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At least 1,135 records · Page 63
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2016

Persistence Mapping Using EUV Solar Imager Data

We describe a simple image processing technique that is useful for the visualization and depiction of gradually evolving or intermittent structures in solar physics extreme-ultraviolet imagery. The technique is an application of image segmentation, which we call "Persistence Mapping," to isolate extreme values in a data set, and is particularly useful for the problem of capturing phenomena that are evolving in both space and time. While integration or "time-lapse" imaging uses the full sample (of size N ), Persistence Mapping rejects (N - 1)/N of the data set and identifies the most relevant 1/N values using the following rule: if a pixel reaches an extreme value, it retains that value until that value is exceeded. The simplest examples isolate minima and maxima, but any quantile or statistic can be used. This paper demonstrates how the technique has been used to extract the dynamics in long-term evolution of comet tails, erupting material, and EUV dimming regions.

Thompson, B. J.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Protein Crystal Growth

In order to rapidly and efficiently grow crystals, tools were needed to automatically identify and analyze the growing process of protein crystals. To meet this need, Diversified Scientific, Inc. (DSI), with the support of a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from NASA s Marshall Space Flight Center, developed CrystalScore(trademark), the first automated image acquisition, analysis, and archiving system designed specifically for the macromolecular crystal growing community. It offers automated hardware control, image and data archiving, image processing, a searchable database, and surface plotting of experimental data. CrystalScore is currently being used by numerous pharmaceutical companies and academic and nonprofit research centers. DSI, located in Birmingham, Alabama, was awarded the patent Method for acquiring, storing, and analyzing crystal images on March 4, 2003. Another DSI product made possible by Marshall SBIR funding is VaporPro(trademark), a unique, comprehensive system that allows for the automated control of vapor diffusion for crystallization experiments.

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DOE OSTI2023

Seeing the whole picture: Methods for getting the most from micro X-ray computed tomography of TRISO nuclear fuel particles

Tristructural isotropic (TRISO) coated fuel particles are a nuclear fuel form under extensive study for use in advanced nuclear reactor concepts. TRISO fuels are subjected to high temperature neutron irradiations and then examined to assess their performance by determining fission product retention and studying morphological changes. Micro X-ray computed tomography is one method of nondestructively studying the effects of TRISO performance. This work addresses the need for image processing to remove X-ray tomographic reconstruction artifacts that prevent the study of TRISO features, as the TRISO particles’ high Z kernel can introduce metal artifacts that degrade the image quality in the surrounding low Z coating layers. These metal artifacts were reduced by imaging the TRISO particles with both high- and low-energy X-rays and applying a mask to the radiographs obtained with low-energy X-rays to digitally remove the dense fuel kernel region. These masked radiographs were then used to produce a tomographic reconstruction which was combined with the tomographic reconstruction of the high-energy data. This enabled the relatively-low-density TRISO buffer layer to be examined in more detail, providing information on irradiation induced dimensional changes of the coatings. This methodology, which helps see the full picture of a TRISO particle, is not limited to nuclear fuels but can be applied to systems that contain highly attenuating material surrounded by less dense materials.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2021

Challenges in solving structures from radiation-damaged tomograms of protein nanocrystals assessed by simulation

Structure-determination methods are needed to resolve the atomic details that underlie protein function. X-ray crystallography has provided most of our knowledge of protein structure, but is constrained by the need for large, well ordered crystals and the loss of phase information. The rapidly developing methods of serial femtosecond crystallography, micro-electron diffraction and single-particle reconstruction circumvent the first of these limitations by enabling data collection from nanocrystals or purified proteins. However, the first two methods also suffer from the phase problem, while many proteins fall below the molecular-weight threshold required for single-particle reconstruction. Cryo-electron tomography of protein nanocrystals has the potential to overcome these obstacles of mainstream structure-determination methods. Here, a data-processing scheme is presented that combines routines from X-ray crystallography and new algorithms that have been developed to solve structures from tomograms of nanocrystals. This pipeline handles image-processing challenges specific to tomographic sampling of periodic specimens and is validated using simulated crystals. The tolerance of this workflow to the effects of radiation damage is also assessed. The simulations indicate a trade-off between a wider tilt range to facilitate merging data from multiple tomograms and a smaller tilt increment to improve phase accuracy. Since phase errors, but not merging errors, can be overcome with additional data sets, these results recommend distributing the dose over a wide angular range rather than using a finer sampling interval to solve the protein structure.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1973

