array sensors are subject to calibration procedure and evaluation of their voltage sensitivity on incident radiation during manufacturing process. The calibration procedure is especially important in so-called radiometric cameras, where accurate radiometric quantities, given in physical units, are of concern. Even though non-radiometric cameras are not expected to stand up to such elevated standards, it is still important, that the image faithfully represents temperature variations across the scene. Detectors used in thermal camera are illuminated by infrared radiation transmitted through an infrared transmitting optical system. Often an optical system, when exposed to uniform Lambertian source forms a non-uniform irradiation distribution in its image plane. In order to be able to carry out an accurate non-uniformity correction it is essential to correctly predict irradiation distribution from a uniform source. In the article a non-uniformity correction method has been presented, that takes into account optical system's radiometry. Predictions of the irradiation distribution have been confronted with measured irradiance values. Presented radiometric model allows fast and accurate non-uniformity correction to be carried out.

Experimental research of digital image correlation system in high temperature test

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Li; Wang, Yonghong; Dan, Xizuo; Xiao, Ying; Yang, Lianxiang

2016-01-01

Digital Image Correlation (DIC) is a full-field technique based on white-light illumination for displacement and strain measurement. But radiation on the specimen surface at high temperature affects the quality of acquired speckle pattern images for traditional DIC measurement. In order to minimize the radiation effect in high temperature measurement, this paper proposes a two-dimensional ultraviolet digital image correlation system (2D UV-DIC) containing UV LED and UV band-pass filter. It is confirmed by experiments that images acquired by this system saturate at higher temperature in comparison with DIC using filtered blue light imaging system. And the UV-DIC remains minimally affected by radiation at the temperature which is nearing the specimen's maximum working temperature (about 1250°C). In addition, considering the heat disturbance that can't be ignored in actual high temperature measurement, this paper also proposes a method using an air controller in combination with image average algorithm, and the method was then used to obtain the thermal expansion coefficient of the Austenitic chromium-nickel stainless steel specimen at different temperatures. By comparing the coefficients with the results calculated by other method, it shows that this comprehensive method has the advantages of strong anti-interference ability and high precision.

Filtering of high noise breast thermal images using fast non-local means.

PubMed

Suganthi, S S; Ramakrishnan, S

2014-01-01

Analyses of breast thermograms are still a challenging task primarily due to the limitations such as low contrast, low signal to noise ratio and absence of clear edges. Therefore, always there is a requirement for preprocessing techniques before performing any quantitative analysis. In this work, a noise removal framework using fast non-local means algorithm, method noise and median filter was used to denoise breast thermograms. The images considered were subjected to Anscombe transformation to convert the distribution from Poisson to Gaussian. The pre-denoised image was obtained by subjecting the transformed image to fast non-local means filtering. The method noise which is the difference between the original and pre-denoised image was observed with the noise component merged in few structures and fine detail of the image. The image details presented in the method noise was extracted by smoothing the noise part using the median filter. The retrieved image part was added to the pre-denoised image to obtain the final denoised image. The performance of this technique was compared with that of Wiener and SUSAN filters. The results show that all the filters considered are able to remove the noise component. The performance of the proposed denoising framework is found to be good in preserving detail and removing noise. Further, the method noise is observed with negligible image details. Similarly, denoised image with no noise and smoothed edges are observed using Wiener filter and its method noise is contained with few structures and image details. The performance results of SUSAN filter is found to be blurred denoised image with little noise and also method noise with extensive structure and image details. Hence, it appears that the proposed denoising framework is able to preserve the edge information and generate clear image that could help in enhancing the diagnostic relevance of breast thermograms. In this paper, the introduction, objectives, materials and methods, results and discussion and conclusions are presented in detail.

