Efficient Technique for Holographic Imaging Diagnostic to Antennas in Cylindrical Near-Field Scanning
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This work describes an approach for recovering images from tightly confined spaces using multimode and analytically demonstrates that the concept is sound.
Image-based wavefront sensing algorithms are being used to characterize optical performance for a variety of current and planned astronomical telescopes. Phase retrieval recovers the optical wavefront that correlates to a series of diversity-defocused point-spread functions (PSFs), where multiple frames can be acquired at each defocus setting. Multiple frames of data can be coadded in different ways; two extremes are in "image-plane space," to average the frames for each defocused PSF and use phase retrieval once on the averaged images, or in "pupil-plane space," to use phase retrieval on every set of PSFs individually and average the resulting wavefronts. The choice of coadd methodology is particularly noteworthy for segmented-mirror telescopes that are subject to noise that causes uncorrelated motions between groups of segments. Using data collected on and simulations of the James Webb Space Telescope Testbed Telescope (TBT) commissioned at Ball Aerospace, we show how different sources of noise (uncorrelated segment jitter, turbulence, and common-mode noise) and different parts of the optical wavefront, segment and global aberrations, contribute to choosing the coadd method. Of particular interest, segment piston is more accurately recovered in "image-plane space" coadding, while segment tip/tilt is recovered in "pupil-plane space" coadding.
An important phase of any Stereo Imaging Velocimetry experiment is particle tracking. Particle tracking seeks to identify and characterize the motion of individual particles entrained in a fluid or air experiment. We analyze a cylindrical chamber filled with water and seeded with density-matched particles. In every four-frame sequence, we identify a particle track by assigning a unique track label for each camera image. The conventional approach to particle tracking is to use an exhaustive tree-search method utilizing greedy algorithms to reduce search times. However, these types of algorithms are not optimal due to a cascade effect of incorrect decisions upon adjacent tracks. We examine the use of a guided evolutionary neural net with simulated annealing to arrive at a globally optimal assignment of tracks. The net is guided both by the minimization of the search space through the use of prior limiting assumptions about valid tracks and by a strategy which seeks to avoid high-energy intermediate states which can trap the net in a local minimum. A stochastic search algorithm is used in place of back-propagation of error to further reduce the chance of being trapped in an energy well. Global optimization is achieved by minimizing an objective function, which includes both track smoothness and particle-image utilization parameters. In this paper we describe our model and present our experimental results. We compare our results with a nonoptimizing, predictive tracker and obtain an average increase in valid track yield of 27 percent
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Life detection on Mars by visual techniques, discussing imaging devices, filters, shutters and microscopy
Understanding space charge effects is central for the development of high-brightness ultrafast electron diffraction and microscopy techniques for imaging material transformation with atomic scale detail at the fs to ps timescales. We present methods and results for direct ultrafast photoelectron beam characterization employing a shadow projection imaging technique to investigate the generation of ultrafast, non-uniform, intense photoelectron pulses in a dc photo-gun geometry. Combined with N-particle simulations and an analytical Gaussian model, we elucidate three essential space-charge-led features: the pulse lengthening following a power-law scaling, the broadening of the initial energy distribution, and the virtual cathode threshold. The impacts of these space charge effects on the performance of the next generation high-brightness ultrafast electron diffraction and imaging systems are evaluated.
Digital image processing techniques are typically used to produce improved digital images through the application of successive enhancement techniques to a given image or to generate quantitative data about the objects within that image. In support of and to assist researchers in a wide range of disciplines, e.g., interferometry, heavy rain effects on aerodynamics, and structure recognition research, it is often desirable to count objects in an image and compute their geometric properties. Therefore, an image analysis application package, focusing on a subset of image analysis techniques used for object recognition in binary images, was developed. This report describes the techniques and algorithms utilized in three main phases of the application and are categorized as: image segmentation, object recognition, and quantitative analysis. Appendices provide supplemental formulas for the algorithms employed as well as examples and results from the various image segmentation techniques and the object recognition algorithm implemented.
This study considers the translation problem associated with digital image registration and develops a means for comparing commonly used correlation techniques. Using suitably defined constraints, an optimum and four suboptimum registration techniques are defined and evaluated. A computational comparison is made and Gaussian image statistics are used to compare the selected techniques in terms of radial position location error.
