Estimation of complex motion from thermographic image sequences

In this contribution a novel technique for computing complex motion involving heat transport processes will be presented. The proposed technique is a local gradient based approach, combining transport models with motion analysis. It allows for the simultaneous estimation of both motion and parameter of an underlying transport model. Since the analysis is based on thermal image sequences, estimates are computed to a high temporal and spatial resolution, limited only by the resolution and frame rate of the employed IR camera. This novel technique was utilized on exchange processes at the atmosphere/ocean boundary, where significant parameters of heat transfer could be measured and a transport model verified. Using the presented algorithms, surface flows as well as convergences and divergences on air-water interfaces can be measured accurately. Apart from applications in oceanography and botany, relevant benefits of the proposed technique to NDT will be presented. It is possible to compensate for motion to reach accuracies much better than 1/10th of a pixel. Through the direct estimation of locally resolved diffusivities in materials, insights can be gained about defects present. By estimating not only isotropic diffusion but also the whole matrix of anisotropic diffusion, the technique is highly relevant to measurements of composite materials.