Broadband infrared imaging spectroscopy for standoff detection of trace explosives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kendziora, Christopher A.; Furstenberg, Robert; Papantonakis, Michael; Nguyen, Viet; McGill, R. Andrew

2016-05-01

This manuscript describes advancements toward a mobile platform for standoff detection of trace explosives on relevant substrates using broadband infrared spectroscopic imaging. In conjunction with this, we are developing a technology for detection based on photo-thermal infrared (IR) imaging spectroscopy (PT-IRIS). PT-IRIS leverages one or more IR quantum cascade lasers (QCL), tuned to strong absorption bands in the analytes and directed to illuminate an area on a surface of interest. An IR focal plane array is used to image the surface thermal emission upon laser illumination. The PT-IRIS signal is processed as a hyperspectral image cube comprised of spatial, spectral and temporal dimensions as vectors within a detection algorithm. Here we describe methods to increase both sensitivity to trace explosives and selectivity between different analyte types by exploiting a broader spectral range than in previous configurations. Previously we demonstrated PT-IRIS at several meters of standoff distance indoors and in field tests, while operating the lasers below the infrared eye-safe intensity limit (100 mW/cm2). Sensitivity to explosive traces as small as a single 10 μm diameter particle (~1 ng) has been demonstrated.

Making Heat Visible

PubMed Central

Goodhew, Julie; Pahl, Sabine; Auburn, Tim; Goodhew, Steve

2015-01-01

Householders play a role in energy conservation through the decisions they make about purchases and installations such as insulation, and through their habitual behavior. The present U.K. study investigated the effect of thermal imaging technology on energy conservation, by measuring the behavioral effect after householders viewed images of heat escaping from or cold air entering their homes. In Study 1 (n = 43), householders who received a thermal image reduced their energy use at a 1-year follow-up, whereas householders who received a carbon footprint audit and a non-intervention control demonstrated no change. In Study 2 (n = 87), householders were nearly 5 times more likely to install draught proofing measures after seeing a thermal image. The effect was especially pronounced for actions that addressed an issue visible in the images. Findings indicate that using thermal imaging to make heat loss visible can promote energy conservation. PMID:26635418

Multimodal, multiphoton microscopy and image correlation analysis for characterizing corneal thermal damage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lo, Wen; Chang, Yu-Lin; Liu, Jia-Shiu; Hseuh, Chiu-Mei; Hovhannisyan, Vladimir; Chen, Shean-Jen; Tan, Hsin-Yuan; Dong, Chen-Yuan

2009-09-01

We used the combination of multiphoton autofluorescence (MAF), forward second-harmonic generation (FWSHG), and backward second-harmonic generation (BWSHG) imaging for the qualitative and quantitative characterization of thermal damage of ex vivo bovine cornea. We attempt to characterize the structural alterations by qualitative MAF, FWSHG, and BWSHG imaging in the temperature range of 37 to 90°C. In addition to measuring the absolute changes in the three types of signals at the stromal surface, we also performed image correlation analysis between FWSHG and BWSHG and demonstrate that with increasing thermal damage, image correlation between FWSHG and BWSHG significantly increases. Our results show that while MAF and BWSHG intensities may be used as preliminary indicators of the extent of corneal thermal damage, the most sensitive measures are provided by the decay in FWSHG intensity and the convergence of FWSHG and BWSHG images.

New microwave spectrometer/imager has possible applications for pollution monitoring

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tooley, R. D.

1970-01-01

Microwave imager forms thermal-emissivity image of solid portion of planet Venus and provides data on the planet's atmosphere, surface, terminator, and temperature changes. These thermally produced multifrequency microwaves for image production of temperature profiles can be applied to water pollution monitoring, agriculture, and forestry survey.

Evaluation of fatigue-prone details using a low-cost thermoelastic stress analysis system.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-11-01

This study was designed to develop a novel approach for in situ evaluation of stress fields in the vicinity of fatigue-prone details on highway bridges using a low-cost microbolometer thermal imager. : The method was adapted into a field-deployable i...

Method of radiometric quality assessment of NIR images acquired with a custom sensor mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wierzbicki, Damian; Fryskowska, Anna; Kedzierski, Michal; Wojtkowska, Michalina; Delis, Paulina

2018-01-01

Unmanned aerial vehicles are suited to various photogrammetry and remote sensing missions. Such platforms are equipped with various optoelectronic sensors imaging in the visible and infrared spectral ranges and also thermal sensors. Nowadays, near-infrared (NIR) images acquired from low altitudes are often used for producing orthophoto maps for precision agriculture among other things. One major problem results from the application of low-cost custom and compact NIR cameras with wide-angle lenses introducing vignetting. In numerous cases, such cameras acquire low radiometric quality images depending on the lighting conditions. The paper presents a method of radiometric quality assessment of low-altitude NIR imagery data from a custom sensor. The method utilizes statistical analysis of NIR images. The data used for the analyses were acquired from various altitudes in various weather and lighting conditions. An objective NIR imagery quality index was determined as a result of the research. The results obtained using this index enabled the classification of images into three categories: good, medium, and low radiometric quality. The classification makes it possible to determine the a priori error of the acquired images and assess whether a rerun of the photogrammetric flight is necessary.