Real-time incoherent-to-coherent optical converter

Description of a real-time incoherent-to-coherent optical converter designed for application in image processing systems. The converter utilizes the photoconductivity effect of the compound Bi(12)SiO(20) for spatial modulation of electrical polarization in the compound. An optically absorbed write-in image is stored as an image polarization pattern in the device. Readout is effectuated electrooptically by using phase retardation in a polarized coherent light beam during the passage through the crystal. The operating mode required for achieving continuous image conversion with a high-speed recyclability is discussed. The performance characteristics of the converter are given and the fabrication technology is described.

Vohl, P.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Atlas of Comet Halley 1910 II

An Atlas of Comet Halley 1910 II photographs and spectra is being prepared. The major section consists of 838 photographic observations from fifteen observatories around the world. Multiple images of many photographs are reproduced to bring out detail in the near nucleus region, in the coma and in the tail. The Atlas contains a total of 1209 photographic images of the 1910 apparition. In addition there are sections showing drawings from 1935 and 1910. A short section compares 1910 drawings and photographs. The final two sections display digitally processed images from 1910 and 1910 spectra. A three part appendix contains diagrams of various data associated with the 1910 apparition, a set of tables of all 1910 images and a bibliography.

Brandt, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Hyperspectral Imaging and Related Field Methods: Building the Science

The proposal requested funds for the computing power to bring hyperspectral image processing into undergraduate and graduate remote sensing courses. This upgrade made it possible to handle more students in these oversubscribed courses and to enhance CSES' summer short course entitled "Hyperspectral Imaging and Data Analysis" provided for government, industry, university and military. Funds were also requested to build field measurement capabilities through the purchase of spectroradiometers, canopy radiation sensors and a differential GPS system. These instruments provided systematic and complete sets of field data for the analysis of hyperspectral data with the appropriate radiometric and wavelength calibration as well as atmospheric data needed for application of radiative transfer models. The proposed field equipment made it possible to team-teach a new field methods course, unique in the country, that took advantage of the expertise of the investigators rostered in three different departments, Geology, Geography and Biology.

Goetz, Alexander F. H.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Digital signal processing and control and estimation theory -- Points of tangency, area of intersection, and parallel directions

A number of current research directions in the fields of digital signal processing and modern control and estimation theory were studied. Topics such as stability theory, linear prediction and parameter identification, system analysis and implementation, two-dimensional filtering, decentralized control and estimation, image processing, and nonlinear system theory were examined in order to uncover some of the basic similarities and differences in the goals, techniques, and philosophy of the two disciplines. An extensive bibliography is included.

Willsky, A. S.↗
NASA NTRS1980

A computer system for geosynchronous satellite navigation

A computer system specifically designed to estimate and predict Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-4) navigation parameters using Earth imagery is described. The estimates are needed for spacecraft maneuvers while prediction provide the capability for near real-time image registration. System software is composed of four functional subsystems: (1) data base management; (2) image processing; (3) navigation; and (4) output. Hardware consists of a host minicomputer, a cathode ray tube terminal, a graphics/video display unit, and associated input/output peripherals. System validity is established through the processing of actual imagery obtained by sensors on board the Synchronous Meteorological Satellite (SMS-2). Results indicate the system is capable of operationally providing both accurate GOES-4 navigation estimates and images with a potential registration accuracy of several picture elements (pixels).

Koch, D. W.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Making The Invisible Visible

In public and private archives throughout the world there are many historically important documents that have become illegible with the passage of time. They have faded, been erased, acquired mold, water and dirt stain, suffered blotting or lost readability in other ways. While ultraviolet and infrared photography are widely used to enhance deteriorated legibility, these methods are more limited in their effectiveness than the space-derived image enhancement technique. The aim of the JPL effort with Caltech and others is to better define the requirements for a system to restore illegible information for study at a low page-cost with simple operating procedures. The investigators' principle tools are a vidicon camera and an image processing computer program, the same equipment used to produce sharp space pictures. The camera is the same type as those on NASA's Mariner spacecraft which returned to Earth thousands of images of Mars, Venus and Mercury. Space imagery works something like television. The vidicon camera does not take a photograph in the ordinary sense; rather it "scans" a scene, recording different light and shade values which are reproduced as a pattern of dots, hundreds of dots to a line, hundreds of lines in the total picture. The dots are transmitted to an Earth receiver, where they are assembled line by line to form a picture like that on the home TV screen.

