Visibility determination in environments containing airborne dust particles
AssigneeKing Saud University
InventorsAbdulaziz Salem Al-Ruwais, Abobakr Sultan Ahmed
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Determining optical visibility in an environment that may contain airborne dust particles is described. In one aspect, a method determines an ambient relative humidity in the environment. A near infrared wave is transmitted through a portion of the environment. An optical visibility in the environment is calculated based on the ambient relative humidity and attenuation of the near infrared wave during transmission through the environment. Various contrast thresholds are employed in the determination of optical visibility in the environment.
Claims22
A method for determining optical visibility in an environment that contains airborne dust particles and sand particles of an arid climate, the method comprising:
- determining an ambient relative humidity in the environment;
- transmitting an infrared wave through a portion of the environment;
- determining an attenuation of the infrared wave during transmission through the portion of the environment;
- determining a length of a transmission distance associated with a transmission path of the infrared wave;
- and
- calculating an optical visibility in the environment in an environment containing airborne dust particles and sand particles of an arid climate based on the ambient relative humidity, attenuation of the infrared wave during transmission through the portion of the environment, and the length of the transmission distance associated with the transmission path of the infrared wave.
A method for determining optical visibility in an environment containing airborne dust particles and sand particles of an arid climate, the method comprising:
- determining an ambient relative humidity in the environment containing airborne dust particles and sand particles of an arid climate;
- transmitting a near infrared wave from an infrared transmitter to a near infrared receiver, wherein the near infrared wave is transmitted through a portion of the environment containing airborne dust particles and sand particles of the arid climate in a substantially horizontal direction;
- determining an attenuation of the near infrared wave resulting from transmission through the portion of the environment;
- determining a length of a transmission distance between the near infrared transmitter and the near infrared receiver;
- and
- calculating an optical visibility in the environment containing airborne dust particles and sand particles of the arid climate based on the ambient relative humidity, the attenuation of the near infrared wave resulting from transmission through the portion of the environment containing airborne dust particles and sand particles of the arid climate, and the transmission distance between the near infrared transmitter and the near infrared receiver.
A data processing system for determining optical visibility in an environment containing airborne particles, the data processing system comprising:
- a memory;
- a sensor interface to receive atmospheric data associated with the environment, wherein the atmospheric data includes ambient relative humidity;
- and
- a processor coupled to the memory and the sensor interface, the processor to calculate an optical visibility in the environment based on the atmospheric data associated with the environment, an attenuation of a near infrared wave during transmission through a portion of the environment, and a length of a transmission distance associated with a transmission path of the near infrared wave using a single transmitter/receiver pair.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.