Optimized mid-infrared thermal emitters for applications in aircraft countermeasures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lorenzo, Simón G.; You, Chenglong; Granier, Christopher H.; Veronis, Georgios; Dowling, Jonathan P.

2017-12-01

We introduce an optimized aperiodic multilayer structure capable of broad angle and high temperature thermal emission over the 3 μm to 5 μm atmospheric transmission band. This aperiodic multilayer structure composed of alternating layers of silicon carbide and graphite on top of a tungsten substrate exhibits near maximal emittance in a 2 μm wavelength range centered in the mid-wavelength infrared band traditionally utilized for atmospheric transmission. We optimize the layer thicknesses using a hybrid optimization algorithm coupled to a transfer matrix code to maximize the power emitted in this mid-infrared range normal to the structure's surface. We investigate possible applications for these structures in mimicking 800-1000 K aircraft engine thermal emission signatures and in improving countermeasure effectiveness against hyperspectral imagers. We find these structures capable of matching the Planck blackbody curve in the selected infrared range with relatively sharp cutoffs on either side, leading to increased overall efficiency of the structures. Appropriately optimized multilayer structures with this design could lead to matching a variety of mid-infrared thermal emissions. For aircraft countermeasure applications, this method could yield a flare design capable of mimicking engine spectra and breaking the lock of hyperspectral imaging systems.

Quaternion Based Thermal Condition Monitoring System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wong, Wai Kit; Loo, Chu Kiong; Lim, Way Soong; Tan, Poi Ngee

In this paper, we will propose a new and effective machine condition monitoring system using log-polar mapper, quaternion based thermal image correlator and max-product fuzzy neural network classifier. Two classification characteristics namely: peak to sidelobe ratio (PSR) and real to complex ratio of the discrete quaternion correlation output (p-value) are applied in the proposed machine condition monitoring system. Large PSR and p-value observe in a good match among correlation of the input thermal image with a particular reference image, while small PSR and p-value observe in a bad/not match among correlation of the input thermal image with a particular reference image. In simulation, we also discover that log-polar mapping actually help solving rotation and scaling invariant problems in quaternion based thermal image correlation. Beside that, log-polar mapping can have a two fold of data compression capability. Log-polar mapping can help smoother up the output correlation plane too, hence makes a better measurement way for PSR and p-values. Simulation results also show that the proposed system is an efficient machine condition monitoring system with accuracy more than 98%.

Method to analyze remotely sensed spectral data

DOEpatents

Stork, Christopher L [Albuquerque, NM; Van Benthem, Mark H [Middletown, DE

2009-02-17

A fast and rigorous multivariate curve resolution (MCR) algorithm is applied to remotely sensed spectral data. The algorithm is applicable in the solar-reflective spectral region, comprising the visible to the shortwave infrared (ranging from approximately 0.4 to 2.5 .mu.m), midwave infrared, and thermal emission spectral region, comprising the thermal infrared (ranging from approximately 8 to 15 .mu.m). For example, employing minimal a priori knowledge, notably non-negativity constraints on the extracted endmember profiles and a constant abundance constraint for the atmospheric upwelling component, MCR can be used to successfully compensate thermal infrared hyperspectral images for atmospheric upwelling and, thereby, transmittance effects. Further, MCR can accurately estimate the relative spectral absorption coefficients and thermal contrast distribution of a gas plume component near the minimum detectable quantity.

