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J. Imaging, Volume 5, Issue 8 (August 2019) – 6 articles

Cover Story (view full-size image): Skyglow is a form of light pollution caused by artificial light scattered back within the atmosphere. We found that skyglow is dramatically amplified by clouds and snow on the ground (higher albedo), which we term "snowglow". Measurements in a suburban area, where the Milky Way is visible during moonless clear nights, revealed a zenith luminance 1000 times brighter than a clear sky reference and 3500 times brighter than a cloudy sky reference. A horizontal illuminance of 0.79 lx, two times higher than the maximum possible full moon, was measured. This represents a very high level of ecological light pollution as information on lunar cycles will be masked in these conditions. Strategies on how to reduce "snowglow" are discussed. View this paper
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20 pages, 62257 KiB  
Article
General Type-2 Fuzzy Sugeno Integral for Edge Detection
by Gabriela E. Martínez, Claudia I. Gonzalez, Olivia Mendoza and Patricia Melin
J. Imaging 2019, 5(8), 71; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jimaging5080071 - 16 Aug 2019
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4642
Abstract
A type-2 fuzzy edge detection method is presented in this paper. The general process consists of first obtaining the image gradients in the four directions—horizontal, vertical, and the two diagonals—and this technique is known as the morphological gradient. After that, the general type-2 [...] Read more.
A type-2 fuzzy edge detection method is presented in this paper. The general process consists of first obtaining the image gradients in the four directions—horizontal, vertical, and the two diagonals—and this technique is known as the morphological gradient. After that, the general type-2 fuzzy Sugeno integral (GT2 FSI) is used to integrate the four image gradients. In this second step, the GT2 FSI establishes criteria to determine at which level the obtained image gradient belongs to an edge during the process; this is calculated assigning different general type-2 fuzzy densities, and these fuzzy gradients are aggregated using the meet and join operators. The gradient integration using the GT2 FSI provides a methodology for achieving more robust edge detection, even more if we are working with blurry images. The experimental evaluations are performed on synthetic and real images, and the accuracy is quantified using Pratt’s Figure of Merit. The results values demonstrate that the proposed edge detection method outperforms other existing algorithms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soft Computing for Edge Detection)
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14 pages, 529 KiB  
Article
A Finite-Difference Approach for Plasma Microwave Imaging Profilometry
by Loreto Di Donato, David Mascali, Andrea F. Morabito and Gino Sorbello
J. Imaging 2019, 5(8), 70; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jimaging5080070 - 12 Aug 2019
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4194
Abstract
Plasma diagnostics is a topic of great interest in the physics and engineering community because the monitoring of plasma parameters plays a fundamental role in the development and optimization of plasma reactors. Towards this aim, microwave diagnostics, such as reflectometric, interferometric, and polarimetric [...] Read more.
Plasma diagnostics is a topic of great interest in the physics and engineering community because the monitoring of plasma parameters plays a fundamental role in the development and optimization of plasma reactors. Towards this aim, microwave diagnostics, such as reflectometric, interferometric, and polarimetric techniques, can represent effective means. Besides the above, microwave imaging profilometry (MIP) may allow the obtaining of tomographic, i.e., volumetric, information of plasma that could overcome some intrinsic limitations of the standard non-invasive diagnostic approaches. However, pursuing MIP is not an easy task due to plasma’s electromagnetic features, which strongly depend on the working frequency, angle of incidence, polarization, etc., as well as on the need for making diagnostics in both large (meter-sized) and small (centimeter-sized) reactors. Furthermore, these latter represent extremely harsh environments, wherein different systems and equipment need to coexist to guarantee their functionality. Specifically, MIP entails solution of an inverse scattering problem, which is non-linear and ill-posed, and, in addition, in the one-dimensional case, is also severely limited in terms of achievable reconstruction accuracy and resolution. In this contribution, we address microwave inverse profiling of plasma assuming a high-frequency probing regime when magnetically confined plasma can be approximated as both an isotropic and weak penetrable medium. To this aim, we adopt a finite-difference frequency-domain (FDFD) formulation which allows dealing with non-homogeneous backgrounds introduced by unavoidable presence of plasma reactors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave Imaging and Electromagnetic Inverse Scattering Problems)
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12 pages, 4507 KiB  
Article
Snowglow—The Amplification of Skyglow by Snow and Clouds Can Exceed Full Moon Illuminance in Suburban Areas
by Andreas Jechow and Franz Hölker
J. Imaging 2019, 5(8), 69; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jimaging5080069 - 01 Aug 2019
Cited by 31 | Viewed by 9608
Abstract
Artificial skyglow, the fraction of artificial light at night that is emitted upwards from Earth and subsequently scattered back within the atmosphere, depends on atmospheric conditions but also on the ground albedo. One effect that has not gained much attention so far is [...] Read more.
