Thermal calibration of an infrared image sensor

• US 10,518,900 B2
• Filed: 06/12/2017
• Issued: 12/31/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MicaSense, Inc. (AgEagle Aerial Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: MicaSense, Inc. (AgEagle Aerial Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Torres, Gabriel, McAllister, Justin, McBride, Jefferson
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Nam D
• Application Number:
  US15/620,627
• Publication Number:
  US 20170358105A1
• Time in Patent Office: 932 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 47/08 Arrangements of cameras
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/16 with five or more distinct rotor axes, e.g. octocopters
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 20/87 Mounting of imaging devices, e.g. mounting of gimbals
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/30 for imaging, photography or videography
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/002 for television cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/33 Transforming infrared radiation cameras or camera modules for generating image signals from infrared radiation H04N23/20; circuitry of SSIS for transforming infrared radiation into image signals H04N25/20

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed to a system and method of capturing and calibrating thermal images to provide accurate temperature information regarding an imaged area. The system includes a thermal image sensor positioned next to a non-contact temperature sensor. The system identifies pixels of the thermal image that correspond to a field of view of the temperature sensor and generates a calibration value by analyzing the pixels and the temperature information. Then the thermal image is biased or calibrated using the calibration value.

Claims

1. A device, comprising:

a support;

a first infrared image sensor on the support, the first image sensor configured to output a thermal image representing an area;

a first temperature sensor on the support adjacent to the first infrared image sensor, the first temperature sensor configured to output first temperature information corresponding to a subset of the area; and

a processor coupled to the first image sensor and the first temperature sensor and configured to calibrate the thermal image with the first temperature information to output a calibrated thermal image, the processor being on the support.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the processor is a component of the first image sensor and the first temperate sensor is coupled to the first image sensor.

3. The device of claim 1, further comprising a second temperature sensor on the support, the first infrared sensor being positioned between the first temperature sensor and the second temperature sensor, the second temperature sensor being configured to generate second temperature information corresponding to a subset of the area.

4. The device of claim 3 wherein the first image sensor has a first field of view, the first temperature sensor has a second field of view that is smaller than the first field of view, and the second temperature sensor has a third field of view that is smaller than the first field of view.

5. The device of claim 4 wherein the second and third fields of view are non-overlapping.

6. The device of claim 4 wherein the thermal image includes a first plurality of pixels, the second field of view overlaps with a second plurality of pixels of the first plurality of pixels, and the third field of view overlaps with a third plurality of pixels from the first plurality of pixels.

7. The device of claim 6 wherein the processor is configured to generate a first calibration value from the second plurality of pixels and the first temperature information and a second calibration value from the third plurality of pixels and the second temperature information, the processor configured to calibrate the thermal image with the first and second calibration values to form the calibrated thermal image.

8. The device of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of second temperature sensors arranged around the first image sensor.

9. The device of claim 1, further comprising a second image sensor, the first temperature sensor being positioned between the first image sensor and the second image sensor.

10. A device, comprising:

a support;

a first infrared image sensor on the support, the first image sensor configured to output a thermal image representing an area;

a first temperature sensor on the support adjacent to the first infrared image sensor, the first temperature sensor configured to output first temperature information corresponding to a subset of the area, the first image sensor has a first field of view and the first temperature sensor has a second field of view that is smaller than the first field of view; and

a processor coupled to the first image sensor and the first temperature sensor and configured to calibrate the thermal image with the first temperature information to output a calibrated thermal image.

11. The device of claim 10 wherein thermal image includes a first plurality of pixels, the processor is configured to determine a second plurality of pixels from the first plurality of pixels that overlap with the second field of view of the temperature sensor and to generate a calibration value based on a the second plurality of pixels and the first temperature information.

12. The device of claim 11 wherein the processor is configured to calibrate each of the first plurality of pixels with the calibration value to generate a third plurality of pixels that form the calibrated thermal image.

13. A method, comprising:

capturing a first image of an area with an infrared image sensor, the first image including a plurality of pixels;

capturing temperature information of a first subset of the plurality of pixels of the first image with a temperature sensor;

determining a calibration value from the temperature information and from the first subset of the plurality of pixels, the determining includes;

identifying a central pixel of the first subset of pixels that corresponds to a center of a field of view of the temperature sensor and identifying an outer boundary of the field of view of the temperature sensor; and

outputting a calibrated thermal image by calibrating the plurality of pixels of the first image with the calibration value.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the determining the calibration value includes generating a weighted average of the temperature information by evaluating each pixel from the central pixel to the pixels that correspond to the outer boundary of the field of view.