Imaging

Access our comprehensive library of technical briefs on imaging, from engineering experts at NASA and major government, university, and commercial laboratories.

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Briefs: Imaging
Resource-Constrained Application of Support Vector Machines to Imagery
Machine learning techniques have shown considerable promise for automating common visual inspection tasks. For example, Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers that have been learned from labeled training data deliver strong detection performance both for finding human faces in...
Briefs: Software
Software for Non-Contact Measurement of an Individual’s Heart Rate Using a Common Camera
A software application detects the heart rate of an individual by using a real-time video stream from a common camera connected to their computer. This involves no contact between the user and the camera, or calibration between individual users. NASA’s...
Briefs: Lighting
From the high-resolution glow of flat screen televisions to light bulbs that last for years, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) continue to transform technology. The celebrated efficiency...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
In a process comparable to squeezing an elephant through a pinhole, researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology have designed a way to engineer atoms capable of funneling...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Planetary Data Systems (PDS) Imaging Node Atlas II
The Planetary Image Atlas (PIA) is a Rich Internet Application (RIA) that serves planetary imaging data to the science community and the general public. PIA also utilizes the USGS Unified Planetary Coordinate system (UPC) and the on-Mars map server.
Briefs: Imaging
Automatic Calibration of an Airborne Imaging System to an Inertial Navigation Unit
This software automatically calibrates a camera or an imaging array to an inertial navigation system (INS) that is rigidly mounted to the array or imager. In effect, it recovers the coordinate frame transformation between the reference frame of the imager and the...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Support Routines for In Situ Image Processing
This software consists of a set of application programs that support ground-based image processing for in situ missions. These programs represent a collection of utility routines that perform miscellaneous functions in the context of the ground data system. Each one fulfills some specific need as...
Briefs: Medical
Wideband Single-Crystal Transducer for Bone Characterization
The microgravity conditions of space travel result in unique physiological demands on the human body. In particular, the absence of the continual mechanical stresses on the skeletal system that are present on Earth cause the bones to decalcify. Trabecular structure decreases in thickness...
Briefs: Imaging
Hands-Free Transcranial Color Doppler Probe
Current transcranial color Doppler (TCD) transducer probes are bulky and difficult to move in tiny increments to search and optimize TCD signals. This invention provides miniature motions of a TCD transducer probe to optimize TCD signals.
Briefs: Unmanned Systems
Water bodies are challenging terrain hazards for terrestrial unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) for several reasons. Traversing through deep water bodies could cause costly damage to the electronics of...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Aerosol and Surface Parameter Retrievals for a Multi-Angle, Multiband Spectrometer
This software retrieves the surface and atmosphere parameters of multi-angle, multiband spectra. The synthetic spectra are generated by applying the modified Rahman-Pinty-Verstraete Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) model, and a single-scattering...
Briefs: Aerospace
AIRS Maps From Space Processing Software
This software package processes Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) Level 2 swath standard product geophysical parameters, and generates global, colorized, annotated maps. It automatically generates daily and multi-day averaged colorized and annotated maps of various AIRS Level 2 swath geophysical...
Briefs: Imaging
Predictive Sea State Estimation for Automated Ride Control and Handling — PSSEARCH
PSSEARCH provides predictive sea state estimation, coupled with closedloop feedback control for automated ride control. It enables a manned or unmanned watercraft to determine the 3D map and sea state conditions in its vicinity in real time. Adaptive path-planning/...
Briefs: Imaging
CCD Camera Lens Interface for Real-Time Theodolite Alignment
Theodolites are a common instrument in the testing, alignment, and building of various systems ranging from a single optical component to an entire instrument. They provide a precise way to measure horizontal and vertical angles. They can be used to align multiple objects in a desired way...
Briefs: Imaging
Plenoptic Imager for Automated Surface Navigation
An electro-optical imaging device is capable of autonomously determining the range to objects in a scene without the use of active emitters or multiple apertures. The novel, automated, low-power imaging system is based on a plenoptic camera design that was constructed as a breadboard system....
Briefs: Imaging
Reconstituted Three-Dimensional Interactive Imaging
A method combines two-dimensional images, enhancing the images as well as rendering a 3D, enhanced, interactive computer image or visual model. Any advanced compiler can be used in conjunction with any graphics library package for this method, which is intended to take digitized images and...
Briefs: RF & Microwave Electronics
A 311-GHz Fundamental Oscillator Using InP HBT Technology
This oscillator uses a single-emitter 0.3-μm InP heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) device with maximum frequency of oscillation (fmax) greater than 500 GHz. Due to high conductor and substrate losses at submillimeter-wave frequencies, a primary challenge is to efficiently use the...
Briefs: Imaging
Wide-Field-of-View, High-Resolution, Stereoscopic Imager
A device combines video feeds from multiple cameras to provide wide-field-of-view, high-resolution, stereoscopic video to the user. The prototype under development consists of two camera assemblies, one for each eye. One of these assemblies incorporates a mounting structure with multiple...
Briefs: Imaging
Algorithm for Lossless Compression of Calibrated Hyperspectral Imagery
A two-stage predictive method was developed for lossless compression of calibrated hyperspectral imagery. The first prediction stage uses a conventional linear predictor intended to exploit spatial and/or spectral dependencies in the data. The compressor tabulates counts of the...
Briefs: Imaging
Polarization Imaging Apparatus
A polarization imaging apparatus has shown promise as a prototype of instruments for medical imaging with contrast greater than that achievable by use of non-polarized light. The underlying principles of design and operation are derived from observations that light interacts with tissue ultrastructures that affect...
Briefs: Imaging
The Electrical Capacitance Volume Tomography (ECVT) system has been designed to complement the tools created to sense the presence of water in nonconductive spacecraft...
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Briefs: Imaging
A machine-vision system capable of detecting obstacles large enough to damage or trap a robotic vehicle is undergoing development. The system includes (1) a pattern generator that...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Wavefront Control and Image Restoration With Less Computing
PseudoDiversity is a method of recovering the wavefront in a sparse- or segmented-aperture optical system typified by an interferometer or a telescope equipped with an adaptive primary mirror consisting of controllably slightly moveable segments. (PseudoDiversity should not be confused...
Briefs: Imaging
Utilizing a Compact Color Microscope Imaging System (CCMIS), a unique algorithm has been developed that combines human intelligence along with machine vision...
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Briefs: Imaging
Objective Lens Optimized for Wavefront Delivery, Pupil Imaging, and Pupil Ghosting
An interferometer objective lens (or diverger) may be used to transform a collimated beam into a diverging or converging beam. A typical objective lens is optimized to deliver a diffraction-limited beam to an optic or optical system under test. Often, imaging...
Briefs: Imaging
CMOS Camera Array With Onboard Memory
A compact CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) camera system has been developed with high resolution (1.3 Megapixels), a USB (universal serial bus) 2.0 interface, and an onboard memory. A compact design of a 2×4 in. (≈5×10 cm) multilayer PCB (printed circuit board) was designed that contains the...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Processing Images of Craters for Spacecraft Navigation
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California A crater-detection algorithm has been conceived to enable automation of what, heretofore, have been manual processes for utilizing images of craters on a celestial body as landmarks for navigating a spacecraft flying near or landing on...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
An apparatus for mid-infrared reflectance imaging has been developed as means of inspecting for subsurface damage in thermal-barrier coatings (TBCs). The apparatus is designed, more...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Improving the Visible and Infrared Contrast Ratio of Microshutter Arrays
Three device improvements have been developed that dramatically enhance the contrast ratio of microshutters. The goal of a microshutter is to allow as much light through as possible when the shutters are in the open configuration, and preventing any light from passing through...

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