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All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI2023

Differential emissivity based evaporable particle measurement

A differential emissivity imaging device for measuring evaporable particle properties can include a heated plate, a thermal camera, a memory device, and an output interface. The heated plate can have an upper surface oriented to receive falling evaporable particles. The evaporable particles have a particle emissivity and the upper surface has a plate surface emissivity. The thermal camera can be oriented to produce a thermal image of the upper surface. A memory device can include instructions that cause the imaging device to calculate a mass of the individual evaporable particle via heat conduction using a calculated surface area and an evaporation time.

Garrett, Tim↗

DOE OSTI2022

A multi-modal scanning system to digitize CBRNE emergency response scenes

A handheld system developed to digitize a contextual understanding of the scene at a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and/or explosives (CBRNE) events is described. The system uses LiDAR and cameras to create a colorized 3D model of the environment, which helps domain experts that are supporting responders in the field. To generate the digitized model, a responder scans any suspicious objects and the surroundings by carrying the system through the scene. The scanning system provides a real-time user interface to inform the user about scanning progress and to indicate any areas that may have been missed either by the LiDAR sensors or the cameras. Currently, the collected data are post-processed on a different device, building a colorized triangular mesh of the encountered scene, with the intention of moving this pipeline to the scanner at a later point. The mesh is sufficiently compressed to be sent over a reduced bandwidth connection to a remote analyst. Furthermore, the system tracks fiducial markers attached to diagnostic equipment that is placed around the suspicious object. The resulting tracking information can be transmitted to remote analysts to further facilitate their supporting efforts. The paper will discuss the system's design, software components, the user interface used for scanning a scene, the necessary procedures for calibration of the sensors, and the processing steps of the resulting data. The discussion will close by evaluating the system's performance on 11 scenes.

Prins, Nicholas↗

DOE OSTI2023

Ionizing-radiation beamline monitoring system

Embodiments are directed generally to an ionizing-radiation beamline monitoring system that includes a vacuum chamber structure with vacuum compatible flanges through which an incident ionizing-radiation beam enters the monitoring system. Embodiments further include at least one scintillator within the vacuum chamber structure that can be at least partially translated in the ionizing-radiation beam while oriented at an angle greater than 10 degrees to a normal of the incident ionizing-radiation beam, a machine vision camera coupled to a light-tight structure at atmospheric/ambient pressure that is attached to the vacuum chamber structure by a flange attached to a vacuum-tight viewport window with the camera and lens optical axis oriented at an angle of less than 80 degrees with respect to a normal of the scintillator, and at least one ultraviolet (“UV”) illumination source facing the scintillator in the ionizing-radiation beam for monitoring a scintillator stability comprising scintillator radiation damage.

Friedman, Peter S.↗

DOE OSTI2023

Apparatus and method for agricultural data collection and agricultural operations

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, obtaining video data from a single monocular camera, wherein the video data comprises a plurality of frames, wherein the camera is attached to a mobile robot that is travelling along a lane defined by a row of crops, wherein the row of crops comprises a first plant stem, and wherein the plurality of frames include a depiction of the first plant stem; obtaining robot velocity data from encoder(s), wherein the encoder(s) are attached to the robot; performing foreground extraction on each of the plurality of frames of the video data, wherein the foreground extraction results in a plurality of foreground images; and determining, based upon the plurality of foreground images and based upon the robot velocity data, an estimated width of the first plant stem. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

