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Fuzzy Logic Enhanced Digital PIV Processing Software

Digital Particle Image Velocimetry (DPIV) is an instantaneous, planar velocity measurement technique that is ideally suited for studying transient flow phenomena in high speed turbomachinery. DPIV is being actively used at the NASA Glenn Research Center to study both stable and unstable operating conditions in a high speed centrifugal compressor. Commercial PIV systems are readily available which provide near real time feedback of the PIV image data quality. These commercial systems are well designed to facilitate the expedient acquisition of PIV image data. However, as with any general purpose system, these commercial PIV systems do not meet all of the data processing needs required for PIV image data reduction in our compressor research program. An in-house PIV PROCessing (PIVPROC) code has been developed for reducing PIV data. The PIVPROC software incorporates fuzzy logic data validation for maximum information recovery from PIV image data. PIVPROC enables combined cross-correlation/particle tracking wherein the highest possible spatial resolution velocity measurements are obtained.

Wernet, Mark P.↗

Hierarchical Image Segmentation of Remotely Sensed Data using Massively Parallel GNU-LINUX Software

A hierarchical set of image segmentations is a set of several image segmentations of the same image at different levels of detail in which the segmentations at coarser levels of detail can be produced from simple merges of regions at finer levels of detail. In [1], Tilton, et a1 describes an approach for producing hierarchical segmentations (called HSEG) and gave a progress report on exploiting these hierarchical segmentations for image information mining. The HSEG algorithm is a hybrid of region growing and constrained spectral clustering that produces a hierarchical set of image segmentations based on detected convergence points. In the main, HSEG employs the hierarchical stepwise optimization (HSWO) approach to region growing, which was described as early as 1989 by Beaulieu and Goldberg. The HSWO approach seeks to produce segmentations that are more optimized than those produced by more classic approaches to region growing (e.g. Horowitz and T. Pavlidis, [3]). In addition, HSEG optionally interjects between HSWO region growing iterations, merges between spatially non-adjacent regions (i.e., spectrally based merging or clustering) constrained by a threshold derived from the previous HSWO region growing iteration. While the addition of constrained spectral clustering improves the utility of the segmentation results, especially for larger images, it also significantly increases HSEG s computational requirements. To counteract this, a computationally efficient recursive, divide-and-conquer, implementation of HSEG (RHSEG) was devised, which includes special code to avoid processing artifacts caused by RHSEG s recursive subdivision of the image data. The recursive nature of RHSEG makes for a straightforward parallel implementation. This paper describes the HSEG algorithm, its recursive formulation (referred to as RHSEG), and the implementation of RHSEG using massively parallel GNU-LINUX software. Results with Landsat TM data are included comparing RHSEG with classic region growing.

Tilton, James C.↗

Airborne monitoring of crop canopy temperatures for irrigation scheduling and yield prediction

Airborne and ground measurements were made on April 1 and 29, 1976, over a USDA test site consisting mostly of wheat in various stages of water stress, but also including alfalfa and bare soil. These measurements were made to evaluate the feasibility of measuring crop temperatures from aircraft so that a parameter termed stress degree day, SDD, could be computed. Ground studies have shown that SDD is a valuable indicator of a crop's water needs, and that it can be related to irrigation scheduling and yield. The aircraft measurement program required predawn and afternoon flights coincident with minimum and maximum crop temperatures. Airborne measurements were made with an infrared line scanner and with color IR photography. The scanner data were registered, subtracted, and color-coded to yield pseudo-colored temperature-difference images. Pseudo-colored images reading directly in daily SDD increments were also produced. These maps enable a user to assess plant water status and thus determine irrigation needs and crop yield potentials.

Millard, J. P.↗

The Nuclear Astrophysics Explorer

The Nuclear Astrophysics Explorer was proposed in 1986 for NASA's Explorer Concept Study Program by an international collaboration of 25 scientists from nine institutions. The one-year feasibility study began in June 1988. The Nuclear Astrophysics Explorer would obtain high resolution observations of gamma-ray lines, E/Delta E about 1000, at a sensitivity of about 0.000003 ph/sq cm s, in order to study fundamental problems in astrophysics such as nucleosynthesis, supernovae, neutron star and black-hole physics, and particle acceleration and interactions. The instrument would operate from 15 keV to 10 Mev and use a heavily shielded array of nine cooled Ge spectrometers in a very low background configuration. Its 10 deg FWHM field of view would contain a versatile coded mask system which would provide two-dimensional imaging with 4 deg resolution, one-dimensional imaging with 2 deg resolution, and efficiendt measurements of diffuse emission. An unshielded Ge spectrometer would obtain wide-field measurements of transient gamma-ray sources. The earliest possible mission would begin in 1995.

