Monitoring illegal and hazardous substances has always been a priority for government and law enforcement agencies. Alcohol, illicit drugs, explosives, carbon monoxide or other hazardous or restricted substances may be substances of interest. One way to monitor these substances is to perform such monitoring at check points and/or roadblocks, especially in war zones. For example, Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) checkpoints are roadblocks set up by law enforcement agencies on selected roads and highways to stop and detain individuals suspected of driving while intoxicated. Much like a roadblock that is established for border crossings or agricultural checks, officers use a neutral policy in determining when to stop vehicles and check the sobriety of the driver. If the driver appears intoxicated (with slurred speech, glassy eyes, etc.) officers will ask the driver to exit the vehicle and perform field sobriety tests. If the driver is deemed intoxicated, appropriate detention will follow. However, it sometimes difficult to make such observations in a high traffic environment. Furthermore, many hazardous or restricted substances are difficult to detect with normal human senses.
A better understanding of the various disclosed system and method embodiments can be obtained when the following detailed description is considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
The issues identified in the background are at least in part addressed by the disclosed systems and tools for detecting banned or hazardous substances. At least one disclosed tool embodiment is a hyperspectral imaging camera for detecting the presence of a substance of interest in a vehicle. The camera includes an electronic image sensor that captures spectral images, and a processor electronically coupled to the image sensor. The processor receives the spectral images and determines whether air or surfaces in or on the vehicle includes at least one substance of interest. Illustrative substances of interest include alcohol and carbon monoxide, as well as explosives, illicit drugs, and any other restricted or hazardous chemicals. The vehicles being imaged by the camera can include cars, trucks, trains, boats or other method of transportation.
To further assist the reader's understanding of the disclosed systems and methods, we describe an environment suitable for their use and operation. Accordingly,
Among the persons receiving the results of the computer analysis may be a police officer in the vicinity of the tool booth. Based on the results, the police officer may detain the vehicle to notify the occupants of the suspected presence of restricted or hazardous materials. In some cases the police officer may conduct further investigation of the situation and if warranted may detain the occupants and/or impound the vehicle.
Some system embodiments may include automated signage to notify the vehicle occupants of the analysis results. Such notification may be deemed particularly useful for hazardous substances such as carbon monoxide. The signage may include a phone number for the occupants to obtain additional information along with a message encouraging the occupants to have their vehicles evaluated for safety without undue delay.
The hyperspectral imaging camera uses the power of digital imaging and spectroscopy. Every pixel in the image contains a continuous spectrum (in radiance or reflectance) and can be used to characterize the objects in the scene with great precision and detail. For each pixel in an image, a hyperspectral camera acquires the light intensity (radiance) for a large number of contiguous spectral bands.
Hyperspectral images provide much more detailed information about the scene than a normal camera. A normal camera would only acquire three different spectral channels corresponding to the visual primary colors red, green and blue. Hyperspectral imaging leads to a vastly improved ability to classify the objects in the scene based on their spectral properties.
Among other things, the camera 106 can scan for gases or particulates of restricted or hazardous substances in the vehicle 102, such as ethyl alcohol (C2H50H), illicit drugs (such as marijuana smoke or cocaine residue on skin surfaces), explosives, or other related chemicals such as nitrates or ionized gases generated by ionizing radiation. Spectral imaging may be useful because there are many chemicals that may be of interest to law enforcement. For example, marijuana can contain over 400 different chemicals, but the main chemical that causes effects is Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) or dronabinol. The hyperspectral camera 106 can scan for all of these chemicals. Other chemicals can come from hazardous cargo leaks, such as chlorine gas, propane gas, or other harmful gases or substances.
Another embodiment can come in the form of a portable device much like a radar gun that can be handheld or mounted to a vehicle. A police officer may employ the portable device in much the same manner as a radar gun, directing it at selected vehicles to perform a remote examination for substances of interest and using the results of that examination to determine whether or not the selected vehicle should be detained for further examination. A supervisor on a construction, industrial, or military site could similarly employ the portable device to monitor vehicles entering or exiting the site to ensure safety and/or verify compliance with rules for the site. Short range versions of the portable device may include infrared or UV lamps, while longer-range versions may include laser light sources.
Different embodiments for systems and tools for detecting banned or hazardous substances are presented. At least one embodiment includes a hyperspectral imaging camera for detecting the presence of a substance of interest in a vehicle. The camera includes an electronic image sensor that captures spectral images, and a processor coupled to the hyperspectral image sensor. The processor receives spectral images and determines whether air in the vehicle includes at least one substance of interest. Substances of interest can include alcohol, carbon monoxide, illegal substances, or hazardous chemicals. Vehicles can include a car, truck, train, boat, aircraft taxiing or parked on the ground, or other method of transportation. The processor can also stream information live over the internet to a remote location. Some embodiments may have a process coupled to an imaging multiplexer. The imaging multiplexer includes a periscope on a rotatable swivel that rotates a mirror and a lens to observe more area in the vicinity of the camera. Another embodiment includes a system for monitoring substances of interest within a vehicle. This system embodiment includes a hyperspectral imaging camera that obtains images, a processor, and a storage device. The processor receives the spectral images, and determines whether those images contain substances of interest. The storage device can store events taken by the camera and processor. The storage device can store information such as the detection events, substances detected, and time of detection. The storage device can be located in the vehicle or transmitted via radio or other communications means to another location for analysis, storage and retrieval.
These and other variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such variations and modifications.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/US2011/052286 | 9/20/2011 | WO | 00 | 3/11/2014 |