Artificial skyglow, the fraction of artificial light at night that is emitted upwards from Earth and subsequently scattered back within the atmosphere, depends on atmospheric conditions but also on the ground albedo. One effect that has not gained much attention so far is the amplification of skyglow by snow, particularly in combination with clouds. Snow, however, has a very high albedo and can become important when the direct upward emission is reduced when using shielded luminaires. In this work, first results of skyglow amplification by fresh snow and clouds measured with all-sky photometry in a suburban area are presented. Amplification factors for the zenith luminance of 188 for snow and clouds in combination and 33 for snow alone were found at this site. The maximum zenith luminance of nearly 250 mcd/m2 measured with snow and clouds is a factor of 1000 higher than the commonly used clear sky reference of 0.25 mcd/m2. Compared with our darkest zenith luminance of 0.07 mcd/m2 measured for overcast conditions in a very remote area, this leads to an overall amplification factor of ca. 3500. Horizontal illuminance measurements show values of up to 0.79 lx, exceeding maximum possible full-moon illuminance levels by more than a factor of two. Additional measurements near the Arctic Circle for clear and overcast conditions are presented and strategies for further studies are discussed. We propose the term “snowglow” to describe the amplification of skyglow by snow with and without clouds. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Light Pollution Assessment with Imaging Devices)
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14 pages, 6394 KiB  
Technical Note
Further Improvement of Debayering Performance of RGBW Color Filter Arrays Using Deep Learning and Pansharpening Techniques
by Chiman Kwan and Bryan Chou
J. Imaging 2019, 5(8), 68; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jimaging5080068 - 01 Aug 2019
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 6940
Abstract
The RGBW color filter arrays (CFA), also known as CFA2.0, contains R, G, B, and white (W) pixels. It is a 4 × 4 pattern that has 8 white pixels, 4 green pixels, 2 red pixels, and 2 blue pixels. The pattern repeats [...] Read more.
The RGBW color filter arrays (CFA), also known as CFA2.0, contains R, G, B, and white (W) pixels. It is a 4 × 4 pattern that has 8 white pixels, 4 green pixels, 2 red pixels, and 2 blue pixels. The pattern repeats itself over the whole image. In an earlier conference paper, we cast the demosaicing process for CFA2.0 as a pansharpening problem. That formulation is modular and allows us to insert different pansharpening algorithms for demosaicing. New algorithms in interpolation and demosaicing can also be used. In this paper, we propose a new enhancement of our earlier approach by integrating a deep learning-based algorithm into the framework. Extensive experiments using IMAX and Kodak images clearly demonstrated that the new approach improved the demosaicing performance even further. Full article
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13 pages, 14848 KiB  
Article
Holographic Three-Dimensional Imaging of Terra-Cotta Warrior Model Using Fractional Fourier Transform
by Zhi-Fang Gao, Hua-Dong Zheng and Ying-Jie Yu
J. Imaging 2019, 5(8), 67; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jimaging5080067 - 26 Jul 2019
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 4933
Abstract
Holographic three-dimensional (3D) imaging of Terra-Cotta Warrior model using Fractional Fourier Transform is introduced in this paper. Phase holograms of Terra-Cotta Warrior model are calculated from 60 horizontal viewing-angles by the use of fractional Fourier transform (FRT). Multiple phase holograms are calculated for [...] Read more.
Holographic three-dimensional (3D) imaging of Terra-Cotta Warrior model using Fractional Fourier Transform is introduced in this paper. Phase holograms of Terra-Cotta Warrior model are calculated from 60 horizontal viewing-angles by the use of fractional Fourier transform (FRT). Multiple phase holograms are calculated for each angle by adding proper pseudorandom phase to reduce the speckle noise of a reconstructed image. Experimental system based on high-resolution phase-only spatial light modulator (SLM) is built for 3D image reconstruction from the calculated phase holograms. The texture of the Terra-Cotta Warrior model is rough. The calculation of rough texture is optimized in order to show better model details. The effects of computing distance and layer thickness on imaging quality are analyzed finally. Full article
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23 pages, 6047 KiB  
Article
A Spectral Filter Array Camera for Clinical Monitoring and Diagnosis: Proof of Concept for Skin Oxygenation Imaging
by Jacob Renzo Bauer, Arnoud A. Bruins, Jon Yngve Hardeberg and Rudolf M. Verdaasdonk
J. Imaging 2019, 5(8), 66; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jimaging5080066 - 26 Jul 2019
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 5856
Abstract
The emerging technology of spectral filter array (SFA) cameras has great potential for clinical applications, due to its unique capability for real time spectral imaging, at a reasonable cost. This makes such cameras particularly suitable for quantification of dynamic processes such as skin [...] Read more.
The emerging technology of spectral filter array (SFA) cameras has great potential for clinical applications, due to its unique capability for real time spectral imaging, at a reasonable cost. This makes such cameras particularly suitable for quantification of dynamic processes such as skin oxygenation. Skin oxygenation measurements are useful for burn wound healing assessment and as an indicator of patient complications in the operating room. Due to their unique design, in which all pixels of the image sensor are equipped with different optical filters, SFA cameras require specific image processing steps to obtain meaningful high quality spectral image data. These steps include spatial rearrangement, SFA interpolations and spectral correction. In this paper the feasibility of a commercially available SFA camera for clinical applications is tested. A suitable general image processing pipeline is proposed. As a ’proof of concept’ a complete system for spatial dynamic skin oxygenation measurements is developed and evaluated. In a study including 58 volunteers, oxygenation changes during upper arm occlusion were measured with the proposed SFA system and compared with a validated clinical device for localized oxygenation measurements. The comparison of the clinical standard measurements and SFA results show a good correlation for the relative oxygenation changes. This proposed processing pipeline for SFA cameras shows to be effective for relative oxygenation change imaging. It can be implemented in real time and developed further for absolute spatial oxygenation measurements. Full article
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