Capturing Physiology of Emotion along Facial Muscles: A Method of Distinguishing Feigned from Involuntary Expressions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khan, Masood Mehmood; Ward, Robert D.; Ingleby, Michael

The ability to distinguish feigned from involuntary expressions of emotions could help in the investigation and treatment of neuropsychiatric and affective disorders and in the detection of malingering. This work investigates differences in emotion-specific patterns of thermal variations along the major facial muscles. Using experimental data extracted from 156 images, we attempted to classify patterns of emotion-specific thermal variations into neutral, and voluntary and involuntary expressions of positive and negative emotive states. Initial results suggest (i) each facial muscle exhibits a unique thermal response to various emotive states; (ii) the pattern of thermal variances along the facial muscles may assist in classifying voluntary and involuntary facial expressions; and (iii) facial skin temperature measurements along the major facial muscles may be used in automated emotion assessment.

Early sinkhole detection using a drone-based thermal camera and image processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Eun Ju; Shin, Sang Young; Ko, Byoung Chul; Chang, Chunho

2016-09-01

Accurate advance detection of the sinkholes that are occurring more frequently now is an important way of preventing human fatalities and property damage. Unlike naturally occurring sinkholes, human-induced ones in urban areas are typically due to groundwater disturbances and leaks of water and sewage caused by large-scale construction. Although many sinkhole detection methods have been developed, it is still difficult to predict sinkholes that occur in depth areas. In addition, conventional methods are inappropriate for scanning a large area because of their high cost. Therefore, this paper uses a drone combined with a thermal far-infrared (FIR) camera to detect potential sinkholes over a large area based on computer vision and pattern classification techniques. To make a standard dataset, we dug eight holes of depths 0.5-2 m in increments of 0.5 m and with a maximum width of 1 m. We filmed these using the drone-based FIR camera at a height of 50 m. We first detect candidate regions by analysing cold spots in the thermal images based on the fact that a sinkhole typically has a lower thermal energy than its background. Then, these regions are classified into sinkhole and non-sinkhole classes using a pattern classifier. In this study, we ensemble the classification results based on a light convolutional neural network (CNN) and those based on a Boosted Random Forest (BRF) with handcrafted features. We apply the proposed ensemble method successfully to sinkhole data for various sizes and depths in different environments, and prove that the CNN ensemble and the BRF one with handcrafted features are better at detecting sinkholes than other classifiers or standalone CNN.

Infrared thermal wave nondestructive technology on the defect in the shell of solid rocket motor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Wei; Song, Yuanjia; Yang, Zhengwei; Li, Ming; Tian, Gan

2010-10-01

Based on the active infrared thermography nondestructive testing (NDT) technology, which is an emerging method and developed in the areas of aviation, spaceflight and national defence, the samples including glass fiber flat bottom hole sample, glass fiber inclusion sample and steel flat bottom hole sample that the shell materials of Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) were heated by a high energy flash lamp. The subsurface flaws can be detected through measuring temperature difference between flaws and materials. The results of the experiments show that: 1) the technique is a fast and effective inspection method, which is used for detecting the composites more easily than the metals. And it also can primarily identify the defect position and size according to the thermal image maps. 2) A best inspection time at when the area of hot spot is the same with that of defect is exited, which can be used to estimate the defect size. The bigger the defect area, the easier it could be detected and also the less of the error for estimating defect area. 3). The infrared thermal images obtained from experiments always have high noise, especially for metal materials due to high reflectivity and environmental factors, which need to be further processed.

Objective methods for achieving an early prediction of the effectiveness of regional block anesthesia using thermography and hyper-spectral imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klaessens, John H. G. M.; Landman, Mattijs; de Roode, Rowland; Noordmans, Herke J.; Verdaasdonk, Rudolf M.

2011-03-01

An objective method to measure the effectiveness of regional anesthesia can reduce time and unintended pain inflicted to the patient. A prospective observational study was performed on 22 patients during a local anesthesia before undergoing hand surgery. Two non-invasive techniques thermal and oxygenation imaging were applied to observe the region affected by the peripheral block and the results were compared to the standard cold sensation test. The supraclavicular block was placed under ultrasound guidance around the brachial plexus by injecting 20 cc Ropivacaine. The sedation causes a relaxation of the muscles around the blood vessels resulting in dilatation and hence an increase of blood perfusion, skin temperature and skin oxygenation in the lower arm and hand. Temperatures were acquired with an IR thermal camera (FLIR ThermoCam SC640). The data were recorded and analyzed with the ThermaCamTMResearcher and Matlab software. Narrow band spectral images were acquired at selected wavelengths with a CCD camera either combined with a Liquid Crystal Tunable Filter (420-730 nm) or a tunable hyper-wavelength LED light source (450-880nm). Concentration changes of oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin in the dermis of the skin were calculated using the modified Lambert Beer equation. Both imaging methods showed distinct oxygenation and temperature differences at the surface of the skin of the hand with a good correlation to the anesthetized areas. A temperature response was visible within 5 minutes compared to the standard of 30 minutes. Both non-contact methods show to be more objective and can have an earlier prediction for the effectiveness of the anesthetic block.

