Publications & Presentations

Fiber-based hand-held RCM-OCT probe for noninvasive assessment of skin lesions and therapy guidance

Gopi Maguluri, John Grimble, Mircea Mujat, Jesung Park, Aliana Caron, Nicusor Iftimia
Translationanal Biophotonics, 05 June 2022 https://doi.org/10.1002/tbio.202200002

Noninvasive assessment of skin lesions, especially of basal cell carcinoma (BCC), has benefited more recently from the use of optical imaging techniques such as optical coherence tomography (OCT) and reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM).

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While RCM provides submicron scale resolution and thus enables identification of skin morphological changes of the skin, with the downside of limited penetration depth, OCT imaging of the same lesion brings the benefit of better resolving its depth of invasion. OCT and RCM can be used either individually or combined within the same instrument for the noninvasive diagnosis of nonmelanoma skin cancers (NMSCs). Their combined use has shown to provide certain benefits such as better characterization of the lesion's margins, both in depth and laterally, as well as improved sensitivity and specificity, as previously demonstrated by our team. In this article we report a new “fiber-based” implementation of the second-generation RCM-OCT hand-held probe. The fiber-based implementation of both imaging modalities enabled the construction of a smaller footprint/lower weight hand-held probe. Its preliminary evaluation on the skin of healthy volunteers is reported here, demonstrating improved capabilities for resolving sub-cellular structures and image skin morphology with micron-scale resolution to a higher depth than in the previous implementation, while also enabling the construction of angiography maps showing vascular remodeling

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© 2022 Physical Sciences Inc. Translational Biophotonics published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: NIH SBIR, Grant/Award Number: 1R41EB032693

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Fiber-based hand-held RCM-OCT probe for noninvasive assessment of skin lesions and therapy guidance

Gopi Maguluri, John Grimble, Mircea Mujat, Jesung Park, Aliana Caron, Nicusor Iftimia
Translationanal Biophotonics, 05 June 2022 https://doi.org/10.1002/tbio.202200002

Noninvasive assessment of skin lesions, especially of basal cell carcinoma (BCC), has benefited more recently from the use of optical imaging techniques such as optical coherence tomography (OCT) and reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM).

…
While RCM provides submicron scale resolution and thus enables identification of skin morphological changes of the skin, with the downside of limited penetration depth, OCT imaging of the same lesion brings the benefit of better resolving its depth of invasion. OCT and RCM can be used either individually or combined within the same instrument for the noninvasive diagnosis of nonmelanoma skin cancers (NMSCs). Their combined use has shown to provide certain benefits such as better characterization of the lesion's margins, both in depth and laterally, as well as improved sensitivity and specificity, as previously demonstrated by our team. In this article we report a new “fiber-based” implementation of the second-generation RCM-OCT hand-held probe. The fiber-based implementation of both imaging modalities enabled the construction of a smaller footprint/lower weight hand-held probe. Its preliminary evaluation on the skin of healthy volunteers is reported here, demonstrating improved capabilities for resolving sub-cellular structures and image skin morphology with micron-scale resolution to a higher depth than in the previous implementation, while also enabling the construction of angiography maps showing vascular remodeling

Expand

© 2022 Physical Sciences Inc. Translational Biophotonics published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: NIH SBIR, Grant/Award Number: 1R41EB032693

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Laser Sensors for Monitoring, Locating, Imaging, and Quantifying Methane Emissions

Nick Aubut, Mickey Frish and Shin-Juh Chen, Paul Wehnert, Sean Epps, and Milton Heath III
Laser Sensors for Monitoring, Locating, Imaging, and Quantifying Methane Emissions
METHANE STRATEGIES FORUM 2022, June 20-22, Houston, Texas

Technological advances make it easier and less expensive to capture carbon and detect leaks from improperly capped wells, pipelines and even aging gas infrastructure in cities. The ability to measure carbon dioxide and methane is a big deal because more can be captured, used, re-injected and sequestered. Lasers are now also the key to inexpensive leak detection for natural gas

Copyright © 2022 Physical Sciences Inc.

