IR Thermography –

Image Resolution
Dinesh Gupta
NAS 410/ EN 4179 Level 3
ET, UT, MT, PT, RT, IRT
Satyakiran School of Non Destructive Testing
Delhi, India
dinesh.gupta@satyakiran.com
Oct 01, 2017
 Definitions
• Resolution – ability to record and display detail
– Spatial
– Spectral
– Radiometric
 Definitions
• Spatial resolution – the amount of geometric
detail
– How close can two points be before you can’t
distinguish them
 Spatial Resolution
• High spatial resolution: 0.6 - 4 m
– » GeoEye-1
– » WorldView-2
– » WorldView-1
– » QuickBird
– » IKONOS
– » FORMOSAT-2
– » ALOS
– » CARTOSAT-1
– » SPOT-5
• Medium spatial resolution: 4 - 30 m
– » ASTER
– » LANDSAT 7
– » CBERS-2
• Low spatial resolution: 30 - > 1000 m
– SeaWiFS
– GOES
 Radiometric Resolution
• Radiometric resolution – the amount of
brightness detail
– Is the image black and white, shades of grey
– How many bits – 4, 8, 12, 16, etc.
Radiometric Resolution
 6 bit
8 bit
2 bit 1 bit
2-bit

8-bit
 Spectral Resolution
• Spectral resolution – the amount of detail in
wavelength
– 2 bands, 4, 6, 200 or more
 Temporal Resolution
• Temporal resolution – the amount of detail in
time
– High altitude aerial photos every 10 years, Landsat
16 days, NOAA 4 hrs
– High resolution: < 24 hours - 3 days
– Medium resolution: 4 - 16 days
– Low resolution: > 16 days
Tradeoffs
 Tradeoffs
• There are trade-offs between spatial, spectral, and
radiometric resolution
– Taken into consideration when engineers design a sensor.
• For high spatial resolution, the sensor has to have a
small IFOV (Instantaneous Field of View).
• However, this reduces the amount of energy that can
be detected as the area of the ground resolution cell
within the IFOV becomes smaller.
• This leads to reduced radiometric resolution - the
ability to detect fine energy differences.
 Tradeoffs
• To increase the amount of energy detected (and the
radiometric resolution) without reducing spatial
resolution, we have to broaden the wavelength
range detected for a particular channel or band.
– Unfortunately, this reduces the spectral resolution of the
sensor.
– Conversely, coarser spatial resolution would allow
improved radiometric and/or spectral resolution.
• Thus, these three types of resolution must be
balanced against the desired capabilities and
objectives of the sensor.
 Target Variables
• Contrast – the brightness difference between
an object and the background
– High contrast improves spatial detail
Contrast versus spatial frequency

Sinusoidal target with

varying contrast in %
and varying spatial
frequency left to right
Obvious resolution
decrease from left to
right. If your eyes are too
good squint to see effect
 Target Variables
• Shape is also a significant factor
• Aspect ratio is how long the object is
compared to its width
– Long thin features can be seen even if they are
narrower than the spatial resolution
• Regularity of shape makes for better detail
– Agricultural fields
 Target Variables
• Number of objects favor higher detail
– Orchard versus single tree
• Extent and uniformity of background also
helps distinguish things
Aerial view of Olympic Peninsula facing west from Port Orchard Bay
 System Variables
• Design of sensor and its operation are
important too
– Air photo – have to consider quality of camera and
lens, choice of film, altitude, scale,
 Operating conditions
• Altitude
• Ground speed
• Atmospheric conditions
 Measuring resolution
• Ground Resolved Distance (GRD) the
dimensions of the smallest objects recorded
• Line pairs per millimeter (LPM) is derived from
targets
– Target is placed on the ground and imaged
• If two obejcts are are visually separated, they
are considered “spatially resolved”
 Measuring resolution
• Using the target you measure the smallest pair
of lines (black line plus adjacent white space)
 Modulation Transfer Function
• The Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) is
response of a system to an array of elements
with varying spaces
 Modulation Transfer Function
• For low spatial frequencies, the modulation transfer
function is close to 1 (or 100%)
– generally falls as the spatial frequency increases until it
reaches zero.
• The contrast values are lower for higher spatial
frequencies .
• As spatial frequency increases, the MTF curve falls
until it reaches zero.
– This is the limit of resolution for a given optical system or
the so called cut off frequency (see figure below).
– When the contrast value reaches zero, the image becomes
a uniform shade of grey.
Modulation Transfer Function
 Modulation Transfer Function
• The figure represents a sine pattern (pure
frequencies) with spatial frequencies from 2
to 200 cycles (line pairs) per mm.
– The top half of the sine pattern has uniform
contrast.
 Modulation Transfer Function
• Perceived image sharpness (NOT lp/mm
resolution) is closely related to the spatial
frequency where MTF is 50% (0.5)
– i.e. where contrast has dropped by half.
 Modulation Transfer Function
• Contrast levels from 100% to 2% are illustrated on
the chart for a variable frequency sine pattern.
• Contrast is moderately attenuated for MTF = 50%
and severely attenuated for MTF = 10%.
• The 2% pattern is visible only because viewing
conditions are favorable:
– it is surrounded by neutral gray, it is noiseless (grainless),
and the display contrast for CRTs and most LCD displays is
relatively high.
– It could easily become invisible under less favorable
conditions.
 Modulation Transfer Function
• How is MTF related to lines per millimeter
resolution?
– The old resolution measurement— distinguishable
lp/mm— corresponds roughly to spatial
frequencies where MTF is between 5% and 2%
(0.05 to 0.02).
– This number varies with the observer, most of
whom stretch it as far as they can.
• An MTF of 9% is implied in the definition of the
Rayleigh diffraction limit.
 Mixed Pixels
• If the area covered by a pixel is not uniform in
composition it leads to mixed pixels.
• These often occur at the edge of large parcels,
along linear features, or scattered due to small
features in the landscape (ponds, buildings,
vehicles, etc.)
Mixed Pixels
 Mixed Pixels
• The spectral responses of those mixed pixels is
not a pure signature, but rather, a composite
signature
• Can you think of an advantage to having a
composite signature?
• Identify areas that are too complex to resolve
individually
• There have been a number of studies on the
effect of resolution on mixed pixels
• As resolution becomes coarser
– Mixed pixels increase
– Interior pixels decrease
– Background pixels decrease
 Resolution and Mixed Pixels
Resolution Total Mixed Interior Back-
ground

A - fine 900 109 143 648

% 1.1 15.9 72
B 225 59 25 141
% 26.2 11.1 62.7
C 100 34 6 60
% 34 6 60
D - coarse 49 23 1 25
% 46.9 2 51
Original Landsat image

Image resampled at coarser resolution

wheat (red), potatoes (green) and sugar beet (blue)
Spatial and Radiometric Resolution
• Sensors are designed with specific levels of
radiometric resolution and spatial resolution
– Both of these determine the ability to portray
features in the landscape
• Broad levels of resolution may be adequate
for coarse-textured landscape
• Finer resolution may help to identify more
features, but may also add more detail than
necessary
 Interactions with Landscape
• In a study of field size in grain-producing
regions, Podwysocki (1976) showed how
effectiveness of different resolutions could be
quantified.
 Interactions with Landscape
• Simonett and Coiner (1971) conducted
another study to determine the effectiveness
of the yet to be launched MSS sensor
• Simulated by using airphotos and overlaying a
grid of 800, 400, 200, and 100 feet.
– Assessed the number of land-use categories in
each cell
 Any Questions?

THANK YOU!