Design and experimental validation of novel optics-based autofocusing microscope

This study designs and characterizes a novel precise optics-based autofocusing microscope with both the large linear autofocusing range and the rapid response. In contrast to conventional optics-based autofocusing microscopes with centroid method, the proposed microscope comprises two optical paths, namely one optical path which provides a short linear autofocusing range but an extremely high focusing accuracy and a second optical path which achieves a long linear autofocusing range but a reduced focusing accuracy. The two optical paths are combined using a self-written autofocus-processing algorithm to realize an autofocusing microscope with a large linear autofocusing range, a rapid response, and a high focusing accuracy. The microscope is characterized numerically using commercial software ZEMAX and is then verified experimentally using a laboratory-built prototype. The experimental results show that compared to conventional optics-based autofocusing microscopes with centroid method and a single optical path, the proposed microscope achieves both a longer autofocusing range and a more rapid response with no reduction in the focusing accuracy. Overall, the results presented in this study show that the proposed microscope provides an ideal solution for automatic optical inspection and industrial applications.     

Numerical analysis for verifying the performance of lens system in a scanning electron microscope

This work presents an analysis of the lens system in a thermionic scanning electron microscope (SEM) using a numerical computation and an optics-based calculation. The behaviors and characteristics of the electron beam are analyzed and the focusing capability is investigated. The beam spot size is estimated by calculation and proved by experiment. The characteristics and properties determining the SEM performance are investigated for various design parameters through a numerical analysis and an optics-based calculation. Particularly, a combination of two approaches gives more detailed information than a single approach in investigating an extremely small beam spot by demagnification through the electromagnetic lens system in a SEM column.     

A transputer-based automated visual inspection system for electronic devices and PCBs

Computer vision has been gaining popularity for industrial applications, and the transputer offers a cost-effective vision hardware platform for an automated vision system. In this paper, component level inspection was carried out on the integrated circuit (IC), diode, resistor and capacitor. Board level inspection was also implemented for inspection of multiple ICs and missing components on assembled PCBs. The algorithms used were implemented for parallel processing using transputers. Through experiments, it was found that inspection of a component takes less than l.5 s, with an accuracy of above 85%. The transputer has also proven to out-perform sequential processing. The implementation of transputers for real-time image processing was successfully achieved.     

一种快速检测圆心的抗噪声亚像素算法

在印刷电路板的自动光学检测中，被检对象的空间对准是一个关键步骤，而传统的图像匹配技术由于其只能在像素级定位，而无法适应印刷电路板精确对准的要求。本文利用圆的几何对称性，提出一种在亚像素精度快速定位圆心的算法。     

显微数字全息数值再现中的自动聚焦

自动聚焦是显微数字全息数值再现中的一项关键技术。基于菲涅耳变换重建算法, 采用实验验证的方法, 对显微数字全息成像中六种典型聚焦评价函数的性能进行了对比研究。提出了利用再现像部分区域进行调焦判断的方法。结果表明, 这些函数都具有较好的单峰性、一致的调焦范围和准确性, 但与梯度运算相关的调焦函数运算时间太长; 傅里叶频谱函数调焦速度最快, 是首选的聚焦评价函数。选取再现像部分区域作为调焦计算区域, 可大大缩短调焦时间。对于低信噪比全息图, 利用维纳自适应滤波进行预处理及对再现像进行后处理, 有利于提高自动调焦的准确性及再现像的质量。     

A novel calibration approach to structured light 3D vision inspection

Structured light 3D vision inspection is a commonly used method for various 3D surface profiling techniques. In this paper, a novel approach is proposed to generate the sufficient calibration points with high accuracy for structured light 3D vision. This approach is based on a flexible calibration target, composed of a photo-electrical aiming device and a 3D translation platform. An improved algorithm of back propagation (BP) neural network is also presented, and is successfully applied to the calibration of structured light 3D vision inspection. Finally, using the calibration points and the improved algorithm of BP neural network, the best network structure is established. The training accuracy for the best BP network structure is 0.083 mm, and its testing accuracy is 0.128 mm.     

