Image Processing in Foggy Environments
AssigneeBevilacqua Research Corporation, Inc
InventorRobert Pilgrim
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for exploiting spectral absorption properties of water is disclosed. The system and method use spectral absorption properties of water to improve Short Wave InfraRed (SWIR) sensor (camera) performance in the presence of clouds. This is achieved partly by limiting the spectral passband of a sensor to a water absorption band, thereby improving Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR). Higher SNR permits improved CSO resolution. Further, higher SNR reduces the uncertainty in matching observations in one sensor to the epipolar lines of another sensor thus reducing the time needed to achieve unambiguous matches.
Claims15
A method of improving visibility within a fog-laden environment, comprising:
- arranging a Short Wave InfraRed (SWIR) camera to have a plurality of lenses, a customized filter, and a processing module;
- attaching the customized filter to one of the plurality of lenses of the SWIR camera thereby achieving a spectral range matching with an absorption band of water;
- configuring another lens of the SWIR camera to be unaltered by any filters;
- providing a processing module for operating and communicating with the SWIR camera;
- thereby
- capturing a first video signal which has turned off the fog as a source of scattered light;
- capturing a second video signal which retains the fog as a source of scattered light;
- and
- the processing module transmitting a real-time version of the first and second video signals to a computer screen that is visible to human eyesight.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.