Roadmap on signal processing for next generation measurement systems

Signal processing is a fundamental component of almost any sensor-enabled system, with a wide range of applications across different scientific disciplines. Time series data, images, and video sequences comprise representative forms of signals that can be enhanced and analysed for information extraction and quantification. The recent advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning are shifting the research attention towards intelligent, data-driven, signal processing. This roadmap presents a critical overview of the state-of-the-art methods and applications aiming to highlight future challenges and research opportunities towards next generation measurement systems. It covers a broad spectrum of topics ranging from basic to industrial research, organized in concise thematic sections that reflect the trends and the impacts of current and future developments per research field. Furthermore, it offers guidance to researchers and funding agencies in identifying new prospects.AerodynamicsMicrowave Sensing, Signals & System

Granular Mobility-Factor Analysis Framework for enriching Occupancy Sensing with Doppler Radar

With the growing need for adoption of smarter resource control system in existing infrastructure, the proliferation of occupancy sensing is slowly increasing its pace. After reviewing an existing system, we find that utilization of Doppler radar is less progressive in enhancing the accuracy of occupancy sensing operation. Therefore, we introduce a novel analytical model that is meant for incorporating granularity in tracing the psychological periodic characteristic of an object by emphasizing on the mobility and uncertainty movement of an object in the monitoring area. Hence, the model is more emphasized on identifying the rate of change in any periodic physiological characteristic of an object with the aid of mathematical modelling. At the same time, the model extracts certain traits of frequency shift and directionality for better tracking of the unidentified object behavior where its applicabilibility can be generalized in majority of the fields related to object detection

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 341)

This bibliography lists 133 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during September 1990. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance

The NASA SBIR product catalog

The purpose of this catalog is to assist small business firms in making the community aware of products emerging from their efforts in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. It contains descriptions of some products that have advanced into Phase 3 and others that are identified as prospective products. Both lists of products in this catalog are based on information supplied by NASA SBIR contractors in responding to an invitation to be represented in this document. Generally, all products suggested by the small firms were included in order to meet the goals of information exchange for SBIR results. Of the 444 SBIR contractors NASA queried, 137 provided information on 219 products. The catalog presents the product information in the technology areas listed in the table of contents. Within each area, the products are listed in alphabetical order by product name and are given identifying numbers. Also included is an alphabetical listing of the companies that have products described. This listing cross-references the product list and provides information on the business activity of each firm. In addition, there are three indexes: one a list of firms by states, one that lists the products according to NASA Centers that managed the SBIR projects, and one that lists the products by the relevant Technical Topics utilized in NASA's annual program solicitation under which each SBIR project was selected