Two-dimensional thermography image retrieval from zig-zag scanned data with TZ-SCAN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Okumura, Hiroshi; Yamasaki, Ryohei; Arai, Kohei

2008-10-01

TZ-SCAN is a simple and low cost thermal imaging device which consists of a single point radiation thermometer on a tripod with a pan-tilt rotator, a DC motor controller board with a USB interface, and a laptop computer for rotator control, data acquisition, and data processing. TZ-SCAN acquires a series of zig-zag scanned data and stores the data as CSV file. A 2-D thermal distribution image can be retrieved by using the second quefrency peak calculated from TZ-SCAN data. An experiment is conducted to confirm the validity of the thermal retrieval algorithm. The experimental result shows efficient accuracy for 2-D thermal distribution image retrieval.

Robust reflective ghost imaging against different partially polarized thermal light

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Hong-Guo; Wang, Yan; Zhang, Rui-Xue; Zhang, De-Jian; Liu, Hong-Chao; Li, Zong-Guo; Xiong, Jun

2018-03-01

We theoretically study the influence of degree of polarization (DOP) of thermal light on the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of the reflective ghost imaging (RGI), which is a novel and indirect imaging modality. An expression for the CNR of RGI with partially polarized thermal light is carefully derived, which suggests a weak dependence of CNR on the DOP, especially when the ratio of the object size to the speckle size of thermal light has a large value. Different from conventional imaging approaches, our work reveals that RGI is much more robust against the DOP of the light source, which thereby has advantages in practical applications, such as remote sensing.

Minimal entropy reconstructions of thermal images for emissivity correction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allred, Lloyd G.

1999-03-01

Low emissivity with corresponding low thermal emission is a problem which has long afflicted infrared thermography. The problem is aggravated by reflected thermal energy which increases as the emissivity decreases, thus reducing the net signal-to-noise ratio, which degrades the resulting temperature reconstructions. Additional errors are introduced from the traditional emissivity-correction approaches, wherein one attempts to correct for emissivity either using thermocouples or using one or more baseline images, collected at known temperatures. These corrections are numerically equivalent to image differencing. Errors in the baseline images are therefore additive, causing the resulting measurement error to either double or triple. The practical application of thermal imagery usually entails coating the objective surface to increase the emissivity to a uniform and repeatable value. While the author recommends that the thermographer still adhere to this practice, he has devised a minimal entropy reconstructions which not only correct for emissivity variations, but also corrects for variations in sensor response, using the baseline images at known temperatures to correct for these values. The minimal energy reconstruction is actually based on a modified Hopfield neural network which finds the resulting image which best explains the observed data and baseline data, having minimal entropy change between adjacent pixels. The autocorrelation of temperatures between adjacent pixels is a feature of most close-up thermal images. A surprising result from transient heating data indicates that the resulting corrected thermal images have less measurement error and are closer to the situational truth than the original data.

Single-Transducer, Ultrasonic Imaging Method for High-Temperature Structural Materials Eliminates the Effect of Thickness Variation in the Image

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roth, Don J.