Matteson, J. L.↗

Receptive fields and visual representations

Efficient representation of images for human use requires an understanding of how the brain processes and represents visual information. Spatial imagery is represented in the brain in the receptive fields of visual neurons. Models of these neurons lead to models of image fidelity, and to digital implementations of these neural codes. This approach will be illustrated by two example codes. The advantages and difficulties of this approach will be discussed.

Watson, Andrew B.↗

Advances in image compression and automatic target recognition; Proceedings of the Meeting, Orlando, FL, Mar. 30, 31, 1989

Various papers on image compression and automatic target recognition are presented. Individual topics addressed include: target cluster detection in cluttered SAR imagery, model-based target recognition using laser radar imagery, Smart Sensor front-end processor for feature extraction of images, object attitude estimation and tracking from a single video sensor, symmetry detection in human vision, analysis of high resolution aerial images for object detection, obscured object recognition for an ATR application, neural networks for adaptive shape tracking, statistical mechanics and pattern recognition, detection of cylinders in aerial range images, moving object tracking using local windows, new transform method for image data compression, quad-tree product vector quantization of images, predictive trellis encoding of imagery, reduced generalized chain code for contour description, compact architecture for a real-time vision system, use of human visibility functions in segmentation coding, color texture analysis and synthesis using Gibbs random fields.

Tescher, Andrew G.↗

A high-speed distortionless predictive image-compression scheme

A high-speed distortionless predictive image-compression scheme that is based on differential pulse code modulation output modeling combined with efficient source-code design is introduced. Experimental results show that this scheme achieves compression that is very close to the difference entropy of the source.

Cheung, K.-M.↗

Lossless compression of AVIRIS data: Comparison of methods and instrument constraints

A family of lossless compression methods, allowing exact image reconstruction, are evaluated for compressing Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometers (AVIRIS) image data. The methods are used on Differential Pulse Code Modulation (DPCM). The compressed data have an entropy of order 6 bits/pixel. A theoretical model indicates that significantly better lossless compression is unlikely to be achieved because of limits caused by the noise in the AVIRIS channels. AVIRIS data differ from data produced by other visible/near-infrared sensors, such as LANDSAT-TM or SPOT, in several ways. Firstly, the data are recorded at a greater resolution (12 bits, though packed into 16-bit words). Secondly, the spectral channels are relatively narrow and provide continuous coverage of the spectrum so that the data in adjacent channels are generally highly correlated. Thirdly, the noise characteristics of the AVIRIS are defined by the channels' Noise Equivalent Radiances (NER's), and these NER's show that, at some wavelengths, the least significant 5 or 6 bits of data are essentially noise.

Roger, R. E.↗

Empirical Models of the Plasma Density in the Inner Magnetosphere

The radio plasma imager (RPI) on the IMAGE satellite performs radio sounding in the magnetosphere, transmitting coded signals stepping through the frequency range of interest and receiving the returned echoes. The measurements provide the echo amplitude as a function of frequency and echo delay time on a so-called plasmagram. A newly developed algorithm inverts THE echo traces on a plasmagram to electron density spatial distributions. Rased on these observed density distributions, an empirical model is constructed to describe the two-dimensional density distribution in the inner magnetosphere.

Huang, X.↗

Validating LES for Jet Aeroacoustics

Engineers charged with making jet aircraft quieter have long dreamed of being able to see exactly how turbulent eddies produce sound and this dream is now coming true with the advent of large eddy simulation (LES). Two obvious challenges remain: validating the LES codes at the resolution required to see the fluid-acoustic coupling, and the interpretation of the massive datasets that are produced. This paper addresses the former, the use of advanced experimental techniques such as particle image velocimetry (PIV) and Raman and Rayleigh scattering, to validate the computer codes and procedures used to create LES solutions. This paper argues that the issue of accuracy of the experimental measurements be addressed by cross-facility and cross-disciplinary examination of modern datasets along with increased reporting of internal quality checks in PIV analysis. Further, it argues that the appropriate validation metrics for aeroacoustic applications are increasingly complicated statistics that have been shown in aeroacoustic theory to be critical to flow-generated sound, such as two-point space-time velocity correlations. A brief review of data sources available is presented along with examples illustrating cross-facility and internal quality checks required of the data before it should be accepted for validation of LES.

