SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETECTING EXPLOSIVES USING SWIR AND MWIR HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGING

• US 20110261351A1
• Filed: 02/04/2011
• Published: 10/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Chemimage Corporation
• Original Assignee: Chemimage Corporation
• Inventors: Gardner, Charles W. JR., Nelson, Matthew, Treado, Patrick, Priore, Ryan
• Application Number:
  US13/020,944
• Publication Number:
  US 20110261351A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 356/73
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/02 Details
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/0218 using optical fibers
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/0264 Electrical interface; User interface
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/0289 Field-of-view determination; Aiming or pointing of a spectrometer; Adjusting alignment; Encoding angular position; Size of measurement area; Position tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/32 Investigating bands of a spectrum in sequence by a single detector
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/36 Investigating two or more bands of a spectrum by separate detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/4338 Frequency modulated spectrometry
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/44 Raman spectrometry; Scattering spectrometry ; Fluorescence spectrometry
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/3563 for analysing solids; Preparation of samples therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/359 using near infrared light
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/39 using tunable lasers
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/0057 for warfare agents or explosives properties of explosives G01N33/227

Abstract

A system and method for detection of explosive agents using hyperspectral imaging. A system comprising an illumination source, a spectral encoding device, and at least one imaging detector configured for at least one of SWIR and MWIR hyperspectral imaging of a target comprising an unknown material. A method comprising illuminating a target comprising an unknown material, assessing interacted photons using a spectral encoding device, and detecting interacted photons using at least one of SWIR hyperspectral imaging and MWIR hyperspectral imaging. Algorithms and chemometric techniques may be applied to assess the MWIR hyperspectral image to identify the unknown material as comprising an explosive agent or a non-explosive agent. A video imaging device may also be configured to provide a video image of an area of interest, which may be assessed to identify a target for interrogation using SWIR and MWIR hyperspectral imaging.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a first illumination source configured to illuminate a target, wherein said target comprises an unknown material, to thereby generate a plurality of interacted photons;

a collection optics for collecting said plurality of interacted photons;

a spectral encoding device for assessing said plurality of interacted photons; and

a first imaging device configured so as to detect said plurality if interacted photons and generate at least one of;

a MWIR hyperspectral image representative of said target, a SWIR hyperspectral image representative of said target, and combinations thereof.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said first illumination source comprises an active illumination source.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein said active illumination source comprises a broadband light source.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said first illumination source comprises a passive illumination source.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein said passive illumination source comprises a solar illumination source.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein said first illumination source comprises an active broadband illumination source, and further comprising, a second illumination source wherein said second illumination source comprises a passive solar illumination source.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein said collection optics comprises at least one optic selected from the group consisting of:

a telescope optic, a fixed optic, a zoom optic, a combination optic, and combinations thereof.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein said first imaging device comprises at least one of:

a InGaAs detector, an InGaAs extended range detector, a InSb detector, a PtSi detector, and combinations thereof.

9. The system of claim 1 further comprising a second imaging detector configured so as to generate a video image representative of an area of interest, wherein said area of interest comprises said target.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein said second imaging detector comprises a RGB video imaging device.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein said spectral encoding device is selected from the group consisting of:

a fixed filter, a multivariate optical element, a Fabry-Perot filter, and combinations thereof.

12. The system of claim 1 further comprising a means for assessing at least one of said MWIR hyperspectral image, said SWIR hyperspectral image, and combinations thereof, to thereby identify said unknown material as at least one of:

an explosive agent and a non-explosive agent.

13. The system of claim 9 further comprising a means for assessing said video image representative of said area of interest to thereby identify a target.

14. A method comprising:

illuminating a target, wherein said target comprises an unknown material, to thereby generate a plurality of interacted photons;

assessing said plurality of interacted photons using a spectral encoding device;

detecting said plurality of interacted photons using a first imaging detector to thereby generate at least one hyperspectral image representative of said target, wherein said hyperspectral image comprises at least one of;

a MWIR hyperspectral image representative, a SWIR hyperspectral image, and combinations thereof; and

assessing said at least one hyperspectral image to thereby identify said unknown material as at least one of;

an explosive agent and a non-explosive agent.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said illuminating comprises at least one of:

actively illuminating said target, passively illuminating said target, and combinations thereof.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein said spectral encoding device comprises at least one of:

a Fabry-Perot filter, a fixed filter, a multivariate optical element, and combinations thereof.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein said first imaging detector comprises a detector selected from the group consisting of:

a InGaAs detector, an InGaAs extended range detector, a InSb detector, a PtSi detector, and combinations thereof.

18. The method of claim 14 further comprising generating a RGB video image representative of an area of interest, wherein said area of interest comprises said target.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising assessing said RGB video image to thereby identify said target.

20. The method of claim 14 wherein said assessing is achieved by applying at least one algorithm selected from the group consisting of:

object imaging and tracking, image weighted Bayesian fusion, simultaneous location and mapping, scale-invariant feature transform, hybrid false color, and combinations thereof.

21. The method of claim 14 wherein said assessing is achieve by applying at least one chemometric technique.

22. The method of claim 18 further comprising fusing at least two of the following:

said MWIR hyperspectral image, said SWIR hyperspectral image, said RGB video image, and combinations thereof.