1998-01-01

NASA Lewis Research Center's Life Prediction Branch, in partnership with Sonix, Inc., and Cleveland State University, recently advanced the development of, refined, and commercialized an advanced nondestructive evaluation (NDE) inspection method entitled the Single Transducer Thickness-Independent Ultrasonic Imaging Method. Selected by R&D Magazine as one of the 100 most technologically significant new products of 1996, the method uses a single transducer to eliminate the superimposing effects of thickness variation in the ultrasonic images of materials. As a result, any variation seen in the image is due solely to microstructural variation. This nondestructive method precisely and accurately characterizes material gradients (pore fraction, density, or chemical) that affect the uniformity of a material's physical performance (mechanical, thermal, or electrical). Advantages of the method over conventional ultrasonic imaging include (1) elimination of machining costs (for precision thickness control) during the quality control stages of material processing and development and (2) elimination of labor costs and subjectivity involved in further image processing and image interpretation. At NASA Lewis, the method has been used primarily for accurate inspections of high temperature structural materials including monolithic ceramics, metal matrix composites, and polymer matrix composites. Data were published this year for platelike samples, and current research is focusing on applying the method to tubular components. The initial publicity regarding the development of the method generated 150 requests for further information from a wide variety of institutions and individuals including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Lockheed Martin Corporation, Rockwell International, Hewlett Packard Company, and Procter & Gamble Company. In addition, NASA has been solicited by the 3M Company and Allison Abrasives to use this method to inspect composite materials that are manufactured by these companies.

Tracking and Classification of In-Air Hand Gesture Based on Thermal Guided Joint Filter.

PubMed

Kim, Seongwan; Ban, Yuseok; Lee, Sangyoun

2017-01-17

The research on hand gestures has attracted many image processing-related studies, as it intuitively conveys the intention of a human as it pertains to motional meaning. Various sensors have been used to exploit the advantages of different modalities for the extraction of important information conveyed by the hand gesture of a user. Although many works have focused on learning the benefits of thermal information from thermal cameras, most have focused on face recognition or human body detection, rather than hand gesture recognition. Additionally, the majority of the works that take advantage of multiple modalities (e.g., the combination of a thermal sensor and a visual sensor), usually adopting simple fusion approaches between the two modalities. As both thermal sensors and visual sensors have their own shortcomings and strengths, we propose a novel joint filter-based hand gesture recognition method to simultaneously exploit the strengths and compensate the shortcomings of each. Our study is motivated by the investigation of the mutual supplementation between thermal and visual information in low feature level for the consistent representation of a hand in the presence of varying lighting conditions. Accordingly, our proposed method leverages the thermal sensor's stability against luminance and the visual sensors textural detail, while complementing the low resolution and halo effect of thermal sensors and the weakness against illumination of visual sensors. A conventional region tracking method and a deep convolutional neural network have been leveraged to track the trajectory of a hand gesture and to recognize the hand gesture, respectively. Our experimental results show stability in recognizing a hand gesture against varying lighting conditions based on the contribution of the joint kernels of spatial adjacency and thermal range similarity.

Tracking and Classification of In-Air Hand Gesture Based on Thermal Guided Joint Filter

PubMed Central

Kim, Seongwan; Ban, Yuseok; Lee, Sangyoun

2017-01-01

The research on hand gestures has attracted many image processing-related studies, as it intuitively conveys the intention of a human as it pertains to motional meaning. Various sensors have been used to exploit the advantages of different modalities for the extraction of important information conveyed by the hand gesture of a user. Although many works have focused on learning the benefits of thermal information from thermal cameras, most have focused on face recognition or human body detection, rather than hand gesture recognition. Additionally, the majority of the works that take advantage of multiple modalities (e.g., the combination of a thermal sensor and a visual sensor), usually adopting simple fusion approaches between the two modalities. As both thermal sensors and visual sensors have their own shortcomings and strengths, we propose a novel joint filter-based hand gesture recognition method to simultaneously exploit the strengths and compensate the shortcomings of each. Our study is motivated by the investigation of the mutual supplementation between thermal and visual information in low feature level for the consistent representation of a hand in the presence of varying lighting conditions. Accordingly, our proposed method leverages the thermal sensor’s stability against luminance and the visual sensors textural detail, while complementing the low resolution and halo effect of thermal sensors and the weakness against illumination of visual sensors. A conventional region tracking method and a deep convolutional neural network have been leveraged to track the trajectory of a hand gesture and to recognize the hand gesture, respectively. Our experimental results show stability in recognizing a hand gesture against varying lighting conditions based on the contribution of the joint kernels of spatial adjacency and thermal range similarity. PMID:28106716

Multifunctional Inorganic Nanoparticles: Recent Progress in Thermal Therapy and Imaging

