UPPER TROPOSPHERE AND LOWER STRATOSPHERE WIND DIRECTION, SPEED, AND TURBIDITY MONITORING USING DIGITAL IMAGING AND MOTION TRACKING

• US 20090290761A1
• Filed: 05/22/2008
• Published: 11/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Harrington, Nathan John
• Granted Patent: US 8,175,332 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/107
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 1/08 Adaptations of balloons, missiles, or aircraft for meteorological purposes; Radiosondes transmission of measurements G01D; transmitting circuits H04B; balloons in general B64B; aeroplanes in general B64D; missiles in general F42B15/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/00 Scenes; Scene-specific elements control of digital cameras H04N23/60

Abstract

A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer program product for monitoring wind direction, speed, and turbidity. The visible sky is monitored by a set of cameras for contrails produced by a high-altitude aircraft. In response to identifying a contrail, the contrail is tracked across the field of view of the camera. Contrail data generated when the contrail is identified and during the tracking of the contrail is stored. The contrail data describes characteristics of the contrail including the spread of the contrail and the movement of the contrail across the field of view of the camera. Coordinates of the high-altitude aircraft are determined and compared with the contrail data to identify wind conditions.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for monitoring wind direction, speed, and turbidity, the computer implemented method comprising:

monitoring a portion of visible sky for contrails produced by a high-altitude aircraft;

receiving a set of images of the portion of the visible sky from a set of cameras, wherein the set of cameras is one or more cameras;

identifying a contrail produced by the high-altitude aircraft in at least one image of the set of images;

adjusting a position of the set of cameras to track movement of the contrail across the portion of the visible sky;

generating contrail data based on the set of images, wherein the contrail data describes characteristics of the contrail, wherein the characteristics of the contrail include spread of the contrail and movement of the contrail across a field of view of the set of cameras;

identifying coordinates of the high-altitude aircraft; and

identifying wind conditions using results of a comparison of the contrail data and the coordinates of the high-altitude aircraft.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying the contrail further comprises:

processing an image of the visible sky in the set of images;

converting the image of the visible sky to a grayscale image;

extracting an area from the grayscale image to remove effects of horizon located objects; and

applying a Difference of Gaussians edge detection function to the area extracted to highlight edges of the contrail to form a pixilated image.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein each pixel in the pixilated image is processed to determine if it is white or black, wherein a white pixel is background and a black pixel is contrail, and wherein the average position of each black pixel is computed and stored for a movement trend computation over time.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the position of the set of cameras to track movement of the contrail across the portion of the visible sky further comprises:

determining coordinates of the contrail in relation to the field of view of a camera in the set of cameras; and

sending the coordinates of the contrail to a controlling program, wherein the controlling program adjusts the pan, tilt, and zoom of the camera.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 4, wherein determining coordinates of the contrail in relation to the field of view of the camera further comprises:

identifying a physical location of the camera using latitude and longitude degrees;

determining settings of the camera at the time the contrail is identified, wherein the settings of the camera include pan and zoom; and

comparing the physical location of the camera with the settings of the camera to form a bounded set of coordinates for the field of view of the camera.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining coordinates of the high-altitude aircraft further comprises:

requesting a list of recent flight paths associated with geospatial coordinates bounded by the field of view of the camera; and

receiving the list of recent flight paths, wherein the list of recent flight paths include precise coordinates for each flight path within the list of recent flight paths.

7. A computer program product for monitoring wind direction, speed, and turbidity, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium including computer usable program code for monitoring visible sky for contrails produced by a high-altitude aircraft, wherein monitoring the visible sky includes using a camera to capture images of the visible sky;

computer usable program code for identifying a contrail produced by the high-altitude aircraft;

computer usable program code for tracking the contrail across a field of view of the camera;

computer usable program code for storing contrail data generated while identifying and tracking the contrail, wherein the contrail data describes characteristics of the contrail, wherein the characteristics of the contrail include spread of the contrail and movement of the contrail across the field of view of the camera;

computer usable program code for determining coordinates of the high-altitude aircraft; and