极小景深条件下显微镜大范围聚焦算法

自动聚焦是全自动显微成像中的一项关键技术。为了克服已有聚焦算法对聚焦起始点敏感及聚焦范围过小的问题,从分析大范围聚焦曲线形态入手,依据离焦距离、初始搜索方向和初始搜索范围等参量和曲线形态参数间的制约关系,将聚焦划分为六种类型,极值搜索中结合聚焦函数值的变化信息并通过启发式方式将未知类型转化为基本型,从而实现了大范围聚焦到小范围聚焦的转换。然后在聚焦曲线陡峭区范围内对曲线进行高斯拟合以获取最优焦平面。基于自行研发的全自动显微镜系统对提出的算法进行了验证,实验结果证明了该算法的有效性。     

Imaging properties and applications of scanning optical microscopes

This review paper is concerned with the imaging properties and major uses of scanning optical microscopes. It is shown that the confocal scanning microscope exhibits a form of super-resolution and that the instrument in general has great application in nonlinear microscopy and the inspection of electronic devices.     

多分辨力分析在自动聚焦算法抗噪声性能中的应用

自动聚焦是数码设备、计算机视觉中的一项关键技术。自动聚焦过程中,聚焦的准确性和抗噪声性能至关重要。以高频分量作为度量的聚集评价函数具有灵敏性高、聚焦准确的优点,适用于实时系统,但是对噪声十分敏感,受噪声污染时可能导致聚焦失败。因此,提出了一种具有噪声稳健性的高频分量自动聚焦评价函数。该函数通过小波多分辨力分析提取高频分量,利用了信号的每个子带的小波系数存在一定相关性,而噪声不存在这样的相关性的特点,设定高频子带阈值,认为低于阈值的系数是噪声的贡献,大致分离图像信号与噪声信号,从而将其滤除。经过大量的实验,证明提出的方法具有单峰性好、灵敏度高等优点,特别是在抗噪声性能方面有很大提高。     

图像式显微自动调焦、瞄准系统的研究

基于CCD图像技术提出一种新的图像式显微自动调焦、瞄准系统 ,该系统实现了通用光学仪器及现代数字化仪器中自动调焦与图像瞄准 ,解决了这类仪器自动化程度低 ,瞄准精度受人员主观影响大 ,劳动强度大 ,不易于微机化等问题。给出了新系统的结构与原理 ,分析了系统实现的精度保证 ,并对新系统进行了实验研究。     

基于高斯分布的星点图像亚像元定位算法研究

应用高斯点分布函数为数学模型,提出了一种新的获取高精度恒星质心位置的方法.由于入射到星像点邻域内像元中的光子能量呈近高斯分布,因此利用成像邻域内像元强度的比值,将高斯点分布函数展开成为关于质心位置的多项式,可将质心位置在x、y轴方向分别计算出来,并利用从星图中提取出的多星对角距误差的统计值来间接验证提出的算法.试验结果...     

数字同轴全息颗粒场检测中的颗粒分割识别与独立聚焦

针对数字同轴全息颗粒场检测中不同层面颗粒的自动聚焦问题,通过分析颗粒场数字同轴全息记录与再现的特点,提出一种颗粒分割识别与独立聚焦方法.给出了对单个颗粒进行聚焦判断的独立聚焦判据函数、以及实现颗粒分割识别和独立聚焦的方法.通过单层单个、两层两个及多层多个颗粒场的实验,验证了所提出方法的正确性.     

Constructing feature points for calibrating a structured light vision sensor by viewing a plane from unknown orientations

To calibrate a structured light vision sensor, it is necessary to obtain at least four non-collinear feature points that fall on the light stripe plane. We propose a novel method to construct non-collinear feature points used for calibrating a structured light vision sensor with a planar calibration object. After the planar calibration object is moved freely in the range of measuring of the structured light vision sensor at least twice, all the local world coordinates of the feature points falling on the light stripe plane can be readily obtained in site. The global world coordinates of the non-collinear feature points in the local world coordinate frame can be computed through the three-dimensional (3D) camera coordinate frame. A planar calibration object is designed according to the proposed approach to provide accurate feature points. The experiments conducted on a real structured light vision sensor that consists of a camera and a single-light-stripe-plane laser projector reveal that the proposed approach has high accuracy and is practical in the vision inspection applications. The proposed approach greatly reduces the cost of the calibration equipment and simplifies the calibrating procedure. It advances structured light vision inspection one step from laboratory environments to real world use.     

