Implementation of an Ionospheric-Image File Management, Processing, and Display System

摘要

This Phase I SBIR project addressed the problem of processing the All-Sky Imaging Photometer (ASIP) images collected in support of ionospheric science programs at AFGL and elsewhere. Hardware and software tools are developed that efficiently transform any image of interest to suitable world coordinates, thus removing the geometric distortions introduced by the ASIP wide-angle lens. Interactive graphical tools are demonstrated for the composite display of multiple, concurrent ASIP images, in geometrically corrected form, with a variety of correlative data from other sensor systems. Such systems might include incoherent-scatter radar, the HILAT satellite, and others. Eighteen black and white photographs are presented showing examples of actual ASIP images and test patterns in both raw and geometrically corrected form. Results demonstrating the resolution requirements of the ASIP data are included. Various aspects of the geometrical transformation and image-enhancement processing are illustrated, and example composite displays with actual ASIP and HILAT data are presented. Phase I focused on determining (1) the resolution, sensitivity, and accuracy required to capture digitally the information present in the ASIP imagery and (2) the size of computational problem involved in the required image transformations. We conclude that a properly integrated workstation involving both analog and digital video and microcomputer-based graphical components will provide a powerful and cost-effective solution to the problem posed by the ASIP data base.