Upper troposphere and lower stratosphere wind direction, speed, and turbidity monitoring using digital imaging and motion tracking

• US 8,175,332 B2
• Filed: 05/22/2008
• Issued: 05/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Harrington, Nathan John
• Primary Examiner(s): Repko, Jason M
• Assistant Examiner(s): PERLMAN, DAVID S
• Application Number:
  US12/125,553
• Publication Number:
  US 20090290761A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,447 Days
• Field of Search: 382/103, 382/106, 382/109
• US Class Current: 382/103
• 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, wherein monitoring the visible sky includes using a set of cameras, wherein the set of cameras is one or more cameras, and wherein at least one camera in the set of cameras is equipped with a hemispherical lens;

receiving a set of images of the portion of the visible sky from the set of cameras;

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

responsive to identifying a contrail in a hemispherical lens image, adjusting a position of the set of cameras to track movement of the contrail across the portion of the visible sky;

identifying coordinates of the high-altitude aircraft, wherein identifying coordinates of the high-altitude aircraft comprises;

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

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 the field of view of the set of cameras; 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 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 an average position of each black pixel is computed and stored for a movement trend computation over time.

3. 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 pan, tilt, and zoom of the camera.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 3, 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 when 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.

5. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a computer program product for monitoring wind direction, speed, and turbidity, the computer program product comprising:

computer usable program code for monitoring visible sky for contrails produced by a high-altitude aircraft, wherein monitoring the visible sky includes using a set of cameras to capture images of the visible sky, wherein the set of cameras is one or more cameras, and wherein at least one camera in the set of cameras is equipped with a hemispherical lens;

computer usable program code for receiving a set of images of the portion of the visible sky from the set of cameras;

computer usable program code for identifying a contrail produced by the high-altitude aircraft in an image, wherein identifying the contrail comprises;

computer usable program code for processing the 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;

computer usable program code for adjusting a position of the set of cameras to track movement of the contrail across the portion of the visible sky, in response to identifying a contrail in a hemispherical lens image;

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

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 equipped with the hemispherical lens; 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;

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; and

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

6. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 5, 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 an average position of each black pixel is computed and stored for a movement trend computation over time.

7. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 5, 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 pan, tilt, and zoom of the camera.

8. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 7, 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 when 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.

9. 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, wherein monitoring the visible sky includes using a set of cameras, wherein the set of cameras is one or more cameras, and wherein at least one camera in the set of cameras is equipped with a hemispherical lens, to capture images of the visible sky;

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, wherein instructions to identify the contrail comprise instructions to process an image of the visible sky in the set of images, instructions to convert the image of the visible sky to a grayscale image, instructions to extract an area from the grayscale image to remove effects of horizon located objects, and instructions to 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 an average position of each black pixel is computed and stored for a movement trend computation over time;

adjust a position of the set of cameras to track movement of the contrail across the portion of the visible sky, in response to identifying a contrail in a hemispherical lens image;

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, wherein identifying coordinates of the high-altitude aircraft 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; and

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

10. The apparatus of claim 9, 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 pan, tilt, and zoom of the camera.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, 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 when 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.