X-ray imaging is extensively used in medical and materials science. Traditionally, the depth dimension is obtained by turning the sample to gain different views. The famous penetrating properties of X-rays mean that projection views of the subject sample can be readily obtained in the linear absorption regime. 180 degrees of projections can then be combined using computed tomography (CT) methods to obtain a full 3D image, a technique extensively used in medical imaging. In the work now presented in Nature Materials, Stephan Hruszkewycz and colleagues have demonstrated genuine 3D imaging by a new method called 3D Bragg projection ptychography1. Our approach combines the 'side view' capability of using Bragg diffraction from a crystalline sample with the coherence capabilities of ptychography. Thus, it results in a 3D image from a 2D raster scan of a coherent beam across a sample that does not have to be rotated.
A new technique, digital image velocimetry, is proposed for the measurement of instantaneous velocity fields of time dependent flows. A time sequence of single-exposure images of seed particles are captured with a high-speed camera, and a finite number of the single-exposure images are sampled within a prescribed period in time. The sampled images are then digitized on an image processor, enhanced, and superimposed to construct an image which is equivalent to a multiple exposure image used in both laser speckle velocimetry and particle image velocimetry. The superimposed image and a single-exposure Image are digitally Fourier transformed for extraction of information on the velocity field. A great enhancement of the dynamic range of the velocity measurement is accomplished through the new technique by manipulating the Fourier transform of both the single-exposure image and the superimposed image. Also the direction of the velocity vector is unequivocally determined. With the use of a high-speed video camera, the whole process from image acquisition to velocity determination can be carried out electronically; thus this technique can be developed into a real-time capability.
Characteristic features of chronic pancreatitis (CP) may be absent on standard imaging studies. Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) techniques such as T{sub 1} mapping, extracellular volume (ECV) fraction, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) with apparent diffusion coefficient map (ADC), MR elastography (MRE), and T{sub 1}-weighted signal intensity ratio (SIR) have shown promise for the diagnosis and grading severity of CP. However, radiologists still use the Cambridge classification which is based on traditional ductal imaging alone. There is an urgent need to develop new diagnostic criteria that incorporate both parenchymal and ductal features of CP seen by MRI/MRCP. Designed to fulfill this clinical need, we present the MINIMAP study, which was funded in September 2018 by the National Institutes of Health. This is a comprehensive quantitative MR imaging study which will be performed at multiple institutions in well-phenotyped CP patient cohorts. We hypothesize that quantitative MRI/MRCP features can serve as valuable non-invasive imaging biomarkers to detect and grade CP. We will evaluate the role of T{sub 1} relaxometry, ECV, T{sub 1}-weighted gradient echo SIR, MRE, arteriovenous enhancement ratio, ADC, pancreas volume/atrophy, pancreatic fat fraction, ductal features, and pancreatic exocrine output following secretin stimulation in the assessment of CP. We will attempt to generate a multi-parametric pancreatic tissue fibrosis (PTF) scoring system. We anticipate that a quantitative scoring system may serve as a biomarker of pancreatic fibrosis; hence this imaging technique can be used in clinical practice as well as clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy of agents which may slow the progression or reverse measures of CP.
Purpose: To evaluate the metal artifacts in diagnostic kVCT images of patients that are corrected using a normalized metal artifact reduction method with MVCT prior images, MVCT-NMAR. Methods: An MVCTNMAR algorithm was developed and applied to five patients: three with bilateral hip prostheses, one with unilateral hip prosthesis and one with dental fillings. The corrected images were evaluated for visualization of tissue structures and their interfaces, and for radiotherapy dose calculations. They were also compared against the corresponding images corrected by a commercial metal artifact reduction technique, O-MAR, on a Phillips™ CT scanner. Results: The use of MVCT images for correcting kVCT images in the MVCT-NMAR technique greatly reduces metal artifacts, avoids secondary artifacts, and makes patient images more useful for correct dose calculation in radiotherapy. These improvements are significant over the commercial correction method, provided the MVCT and kVCT images are correctly registered. The remaining and the secondary artifacts (soft tissue blurring, eroded bones, false bones or air pockets, CT number cupping within the metal) present in O-MAR corrected images are removed in the MVCT-NMAR corrected images. Large dose reduction is possible outside the planning target volume (e.g., 59.2 Gy in comparison to 52.5 Gy in pubic bone) when these MVCT-NMAR corrected images are used in TomoTherapy™ treatment plans, as the corrected images no longer require directional blocks for prostate plans in order to avoid the image artifact regions. Conclusion: The use of MVCT-NMAR corrected images in radiotherapy treatment planning could improve the treatment plan quality for cancer patients with metallic implants. Moti Raj Paudel is supported by the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, the Endowed Graduate Scholarship in Oncology and the Dissertation Fellowship at the University of Alberta. The authors acknowledge the CIHR operating grant number MOP 53254.
