Detection system and method featuring multispectral imaging device

1. A system comprising:

a multispectral imaging device operable to capture images of a field of view at different wavelengths; and

an electronic processing device coupled to the multispectral imaging device, wherein the processing device comprises a processor, a memory, and a user interface, and wherein the processing device is operable to:

save multispectral images to the memory for access by the processor;

apply one or more segmentation techniques to find regions in each multispectral image;

combine segmented regions from the multispectral images to generate regions that have distinct spectral characteristics;

estimate background parameters of each pixel in each region based on spatial and spectral intensities;

compute background spectral intensities based on the estimated background parameters;

compute foreground spectral intensities by subtracting input intensity from the corresponding background intensity; and

identify an incident based on the computed foreground spectral intensities, wherein an incident is indicated by a change in foreground spectral intensity; and

generate an alarm when a foreground region indicates a hazardous incident.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the multispectral imaging device comprises a microbolometer.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic processing device is incorporated into the multispectral imaging device.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the multispectral imaging device comprises a filter wheel operable to filter different wavelengths as it rotates in front of a camera.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the multispectral imaging device comprises a lens array that is split into different wavelengths.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the multispectral imaging device comprises a plurality of cameras located within the multispectral imaging device.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the incident comprises a gas leak.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the processing device is operable to identify a specific gas type, and wherein the alarm is generated if the gas is identified to be a hazardous gas.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the incident comprises a fire.

10. A method for detection of background and foreground radiances captured by a multispectral imaging device, the method comprising:

acquiring a plurality of spectral images from a multispectral imaging system in a facility, wherein a field of view of the multispectral imaging system covers an area with a potential for a fire or gas incident;

applying a calibration to each spectral image of the plurality of spectral images such that an intensity of a pixel is transformed to a spectral radiance;

applying one or more segmentation techniques to find segmented regions in each of the spectral images;

combining the segmented regions from the spectral images to generate regions that have distinct spectral characteristics;

estimating background parameters of each pixel in each region based on spatial and spectral intensities;

computing background spectral intensities based on the estimated background parameters;

computing foreground spectral intensities by subtracting input intensity from the corresponding background intensity; and

identifying an incident based on the computed foreground spectral intensities, wherein an incident is indicated by a change in foreground spectral intensity.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the incident is identified when the computed foreground spectral intensities are higher or lower than predefined thresholds.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising displaying the processed images on a user interface.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein estimation is based on averaging the background parameters computed from multi-spectral pixel intensities.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the background parameters include temperature and emissivity.

15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising applying one or more noise removal techniques to reduce the impact of noise and computational inaccuracy.

16. A system comprising:

a multispectral imaging device operable to capture images of a location at different wavelengths; and

an electronic processing device coupled to the multispectral imaging device, wherein the processing device comprises a processor, a memory, and a user interface, and wherein the processing device is operable to:

acquire a plurality of spectral images from the multispectral imaging device;

apply a calibration to each spectral image such that the intensity of a pixel is transformed to spectral radiance;

apply one or more segmentation techniques to find regions in each spectral image;

combine segmented regions from the spectral images to generate regions that have distinct spectral characteristics;

estimate the background parameters, including temperature and emissivity, of each pixel in each region based on spatial and spectral intensities;

compute background spectral intensities based on the estimated background parameters;

compute foreground spectral intensities by subtracting input intensity from the corresponding background intensity; and

identify an incident based on the computed foreground spectral intensities, wherein an incident is indicated by a change in foreground spectral intensity.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the multispectral imaging device comprises a microbolometer.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the incident is identified when the computed foreground spectral intensities are higher or lower than predefined thresholds.

19. The system of claim 16 , wherein the processing device is further operable to display the processed images on a user interface.

20. The system of claim 16 , wherein the processing device is operable to apply one or more noise removal techniques to reduce the impact of noise and computational inaccuracy.