Chowdhary, Girish↗

DOE OSTI2020

Autonomous Navigation and Control of UGVs' in Nuclear Power Plants - 20381

The purpose of the husky A200 ground robot is to autonomously navigate through the places where it is very hazardous for human beings to reach and operate, like nuclear power plants, chemical industries. The aim is to navigate the ground robot autonomously with an Arm mounted on the robot along with the different sensors as camera, and Lidar. The autonomous motion of the robot is controlled by the controller which uses path planner for trajectory generation of the robot. The mission planner uses the current position of the husky A200, given the way points of the initial and the destination it would extract a best possible route based on the current events provided using GMapping. The global reference frame is used for planning the way points. Creating the appropriate path and the actions required to follow the path are given by the motion planner. The motion planner depends on the active sensor data such as obstacles, lanes, based on the sensor data feasible path is generated. Feasibility of the path is determined by the dynamics of the husky and a series of points generated with certain velocity and acceleration profile. The controller adjusts the lateral, longitudinal and yaw motion of the husky to command the behaviors. The kinematic model is developed for kinematic motion of the husky and the dynamic model is developed for transient and steady state characteristics. The images and other type of data captured by the camera are processed through the computational framework used to build machine learning models. TensorFlow will be used for deep learning and to identify and classify different objects around the husky. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

DOE OSTI2024

In-line, High-Throughput Quality Monitoring for Fuel Cell and Electrolyzer Components Based on Transmission and Reflection Imaging

During the manufacturing of fuel cell and electrolyzer membranes and membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs), real-time, in-line, high-throughput optical-based quality monitoring methods are essential for detecting defects and monitoring thickness variations, thus improving the performance and increasing the durability of fuel cell and electrolyzer in the hydrogen industry. For the MEAs with very opaque coatings, optical transmission-based imaging has been developed and applied in the Roll-to-Roll system using a flashlight and a high-sensitivity CCD camera. We observed high signal-to-noise ratio images while the Roll-to-Roll system ran at 5 ft/min. The entire sample image could quickly be recovered from the discrete frames using customized Python codes for automatic frame cropping and stitching. We detected significant non-uniformities in our experimental MEAs specimen. For fuel cell and low-temperature electrolysis (LTE) transparent membranes, we used optical reflectance hyperspectral imaging with interference fringe-based thickness mapping. We set up a hyperspectral camera to measure various rolls of commercial membranes. The measurement results are analyzed to find the thickness distribution of each roll and to check for defects. Transmission and reflection imaging-based quality monitoring techniques demonstrated in this project can be widely used in the mass production environment to improve the production yield and performance of hydrogen devices.

DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION,ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2024

GrayQb: A Radiological Contamination Locating and Mapping Tool

Benefits Technology Overview Easy to operate • Self-contained unit for imaging – no special power, cooling or handling requirements • Standard color camera, easy to use gamma camera and reader • Software automatically processes images, sliders to adjust intensity display • Lightweight – less than 5 lbs. without additional background shielding

Timmons, Daren↗

DOE OSTI2024

Using Fiducial Markers for Pose Estimation of an OSWEC in a Wave Tank: Preprint

In this study, we consider a novel method of sensing the motion of a wave energy converter during testing in a wave flume under the influence of incoming waves. The wave energy converter considered in our research is an oscillating surge wave energy converter, which is a hinged paddle that responds to incoming waves. Motion sensing is normally done with inertial sensors, which can hinder the motion due to suspended cables that carry power and transmit signals. Our proposed method is contactless and can be implemented economically. A camera is used to record different marker patterns affixed to the moving paddle and the motion deduced by pose estimation algorithms. Fiducial markers are commonly used for robot localization and in augmented reality. There are many types of fiducial markers, including ArUco-type markers which are accurate, fast and robust. The system consists of markers attached to the paddle element and recorded using a machine vision camera. A pose estimation algorithm is then applied to the detected markers to estimate the tilt of the paddle. In this work, we examine the challenges of image acquisition and calibration for underwater targets, compare the motion obtained by this new system with a calibrated tilt sensor and identify areas where the new system may be superior.

computer vision↗

DOE OSTI2026

The South Pole Telescope AGN Monitoring Campaign: First Release of SPTpol Bright AGN Light Curves