NASA Tech Briefs, March 2011

Topics covered include: Optimal Tuner Selection for Kalman-Filter-Based Aircraft Engine Performance Estimation; Airborne Radar Interferometric Repeat-Pass Processing; Plug-and-Play Environmental Monitoring Spacecraft Subsystem; Power-Combined GaN Amplifier with 2.28-W Output Power at 87 GHz; Wallops Ship Surveillance System; Source Lines Counter (SLiC) Version 4.0; Guidance, Navigation, and Control Program; Single-Frame Terrain Mapping Software for Robotic Vehicles; Auto Draw from Excel Input Files; Observation Scheduling System; CFDP for Interplanetary Overlay Network; X-Windows Widget for Image Display; Binary-Signal Recovery; Volumetric 3D Display System with Static Screen; MMIC Replacement for Gunn Diode Oscillators; Feature Acquisition with Imbalanced Training Data; Mount Protects Thin-Walled Glass or Ceramic Tubes from Large Thermal and Vibration Loads; Carbon Nanotube-Based Structural Health Monitoring Sensors; Wireless Inductive Power Device Suppresses Blade Vibrations; Safe, Advanced, Adaptable Isolation System Eliminates the Need for Critical Lifts; Anti-Rotation Device Releasable by Insertion of a Tool; A Magnetically Coupled Cryogenic Pump; Single Piezo-Actuator Rotary-Hammering Drill; Fire-Retardant Polymeric Additives; Catalytic Generation of Lift Gases for Balloons; Ionic Liquids to Replace Hydrazine; Variable Emittance Electrochromics Using Ionic Electrolytes and Low Solar Absorptance Coatings; Spacecraft Radiator Freeze Protection Using a Regenerative Heat Exchanger; Multi-Mission Power Analysis Tool; Correction for Self-Heating When Using Thermometers as Heaters in Precision Control Applications; Gravitational Wave Detection with Single-Laser Atom Interferometers; Titanium Alloy Strong Back for IXO Mirror Segments; Improved Ambient Pressure Pyroelectric Ion Source; Multi-Modal Image Registration and Matching for Localization of a Balloon on Titan; Entanglement in Quantum-Classical Hybrid; Algorithm for Autonomous Landing; Quantum-Classical Hybrid for Information Processing; Small-Scale Dissipation in Binary-Species Transitional Mixing Layers; Superpixel-Augmented Endmember Detection for Hyperspectral Images; Coding for Parallel Links to Maximize the Expected Value of Decodable Messages; and Microwave Tissue Soldering for Immediate Wound Closure

