Spectral imaging system for remote and noninvasive detection of target substances using spectral filter arrays and image capture arrays
First Claim
1. A spectral imaging system for remotely and noninvasively detecting the presence and location of one or more target substances in a scene, said system comprising:
- a) an image capture array comprising a plurality of image capturing elements, wherein each image capturing element independently captures an image of the scene;
b) a plurality of spectral filter arrays that are independently selectable and alignable on demand with the image capture array, wherein;
(i) each of the spectral filter arrays is pre-associated with at least one corresponding target substance;
(ii) each of the spectral filter arrays includes a plurality of spectral filtering elements, wherein each spectral filtering element of said plurality of spectral filtering elements selectively passes a pre-selected bandwidth portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is pre-associated with a spectral characteristic of the corresponding target substance;
(iii) each of the spectral filter arrays is selectable and positionable on demand to be aligned with the image capture array such that each of at least two or more of the image capturing elements is optically aligned with at least one corresponding spectral filtering element in a manner effective to capture spectrally filtered image information comprising image pixels in a manner such that the image capture array captures image information for one or more independent spectrally filtered images; and
c) program instructions that use the spectrally filtered image information to determine if image pixels are associated with spectral responses matching the target substance and to determine and output information indicative of the presence and location of the at least one associated target substance in the scene.
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Abstract
An approach to noninvasively and remotely detect the presence, location, and/or quantity of a target substance in a scene via a spectral imaging system comprising a spectral filter array and image capture array. For a chosen target substance, a spectral filter array is provided that is sensitive to selected wavelengths characterizing the electromagnetic spectrum of the target substance. Elements of the image capture array are optically aligned with elements of the spectral filter array to simultaneously capture spectrally filtered images. These filtered images identify the spectrum of the target substance. Program instructions analyze the acquired images to compute information about the target substance throughout the scene. A color-coded output image may be displayed on a smartphone or computing device to indicate spatial and quantitative information about the detected target substance. The system desirably includes a library of interchangeable spectral filter arrays, each sensitive to one or more target substances.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. A spectral imaging system for remotely and noninvasively detecting the presence and location of one or more target substances in a scene, said system comprising:
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a) an image capture array comprising a plurality of image capturing elements, wherein each image capturing element independently captures an image of the scene; b) a plurality of spectral filter arrays that are independently selectable and alignable on demand with the image capture array, wherein; (i) each of the spectral filter arrays is pre-associated with at least one corresponding target substance; (ii) each of the spectral filter arrays includes a plurality of spectral filtering elements, wherein each spectral filtering element of said plurality of spectral filtering elements selectively passes a pre-selected bandwidth portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is pre-associated with a spectral characteristic of the corresponding target substance; (iii) each of the spectral filter arrays is selectable and positionable on demand to be aligned with the image capture array such that each of at least two or more of the image capturing elements is optically aligned with at least one corresponding spectral filtering element in a manner effective to capture spectrally filtered image information comprising image pixels in a manner such that the image capture array captures image information for one or more independent spectrally filtered images; and c) program instructions that use the spectrally filtered image information to determine if image pixels are associated with spectral responses matching the target substance and to determine and output information indicative of the presence and location of the at least one associated target substance in the scene. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A spectral imaging system for remotely and noninvasively detecting the presence and location of one or more target substances in a scene, said system comprising:
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a) an image capture array comprising a plurality of image capturing elements, wherein each image capturing element independently captures an image of the scene; b) one or more spectral filter arrays that are independently selectable and alignable on demand with the image capture array, wherein; (i) each spectral filter array is pre-associated with at least one corresponding target substance; and (ii) each spectral filter array includes a plurality of spectral filtering elements, wherein each spectral filtering element of said plurality of spectral filtering elements selectively passes a pre-selected bandwidth portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is pre-associated with a spectral characteristic of the corresponding target substance; (iii) each of the plurality of spectral filter arrays is selectable and positionable on demand to be aligned with the image capture array such that each of at least two or more of the image capturing elements is optically aligned with at least one corresponding spectral filtering element in a manner effective to capture spectrally filtered image information in a manner such that the image capture array captures image information for a plurality of independent spectrally filtered images in a manner such that image pixels of the filtered images that match the spectral characteristics of the target substance indicate the presence and location of the target substance in a scene. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification