A method of detecting defects in a composite structure includes applying heat to a surface of a composite structure. Thermographic images or frames captured by a moving camera may be utilized to corm temporally aligned images that include temperature data (pixels) from a plurality of frames, wherein the pixels comprise data captured at a simple (uniform) time delay from the time at which heat was applied. The temporally aligned thermographic data for the surface region may include variations due to differences in thermal transients caused by defects in the composite structure. The variations in the thermographic data may be utilized to detect one or more defects in the composite structure.

Devices and corresponding methods can be provided to monitor or measure temperature of a target or to control a process. Targets can have low, unknown, or variable emissivity. Devices and corresponding methods can be used to measure temperatures of thin film, partially transparent, or opaque targets, as well as targets not filling a sensor's field of view. Temperature measurements can be made independent of emissivity of a target surface by, for example, inserting a target between a thermopile sensor and a background surface maintained at substantially the same temperature as the thermopile sensor. In embodiment devices and methods, a sensor temperature can be controlled to match a target temperature by minimizing or zeroing a net heat flux at the sensor, as derived from a sensor output signal. Alternatively, a target temperature can be controlled to minimize the heat flux.

A system for analyzing thermal properties of a railroad includes a thermal imaging device configured to generate thermal image data reproducible as a thermal image of a portion of the railroad, the thermal image data being associated with a location of the portion of the railroad, an electronic display device, a memory device configured to receive and store therein the generated thermal image data; and one or more processors configured to: determine a temperature metric of the portion of the railroad based at least in part on the thermal image data; and cause the electronic display device to display (i) a first graph indicative of the temperature metric of the portion of the railroad and (ii) a second graph indicative of a railroad track geometry metric associated with the location of the portion of the railroad.

A motion sensor for detection motion of humans is provided. The motion sensor contains a near infrared (NIR) low resolution image sensor that captures image frames in the near infrared spectrum and a sensor that detects the amount of visible light. In addition, a processor is connected to the visible light sensor and the NIR motion sensor. The processor is configured to receive the amount of visible light from the visible light sensor and the images from the NIR low resolution image sensor. The processor is further configured to compare the image frames to detect motion; the sensitivity of the detection of motion is determined by the amount of visible light detected by the visible light sensor. The output has two or modes based on the detection of motion by the processor.

A system that includes a detection device, an imaging device, and a control device is disclosed. The detection device may generate proximity data relating to a proximity of an undercarriage of a rail vehicle, and the imaging device may capture one or more thermal images of the undercarriage. The control device may receive a first thermal image and a second thermal image of the undercarriage. The first thermal image may be captured using a first integration time, and the second thermal image may be captured using a second integration time. The control device may determine composite thermal data associated with the undercarriage. The composite thermal data may include information mapping a first range of thermal data and mapping a second range of thermal data to one or more components of the undercarriage. The control device may cause an action to be performed in connection with the composite thermal data.

A method and a road finisher for creating a temperature field of a newly laid paving layer corrected for interfering-related temperature measurement errors. It is recognised that when the paving layer is paved, a measuring point is covered by an interfering object at a first time if, contrary to an expected material-specific cooling at a later second time during paving at the same measuring point, a larger temperature value particularly lying within a nominal temperature range than a temperature value measured to the preceding first time is measured, wherein instead of the temperature value detected at the first time a new temperature value is assigned to the measuring point in the temperature field.

In one aspect, a method of determining lateral edges of an asphalt mat deposited by a paving machine includes obtaining thermal image data of the asphalt mat at a thermal measuring device associated with the paving machine, and determining, on the paving machine, the lateral edges of the asphalt mat based on a threshold temperature value and the thermal image data. Other aspects include a method of generating a thermal map of an asphalt mat formed by paving machine, and a system for determining lateral edges of an asphalt mat deposited by a paving machine.

The present invention is a motion detection system that will consistently report detected movement, while reducing the number of false reports. The motion detection system includes a receiver and a dual sensor motion detector. The dual sensor motion detector utilizes sensors mounted in a weatherproof chassis. The dual sensors are located at the same vertical height in the weatherproof chassis and separated by a predetermined distance from the center of the chassis. Each sensor is rotated at an angle away from the center of the chassis. Each sensor has a coverage area dictated by its viewing angle (or field-of-view) and viewing distance. By utilizing dual sensors, a user can set the dual sensor motion detector to an AND operation or an OR operation. Motion is detected when both sensors detect movement simultaneously or motion is detected when any one of the two sensors detects movement.

A system for determining a risk level for particles moving along a path of movement from a first position to a second position includes a sensor arrangement and processing device. The sensor arrangement includes at least one set of sensing elements including at least two sensing elements arranged to co-operate with mutually separated sensing zones along the path of movement of the particles to detect a signal related to temperature of the particles. The processing device is arranged to: receive signals from the sensor arrangement; form signals from the sensing elements into a pulse train when a particle moves through field-of-view of the sensor arrangement; and based on the pulse train, determine a risk level for the particles. The processing device is arranged to adapt at least one parameter used in the determination of the risk level based on at least one property of the particles moving along the path of movement from the first position to the second position.

A method of detecting defects in a composite structure includes applying heat to a surface of a composite structure. Thermographic images or frames captured by a moving camera may be utilized to form temporally aligned images that include temperature data (pixels) from a plurality of frames, wherein the (pixels) comprise data captured at a simple (uniform) time delay from the time at which heat was applied. The temporally aligned thermographic data for the surface region may include variations due to differences in thermal transients caused by defects in the composite structure. The variations in the thermographic data may be utilized to detect one or more defects in the composite structure.