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Backscatter-TDLAS Detectors for Monitoring, Locating, Imaging, and Quantifying Methane Emissions

Mickey B. Frish, Shin-Juh Chen, Nicholas F. Aubut, and Richard T. Wainner, Paul Wehnert, Kevin Bendele and Steve Chancey
CLEO Conference, May 15-19, 2022, San Jose, California

The urgency to reduce methane emissions to the atmosphere is driving industry adoption of advanced technologies for methane measurement and monitoring. We present a suite of laser-based sensors for detecting, locating, and measuring methane sources.

© 2022 Physical Sciences Inc. All Rights reserved. Acknowledgements: Department of Energy (DoE), Advanced Project Research Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), National Institute of Occupational Health & Safety (NIOSH), Department of Transportation (DoT), Leak Survey Inc., New Era Technologies, NYSEARCH, Southern California Gas (SoCalGas), GTI Energy, Heath Consultants Inc., Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI)

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Cable Resistance in Spacecraft Deployable Mechanisms

Brian W. Schweinhart, Ziv A. Arzt, Brendan E. Nunan, Alex J. Mednick
2022 AIAA SciTech Forum, 3-7 January 2022, San Diego, CA
Paper https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2022-1623

The resistive torques of cable harnesses and service loops comprise a significant portion of the force budgets of deployable space mechanisms. The space engineering community lacks a reliable and methodical way to predict these forces early in the mechanism design process. Incumbent methods rely on estimates from heritage applications or use deployment prototype tooling.

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The latter approach is typically specific to the application and the design and therefore incurs timely and expensive iterations. This paper describes a methodology for directly predicting cable drag and resistive torque from the cable specification and deployment geometry alone. The method outlines a standard procedure for characterizing the elastoplastic and viscoelastic material properties of space cables. These experimentally-determined material properties are supplied along with deployed cable geometry to a FEA model, which predicts the cable resistive forces in a representative deployment system.

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Copyright © 2022 Physical Sciences Inc. Paper https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2022-1623 Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics by permission. For permission to copy or republish, contact the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 1801 Alexander Bell Drive, Suite 500, Reston, VA 20191-4344.

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An ultra-compact shortwave infrared hyperspectral imaging system

Jay Giblin, Rusha Chatterjee, Michael Chase, Michael Ascenzi, Jonathan Rameau, Julia Dupuis, Jacob A. Martin, and Joseph Meola
SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing, 4-7 April, 2022, Orlando, FL

Physical Sciences Inc. has developed an ultra-compact shortwave infrared (SWIR) staring mode hyperspectral imaging (HSI) sensor with an additional visible full motion video (FMV) capability.

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The innovative HSI design implements a programmable micro-electromechanical system entrance slit that breaks the interdependence between vehicle speed, frame rate, and spatial resolution of conventional push-broom systems and enables staring-mode operation without cooperative motion of the host vehicle or aircraft. The FMV and HSI components fit within 1000 cm3, weigh a total of 2.1 lbs., and draw 15 W of power. The sensor mechanical design is compatible with gimbal-based deployment allowing for easy integration into ground vehicles or aircrafts. The FMV is capable of achieving NIRS-6 imagery over a 6°×6° field-of-view (FOV) at a 1500 ft. standoff. The SWIR HSI covers a spectral range of 900-1605 nm with a 15 nm spectral resolution, and interrogates a 5°×5° FOV per 1.6 s with a 2.18 mrad instantaneous FOV (1 m ground sample distance at 1500 ft.). A series of outdoor tests at standoffs up to 300 ft. have been conducted that demonstrate the payload’s capability to acquire HSI information. The payload has direct utility towards diverse remote sensing applications such as vegetation monitoring, geological mapping, surveillance, etc. The data product utility is demonstrated through the spectral identification of materials (e.g. foam and cloth) placed in the sensor’s FOV.

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Copyright © 2022 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. This paper was presented at the SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing, 4-7 April, 2022, Orlando, FL (Paper No. 12094-7), and is made available as an electronic reprint (preprint) with permission of SPIE. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic or multiple reproduction, distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited.

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