Laser doppler vibrometry for cardiovascular monitoring and photoacoustic imaging

Nowadays, techniques for health monitoring mainly require physical contact with patients, which is not always ideal. Non-contact health monitoring has become an important research topic in the last decades. The non-contact detection of a patient's health condition represents a beneficial tool in different biomedical fields. Examples can be found in intensive care, home health care, the nursing of the elderly, the monitoring of physical efforts, and in human-machine interactions. Cardiovascular diseases (CV) are one of the most spread causes of death in developed countries. Their monitoring techniques involve physical contact with patients. A non-contact technique for cardiovascular monitoring could overcome problems related to the contact with the patient such as skin lesions. It could also expand the availability of monitoring to those cases where contact is not possible or should be avoided to reduce the exposure of medical personnel to biochemical hazard conditions.Several research groups have investigated different techniques for non-contact monitoring of health; among them, the laser Doppler Vibrometry (LDVy) has one of the highest accuracies and signal to noise ratios for cardiorespiratory signals detection. Moreover, the simplicity of data processing, the long-distance measurement range, and the high bandwidth make the laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) suitable for daily measurements. LDVy is an interferometric technique employed for the measurements of displacement or velocity signals in various fields. In particular, it is deployed in the biomedical field for the extraction of several cardiovascular parameters, such as the PR-time. Generally, the extraction of these parameters requires ideal measuring conditions (measuring spot and laser direction), which are not realistic for daily monitoring in non-laboratory conditions, and especially in tracking applications. The first scientific hypothesis of this work is that the PR-time detected with LDV has an acceptable uncertainty for a realistic variety of measurement spot positions and angles of the incident laser beam. Therefore, I investigated the uncertainty contribution to the detection of the PR-time from LDV signals resulting from the laser beam direction and from the measurement point position; these investigations were carried out with a multipoint laser Doppler vibrometer. The uncertainties were evaluated according to the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement. Successively, the ranges of PR-time values where it is possible to state with 95% certainty that a diagnosis is correct are identified. Normal values of PR-time are included in the range 120 ms -200 ms. For single value measurements with precise alignment the reliable range for the detection of the healthy condition is 146.4 ms -173.6 ms. The detection of CV diseases is reliable for measured values lower than 93.6 ms and greater than 226.4 ms. For mean value measurements with precise alignment the reliable range for the detection of the healthy condition is 126.6 ms -193.4 ms. The detection of CV diseases is reliable for measured values lower than 113.4 ms and greater than 206.6 ms. Therefore, for measured values included in the mentioned ranges, the detection of the PR-time and relative diagnosis with the LDVy in non-laboratory conditions is reliable. The method for the estimation of the uncertainty contribution proposed in this work can be applied to other cardiovascular parameters extracted with the LDVy. Recently, the LDVy was employed for the detection of tumors in tissue-mimic phantoms as a noncontact alternative to the ultrasound sensors employed in photoacoustic imaging (PAI). A non-contact method has considerable advantages for photoacustic imaging, too. Several works present the possibility to perform PAI measurements with LDVy. However, a successful detection of the signals generated by a tumor depends on the metrological characteristics of the LDV, on the properties of the tumor and of the tissue. The conditions under which a tumor is detectable with the laser Doppler vibrometer has not been investigated yet. The second scientific hypothesis of this work is that, under certain conditions, photoacoustic imaging measurements with LDVy are feasible. Therefore, I identified those conditions to determine the detection limits of LDVy for PAI measurements. These limits were deduced by considering the metrological characteristics of a commercial LDV, the dimensions and the position of the tumor in the tissue. I derived a model for the generation and propagation of PA signals and its detection with an LDV. The model was validated by performing experiments on silicone tissue-micking phantoms. The validated model with breast-tissue parameters