초록 ▼

The present embodiments provide methods, systems and apparatuses that detect, classify and locate flash events. In some implementations, some of the methods detect a flash event, trigger an imaging system in response to detecting the flash event to capture an image of an area that includes the flash

The present embodiments provide methods, systems and apparatuses that detect, classify and locate flash events. In some implementations, some of the methods detect a flash event, trigger an imaging system in response to detecting the flash event to capture an image of an area that includes the flash event, and determines a location of the flash event.

대표청구항 ▼

What is claimed is: 1. A method of detecting flash events, the method comprising: detecting a flash event; triggering an imaging system in response to detecting the flash event to capture a first image including at least a portion of the flash event, the imaging system is not capturing images immed

What is claimed is: 1. A method of detecting flash events, the method comprising: detecting a flash event; triggering an imaging system in response to detecting the flash event to capture a first image including at least a portion of the flash event, the imaging system is not capturing images immediately prior to the detecting the flash event; and determining a location of the flash event. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprises: isolating the captured flash event based at least in part on the first image. 3. The method of claim 1, farther comprises: wherein the determining step comprises determining a location of the flash event within a field of view of the imaging system. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the location of the flash event comprises determining the location of the flash event based at least on the first image. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the image comprises a digital picture captured by a camera. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting the flash event comprises detecting the flash event by examination of a temporal and a spectral nature of radiation emitted by the flash event. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the location comprises determining the location of the flash event by comparing a location of the flash event in the first image to known coordinates within the first image. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the location comprises determining a geo-location of the flash event. 9. A method of detecting flash events, the method comprising: detecting a flash event; triggering an imaging system in response to detecting the flash event to capture a first image including at least a portion of the flash event; determining a location of the flash event, wherein the determining step comprises determining a location of the flash event within a field of view of the imaging system; triggering, in response to the detecting the flash event, the imaging system to capture a second image with substantially the same field of view as the first image and without the flash event; and isolating the captured flash event comprising subtracting the second image from the first image producing a difference image comprising the captured flash event. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the image comprises a digital picture captured by a camera. 11. The method of claim 9, wherein the detecting the flash event comprises detecting the flash event by examination of a temporal and a spectral nature of radiation emitted by the flash event. 12. A method of detecting flash events, the method comprising: detecting a flash event; triggering an imaging system in response to detecting the flash event to capture a first image including at least a portion of the flash event; and determining a location of the flash event; wherein the triggering of the imaging system comprises determining a temporal signature of the detected flash event, and determining whether the temporal signature correlates with a known temporal signature. 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the triggering comprises generating a spectral signature of the detected flash event, and determining whether the spectral signature correlates with a known spectral signature and implementing the triggering when both the temporal and spectral signatures correlate with the known temporal signature and the known spectral signature. 14. A method of detecting flash events, the method comprising: detecting a flash event; temporally evaluating the flash event; determining whether the flash event is an event of interest based on the temporal evaluation; triggering an imaging system to capture a first image including the flash event when the flash event is an event of interest, where the imaging system is not capturing images immediately prior to the detecting the flash event; and determining a location of the flash event. 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the temporally evaluating the flash event further comprises determining whether a rise time of the flash event meets a threshold rise time and determining whether the flash event is detected for longer than a second threshold such that the flash event is identified as not of interest. 16. The method of claim 14, farther comprising: spectrally evaluating the flash event; and wherein the determining whether the flash event is an event of interest comprises determining whether the flash event is an event of interest based on the temporal and spectral evaluations. 17. The method of claim 14, farther comprising: triggering, in response to detecting the flash event and determining that the flash event is an event of interest, the imaging system to capture a second image after the flash event; and processing the first image and the second image to isolate the flash event within a field of view of the imaging device. 18. The method of claim 14, wherein the flash event is associated with rapid burning of propellant or explosive. 19. The method of claim 14, wherein the temporally evaluating the flash event step further comprises determining whether the flash event exhibits a single monolithic rise in time with a rise time of less than approximately 10 milliseconds and determining whether the flash event is detected for longer than a duration threshold such that the flash event is identified as not of interest. 20. The method of claim 14 further comprising: evaluating a spectrum of the flash event by comparing an output in an infrared region from 3-5 microns to an output in a visible region from 500-700 nanometers; and classifying the flash event as an event of interest when the output in the infrared region is more than approximately 10 times greater than the output in the visible region. 21. A method of detecting flash events, the method comprising: detecting a flash event; temporally evaluating the flash event; determining whether the flash event is an event of interest based on the temporal evaluation; triggering an imaging system to capture a first image including the flash event when the flash event is an event of interest; determining a location of the flash event; spectrally evaluating the flash event, wherein the determining whether the flash event is an event of interest comprises determining whether the flash event is an event of interest based on the temporal and spectral evaluations; and classifying the flash event as one of a plurality of different types of known flashes based on the spectral evaluation. 