High dynamic range optical devices and applications.

Much of what we know about fundamental physical law and the universe derives from observations and measurements using optical methods. The passive use of the electromagnetic spectrum can be the best way of studying physical phenomenon in general with minimal disturbance of the system in the process. While for many applications ambient visible light is sufficient, light outside of the visible range may convey more information. The signals of interest are also often a small fraction of the background, and their changes occur on time scales so quickly that they are visually imperceptible. This thesis reports techniques and technologies developed for sensing and detecting rapid transient phenomenon using ambient light in the infrared (IR) spectrum. Currently, high dynamic range optical sensor technology leveraging low-noise and real-time signal processing is employed for applications to human, animal and structural health monitoring, Earth surface motion and environmental monitoring, material defect analysis and astronomy. This work describes the development and fabrication of devices that are made using a novel 32-bit data acquisition system (DAQ), as well as custom-designed circuits for integrating current optical sensing devices into systems for such applications. This thesis also describes the design, construction, and application of an impulse generator for materials testing and a custom-designed Ethernet-connected automated optical fiber positioning stage with examples of their applications to passive non-contact optical sensing

Bridges Structural Health Monitoring and Deterioration Detection Synthesis of Knowledge and Technology

INE/AUTC 10.0

Kinect Range Sensing: Structured-Light versus Time-of-Flight Kinect

Recently, the new Kinect One has been issued by Microsoft, providing the next generation of real-time range sensing devices based on the Time-of-Flight (ToF) principle. As the first Kinect version was using a structured light approach, one would expect various differences in the characteristics of the range data delivered by both devices. This paper presents a detailed and in-depth comparison between both devices. In order to conduct the comparison, we propose a framework of seven different experimental setups, which is a generic basis for evaluating range cameras such as Kinect. The experiments have been designed with the goal to capture individual effects of the Kinect devices as isolatedly as possible and in a way, that they can also be adopted, in order to apply them to any other range sensing device. The overall goal of this paper is to provide a solid insight into the pros and cons of either device. Thus, scientists that are interested in using Kinect range sensing cameras in their specific application scenario can directly assess the expected, specific benefits and potential problem of either device.Comment: 58 pages, 23 figures. Accepted for publication in Computer Vision and Image Understanding (CVIU

Research progress on coal mine laser methane sensor

This paper discusses the research progress of low-power technology of laser methane sensors for coal mine. On the basis of environment of coal mines, such as ultra-long-distance transmission and high stability, a series of studies have been carried out. The preliminary results have been achieved in the research of low power consumption, temperature and pressure compensation and reliability design. The technology is applied to various products in coal mines, and achieves high stability and high reliability in products such as laser methane sensor, laser methane detection alarm device, wireless laser methane detection alarm device, and optic fiber multichannel laser methane sensor. Experimental testing and analysis of the characteristics of laser methane sensors, combined with the actual application

A Sensitive and Reliable Carbon Monoxide Monitor for Safety-Focused Applications in Coal Mine Using a 2.33-μ\mu m Laser Diode

In this paper, a stable and reliable carbon monoxide (CO) monitoring system with high sensitivity (at sub-ppm level) was designed and demonstrated with particular reference to use in the mining industry, tailoring the design specifically for forecasting spontaneous combustion, a major hazard to miners. An appropriate strong CO absorption line was used to minimize the interferences expected from gases present in ambient air, with several preferred CO absorption lines selected and investigated, therefore choosing a distributed feedback (DFB) laser operating at a wavelength of 2330.18 nm as the excitation source. Through a detailed investigation, a minimum detection limit of ~0.2 ppm and a measurement precision of <50 ppb were achieved with a 1 s averaging time. Further in tests, a long-term continuous monitoring evaluation was carried out, demonstrated the excellent stability and reliability of the developed CO monitor. The results obtained have validated the potential of this design of a CO monitoring system for practical monitoring applications underground to enhance safety in the mining industry

Performance characterisation of a new photo-microsensor based sensing head for displacement measurement

This paper presents a robust displacement sensor with nanometre-scale resolution over a micrometre range. It is composed of low cost commercially available slotted photo-microsensors (SPMs). The displacement sensor is designed with a particular arrangement of a compact array of SPMs with specially designed shutter assembly and signal processing to significantly reduce sensitivity to ambient light, input voltage variation, circuit electronics drift, etc. The sensor principle and the characterisation results are described in this paper. The proposed prototype sensor has a linear measurement range of 20 μm and resolution of 21 nm. This kind of sensor has several potential applications, including mechanical structural deformation monitoring system

Compact hollow waveguide mid-infrared gas sensor for simultaneous measurements of ambient CO2 and water vapor

A compact, sensitive and stable hollow waveguide (HWG) mid-infrared gas sensor, based on gas absorption lines using wavelength modulation spectroscopy with a second harmonic (WMS-2f) detection scheme, was developed for simultaneous measurements of ambient CO 2 and water vapor. Optimization of the laser modulation parameters and pressure parameter in the HWG are performed to improve the strength of the WMS-2f signal and hence the detection limit, where 14.5-time for CO 2 and 8.5-time for water vapor improvement in system detection limit is achieved compared to those working at 1 atm. The stability of the sensor has been improved significantly by optimizing environmental disturbances, incoupling alignment of the HWG and laser scanning frequency. An Allan variance analysis shows detection limit of the developed sensor of ~3 ppmv for CO 2 and 0.018% for water vapor, which correspond to an absorbance of 2.4 × 10 -5 and 2.7 × 10 -5 , with a stability time of 160 s, respectively. Ambient CO 2 and water vapor measurement have been performed in two days in winter and spring separately. The measurement precision is further improved by applying a Kalman adaptive filter. The HWG gas sensor demonstrates the ability in environmental monitoring and the potential to be used in other areas, such as industrial production and biomedical diagnosis

Modeling and interpolation of the ambient magnetic field by Gaussian processes

Anomalies in the ambient magnetic field can be used as features in indoor positioning and navigation. By using Maxwell's equations, we derive and present a Bayesian non-parametric probabilistic modeling approach for interpolation and extrapolation of the magnetic field. We model the magnetic field components jointly by imposing a Gaussian process (GP) prior on the latent scalar potential of the magnetic field. By rewriting the GP model in terms of a Hilbert space representation, we circumvent the computational pitfalls associated with GP modeling and provide a computationally efficient and physically justified modeling tool for the ambient magnetic field. The model allows for sequential updating of the estimate and time-dependent changes in the magnetic field. The model is shown to work well in practice in different applications: we demonstrate mapping of the magnetic field both with an inexpensive Raspberry Pi powered robot and on foot using a standard smartphone.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, to appear in IEEE Transactions on Robotic