Monitoring and detecting weather conditions based on images acquired from image sensor aboard mobile platforms
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of detecting weather conditions using images from a mobile platform, comprising:
- at a control station;
receiving from a communication network data packets transmitted wirelessly to the network by a mobile platform separated from the control station, the data packets carrying images captured by an image sensor aboard the mobile platform and that show one or more weather conditions local to the mobile platform;
recovering the images from the data packets;
processing the images according to one or more weather condition detection algorithms to detect the one or more weather conditions, respectively, including processing to detect whether rain is present by;
segmenting the images into foreground regions representative of rain and background regions;
bandpass filtering the foreground regions spatially and temporally;
detecting spatiotemporal intensity fluctuations in the bandpass filtered foreground regions that result from an optical disruption of background illumination by rain drops;
determining a frequency and magnitude of the detected intensity fluctuations; and
correlating the frequency and magnitude of the detected intensity fluctuations with an intensity of rain fall; and
reporting the one or more detected weather conditions.
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Abstract
A weather control station receives from a communication network data packets transmitted wirelessly to the network by a mobile platform separated from the control station. The data packets carry images captured by an image sensor aboard the mobile platform and show one or more weather conditions local to the mobile platform. The control station recovers the images from the data packets and processes the recovered images according to one or more weather condition detection algorithms to detect the one or more weather conditions, respectively. The weather station reports the one or more detected weather conditions.
35 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method of detecting weather conditions using images from a mobile platform, comprising:
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at a control station;
receiving from a communication network data packets transmitted wirelessly to the network by a mobile platform separated from the control station, the data packets carrying images captured by an image sensor aboard the mobile platform and that show one or more weather conditions local to the mobile platform;recovering the images from the data packets; processing the images according to one or more weather condition detection algorithms to detect the one or more weather conditions, respectively, including processing to detect whether rain is present by; segmenting the images into foreground regions representative of rain and background regions; bandpass filtering the foreground regions spatially and temporally; detecting spatiotemporal intensity fluctuations in the bandpass filtered foreground regions that result from an optical disruption of background illumination by rain drops; determining a frequency and magnitude of the detected intensity fluctuations; and correlating the frequency and magnitude of the detected intensity fluctuations with an intensity of rain fall; and reporting the one or more detected weather conditions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A apparatus comprising:
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a network interface unit (NIU) to send and receive data packets to and from a communication network; and a processor coupled to the NIU and configured to; receive from a communication network data packets transmitted wirelessly to the network by a mobile platform separated from the apparatus, the data packets carrying images captured by an image sensor aboard the mobile platform and that show one or more weather conditions local to the mobile platform; recover the images from the data packets; process the images according to one or more weather condition detection algorithms to detect the one or more weather conditions, respectively, including to detect whether rain is present by; segmenting the images into foreground regions representative of rain and background regions; bandpass filtering the foreground regions spatially and temporally; detecting spatiotemporal intensity fluctuations in the bandpass filtered foreground regions that result from an optical disruption of background illumination by rain drops; determining a frequency and magnitude of the detected intensity fluctuations; and correlating the frequency and magnitude of the detected intensity fluctuations with an intensity of rain fall; and report the one or more detected weather conditions. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A system comprising:
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multiple mobile platforms each respectively equipped with; an image sensor to capture images that show weather conditions local to the mobile platform; a mobile platform processor to packetize the images into data packets; and a wireless transmitter to wirelessly transmit the data packets to a communication network; and a control station to; receive from the communication network the data packets transmitted thereto by the mobile platforms; recover from the data packets the images from each of the image sensors and process the images according to one or more weather condition detection algorithms to detect the one or more weather conditions local to each of the mobile platforms, respectively, including to detect whether rain is present by; segmenting the images into foreground regions representative of rain and background regions; bandpass filtering the foreground regions spatially and temporally; detecting spatiotemporal intensity fluctuations in the bandpass filtered foreground regions that result from an optical disruption of background illumination by rain drops; determining a frequency and magnitude of the detected intensity fluctuations; and correlating the frequency and magnitude of the detected intensity fluctuations with an intensity of rain fall; and generate for display the images from each mobile platform and corresponding reports of detected weather conditions output by the weather condition detection algorithms. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
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Specification