Purpose: To develop an MRI-based methodology and tools required for the quantification of organ motion on a dedicated MRI-guided radiotherapy system. A three-room facility, consisting of a TrueBeam 6X linac vault, a 1.5T MR suite and a brachytherapy interventional room, is currently under commissioning at our institution. The MR scanner can move and image in either room for diagnostic and treatment guidance purposes. Methods: A multi-imaging modality (MR, kV) phantom, featuring programmable 3D simple and complex motion trajectories, was used for the validation of several image sorting algorithms. The testing was performed on MRI (e.g. TrueFISP, TurboFLASH), 4D CT and 4D CBCT. The image sorting techniques were based on a) direct image pixel manipulation into columns or rows, b) single and aggregated pixel data tracking and c) using computer vision techniques for global pixel analysis. Subsequently, the motion phantom and sorting algorithms were utilized for commissioning of MR fast imaging techniques for 2D-cine and 4D data rendering. MR imaging protocols were optimized (e.g. readout gradient strength vs. SNR) to minimize the presence of susceptibility-induced distortions, which were reported through phantom experiments and numerical simulations. The system-related distortions were also quantified (dedicated field phantom) and treated as systematic shifts where relevant. Results: Image sorting algorithms were validated for specific MR-based applications such as quantification of organ motion, local data sampling, and 4D MRI for pre-RT delivery with accuracy better than the raw image pixel size (e.g. 1 mm). MR fast imaging sequences were commissioning and imaging strategies were developed to mitigate spatial artifacts with minimal penalty on the image spatial and temporal sampling. Workflows (e.g. liver) were optimized to include the new motion quantification tools for RT planning and daily patient setup verification. Conclusion: Comprehensive methods were developed and validated for the quantification of organ motion with applications in MRI-guided RT.
The shape of an interface while a crystal is growing inside a crystal growth furnace is an important measurement to assess the crystal quality on-line. If the crystal surface can be visualized by video or x ray imaging, the interface shape can be determined by the stereo image processing techniques. This paper presents a methodology to determine the shape of the solid-melt interface by stereo based imaging techniques while the crystal is growing inside a transparent furnace. The methodology generates qualitative shape information provided that a good pair of stereo images of the interface can be captured. For a quantitative shape description, i.e., for the determination of interface points with respect to a fixed coordinate frame, both cameras must be calibrated. This paper illustrates the methodology for qualitative shape determination of lead bromide crystal interface.
Some techniques used to extract quantitative data from the information contained in photographic images produced by grazing incidence soft X-ray optical systems are described. The discussion is focussed on the analysis of the data returned by the S-054 X-Ray Spectrographic Telescope Experiment on Skylab. The parameters of the instrument and the procedures used for its calibration are described. The technique used to convert photographic density to focal plane X-ray irradiance is outlined. The deconvolution of the telescope point response function from the image data is discussed. Methods of estimating the temperature, pressure, and number density of coronal plasmas are outlined.
A technique for computer vision uses a polygon contour to trace an object. The technique includes rendering a polygon contour superimposed over a first frame of image data. The polygon contour is iteratively refined to more accurately trace the object within the first frame after each iteration. The refinement includes computing image energies along lengths of contour lines of the polygon contour and adjusting positions of the contour lines based at least in part on the image energies.
Perceptive Scientific Instruments, Inc., provides the foundation for the Powergene line of chromosome analysis and molecular genetic instrumentation. This product employs image processing technology from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and image enhancement techniques from Johnson Space Center. Originally developed to send pictures back to earth from space probes, digital imaging techniques have been developed and refined for use in a variety of medical applications, including diagnosis of disease.