Foreign object debris detection
AssigneeThe Government of the United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
InventorsAndrew Nicholas, Theodore Finne, Charles Brown, Christoph Englert
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Abstract
Methods and systems are provided for foreign object debris monitoring in an environment with a dynamic debris field, such as an environment for operating an aircraft. The debris monitoring technique includes generating a light beam and dispersing it to create a virtual witness plate, which is a two-dimensional sheet of light that covers a detection area. The technique also include detecting scattered light from the virtual witness plate caused by debris passing through it. A debris event may be generated based on the scattered light, indicating the presence of debris in the detection area.
Claims18
A method for monitoring foreign object debris, comprising:
- generating a light beam;
- dispersing the light beam to create a virtual witness plate comprising a two-dimensional sheet of light that covers a detection area in an environment with a dynamic debris field;
- capturing images of the virtual witness plate over a period of time by a set of cameras of an optical detector, wherein the set of cameras are adapted to capture images of scattered light from the virtual witness plate;
- determining differences between consecutive ones of the images using computer differenced imaging, resulting in differenced images;
- determining peak pixel values of the difference images caused by scattered light from a foreign object crossing the virtual witness plate;
- detecting the foreign object passing through the virtual witness plate based on the peak pixel values of the differenced images;
- and
- generating a foreign object debris event based on the detecting the foreign object has passed through the virtual witness plate, the foreign object debris event indicating a presence of the foreign object in the detection area.
A system for monitoring foreign object debris, comprising:
- an optical source configured to generate a light beam;
- a dispersive element configured to disperse the light beam to create a virtual witness plate comprising a two-dimensional sheet of light that covers a detection area in an environment with a dynamic debris field;
- an optical detector including a set of cameras adapted to capture images of the virtual witness plate over a period of time, wherein optical detector is adapted to:
- capture images of scattered light from the virtual witness plate via the set of cameras:
- determine differences between consecutive ones of the images using computer differenced imaging, resulting in differenced images;
- determine peak pixel values of the differenced images caused by scattered light from a foreign object crossing the virtual witness plate;
- and
- detect the foreign object passing through the virtual witness plate based on the peak pixel values of the differenced images;
- and
- an electronic package configured to generate a foreign object debris event based on the detecting the foreign object has passed through the virtual witness plate, the foreign object debris event indicating a presence of the foreign object in the detection area.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.