22. The method of claim 21, further comprising: triggering, in response to detecting the flash event and determining that the flash event is an event of interest, the imaging system to capture a second image after the flash event; and processing the first image and the second image to isolate the flash event within a field of view of the imaging device. 23. A method of detecting flash events, the method comprising: detecting a flash event; temporally evaluating the flash event; determining whether the flash event is an event of interest based on the temporal evaluation; triggering an imaging system to capture a first image including the flash event when the flash event is an event of interest; determining a location of the flash event; triggering, in response to detecting the flash event and determining that the flash event is an event of interest, the imaging system to capture a second image after the flash event; and processing the first image and the second image to isolate the flash event within a field of view of the imaging device; wherein the determining the location of the flash event comprises: subtracting the second image from the first image producing a difference image that isolates the flash event within the field of view of the first image; and determining a geo-location of the flash event based on the isolated flash event. 24. A method of detecting a flash, comprising: detecting a flash event; determining a portion of a temporal signature of the flash event while the flash event is in progress; evaluating the portion of the temporal signature; determining whether the flash event is a flash event of interest based on the portion of the temporal signature; triggering an imaging system to capture an image including a portion of the flash event when the flash event is determined to be a flash event of interest based at least on the portion of the temporal signature, where the imaging system is not capturing images immediately prior to the detecting the flash event; and determining a location of the flash event. 25. The method of claim 24, wherein: the determining the portion of the temporal signature step comprises determining a rise time of the temporal signature of the flash event; the evaluating the portion of the temporal signature step comprises evaluating the rise time; the determining whether the flash event is a flash event of interest step comprises determining whether the rise time of the temporal signature is less than about 2 milliseconds; and the triggering step comprises triggering the imaging system to capture the image including the portion of the flash event when the flash event is determined to be a flash event of interest based at least on the rise time of the temporal signature. 26. A method of detecting a flash, comprising: detecting a flash event; determining a portion of a temporal signature of the flash event while the flash event is in progress; evaluating the portion of the temporal signature; determining whether the flash event is a flash event of interest based on the portion of the temporal signature; triggering an imaging system to capture an image including a portion of the flash event when the flash event is determined to be a flash event of interest based at least on the portion of the temporal signature; determining a location of the flash event; determining a spectral signature of at least a portion of the flash event; evaluating the spectral signature; and wherein the determining whether the flash event is the flash event of interest comprises determining whether the portion of the temporal signature and the spectral signature correspond with known signatures of interest. 27. The method of claim 26, wherein the detecting the flash comprises detecting a first wavelength band of the flash and a different second wavelength band of the flash; and wherein the determining the spectral signature comprises determining the spectral signature as a function of the detected first wavelength band of the flash and the detected second wavelength band of the flash; wherein the determining whether the flash event is an event of interest comprises comparing the spectral signature with a plurality of known spectral signatures, determining whether the spectral signature corresponds with one of the plurality of known spectral signatures, and identifying that the flash event is an event of interest when the spectral signature corresponds with one of the plurality of known spectral signatures and the portion of the temporal signature corresponds with a known signature of interest. 28. The method of claim 26, wherein the detecting the flash event comprises detecting a first visible wavelength band of the flash event from 500-700 nanometers and a second wavelength band as a section of a mid-wave infrared wavelength band of the flash event from 3-5 microns; and wherein the determining the spectral signature step comprises determining the spectral signature as a function of the detected first visible wavelength band of the flash event and the detected second wavelength band of the flash event; wherein the determining whether the flash event is the event of interest step comprises comparing the spectral signature with a plurality of known spectral signatures, determining whether the spectral signature corresponds with one of the plurality of known spectral signatures. 29. A method of detecting a flash, comprising: detecting a flash event; determining a portion of a temporal signature of the flash event while the flash event is in progress; evaluating the portion of the temporal signature; determining whether the flash event is a flash event of interest based on the portion of the temporal signature; triggering an imaging system to capture an image including a portion of the flash event when the flash event is determined to be a flash event of interest based at least on the portion of the temporal signature; and determining a location of the flash event; wherein the evaluating the portion of the temporal signature comprises transforming the temporal signature to a transformed temporal signature; and the determining whether the flash event is the flash event of interest comprises comparing the transformed temporal signature with one or more known transformed temporal signatures. 30. A system that detects flash events, the system comprising: a first detector that detects a flash event and generates a first detector output representative of the detected flash event; an imaging system; a discriminator coupled with the first detector and the imaging system, wherein the discriminator receives the first detector output, determines whether the flash event is a potential flash event of interest and triggers the imaging system to capture a first image including at least a portion of the flash event when the flash event is the potential flash event of interest where the imaging system is not capturing images immediately prior to the first detector detecting the flash event; and a location system that determines a location of the flash event. 31. The system of claim 30, wherein the imaging system comprises a first imaging device that captures the first image including the portion of the flash event, and a second image comprising substantially the same field of view of the first image and without the flash event. 32. The system of claim 30, wherein the location system is coupled with the discriminator such that the location system isolates the flash event within a field of view of the imaging system and identifies a geo-location of the flash event. 33. The method of claim 30, wherein the discriminator determines whether the flash event is a potential flash event of interest by an examination of a temporal and a spectral nature of radiation emitted by the flash event. 34. A system that detects flash events, the system comprising: a first detector that detects a flash event and generates a first detector output representative of the detected flash event; an imaging system; a discriminator coupled with the first detector and the imaging system, wherein the discriminator receives the first detector output, determines whether the flash event is a potential flash event of interest and triggers the imaging system to capture a first image including at least a portion of the flash event when the flash event is the potential flash event of interest; a location system that determines a location of the flash event; and a second detector coupled with the discriminator; wherein the first detector detects a first wavelength band of the flash event and generates the first output representative of the first wavelength band of the detected flash event; the second detector detects the flash event based on a second wavelength band and generates a second detector output representative of the second wavelength band of the detected flash event; and the discriminator couples with the second detector and determines whether the flash event is the potential flash event of interest based on the first and second detector outputs. 35. The system of claim 34, wherein the discriminator determines a spectral signature based on the detected first and second wavelength bands of the flash event, compares the spectral signature to a plurality of known spectral signatures and determines whether the spectral signature correlates with one of the plurality of known spectral signatures. 36. A system that detects flash events, the system comprising: a first detector that detects a flash event and generates a first detector output representative of the detected flash event; an imaging system; a discriminator coupled with the first detector and the imaging system, wherein the discriminator receives the first detector output, determines whether the flash event is a potential flash event of interest and triggers the imaging system to capture a first image including at least a portion of the flash event when the flash event is the potential flash event of interest; wherein the imaging system comprises a first imaging device that captures the first image including the portion of the flash event, and a second image comprising substantially the same field of view of the first image and without the flash event; an image subtractor coupled with the imaging system to receive the first and second images and to subtract the first and second images to produce a difference image including the portion of the flash event; and a location system that determines a location of the flash event. 37. The system of claim 36, wherein the location system is coupled with the discriminator, and the location system identifies a location within a field of view, from an isolated captured flash event defined in the difference image, of the flash event, and identifies a geo-location of the flash event as a function of both the geographic location of the image capturing system and the location of the flash event within the field of view. 38. A system that detects flash events, the system comprising: a first detector that detects a flash event and generates a first detector output representative of the detected flash event; an imaging system; a discriminator coupled with the first detector and the imaging system, wherein the discriminator receives the first detector output, determines whether the flash event is a potential flash event of interest and triggers the imaging system to capture a first image including at least a portion of the flash event when the flash event is the potential flash event of interest; and a location system that determines a location of the flash event; wherein the discriminator determines a rise time of the first detector output and whether the rise time correlates with a known rise time such that the discriminator identifies the detected flash event as a flash of interest and triggers the imaging system. 39. The method of claim 38, wherein the discriminator determines whether the flash event exhibits a single monolithic rise in time with the rise time being less than approximately 10 milliseconds and determining whether the flash event is detected for longer than a duration threshold such that the flash event is identified as not of interest. 40. A method of detecting flash events, the method comprising: detecting a flash event; spectrally evaluating the flash event; determining whether the flash event is an event of interest based on the spectral evaluation; triggering an imaging system to capture a first image including at least a portion of the flash event when the flash event is an event of interest, where the imaging system is not capturing images immediately prior to the detecting the flash event; and determining a location of the flash event. 41. The method of claim 40, wherein the detecting the flash event comprises detecting a first wavelength band of at least a portion of the flash event and a second wavelength band of at least a portion of the flash event; and wherein the spectrally evaluating the flash event comprises determining a spectral signature of the flash event as a function of the detected first wavelength band of the flash event and the detected second wavelength band of the flash event. 42. A method of detecting a flash, comprising: detecting a flash event; capturing, with an imaging system and in response to detecting the flash event, a first image including a portion of the flash event, wherein the imaging system is not capturing images immediately prior to the detecting the flash; capturing, in response to detecting the flash event, a second image that does not include the flash event; and processing the first and second images with respect to the flash event. 43. A method of detecting a flash event from weaponry, comprising: detecting the flash event from the weaponry; and taking a first image including the flash event in response to detecting the flash event, wherein the taking the first image comprises taking the first image with an imaging system where the imaging system is not capturing images immediately prior to the detecting the flash event. 44. The method of claim 43, wherein the flash event from the weaponry is associated with rapid burning of propellant or explosive. 45. A method of detecting flash events, the method comprising: detecting a flash event associated with rapid burning of propellant or explosive; examining a temporal nature and a spectral nature of radiation emitted by the flash event; determining that the flash event is a flash event of interest when the temporal nature of the flash event is such that the flash event exhibits a single monolithic rise in time with a rise time being less than approximately 10 milliseconds and a duration less than a duration threshold, and when an output of radiation emitted by the flash event in an infrared region from 3-5 microns is at least 10 times greater than an output of the radiation in a visible region from 500-700 nanometers; triggering, in response to determining step, an imaging system to capture a first image including at least a portion of the flash event, where the imaging system is not capturing images immediately prior to the detecting the flash event; and triggering, in response to determining step, the imaging system to capture a second image with substantially a same field of view as the first image and not including the flash event; and taking a difference between the second image and the first image to produce a difference image comprising the captured flash event; and determining a location of the flash event based at least on the difference image.