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NASA NTRS1999

Hyperspectral Remote Sensing and Ecological Modeling Research and Education at Mid America Remote Sensing Center (MARC): Field and Laboratory Enhancement

The purpose of this project was to establish a new hyperspectral remote sensing laboratory at the Mid-America Remote sensing Center (MARC), dedicated to in situ and laboratory measurements of environmental samples and to the manipulation, analysis, and storage of remotely sensed data for environmental monitoring and research in ecological modeling using hyperspectral remote sensing at MARC, one of three research facilities of the Center of Reservoir Research at Murray State University (MSU), a Kentucky Commonwealth Center of Excellence. The equipment purchased, a FieldSpec FR portable spectroradiometer and peripherals, and ENVI hyperspectral data processing software, allowed MARC to provide hands-on experience, education, and training for the students of the Department of Geosciences in quantitative remote sensing using hyperspectral data, Geographic Information System (GIS), digital image processing (DIP), computer, geological and geophysical mapping; to provide field support to the researchers and students collecting in situ and laboratory measurements of environmental data; to create a spectral library of the cover types and to establish a World Wide Web server to provide the spectral library to other academic, state and Federal institutions. Much of the research will soon be published in scientific journals. A World Wide Web page has been created at the web site of MARC. Results of this project are grouped in two categories, education and research accomplishments. The Principal Investigator (PI) modified remote sensing and DIP courses to introduce students to ii situ field spectra and laboratory remote sensing studies for environmental monitoring in the region by using the new equipment in the courses. The PI collected in situ measurements using the spectroradiometer for the ER-2 mission to Puerto Rico project for the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) Airborne Simulator (MAS). Currently MARC is mapping water quality in Kentucky Lake and vegetation in the Land-Between-the Lakes (LBL) using Landsat-TM data. A Landsat-TM scene of the same day was obtained to relate ground measurements to the satellite data. A spectral library has been created for overstory species in LBL. Some of the methods, such as NPDF and IDFD techniques for spectral unmixing and reduction of effects of shadows in classifications- comparison of hyperspectral classification techniques, and spectral nonlinear and linear unmixing techniques, are being tested using the laboratory.

Cetin, Haluk↗
NASA NTRS1977

Techniques for the creation of land use maps and tabulations from Landsat imagery

Methods for creating color thematic maps and land use tabulations, employing both Landsat imagery and computer image processing, are discussed. The system, the Multiple Input Land Use System (MILUS) has been tested in the metropolitan section of Dayton, Ohio. Training areas for land use were first digitized by coordinates and then transformed onto an image of white lines on a black background. This image was added to a Landsat image of the same area. Then multispectral classification was performed. A tape of digitized census tract boundaries was computer interfaced to yield an image of tract boundaries on a background registered to the thematic land-use map. Using a data management system, the data were then used to produce figures for the area and percent of land use in each tract. Future work is expected to convert most of the steps into interactive processing. This would greatly reduce the time needed to edit and register the data sets.

Angelici, G. L.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Imaging radar observations of Askja Caldera, Iceland

A 'blind' test involving interpretation of computer-enhanced like- and cross-polarized radar images is used to evaluate the surface roughness of Askja Caldera, a large volcanic complex in central Iceland. The 'blind' test differs from earlier analyses of radar observations in that computer-processes images and both qualitative and quantitative analyses are used. Attention is given to photogeologic examination and subsequent survey-type field observations, along with aerial photography during the field trip. The results indicate that the 'blind' test of radar interpretation of the Askja volcanic area can be considered suitable within the framework of limitations of radar data considered explicitly from the onset. The limitations of the radar techniques can be eliminated by using oblique-viewing conditions to remove geometric distortions and slope effects.

Malin, M. C.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Evaluating some computer exhancement algorithms that improve the visibility of cometary morphology

Digital enhancement of cometary images is a necessary tool in studying cometary morphology. Many image processing algorithms, some developed specifically for comets, have been used to enhance the subtle, low contrast coma and tail features. We compare some of the most commonly used algorithms on two different images to evaluate their strong and weak points, and conclude that there currently exists no single 'ideal' algorithm, although the radial gradient spatial filter gives the best overall result. This comparison should aid users in selecting the best algorithm to enhance particular features of interest.