Bridges, James↗

yourSky: Custom Sky-Image Mosaics via the Internet

yourSky (http://yourSky.jpl.nasa.gov) is a computer program that supplies custom astronomical image mosaics of sky regions specified by requesters using client computers connected to the Internet. [yourSky is an upgraded version of the software reported in Software for Generating Mosaics of Astronomical Images (NPO-21121), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 25, No. 4 (April 2001), page 16a.] A requester no longer has to engage in the tedious process of determining what subset of images is needed, nor even to know how the images are indexed in image archives. Instead, in response to a requester s specification of the size and location of the sky area, (and optionally of the desired set and type of data, resolution, coordinate system, projection, and image format), yourSky automatically retrieves the component image data from archives totaling tens of terabytes stored on computer tape and disk drives at multiple sites and assembles the component images into a mosaic image by use of a high-performance parallel code. yourSky runs on the server computer where the mosaics are assembled. Because yourSky includes a Web-interface component, no special client software is needed: ordinary Web browser software is sufficient.

Jacob, Joseph↗

Performance of an Array of 6 X 6 X 20 mm3 Virtual Frisch-Grid CdZnTe Detectors With A Waveform Sampling Readout System

Arrays of CdZnTe (CZT) bars with high spatial and energy resolution are an enabling technology for future space missions, such as the image plane detector of the Galactic Explorer with a Coded Aperture Mask Compton Telescope (GECCO). GECCO will explore the medium-energy (100 keV – 10 MeV) gamma-ray sky, which is among the least covered windows to the Universe with a massive potential for discovery. We have integrated an array of 6x6x20 mm3 virtual Frisch-grid (VFG) CZT detectors, measuring signals from the cathodes, anodes, and pads on each of the four sides of each bar. The VFG CZT detector is read out with an IDEAS GDS-100 waveform sampling readout system to optimize the signal processing and event reconstruction. We evaluated the energy and position resolution of the integrated VFG CZT array with a 137Cs source and successfully demonstrated better than 1% energy resolution and finer than 1 mm position resolution at 662 keV. Furthermore, we carried out a beam test at the High Intensity Gamma-ray Source (HIGS) at Duke University to investigate the performance of the system for higher energy gamma-rays. Together with the basic performance obtained from the 137Cs source, we present here those results from the beam test with various gamma-ray energies up to 8 MeV.

Makoto Sasaki↗

Validating LES for Jet Aeroacoustics

Engineers charged with making jet aircraft quieter have long dreamed of being able to see exactly how turbulent eddies produce sound and this dream is now coming true with the advent of large eddy simulation (LES). Two obvious challenges remain: validating the LES codes at the resolution required to see the fluid-acoustic coupling, and the interpretation of the massive datasets that result in having dreams come true. This paper primarily addresses the former, the use of advanced experimental techniques such as particle image velocimetry (PIV) and Raman and Rayleigh scattering, to validate the computer codes and procedures used to create LES solutions. It also addresses the latter problem in discussing what are relevant measures critical for aeroacoustics that should be used in validating LES codes. These new diagnostic techniques deliver measurements and flow statistics of increasing sophistication and capability, but what of their accuracy? And what are the measures to be used in validation? This paper argues that the issue of accuracy be addressed by cross-facility and cross-disciplinary examination of modern datasets along with increased reporting of internal quality checks in PIV analysis. Further, it is argued that the appropriate validation metrics for aeroacoustic applications are increasingly complicated statistics that have been shown in aeroacoustic theory to be critical to flow-generated sound.

Bridges, James↗

Imaging Sensor Flight and Test Equipment Software

The Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) is one of the components onboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite, and was designed to detect and locate lightning over the tropics. The LIS flight code was developed to run on a single onboard digital signal processor, and has operated the LIS instrument since 1997 when the TRMM satellite was launched. The software provides controller functions to the LIS Real-Time Event Processor (RTEP) and onboard heaters, collects the lightning event data from the RTEP, compresses and formats the data for downlink to the satellite, collects housekeeping data and formats the data for downlink to the satellite, provides command processing and interface to the spacecraft communications and data bus, and provides watchdog functions for error detection. The Special Test Equipment (STE) software was designed to operate specific test equipment used to support the LIS hardware through development, calibration, qualification, and integration with the TRMM spacecraft. The STE software provides the capability to control instrument activation, commanding (including both data formatting and user interfacing), data collection, decompression, and display and image simulation. The LIS STE code was developed for the DOS operating system in the C programming language. Because of the many unique data formats implemented by the flight instrument, the STE software was required to comprehend the same formats, and translate them for the test operator. The hardware interfaces to the LIS instrument using both commercial and custom computer boards, requiring that the STE code integrate this variety into a working system. In addition, the requirement to provide RTEP test capability dictated the need to provide simulations of background image data with short-duration lightning transients superimposed. This led to the development of unique code used to control the location, intensity, and variation above background for simulated lightning strikes at user-selected locations.