reveals the limits of tumor detection with LDVy-based PAI. The results show that commercial LDVs can detect tumors with a minimal radius of ≈350 μm reliably if they are located at a maximal depth in tissue of ≈2 cm. Depending on the position of the detection point, the maximal depth can diminish and depending on the absorption characteristics of the tumor, the detection range increases.Heutzutage erfordern Techniken zur Gesundheitsüberwachung hauptsächlich den physischen Kontakt mit dem Patienten, was nicht immer ideal ist. Die berührungslose Gesundheitsüberwachung hat sich in den letzten Jahrzehnten zu einem wichtigen Forschungsthema entwickelt. Die berührungslose Erkennung des Gesundheitszustands eines Patienten stellt ein nützliches Instrument in verschiedenen biomedizinischen Bereichen dar. Beispiele finden sich in der Intensivpflege, der häuslichen Krankenpflege, der Altenpflege, der Überwachung körperlicher Anstrengungen und in der MenschMaschine-Interaktion. Herz-Kreislauf-Erkrankungen sind eine der am weitesten verbreiteten Todesursachen in den Industrieländern. Ihre Überwachungstechniken erfordern einen physischen Kontakt mit den Patienten. Eine berührungslose Technik für die Überwachung von Herz-KreislaufErkrankungen könnte Probleme im Zusammenhang mit dem Kontakt mit dem Patienten, wie z. B. Hautverletzungen, überwinden. Verschiedene Messgeräte wurden für die berührungslose Überwachung der Gesundheit untersucht; unter ihnen hat das Laser-Doppler-Vibrometrer (LDV) eine der höchsten Genauigkeiten und Signal-Rausch-Verhältnisse für die Erkennung kardiorespiratorischer Signale. Darüber hinaus ist das Laser-Doppler-Vibrometer (LDV) aufgrund der einfachen Datenverarbeitung, des großen Messbereichs und der hohen Bandbreite für tägliche Messungen geeignet. LDV ist ein interferometrisches Verfahren, das zur Messung von Weg- oder Geschwindigkeitssignalen in verschiedenen Bereichen eingesetzt wird. Insbesondere wird es im biomedizinischen Bereich für die Extraktion verschiedener kardiovaskulärer Parameter, wie z. B. der PR-Zeit, eingesetzt. Im Allgemeinen erfordert die Extraktion dieser Parameter ideale Messbedingungen (Messfleck und Laserrichtung), die für die tägliche Überwachung unter Nicht-Laborbedingungen und insbesondere für TrackingAnwendungen nicht realistisch sind. Die erste wissenschaftliche Hypothese dieser Arbeit ist, dass die mit dem LDV ermittelte PR-Zeit eine akzeptable Unsicherheit für eine realistische Vielzahl von Messpunktpositionen und Winkeln des einfallenden Laserstrahls aufweist. Daher wurde der Unsicherheitsbeitrag zur Ermittlung der PR-Zeit aus LDV-Signalen untersucht, der sich aus der Laserstrahlrichtung und der Messpunktposition ergibt; diese Untersuchungen wurden mit einem Mehrpunkt-Laser-Doppler-Vibrometer durchgeführt. Die Unsicherheiten wurden gemäß der Technische Regel ISO/IEC Guide 98-3:2008-09 Messunsicherheit – Teil 3: Leitfaden zur Angabe der Unsicherheit beim Messen bewertet. Nacheinander werden die Bereiche der PR-Zeit-Werte ermittelt, in denen mit 95%iger Sicherheit eine korrekte Diagnose gestellt werden kann. Die in dieser Arbeit vorgeschlagene Methode zur Schätzung des Unsicherheitsbeitrags kann auch auf andere kardiovaskuläre Parameter angewendet werden, die mit dem LDV extrahiert werden. Kürzlich wurde das LDV zur Erkennung von Tumoren in gewebeähnlichen Phantomen als berührungslose Alternative zu den Ultraschallsensoren eingesetzt, die bei der photoakustischen Bildgebung (PAI) verwendet werden. Eine berührungslose Methode hat auch für die photoakustische Bildgebung erhebliche Vorteile. In mehreren Arbeiten wird die Möglichkeit vorgestellt, PAIMessungen mit LDV durchzuführen. Die erfolgreiche Erkennung der von einem Tumor erzeugten Signale hängt jedoch von den messtechnischen Eigenschaften des LDV sowie von den Eigenschaften des Tumors und des Gewebes ab. Die Bedingungen, unter denen ein Tumor mit dem LDV detektierbar ist, wurden bisher nicht untersucht. Die zweite wissenschaftliche Hypothese dieser Arbeit ist, dass unter bestimmten Bedingungen photoakustische Bildgebungsmessungen mit dem LDV möglich sind. Daher wurden diese Bedingungen ermittelt, um die Nachweisgrenzen von LDV für PAI-Messungen zu bestimmen. Diese Grenzen wurden unter Berücksichtigung der messtechnischen Eigenschaften eines handelsüblichen LDV, der Abmessungen und der Position des Tumors im Gewebe abgeleitet. In dieser Arbeit wurde ein Modell für die Erzeugung und Ausbreitung von PA-Signalen und deren Nachweis mit einem LDV abgeleitet. Das Modell wurde durch Experimente an Silikongewebe-Phantomen validiert. Das validierte Modell mit Parametern des Brustgewebes zeigt die Grenzen der Tumorerkennung mit LDV-basierter PAI auf. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass kommerzielle LDV Tumore mit einem minimalen Radius von ≈350 μm zuverlässig erkennen können