The South Pole Telescope (SPT) collaboration has recently embarked upon a campaign to monitor the brightness of a sample of active galactic nuclei (AGN), both in real time and in archival SPT data. The original design of the SPT was optimized for observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at arc-minute and larger angular scales, and it has been used for this purpose for nearly twenty years, using three generations of CMB cameras. Recently it has been recognized that data from CMB experiments have the potential to be used for AGN monitoring. In this paper, we present the first public release of data from a full sample of SPT-monitored AGN, comprising 158 AGN light curves and associated data from the SPTpol camera, which was operational from 2012-2016. These light curves were created using observations from the SPTpol 500 deg$^{2}$ survey, in which the instrument was used to scan a 500 deg$^2$ patch of the sky several times per day with detectors sensitive to radiation in bands centered at 90 and 150 GHz. We provide a comprehensive description of the observations, the data processing methods, and the resulting light curve catalog. As an example of analyses that these data enable, we searched for a correlation between variability and spectral index, and we looked for ``bluer-when-brighter'' trends in the sample. Our analysis finds $> 10 σ$ correlation between fractional intrinsic variance and mean spectral index in the sample, but no significant evidence for bluer-when-brighter trends. The datasets from this study can be accessed through the SPT Treasury Record of AGN With Historical Activity and Time-Series or STRAWHAT catalog. This initial data release includes SPTpol light curves at 90 and 150 GHz, focusing on total intensity. In later updates, SPTpol polarization data and new observations from the SPT-3G instrument at 90, 150, and 220 GHz will be included.

Hood, J.C., II [Chicago U., KICP; Chicago U., Astr↗

DOE OSTI2026

QuadSync: Quadrifocal tensor synchronization via Tucker decomposition

In structure from motion, quadrifocal tensors capture more information than their pairwise counterparts (essential matrices), yet they have often been thought of as impractical and only of theoretical interest. In this work, we challenge such beliefs by providing a new framework to recover n cameras from the corresponding collection of quadrifocal tensors. We form the block quadrifocal tensor and show that it admits a Tucker decomposition whose factor matrices are the stacked camera matrices, and which thus has a multilinear rank of (4,4,4,4) independent of n. We develop the first synchronization algorithm for quadrifocal tensors, using Tucker decomposition, alternating direction method of multipliers, and iteratively reweighted least squares. We further establish relationships between the block quadrifocal, trifocal, and bifocal tensors, and introduce an algorithm that jointly synchronizes these three entities. Numerical experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of our methods on modern datasets, indicating the potential and importance of using higher-order information in synchronization.

Miao, Daniel [University of Minnesota]↗

DOE OSTI2022

Characterization of Advanced Imaging Systems for High-Resolution and Event-Mode Detection

Post-irradiation examination (PIE) is a continually growing field critical to the development of improved nuclear fuels. To characterize these materials, neutron imaging systems are employed and outfitted with, typically, CMOS or CCD cameras - complementary metal oxide semiconductor sensors and charge-couple devices. Imaging systems are a team-effort between the camera, scintillating materials, and object of interest, as a result of neutrons' inherent need to be converted to a detectable signal. High resolution imaging, flash radiography imaging, and event-mode detection systems are three systems undergoing development, construction, and characterization for improved spatial resolution and time-of-flight detection for PIE efforts.

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI2025

Comparison of removal and spatial mark‐resight models for estimating wild pig density

Density estimation is critical to effectively manage invasive species and elucidate areas of highest concern. For wild pigs (Sus scrofa), the ability to estimate density is complicated because of their variable home range sizes and social structure. Common methods for estimating density (e.g., mark-recapture) may be unsuitable in management applications because additional data needs to be collected before and after management. Removal models offer a suitable alternative to estimate density changes following management and can be applied broadly across areas where management of wild pigs is ongoing. We collected wild pig removal and camera trap data from 25 private properties ranging in size from approximately 0.5 km 2 to 95 km 2 across 3 ecoregions in South Carolina, USA, from 2020–2023. We compared factors affecting consistency and precision of property-level density estimates between removal and spatial mark-resight (SMR) models. In general, excluding 1 large outlier, density estimates from removal models were between 0.60 and 15.85 wild pigs/km 2 (median = 5.34) with a median coefficient of variation (CV) of 0.76 and 95% confidence intervals for the CV between 0.70 and 0.94. Similarly, excluding 1 large outlier, density estimates from SMR were between 0.22 and 30.97 wild pigs/km 2 (median = 5.48) with a median CV of 0.39 and 95% confidence intervals for the CV between 0.38 and 1.20. We found the precision of removal models was affected primarily by the number of wild pigs dispatched in the removal period (3 months) and the ecoregion in which they were removed. None of the covariates, including the number of recaptures (a corresponding measure of sample size), influenced precision of the SMR models, although recaptures did influence the density estimates. At the individual property level, density estimates from our 2 estimators were dissimilar from each other in approximately 80% of instances, although none of the covariates we examined influenced dissimilarity. Our results provide unique insight into how sample size affects density estimates using 2 common methods and into novel SMR models that incorporate both marked and unmarked detections. In addition, the density estimates in this study can be used as a reference for wild pig densities in common land cover types throughout the southeastern United States.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2022

