Pace Levy Inc. specializes in image acquisition
and analysis. We have talented personnel to design hybrid
imaging
systems for various experiments and tests. Acquiring
the images is only one portion of the overall project, but is essentially
the most important part. The acquisition setup must be
calibrated and validated
to ensure the measurements made on objects in the images are correct. Many
times these aspects of acquisition are either overlooked
or neglected until the problem
shows up later, but by then it may be too late to correct. We are an integral
part of each project and understand the usage of the resulting image data;
therefore we can determine the proper camera positions and calibrate the
system to ensure measurements can be made on the images
in the image analysis portion
of the project.
High Speed Image Acquisition
We have experience with many types of image acquisition systems
and can recommend the correct system for your particular experiment or
project. Below is a list of some of the high speed systems we have employed
for various projects.
Phantom Cameras have
been used for ballistics impact research to micro water
droplet impact analysis. These cameras represent the leading
edge of the high speed camera technology. These cameras
are able to capture moving objects with a frame rate
of 4,800 frames per second at full frame of 800 x 600
pixel resolution. Decreasing the aspect ratio of the
sensor you can increase the framing rate. For example,
a 32x32 aspect ratio can yield 150,000 frames per second!
The Kodak
EktaPro high
speed imaging systems have been used
to capture black and white images
up to 12,000 frames per second. These
digital images could be output to computers
or
stored onto removable
media such as CDs. The versatility
of this system allowed it to sometimes
be placed
into the model
itself, housed within an environmental
enclosure to get acquiring higher quality
images that would
not have been feasible with other systems.
Here are a couple of projects we have used this Kodak
system.
- Aircraft
Engine Inlet: Analysis of
ice ingested into aircraft engine inlet
- Needle deployment
position in microgravity: Precise positioning of
needle movement and extension
- Golf ball
analysis: Testing new
golf ball designs by analyzing spin rates
Conventional
video with
strobe can be used to image
or monitor many types of action or motion
objects. Video
frame rates
and fast dwell time strobes are commonly
used to capture an image of single object
or using
a fast
frequency strobe a single frame of video
can integrate many images of a single object
as
it goes through
a particular motion. This technique
is very similar to flash film photography and
has been used
in many
different imaging systems.
- Gear Mesh: Imaging
two meshing gears rotating at very high speeds. Conventional
video coupled with a timed strobe and a shaft
angle encoded allowed each tooth
of
a single gear to be sequentially accessed and imaged.
Each image was then stored
to create a record of the gear
degradation and subsequent failure.
Miliken
film cameras have
been used in experiments for many, many years and
was a very reliable method of acquiring high speed
images in special situations where a digital camera
my not be feasible. These film cameras have been
successfully used in extreme environments such
as vacumm and cryogenic chambers. Placed into environmental
enclosures these camera were very effective.
- Rocket Shroud Separation: High speed
imaging of the separation of a
rocket shroud to ensure the shroud does not hit the
enclosed sattilite. The
shroud is placed into a large (extremely
large) vacumm chamber and blown apart with explosives.
High speed
film cameras are placed at strategic
points around the shroud to capture the separation and
to verify
whether it will strike the expensive
satiliite.
- Droplet
Combustion: Miliken film cameras were placed
into "packages" that
were dropped in a drop tower where the package
experienced micro-gravity. Combustion experiments
were
performed as the package fell at which time
the film cameras were acquiring high speed images
of the combustion
taking place inside the package.
Image Analysis
Image analysis is an integral part of capturing images.
In fact the image analysis portion of any experiment
or project
is
usually the most critical portion and the design of the
experiment is predicated on the type and quality of data
required from the images. The design team must agree on
the data set and how it will ultimately be used in order
to employ
the proper equipment. Methods of analysis is based upon
the output of the imagers, but usually require some form
of
object measurement and sometimes statistical analysis
to validate the data.
Laser Based Imaging
Sometimes conventional imaging methods
fail to acquire the data because the imager may not
see the object
or may not acquire the image in the form required. Therefore
laser based imaging systems have been developed
to fill this void. The need for the automotive industry to reverse
engineer product designs lead to the development
of laser scanning systems. There are many types of laser scanning
systems on the market today, some provide a
profile measurement while others acquire a 3 dimensional
image of the entire
object. Pace Levy has been involved in the
design and
construction of laser based enhanced technologies
to acquire images and
data with methodologies that don’t currently
exist in the market.
- 3D Laser scanning of ice shapes
- Rapid Prototyping