PubMed Central

Cherukula, Kondareddy; Manickavasagam Lekshmi, Kamali; Uthaman, Saji; Cho, Kihyun; Cho, Chong-Su; Park, In-Kyu

2016-01-01

Nanotechnology has enabled the development of many alternative anti-cancer approaches, such as thermal therapies, which cause minimal damage to healthy cells. Current challenges in cancer treatment are the identification of the diseased area and its efficient treatment without generating many side effects. Image-guided therapies can be a useful tool to diagnose and treat the diseased tissue and they offer therapy and imaging using a single nanostructure. The present review mainly focuses on recent advances in the field of thermal therapy and imaging integrated with multifunctional inorganic nanoparticles. The main heating sources for heat-induced therapies are the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) in the near infrared region and alternating magnetic fields (AMFs). The different families of inorganic nanoparticles employed for SPR- and AMF-based thermal therapies and imaging are described. Furthermore, inorganic nanomaterials developed for multimodal therapies with different and multi-imaging modalities are presented in detail. Finally, relevant clinical perspectives and the future scope of inorganic nanoparticles in image-guided therapies are discussed. PMID:28335204

Innovative optronics for the new PUMA tank

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fritze, J.; Münzberg, M.; Schlemmer, H.

2010-04-01

The new PUMA tank is equipped with a fully stabilized 360° periscope. The thermal imager in the periscope is identical to the imager in the gunner sight. All optronic images of the cameras can be fed on every electronic display within the tank. The thermal imagers operate with a long wave 384x288 MCT starring focal plane array. The high quantum efficiency of MCT provides low NETD values at short integration times. The thermal imager has an image resolution of 768x576 pixels by means of a micro scanner. The MCT detector operates at high temperatures above 75K with high stability in noise and correctibility and offers high reliability (MTTF) values for the complete camera in a very compact design. The paper discusses the principle and functionality of the optronic combination of direct view optical channel, thermal imager and visible camera and discusses in detail the performances of the subcomponents with respect to demands for new tank applications.

Evaluation of fiber reinforced polymers using active infrared thermography system with thermoelectric cooling modules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chady, Tomasz; Gorący, Krzysztof

2018-04-01

Active infrared thermography is increasingly used for nondestructive testing of various materials. Properties of this method are creating a unique possibility to utilize it for inspection of composites. In the case of active thermography, an external energy source is usually used to induce a thermal contrast inside tested objects. The conventional heating methods (like halogen lamps or flash lamps) are utilized for this purpose. In this study, we propose to use a cooling unit. The proposed system consists of a thermal imaging infrared camera, which is used to observe the surface of the inspected specimen and a specially designed cooling unit with thermoelectric modules (the Peltier modules).

A novel 3D deformation measurement method under optical microscope for micro-scale bulge-test

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Dan; Xie, Huimin

2017-11-01

A micro-scale 3D deformation measurement method combined with optical microscope is proposed in this paper. The method is based on gratings and phase shifting algorithm. By recording the grating images before and after deformation from two symmetrical angles and calculating the phases of the grating patterns, the 3D deformation field of the specimen can be extracted from the phases of the grating patterns. The proposed method was applied to the micro-scale bulge test. A micro-scale thermal/mechanical coupling bulge-test apparatus matched with the super-depth microscope was exploited. With the gratings fabricated onto the film, the deformed morphology of the bulged film was measured reliably. The experimental results show that the proposed method and the exploited bulge-test apparatus can be used to characterize the thermal/mechanical properties of the films at micro-scale successfully.

Don't get burned: thermal monitoring of vessel sealing using a miniature infrared camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Shan; Fichera, Loris; Fulton, Mitchell J.; Webster, Robert J.

2017-03-01

Miniature infrared cameras have recently come to market in a form factor that facilitates packaging in endoscopic or other minimally invasive surgical instruments. If absolute temperature measurements can be made with these cameras, they may be useful for non-contact monitoring of electrocautery-based vessel sealing, or other thermal surgical processes like thermal ablation of tumors. As a first step in evaluating the feasibility of optical medical thermometry with these new cameras, in this paper we explore how well thermal measurements can be made with them. These cameras measure the raw flux of incoming IR radiation, and we perform a calibration procedure to map their readings to absolute temperature values in the range between 40 and 150 °C. Furthermore, we propose and validate a method to estimate the spatial extent of heat spread created by a cautery tool based on the thermal images.

