| Camera Images Hydrogen Fires in Three Wavelength Bands |
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| Stennis Space Center, Mississippi | |
| Jun 30 1999 | |
The camera filters and processing can be customized for other multispectral imaging applications.
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A special-purpose multispectral video camera has been designed to provide an enhanced capability for viewing hydrogen fires. Hydrogen fires do not emit sufficient visible light to be seen by the unaided human eye, but they do emit strongly at other wavelengths — especially in the infrared and near-infrared portions of the spectrum. Therefore, like some other video cameras developed previously for the same purpose, this camera is designed to respond to infrared light emitted by hot water molecules in hydrogen flames. Going beyond previous designs, this camera provides a combination of imaging in three wavelength bands and processing of the three images, all for the purposes of (1) reducing spurious responses to background light and solar radiation, and (2) synthesizing an image of a hydrogen flame overlaid on an ordinary visible-light image of the scene that contains the flame. The camera includes custom optics similar to the color-separation prisms found in broadcast video cameras, but operating in different spectral regions. Instead of separating the red-green-blue light, this camera separates the incoming light into visible and two infrared channels. The incoming light is first focused by a commercial electronic news gathering (ENG) motorized zoom lens assembly, then passed through the prism to separate it into three spectral images.
 Figure 1. A Multispectral Camera represented here by a block diagram uses filtering and thresholding algorithms to produce a visible image of a typically transparent hydrogen fire. The light arriving at the CCD array sensors is transformed into electronic image data. The outputs of the CCDs are digitized and processed using proprietary algorithms programmed into an Altera programmable logic device. The background infrared (IR) image is then subtracted from the flame IR image. Filtering and thresholding algorithms isolate the flame pixels. The resultant isolated flame image is superimposed on the visible image, producing a red overlay on the visible image, denoting the location and size of the hydrogen flames. A digital-to-video encoder provides a standard NTSC (National Television Systems Committee) and S-video output. Multiple modes provide output of the color, flame IR, background IR, or overlay image. Figure 2 shows the overlay mode image with the flame represented in red. The inset shows a standard color video image for comparison. An additional output mode cycles among color, flame IR, and overlay images at a fixed interval. User control of the output mode is available via remote-control input or a switch on the rear of the camera.
 Figure 2. The Processed Image of a Hydrogen Flame is superimposed in red against the background, making it clearly visible, whereas the standard color video image of the same scene in the inset does not reveal the flame. This work was done by David B. Duncan, Greg Leeson, and Sherwood Kantor of Duncan Technologies, Inc., for Stennis Space Center.
In accordance with Public Law 96-517, the contractor has elected to retain
title to this invention. Inquiries concerning rights for its commercial use
should be addressed to Refer to SSC-00056, volume and number of this NASA Tech Briefs issue, and the page number. |