Super-resolution by annular pupil inserted scattered light fluorescence microscopes

Scattered light fluorescence (SLF) microscopy has been developed to take images through scattering media with subwavelength resolution. Here, we investigate the effect of an annular pupil on SLF microscopes via theory and simulations. As opposite to subwavelength resolution achieved by the conventional SLF microscopes, super-resolution can be achieved by annular pupil inserted scattered light fluorescence (API-SLF) microscopes. In fact, the resolution of an API-SLF microscope is usually relevant to one of its component, the scattering medium. By showing the average resolution of API-SLF microscopes that composed of different scattering media is about 0.4 times of the incident wavelength, we demonstrate that an API-SLF microscope with appropriate scattering medium is able to beat the diffraction limit.     

Three-Airy autofocusing beams

We numerically and experimentally demonstrate that a three-Airy autofocusing beam can be generated by superposing three deformed two-dimensional(2 D) Airy beams with a triangle symmetry. When the initial angle between two wings of the deformed 2 D Airy beams increases, such a three-Airy autofocusing beam exhibits that the focusing length decreases and the intensity contrast at the focal point changes. Moreover, after introducing an optical vortex phase, this three-Airy autofocusing beam displays a transverse rotation in propagation. The rotation angle is determined by the topological charge of the vortex and the initial wing angle. Our results may have some potential applications in optical manipulation.     

On the problems of the application of atomic-force microscopes for studying the surface roughness of elements for imaging optics

The key problems of applying atomic-force microscopes when studying the surface roughness of elements for imaging optics are discussed. Special attention is paid to optics of ultrahigh spatial resolution with an operating wavelength of no shorter than 100 nm. It is proposed that a specialized microscope for optical applications equipped with a tetraaxial goniometer be developed.     

数字图像处理自动图像聚焦算法的分析和比较

图像聚焦判别函数的选择是自动图像测量中获取高质量图像的依据,对几种用于自动图像聚焦判别的数字图像处理算法进行了较全面的性能比较,定量分析了不同算法的计算速度、唯一性、准确性和灵敏度等。分析结果表明:梯度向量平方函数、拉普拉斯算法和二级梯度平方算法在单值性和灵敏度方面都较好;罗伯特(Robert)梯度算法和梯度向量模方算法函数的稳定性比较好。以上的图像聚焦判别函数特性分析结果对于图像自动测量所需要的自动调焦控制具有指导意义。     

Acoustic classification of Australian anurans based on hybrid spectral-entropy approach

A new hybrid method for automated frog sound identification, using spectral centroid, Shannon entropy and Rényi entropy is proposed. The advantage of using entropy based information theoretic approach for analyzing complexity of bioacoustics signals in animal vocalization is discussed. Sound samples from nine species of Microhylidae frogs are first segmented into syllables. Fourier spectral centroid, Shannon entropy and Rényi entropy of the syllables are then determined. Finally, nonparametric k-th nearest neighbour (k-NN) classifier is used to recognize the frog species based on these three extracted features. Result shows that the k-NN classifier based on these selected features is capable to identify the species of the frogs with an average accuracy of 98%. It is found that the accuracy reduces significantly only when the noise levels higher than −20 dB.     

Microscopic Computed Tomography Based on Generalized Analytic Reconstruction from Discrete Samples

We propose a computed tomography (CT) for the incoherent optical system based on a generalized analytic reconstruction method from discrete samples (GARDS), by which an object image defined in a continuous space is reconstructed from discrete images acquired through the imaging system. We apply this method to reconstruct depth structures of micro-specimens using conventional fluorescence microscopes. Also, we discuss the optimal sampling distance in the depth direction through a generalized singular value decomposition of a continuous-to-discrete imaging system. We next apply the GARDS-based CT method to a double-axis microscope, in which two microscopes are set up perpendicularly to cover a missing frequency band of each microscopic imaging system. We show simulation results which verify the effectiveness of our proposed method.     

“网格式平行线法”在螺纹参数测量中的应用

在计算机视觉理论基础上发展起来的视觉检测(vision inspection)技术具有非接触、速度快、精度适中、可实现在线等优点，已广泛地应用于工业产品的在线检测。在计算机视觉检测技术中CCD摄像机是一个最关键的器件，其参数是否准确决定了检测的精度。所以，摄像机标定是视觉检测技术中最基本的也是最重要的一步。在比较其他标定方法的基础上，为了解决传统标定方法对螺纹图像测量系统所带来的一系列问题，采用了一种新的图像测量系统的标定方法——网格式平行线标定方法，该方法运用了CCD亚像素细分技术及调焦技术，可直接得到纵横2个方向的像素，经过理论分析及实验结果均表明，采用该方法具有标定简单、精度高、重复性好等优点，是一种较好的螺纹图像测量系统标定方法。