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Spectral imaging system for remote and noninvasive detection of target substances using spectral filter arrays and image capture arrays

  • US 9,551,616 B2
  • Filed: 06/17/2015
  • Issued: 01/24/2017
  • Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2014
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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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:

  • 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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