Freestone, Kathleen↗

Image2000: A Free, Innovative, Java Based Imaging Package

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center's (GSFC) Scientific and Educational Endeavors (SEE) and the Center for Image Processing in Education (CIPE) use satellite image processing as part of their science lessons developed for students and educators. The image processing products that they use, as part of these lessons, no longer fulfill the needs of SEE and CIPE because these products are either dependent on a particular computing platform, hard to customize and extend, or do not have enough functionality. SEE and CIPE began looking for what they considered the "perfect" image processing tool that was platform independent, rich in functionality and could easily be extended and customized for their purposes. At the request of SEE, NASA's GSFC, code 588 the Advanced Architectures and Automation Branch developed a powerful new Java based image processing endeavors.

Pell, Nicholas↗

Mapped Landmark Algorithm for Precision Landing

A report discusses a computer vision algorithm for position estimation to enable precision landing during planetary descent. The Descent Image Motion Estimation System for the Mars Exploration Rovers has been used as a starting point for creating code for precision, terrain-relative navigation during planetary landing. The algorithm is designed to be general because it handles images taken at different scales and resolutions relative to the map, and can produce mapped landmark matches for any planetary terrain of sufficient texture. These matches provide a measurement of horizontal position relative to a known landing site specified on the surface map. Multiple mapped landmarks generated per image allow for automatic detection and elimination of bad matches. Attitude and position can be generated from each image; this image-based attitude measurement can be used by the onboard navigation filter to improve the attitude estimate, which will improve the position estimates. The algorithm uses normalized correlation of grayscale images, producing precise, sub-pixel images. The algorithm has been broken into two sub-algorithms: (1) FFT Map Matching (see figure), which matches a single large template by correlation in the frequency domain, and (2) Mapped Landmark Refinement, which matches many small templates by correlation in the spatial domain. Each relies on feature selection, the homography transform, and 3D image correlation. The algorithm is implemented in C++ and is rated at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4.

Johnson, Andrew↗

The Clementine instrument complement

The recent successes of the Galileo solid-state imaging (SSI) experiment at the Moon and Gaspra show the utility of multispectral imaging of planetary objects. 'Clementine' is the planetary community's 'code name' for the SDIO (Space Defense Initiative Organization), mission to the Moon and the asteroid Geographos. This mission is designed as a long term stressing test on sensors and space systems developed for SDIO. In the course of this test Clementine will obtain science data using a varied and powerful array of remote sensing instruments which were developed by or for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California. Clementine carries five cameras, one for navigation and four for science experiments. In addition, a laser ranger is included which will serve as a laser altimeter. The Clementine cameras cover a wider range of spatial resolutions and wavelength range than did Galileo and are almost ideally suited to mapping of mafic rock types as are present on the Moon and expected at Geographos. Calibration of the cameras will occur at the sensor calibration laboratory at LLNL. In flight calibrations, using standard stars and other standards should improve the stated accuracies. Signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) include the following noise sources: shot noise, calibration error, digitization noise, readout noise, and frame transfer noise (where applicable). The achieved SNRs are a balance between detector saturation and acceptable image smear. The 'worst' case uses the longest possible integration times.

Lucey, Paul G.↗

On-board image compression for the RAE lunar mission

The requirements, design, implementation, and flight performance of an on-board image compression system for the lunar orbiting Radio Astronomy Explorer-2 (RAE-2) spacecraft are described. The image to be compressed is a panoramic camera view of the long radio astronomy antenna booms used for gravity-gradient stabilization of the spacecraft. A compression ratio of 32 to 1 is obtained by a combination of scan line skipping and adaptive run-length coding. The compressed imagery data are convolutionally encoded for error protection. This image compression system occupies about 1000 cu cm and consumes 0.4 W.

Miller, W. H.↗