Portable system for detecting explosive materials using near infrared hyperspectral imaging and method for using thereof

• US 20130341509A1
• Filed: 06/22/2011
• Published: 12/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Chemimage Corporation
• Original Assignee: Chemimage Corporation
• Inventors: Nelson, Matthew, Treado, Patrick, Gardner, Charles Jr.
• Application Number:
  US13/134,978
• Publication Number:
  US 20130341509A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 250/330
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/0208 using focussing or collimating elements, e.g. lenses or mirrors; performing aberration correction
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/0224 using polarising or depolarising elements
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/0248 using a sighting port, e.g. camera or human eye
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/0264 Electrical interface; User interface
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/027 Control of working procedures of a spectrometer; Failure detection; Bandwidth calculation
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/0272 Handheld
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/0283 using a charging unit
• 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 3/0291 Housings; Spectrometer accessories; Spatial arrangement of elements, e.g. folded path arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/1256 using acousto-optic tunable filter; acousto-optic elements or systems G02F1/11, G02F1/33
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/26 using multiple reflection, e.g. Fabry-Perot interferometer, variable interference filters
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/2823 Imaging spectrometer
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/42 Absorption spectrometry; Double beam spectrometry; Flicker spectrometry; Reflection spectrometry beam switching arrangements G01J3/08
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/359 using near infrared light
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2201/0221 Portable; cableless; compact; hand-held
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2201/067 Electro-optic, magneto-optic, acousto-optic elements
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2201/129 Using chemometrical methods
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/227 Explosives, e.g. combustive properties thereof detecting explosives in air G01N33/0057

Abstract

The present disclosure provides for a portable device for detecting the presence of explosive materials, including bulk explosive materials and out-gassed by products of explosive materials. The portable device may comprise a tunable filter and a NIR detector, configured so as to generate a NIR hyperspectral image representative of a target. The portable device may also comprise a RGB detector configured to generate a video image of a region of interest. The disclosure also provides for a method of detecting explosive materials using NIR hyperspectral imaging which may comprise collecting interacted photons, passing the interacted photons through a tunable filter, and detecting the interacted photons to generate a NIR hyperspectral image representative of a target. The method may also comprise surveying a region of interest using a RGB detector to identify a target for further inspection using NIR hyperspectral imaging.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

collecting a first plurality of interacted photons generated from at least one target using a portable device, wherein said first plurality of interacted photons are selected from the group consisting of;

photons absorbed by a target, photons reflected by a target, photons scattered by a target, photons emitted by a target and combinations thereof;

passing said first plurality of interacted photons through a filter;

detecting said first plurality of interacted photons using said portable device to thereby generate a test NIR hyperspectral image representative of said target;

analyzing said test NIR hyperspectral image to thereby identify said target as comprising at least one a gaseous byproduct of an explosive material.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said filter comprises a filter selected from the group consisting of:

a tunable filter, a fixed filter, a dielectric filter, and combinations thereof.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said passing said first plurality of interacted photons through said tunable filter further comprises filtering said first plurality of interacted photons in one of the following modalities:

sequentially, simultaneously, and combinations thereof.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising passing said first plurality of interacted photons through a fiber array spectral translator device.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating said first plurality of interacted photons by illuminating said target.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein said illuminating is accomplished using at least one of:

active illumination and passive illumination.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein said active illumination is accomplished using an active illumination source, wherein said active illumination source comprises at least one of:

a laser light source, a broadband light source, and combinations thereof.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein said passive illumination is accomplished using solar radiation.

9. The method of claim 2 wherein said tunable filter is selected from the group consisting of:

a liquid crystal tunable filter, a multi-conjugate tunable filter, an acousto-optical tunable filter, a Lyot liquid crystal tunable filter, an Evans split-element liquid crystal tunable filter, a Solc liquid crystal tunable filter, a ferroelectric liquid crystal tunable filter, a Fabry Perot liquid crystal tunable filter, and combinations thereof.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising surveying a region of interest using a video capture device to thereby identify said target.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said surveying comprises generating an RGB image representative of at least one of said target, said region of interest, and combinations thereof.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein said analyzing further comprises comparing said test NIR hyperspectral image to at least one reference NIR hyperspectral image, wherein each said reference NIR hyperspectral image is associated with a known explosive material.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said comparing is achieved by applying at least one chemometric technique.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein said chemometric technique is selected from the group consisting of:

principle components analysis, partial least squares discriminate analysis, cosine correlation analysis, Euclidian distance analysis, k-means clustering, multivariate curve resolution, band t. entropy method, mahalanobis distance, adaptive subspace detector, spectral mixture resolution, and combinations thereof.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein said method is performed at a standoff distance from said target.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein said detecting is achieved using a focal plane array detector.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein focal plane array detector comprises at least one of:

an InGaAs focal plane array detector, an InSb focal plane array detector, a MCT focal plane array detector, and combinations thereof.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein said detecting of said first plurality of interacted photons is in at least one of the following ranges:

approximately 1200 nm-2450 nm, approximately 900 nm-2450 nm, and combinations thereof.

19. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying said test NIR hyperspectral image, wherein said displaying is such that said NIR hyperspectral image may be inspected by a user.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein said displaying further comprises applying at least one pseudo color to said test NIR hyperspectral image, wherein each said pseudo color is associated with a known explosive material.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein said collecting, passing, detecting, and analyzing are achieved using the same portable device.

22. A portable device comprising:

a collection optics configured so as to collect a first plurality of interacted photons, wherein said first plurality of interacted photons are selected from the group consisting of;

photons absorbed by a target, photons reflected by a target, photons scattered by a target, photons emitted by a target, and combinations thereof;

a filter configured so as to filter said first plurality of interacted photons;

a first detector, wherein said first detector comprises a NIR detector configured so as to detect said first plurality of interacted photons to thereby generate a test NIR hyperspectral image representative of said target;

at least one processor configured to analyze the NIR hyperspectral image to thereby identify said target as comprising at least one a gaseous byproduct of an explosive material; and

a display for displaying said test NIR hyperspectral image.

23. The portable device of claim 22 wherein said filter comprises a filter selected from the group consisting of:

a tunable filter, a fixed filter, a dielectric filter, and combinations thereof.

24. The portable device of claim 22 wherein said filter comprises a tunable filter configured so as to filter said first plurality of interacted photons into a plurality of predetermined wavelength bands.

25. The portable device of claim 22 wherein said filter is configured so as to filter said first plurality of interacted photons in one of the following modalities:

sequentially, simultaneously, and combinations thereof.

26. The portable system of claim 22 further comprising a fiber array spectral translator device, wherein said fiber array spectral translator device comprises:

a two-dimensional array of optical fibers drawn into a one-dimensional fiber stack so as to effectively convert a two-dimensional field of view into a curvilinear field of view, and wherein said two-dimensional array of optical fibers is configured to receive said photons and transfer said photons out of said fiber array spectral translator device and to at least one of;

a spectrometer, a filter, a detector, and combinations thereof.

27. The portable system of claim 22 wherein said NIR detector comprises a focal plane array detector.

28. The portable system of claim 27 wherein said focal plane array detector comprises at least one of:

an InGaAs focal plane array detector, an InSb focal plane array detector, a MCT focal plane array detector, and combinations thereof.

29. The portable device of claim 22 wherein said portable device comprises a handheld device.

30. The portable device of claim 22 further comprising an active illumination source, wherein said active illumination source is configured so as to illuminate a target to thereby generate said first plurality of interacted photons.

31. The portable device of claim 30 wherein said active illumination source comprises at least one of:

a laser light source, a broadband light source, and combinations thereof.

32. The portable device of claim 22 wherein said portable device is configured for standoff detection.

33. The portable device of claim 22 further comprising a second detector, wherein said second detector is configured so as to generate a RGB image representative of at least one of:

said target, a region of interest, and combinations thereof, and wherein said display is further configured to display the RGB image.

34. The portable device of claim 33 wherein said second detector comprises a CMOS RGB detector.

35. The portable device of claim 33 wherein said RGB image comprises an RGB video image.

36. The portable device of claim 22 further comprising at least one embedded processor.

37. The portable device of claim 22 further comprising at least one power source.

38. The portable device of claim 37 wherein said power source comprises at least one battery.

39. The portable device of claim 22 further comprising at least one control configured for controlling operation of said portable device.

40. The portable device of claim 22 wherein said portable device is configured so as to operate using solar radiation.

41. The portable device of claim 22 wherein said portable device is configured for dynamic imaging.

42. The portable device of claim 33 wherein said display is configured so as to display said NIR hyperspectral image and said RGB image simultaneously.

43. The portable device of claim 33 wherein said display is configured so as to display said NIR hyperspectral image and said RGB image sequentially.

44. The portable device of claim 22 wherein said detector is configured so as to operate in at least one of the following ranges:

approximately 1200 nm-2450 nm, approximately 900 nm-2450 nm, and combinations thereof.

45. A non-transitory storage medium containing machine readable program code, which, when executed by a processor, causes said processor to perform the following:

collect a first plurality of interacted photons, wherein said first plurality of interacted photons are selected from the group consisting of;

photons absorbed by a target, photons reflected by a target, photons scattered by a target, photons emitted by a target and combinations thereof;

pass said first plurality of interacted photons through a tunable filter;

detect said first plurality of interacted photons to thereby generate a test NIR hyperspectral image representative of said target; and

analyze said test NIR hyperspectral image to thereby identify said target as comprising at least one gaseous byproduct of an explosive material.

46. The storage medium of claim 45 wherein said machine readable program code, when executed by a processor, further causes said processor to survey a region of interest to thereby identify said target, wherein said surveying is achieved by generating a video image representative of at least one of said target, said region of interest, and combinations thereof.