computer usable program code for comparing the contrail data and the coordinates of the high-altitude aircraft to determine wind conditions.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein identifying the contrail further comprises:

computer usable program code for processing an image of the visible sky;

computer usable program code for converting the image of the visible sky to a grayscale image;

computer usable program code for extracting an area from the grayscale image to remove effects of horizon located objects; and

computer usable program code for applying a Difference of Gaussians edge detection function to the area extracted to highlight edges of the contrail to form a pixilated image.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein each pixel in the pixilated image is processed to determine if it is white or black, wherein a white pixel is background and a black pixel is contrail, and wherein the average position of each black pixel is computed and stored for a movement trend computation over time.

10. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein tracking the contrail further comprises:

computer usable program code for determining coordinates of the contrail in relation to the field of view of the camera; and

computer usable program code for sending the coordinates of the contrail to a controlling program, wherein the controlling program adjusts the pan, tilt, and zoom of the camera.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein determining coordinates of the contrail in relation to the field of view of the camera further comprises:

computer usable program code for identifying a physical location of the camera using latitude and longitude degrees;

computer usable program code for determining settings of the camera at the time the contrail is identified, wherein the settings of the camera include pan and zoom; and

computer usable program code for comparing the physical location of the camera with the settings of the camera to form a bounded set of coordinates for the field of view of the camera.

12. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein determining coordinates of the high-altitude aircraft further comprises:

computer usable program code for requesting a list of recent flight paths associated with geospatial coordinates bounded by the field of view of the camera; and

computer usable program code for receiving the list of recent flight paths, wherein the list of recent flight paths include precise coordinates for each flight path within the list of recent flight paths.

13. An apparatus for monitoring wind direction, speed, and turbidity, the apparatus comprising:

a camera;

a hemispherical lens;

a telephoto lens;

a movable platform; and

a data processing system, wherein the data processing system executes instructions to monitor a portion of visible sky for contrails produced by a high-altitude aircraft;

receive a set of images of the portion of the visible sky from a set of cameras, identify a contrail produced by the high-altitude aircraft in at least one image of the set of images;

adjust a position of the set of cameras to track movement of the contrail across the portion of the visible sky;

generate contrail data based on the set of images, wherein the contrail data describes characteristics of the contrail, wherein the characteristics of the contrail include spread of the contrail and movement of the contrail across a field of view of the set of cameras;

identify coordinates of the high-altitude aircraft; and

identify wind conditions using results of a comparison of the contrail data and the coordinates of the high-altitude aircraft.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the data processing system further executes the instructions to identify the contrail comprise further instructions to process an image of the visible sky in the set of images;

convert the image of the visible sky to a grayscale image;

extract an area from the grayscale image to remove effects of horizon located objects; and

apply a Difference of Gaussians edge detection function to the area extracted to highlight edges of the contrail to form a pixilated image, wherein each pixel in the pixilated image is processed to determine if it is white or black, wherein a white pixel is background and a black pixel is contrail, and wherein the average position of each black pixel is computed and stored for a movement trend computation over time.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the data processing system further executes the instructions to adjust the position of the set of cameras to track the movement of the contrail across the portion of the visible sky comprise further instructions to determine coordinates of the contrail in relation to the field of view of a camera in the set of cameras;

and send the coordinates of the contrail to a controlling program, wherein the controlling program adjusts the pan, tilt, and zoom of the camera.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the data processing system further executes the instructions to determine coordinates of the contrail in relation to the field of view of the camera comprise further instructions to identify a physical location of the camera using latitude and longitude degrees;

determine settings of the camera at the time the contrail is identified, wherein the settings of the camera include pan and zoom; and

compare the physical location of the camera with the settings of the camera to form a bounded set of coordinates for the field of view of the camera.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the data processing system further executes the instructions to identify coordinates of the high-altitude aircraft comprise further instructions to request a list of recent flight paths associated with geospatial coordinates bounded by the field of view of the camera;

and

receive the list of recent flight paths, wherein the list of recent flight paths include precise coordinates for each flight path within the list of recent flight paths.