Autonomous Detection of Chemical Plumes

• US 20140002639A1
• Filed: 03/12/2012
• Published: 01/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Jon Morris, Joseph M. Cheben, Yanhua Ruan, Yousheng Zeng
• Original Assignee: Jon Morris, Joseph M. Cheben, Yanhua Ruan, Yousheng Zeng
• Inventors: Zeng, Yousheng, Morris, Jon, Cheben, Joseph M., Ruan, Yanhua
• Application Number:
  US14/001,356
• Publication Number:
  US 20140002639A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/135
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/14 Toxic gas alarms G08B21/16 takes precedence

Abstract

Systems and methods for autonomously detecting a chemical plume are described. In a method for autonomously detecting a chemical plume, a plurality of images are obtained from a detection camera at least at a wavelength of light selected to be absorbed or emitted by a chemical species. The plurality of images is analyzed to identify changes in a deterministic feature, changes in a statistical feature, or both, between sequential images. A chemical plume is recognized based, at least in part, on the changes.

Claims

1. A system for autonomous detection of chemical plumes, comprising:

a camera capable of generating an image at least at a wavelength of electromagnetic (EM) radiation that is absorbed or emitted by a chemical species; and

an analysis system configured to analyze a sequence of images from the camera, comprising;

a processor; and

a non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising code configured to direct the processor to;

identify a plurality of deterministic features and a plurality of probabilistic features of objects in an image;

compare the plurality of deterministic features, or the plurality of probabilistic features, or both to another image collected at a proximate time; and

determine if a change between the compared images represents a chemical plume.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein a deterministic feature comprises a geometric feature of the chemical plume.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the geometric feature comprises a size of the chemical plume, a shape of the chemical plume, an edge of the chemical plume, or any combinations thereof.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein a probabilistic feature comprises a kinematic feature of the chemical plume.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the kinematic feature comprises a motion of the chemical plume, a change in size of the chemical plume, a shape of the chemical plume, or a location of the chemical plume, or any combinations thereof.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein a probabilistic feature comprises a spatial pattern of the chemical plume, or a temporal pattern of the chemical plume, or both.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the wavelength of light is in the infrared wavelength range.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the wavelength of light is between about 3.1 μ

m and 3.6 μ

m.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the wavelength of light is in the ultraviolet wavelength range.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the wavelength of light is in the visible wavelength range.

11. The system of claim 1, comprising a distributed control system configured to accept an alarm signal from the analysis system.

12. The system of claim 1, comprising a human machine interface configured to aim the camera at a location.

13. The system of claim 1, comprising a meteorological measurement system configured to collect data on meteorological conditions.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the meteorological conditions comprise a humidity measurement, a temperature measurement, an insolation measurement, or any combinations thereof.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the chemical species comprises a hydrocarbon.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the chemical species comprises methane, ethane, ethylene, propane, propylene, or any combinations thereof.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the chemical species is a liquid hydrocarbon forming a plume on the surface of a body of water.

18. A method for autonomously detecting a chemical plume, comprising:

obtaining a plurality of images from a detection camera at least at a wavelength of light selected to be absorbed or emitted by a chemical species;

analyzing the plurality of images to identify changes in a deterministic feature, changes in a probabilistic feature, or both, between sequential images; and

recognizing a chemical plume based, at least in part, on the changes.

19. The method of claim 18, comprising:

obtaining a second plurality of images from a visible camera, wherein the second plurality of images is of an area proximate to the area imaged in plurality of images from the detection camera;

overlapping the second plurality of images with the plurality of images from the detection camera to determine a location of the chemical plume.

20. The method of claim 18, comprising:

illuminating an area with an illumination source at least at the wavelength of light selected to be absorbed by the chemical species; and

obtaining the plurality of images from the detection camera from the sample space.

21. The method of claim 18, comprising, if a chemical plume is recognized in the plurality of images from the detection camera, sending a message to a remote location.

22. The method of claim 18, comprising comparing the plurality of images from the detection camera to location data to identify a location of the chemical plume.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein analyzing the plurality of images comprises reducing the stream of images to numerical data, wherein the numerical data comprises a numerical table of frame-to-frame comparisons of frames from the sequence of image data.

24. The method of claim 23, comprising training a neural network to recognize the chemical plume from the numerical table.