Revisiting the Kinematics of the Cylinder Test

The cylinder expansion experiment is a well-established performance test for condensed explosives that is utilized routinely to determine pressure-energy-volume relationships for detonation products. The modern cylinder test employs optical interferometric techniques to measure velocity, as opposed to older realizations where streak cameras were commonplace. Despite their widespread use, questions sometimes remain as to what kind of data the velocity diagnostics in a cylinder test provide along with how to interpret such measurements and relate them to physical quantities of interest. Here in this study, equations are derived that fully describe the kinematics of the cylinder wall during expansion. These equations are then applied to experimental as well as synthetic data generated via a hydrodynamic simulation in order to verify the mathematical framework developed.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2023

Interspecific oral rabies vaccine bait competition in the Southeast United States

Here, the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Rabies Management Program (NRMP) has coordinated the use of oral rabies vaccination (ORV) to control the spread of raccoon rabies virus variant west of the Appalachian Mountains since 1997. Working with state and local partners, the NRMP deploys ORV baits containing a rabies vaccine, primarily targeting raccoon populations (Procyon lotor). Bait competition between raccoons and non-target species may limit the effectiveness of ORV programs, but the extent of bait competition remains poorly quantified, particularly in the southeastern United States. We placed placebo ORV baits in bottomland hardwood (n = 637 baits) and upland pine (n = 681 baits) habitats in South Carolina, USA during August-December 2019 and used remote cameras to examine bait competition between raccoons and non-target species. The estimated proportion of bait consumed by raccoons was 18.8 ± 2.1% in bottomland hardwood and 11.6 ± 2.1% in upland pine habitats. Vertebrate competition appeared to have a minimal effect on raccoon uptake as estimated consumption did not exceed 5% for any species or 8% of bait uptake events cumulatively. We estimated that raccoons were the primary consumer of baits in bottomland hardwood, whereas invertebrates were the primary consumer in upland pine (26.7 ± 1.3% of baits). Our results indicate a need to closely consider the effects of invertebrates on bait consumption to minimize their potential impact on ORV bait uptake by target species. Uptake probabilities by raccoons were relatively low but not primarily driven by competition with vertebrates. As such, strategies to increase the specificity of raccoon uptake may be needed to enhance the effectiveness of ORV baiting programs.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2026

Multi-frequency signatures of space-leader evolution in negative cloud-to-ground lightning stepped leaders

In this study, we examined 364 space leaders in 18 negative natural cloud-to-ground lightning strokes whose stepped leaders created new channels to ground. All strokes were captured on ultra-high-speed video cameras operating at frame rates ranging from 400k to 783k frames per second. Additionally, broadband electromagnetic field measurements were available for a subset of these strokes. The median space leader inception-to-attachment-point length and retrograde propagation speed towards the pre-existing leader channel (PELC) were 8.2 m and 4.0 x 10 6 m/s, respectively. Space leader lengths were longer and retrograde propagation speeds faster for return strokes with higher peak currents. This is likely due to the relative proximity of space leader inception points to the PELC, which makes the electric field produced by the PELC line charge density one of the primary factors in determining space leader characteristics. Space leader characteristics were weakly related to their inception altitude. We observed bursts of very high frequency (VHF) emissions preceding, by around 0.5 – 1 μs, electric field leader-step pulses; visible-frequency-range luminosity pulses started during the step pulses. The median downward leader propagation speed for all 18 strokes was 4.3 x 10 5 m/s; leader propagation speeds were generally faster for return strokes with higher peak currents. Also, leaders appeared to accelerate (on their way to ground) at altitudes lower than about 200 and 1000 m above ground level for strokes in the 10 – 60 and 84 – 228 kA peak current ranges, respectively.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2026