NASA SBIR abstracts of 1991 phase 1 projects

The objectives of 301 projects placed under contract by the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are described. These projects were selected competitively from among proposals submitted to NASA in response to the 1991 SBIR Program Solicitation. The basic document consists of edited, non-proprietary abstracts of the winning proposals submitted by small businesses. The abstracts are presented under the 15 technical topics within which Phase 1 proposals were solicited. Each project was assigned a sequential identifying number from 001 to 301, in order of its appearance in the body of the report. Appendixes to provide additional information about the SBIR program and permit cross-reference of the 1991 Phase 1 projects by company name, location by state, principal investigator, NASA Field Center responsible for management of each project, and NASA contract number are included

Prediction of topsoil properties at field-scale by using C-band SAR data

Designing and validating digital soil mapping (DSM) techniques can facilitate precision agriculture implementation. This study generates and validates a technique for the spatial prediction of soil properties based on C-band radar data. To this end, (i) we focused on working at farm-field scale and conditions, a fact scarcely reported; (ii) we validated the usefulness of Random Forest regression (RF) to predict soil properties based on C-band radar data; (iii) we validated the prediction accuracy of C-band radar data according to the coverage condition (for example: crop or fallow); and (iv) we aimed to find spatial relationship between soil apparent electrical conductivity and C-band radar. The experiment was conducted on two agricultural fields in the southern Argentine Pampas. Fifty one Sentinel 1 Level-1 GRD (Grid) products of C-band frequency (5.36 GHz) were processed. VH and VV polarizations and the dual polarization SAR vegetation index (DPSVI) were estimated. Soil information was obtained through regular-grid sample scheme and apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa) measurements. Soil properties predicted were: texture, effective soil depth, ECa at 0-0.3m depth and ECa at 0-0.9m depth. The effect of water, vegetation and soil on the depolarization from SAR backscattering was analyzed. Complementary, spatial predictions of all soil properties from ordinary cokriging and Conditioned Latin hypercube sampling (cLHS) were evaluated using six different soil sample sizes: 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 and the total of the grid sampling scheme. The results demonstrate that the prediction accuracy of C-band SAR data for most of the soil properties evaluated varies considerably and is closely dependent on the coverage type and weather dynamics. The polarizations with high prediction accuracy of all soil properties showed low values of σVVo and σVHo, while those with low prediction accuracy showed high values of σVVo and low values of σVHo. The spatial patterns among maps of all soil properties using all samples and all sample sizes were similar. In conditions when summer crops demand large amount of water and there is soil water deficit backscattering showed higher prediction accuracy for most soil properties. During the fallow season, the prediction accuracy decreased and the spatial prediction accuracy was closely dependent on the number of validation samples. The findings of this study corroborates that DSM techniques at field scale can be achieved by using C-band SAR data. Extrapolation y applicability of this study to other areas remain to be tested.EEA BalcarceFil: Domenech, Marisa. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Agronomía; Argentina.Fil: Amiottia, Nilda. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Agronomía; Argentina.Fil: Amiottia, Nilda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina.Fil: Costa, José Luis. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina.Fil: Castro-Franco, Mauricio. Centro de Investigaciones de la Caña de Azúcar de Colombia. Estación Experimental Estación Experimental vía Cali-Florida; Colombia

Estimation of biophysical parameters in boreal forests from ERS and JERS SAR interferometry

The thesis describes investigations concerning the evaluation of ERS and JERS SAR images and repeat-pass interferometric SAR images for the retrieval of biophysical parameters in boreal forests. The availability of extensive data sets of images over several test sites located in Sweden, Finland and Siberia has allowed analysis of temporal dynamics of ERS and JERS backscatter and coherence, and of ERS interferometric phase. Modelling of backscatter, coherence and InSAR phase has been performed by means of the Water Cloud Model (WCM) and the Interferometric Water Cloud Model (IWCM); sensitivity analysis and implications for the retrieval of forest biophysical parameters have been thoroughly discussed. Model inversion has been carried out for stem volume retrieval using ERS coherence, ERS backscatter and JERS backscatter, whereas for tree height estimation the ERS interferometric phase has been used. Multi-temporal combination of ERS coherence images, and to a lesser extent of JERS backscatter images, can provide stem volume estimates comparable to stand-wise ground-based measurements. Since the information content of the interferometric phase is strongly degraded by phase noise and uncorrected atmospheric artefacts, the retrieved tree height shows large errors

Remote Sensing in Agriculture: State-of-the-Art

The Special Issue on “Remote Sensing in Agriculture: State-of-the-Art” gives an exhaustive overview of the ongoing remote sensing technology transfer into the agricultural sector. It consists of 10 high-quality papers focusing on a wide range of remote sensing models and techniques to forecast crop production and yield, to map agricultural landscape and to evaluate plant and soil biophysical features. Satellite, RPAS, and SAR data were involved. This preface describes shortly each contribution published in such Special Issue