Larson, Stephen M.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Solar full-disk magnetic field image receiving system and observation software

The paper introduces terminal hardware system of 10 cm high resolution full-disk magnetic field telescope among solar multi-channel telescope produced by Beijing Astronomical Observatory, and its software procedure by using imaging processing as well real time data collecting. These data were processed by Sun Workstation 470/4, including doing some spectrum analysis, the system is unique in the world now. It uses a set of CCD (1320 pixels plus 1035 pixels) of high resolution image explosion, also it has a set of fast and high resolution (1024 pixel plus 1024 pixel) image processor. Moreover, we can obtain higher time and space resolution about solar full-disk magnetic field and velocity field. This will provide excellent means in observation and studies of full-disk solar large-scale magnetic field and velocity field.

Xu, Yan↗
DOE OSTI2022

Pore-scale observations of natural hydrate-bearing sediments via pressure core sub-coring and micro-CT scanning

Abstract Both intra-pore hydrate morphology and inter-pore hydrate distribution influence the physical properties of hydrate-bearing sediments, yet there has been no pore-scale observations of hydrate habit under pressure in preserved pressure core samples so far. We present for the first time a pore-scale micro-CT study of natural hydrate-bearing cores that were acquired from Green Canyon Block 955 in UT-GOM2-1 Expedition and preserved within hydrate pressure–temperature stability conditions throughout sub-sampling and imaging processes. Measured hydrate saturation in the sub-samples, taken from units expected to have in-situ saturation of 80% or more, ranges from 3 ± 1% to 56 ± 11% as interpreted from micro-CT images. Pore-scale observations of gas hydrate in the sub-samples suggest that hydrate in silty sediments at the Gulf of Mexico is pore-invasive rather than particle displacive, and hydrate particles in these natural water-saturated samples are pore-filling with no evidence of grain-coating. Hydrate can form a connected 3D network and provide mechanical support for the sediments even without cementation. The technical breakthrough to directly visualize particle-level hydrate pore habits in natural sediments reported here sheds light on future investigations of pressure- and temperature-sensitive processes including hydrate-bearing sediments, dissolved gases, and other biochemical processes in the deep-sea environment.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1971

Feasibility study for automatic reduction of phase change imagery

The feasibility of automatically reducing a form of pictorial aerodynamic heating data is discussed. The imagery, depicting the melting history of a thin coat of fusible temperature indicator painted on an aerodynamically heated model, was previously reduced by manual methods. Careful examination of various lighting theories and approaches led to an experimentally verified illumination concept capable of yielding high-quality imagery. Both digital and video image processing techniques were applied to reduction of the data, and it was demonstrated that either method can be used to develop superimposed contours. Mathematical techniques were developed to find the model-to-image and the inverse image-to-model transformation using six conjugate points, and methods were developed using these transformations to determine heating rates on the model surface. A video system was designed which is able to reduce the imagery rapidly, economically and accurately. Costs for this system were estimated. A study plan was outlined whereby the mathematical transformation techniques developed to produce model coordinate heating data could be applied to operational software, and methods were discussed and costs estimated for obtaining the digital information necessary for this software.

Nossaman, G. O.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Atmospheric Modeling And Sensor Simulation (AMASS) study

The capabilities of the atmospheric modeling and sensor simulation (AMASS) system were studied in order to enhance them. This system is used in processing atmospheric measurements which are utilized in the evaluation of sensor performance, conducting design-concept simulation studies, and also in the modeling of the physical and dynamical nature of atmospheric processes. The study tasks proposed in order to both enhance the AMASS system utilization and to integrate the AMASS system with other existing equipment to facilitate the analysis of data for modeling and image processing are enumerated. The following array processors were evaluated for anticipated effectiveness and/or improvements in throughput by attachment of the device to the P-e: (1) Floating Point Systems AP-120B; (2) Floating Point Systems 5000; (3) CSP, Inc. MAP-400; (4) Analogic AP500; (5) Numerix MARS-432; and (6) Star Technologies, Inc. ST-100.

Parker, K. G.↗