ClassNMSW- a real-time classification approach for non-recycled municipal solid waste using hyperspectral imaging

Real-time classification of non-recycled municipal solid waste (NMSW) is essential for efficient valorization. This study introduces ClassNMSW, a comprehensive framework for classifying 22 NMSW subclasses under industrial constraints by using hyperspectral imaging (HSI). A primary innovation of this work is the development of a variance-controlled spectral extraction algorithm. Unlike traditional methods that rely on simple averaging, this approach systematically investigates the extent of pixel extraction to minimize the loss of critical chemical information while maximizing data reduction thus ensuring high spectral fidelity with low computational cost. The approach developed in this work integrates automated, computer-vision-based background removal, eliminating the need for the manual thresholding common in current literature. To resolve ambiguities among chemically similar subclasses, a tiered classification and multi-camera fusion strategy (NIR17 and NIR22) is implemented. Results demonstrate that ClassNMSW achieves an object-wise weighted accuracy of 98.70% for single-sensor configurations and 100% under sensor fusion. A novel rolling-window strategy satisfies desired end-to-end latency of <2 s, satisfying the strict deterministic requirements of high-speed industrial sorting environments. The ClassNMSW framework provides a scalable foundation for advancing circularity and resource recovery in large-scale waste valorization operations.

99 - GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

DOE OSTI2021

Deployment of a double scatter system for directional detection of background neutron radiation

The detection of special nuclear materials (SNM) requires the understanding of nuclear signatures that allow the discrimination against background. In particular, understanding neutron background characteristics such as count rates and energies and their correlations with environmental conditions and surroundings of measurement locations is important in enhancing SNM detection capabilities. The Mobile Imager of Neutrons for Emergency Responders (MINER) was deployed for 8 weeks in downtown San Francisco (CA) to study such neutron background characteristics in an urban environment. Of specific interest was the investigation of the impact of surrounding buildings on the neutron background count rates and to answer the question whether buildings act as absorber of neutrons or as sources via the so-called ship effect. MINER consists of 16 liquid scintillator detector elements and can be operated as a neutron spectrometer, as a neutron imager, or simply as a counter of fast neutrons. As expected, the neutron background rate was found to be inversely proportional to the atmospheric pressure. In the energy range where MINER is most sensitive, approximately 1–10 MeV, it was found that the shape of the detected background spectrum is similar to that of a detected fission spectrum, indicating the limited discrimination power of the neutron energy. The similarities between the detected background neutron spectrum and fission sources makes it difficult to discriminate SNM from background based solely on the energies observed. The images produced using maximum likelihood expectation maximization revealed that neutrons preferentially are coming from areas in the environment that have open sky, indicating that the surrounding buildings act as absorbers of neutrons rather than sources as expected by the ship effect. Here, the inherent properties of a neutron scatter camera limit the achievable image quality and the effective deployment to systematically map neutron background signatures due to the low count rate.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2025

Multiple Coulomb scattering in acrylic of a 221.3 MeV therapeutic proton beam

Measurements of multiple Coulomb scattering (MCS) distributions for 221.3 MeV therapeutic protons are presented using a novel detector system comprised of a thin scintillator, a pellicle mirror, and a digital camera. The MCS distributions were characterized for three acrylic phantoms of varying lengths and for two biological density-equivalent phantoms simulating bone and muscle. Additionally, beam profiles were measured across an energy range of 80.3–221.3 MeV in 20 MeV increments. The observed energy dependence of the photon yields is consistent with the tabulated stopping power values. Finally, the experimental results are benchmarked against Geant4 simulations, demonstrating consistent agreement and validating the capability of the detector system for radiology measurements.

Digital camera↗