Continuous Luminance Pseudocolor Mappings For Infrared Thermography

Paul Hughett

doi:10.1117/12.953402

21 March 1989 Continuous Luminance Pseudocolor Mappings For Infrared Thermography

Paul Hughett

Proceedings Volume 1094, Thermosense XI: Intl Conf on Thermal Infrared Sensing for Diagnostics and Control; (1989) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.953402
Event: SPIE 1989 Technical Symposium on Aerospace Sensing, 1989, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

A suitably-calibrated infrared thermogram contains both qualitative information about the temperature distribution and quantitative information about the numerical temperature valhes. A grey-scale rendering shows the temperature distribution well for human interpretation but cannot be used to obtain numerical values. Conversely, a density-sliced pseudocolor rendering permits semi-quantitative interpretation but often obscures fine details of the temperature distribution. A single rendering which provides both would be useful. Color perception includes the three distinct dimensions of brightness, hue, and saturation; these may vary independently. It is thus possible to construct a pseudocolor mapping in which brightness varies continuously but hue and saturation vary stepwise. If applied to a thermogram, the result is a grey-scale image with superimposed color tints organized into contours. The grey-scale image shows the temperature distribution clearly, and the tints correspond to temperature contours for semi-quantitative interpretation. The grey-scale image may be enhanced before temperature contours are applied. Point operations such as contrast stretching or histogram equalization increase visibility of detail but retain a one-to-one correspondence between grey level and temperature. Neighborhood operations such as unsharp masking or gradient filtering are also possible. These operations destroy the one-to-one correspondence so temperature contouring becomes essential to portray even semi-quantitative temperature information.

Citation Download Citation

Paul Hughett "Continuous Luminance Pseudocolor Mappings For Infrared Thermography", Proc. SPIE 1094, Thermosense XI: Intl Conf on Thermal Infrared Sensing for Diagnostics and Control, (21 March 1989); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.953402

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available

Members: $17.00

Non-members: $21.00 ADD TO CART

PROCEEDINGS
10 PAGES

DOWNLOAD PAPER SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

GET CITATION

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Get copyright permission Get copyright permission on Copyright Marketplace

KEYWORDS

Image enhancement

Image processing

Infrared radiation

Associative arrays

Composites

Thermography

Image filtering

Show All Keywords

Keywords/Phrases

Search In:

Publication Years