Research@ARL. Imaging & Image Processing. Volume 3, Issue 1

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-01

goal, the focal plane arrays (FPAs) the Army deploys must excel in all areas of performance including thermal sensitivity, image resolution, speed of...are available only in relatively small sizes. Further, the difference in thermal expansion coefficients between a CZT substrate and its silicon (Si...read-out integrated circuitry reduces the reliability of large format FPAs due to repeated thermal cycling. Some in the community believed this

Highly sensitive time-resolved thermography and multivariate image analysis of the cerebral cortex for intrasurgical diagnostics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hollmach, Julia; Hoffmann, Nico; Schnabel, Christian; Küchler, Saskia; Sobottka, Stephan; Kirsch, Matthias; Schackert, Gabriele; Koch, Edmund; Steiner, Gerald

2013-03-01

Time-resolved thermography is a novel method to assess thermal variations and heterogeneities in tissue and blood. The recent generation of thermal cameras provides a sensitivity of less than mK. This high sensitivity in conjunction with non-invasive, label-free and radiation-free monitoring makes thermography a promising tool for intrasurgical diagnostics. In brain surgery, time-resolved thermography can be employed to distinguish between normal and anomalous tissue. In this study, we investigated and discussed the potential of time-resolved thermography in neurosurgery for the intraoperative detection and demarcation of tumor borders. Algorithms for segmentation, reduction of movement artifacts and image fusion were developed. The preprocessed image stacks were subjected to discrete wavelet transform to examine individual frequency components. K-means clustering was used for image evaluation to reveal similarities within the image sequence. The image evaluation shows significant differences for both types of tissue. Tumor and normal tissues have different time characteristics in heat production and transfer. Furthermore, tumor could be highlighted. These results demonstrate that time-resolved thermography is able to support the detection of tumors in a contactless manner without any side effects for the tissue. The intraoperative usage of time-resolved thermography improves the accuracy of tumor resections to prevent irreversible brain damage during surgery.

Quantitative Mapping of Pore Fraction Variations in Silicon Nitride Using an Ultrasonic Contact Scan Technique

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roth, Don J.; Kiser, James D.; Swickard, Suzanne M.; Szatmary, Steven A.; Kerwin, David P.

1993-01-01

An ultrasonic scan procedure using the pulse-echo contact configuration was employed to obtain maps of pore fraction variations in sintered silicon nitride samples in terms of ultrasonic material properties. Ultrasonic velocity, attenuation coefficient, and reflection coefficient images were obtained simultaneously over a broad band of frequencies (e.g., 30 to 110 MHz) by using spectroscopic analysis. Liquid and membrane (dry) coupling techniques and longitudinal and shear-wave energies were used. The major results include the following: Ultrasonic velocity (longitudinal and shear wave) images revealed and correlated with the extent of average through-thickness pore fraction variations in the silicon nitride disks. Attenuation coefficient images revealed pore fraction nonuniformity due to the scattering that occurred at boundaries between regions of high and low pore fraction. Velocity and attenuation coefficient images were each nearly identical for machined and polished disks, making the method readily applicable to machined materials. Velocity images were similar for wet and membrane coupling. Maps of apparent Poisson's ratio constructed from longitudinal and shear-wave velocities quantified Poisson's ratio variations across a silicon nitride disk. Thermal wave images of a disk indicated transient thermal behavior variations that correlated with observed variations in pore fraction and velocity and attenuation coefficients.

Photogrammetric 3d Building Reconstruction from Thermal Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maset, E.; Fusiello, A.; Crosilla, F.; Toldo, R.; Zorzetto, D.

2017-08-01

This paper addresses the problem of 3D building reconstruction from thermal infrared (TIR) images. We show that a commercial Computer Vision software can be used to automatically orient sequences of TIR images taken from an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and to generate 3D point clouds, without requiring any GNSS/INS data about position and attitude of the images nor camera calibration parameters. Moreover, we propose a procedure based on Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm to create a model that combines high resolution and geometric accuracy of RGB images with the thermal information deriving from TIR images. The process can be carried out entirely by the aforesaid software in a simple and efficient way.