TY - JOUR A1 - Ahmadi, Samim A1 - Burgholzer, P. A1 - Jung, P. A1 - Caire, G. A1 - Ziegler, Mathias T1 - Super resolution laser line scanning thermography N2 - In this paper we propose super resolution measurement and post-processing strategies that can be applied in thermography using laser line scanning. The implementation of these techniques facilitates the separation of two closely spaced defects and avoids the expected deterioration of spatial resolution due to heat diffusion. The experimental studies were performed using a high-power laser as heat source in combination with pulsed thermography measurements (step scanning) or with continuous heating measurements (continuous scanning). Our work shows that laser line step scanning as well as continuous scanning both can be used within our developed super resolution (SR) techniques. Our SR techniques make use of a compressed sensing based algorithm in post- processing, the so-called iterative joint sparsity (IJOSP) approach. The IJOSP method benefits from both - the sparse nature of defects in space as well as from the similarity of each measurement. In addition, we show further methods to improve the reconstruction quality e.g. by simple manipulations in thermal image processing such as by considering the effect of the scanning motion or by using different optimization algorithms within the IJOSP approach. These super resolution image processing methods are discussed so that the advantages and disadvantages of each method can be extracted. Our contribution thus provides new approaches for the implementation of super resolution techniques in laser line scanning thermography and informs about which experimental and post-processing parameters should be chosen to better separate two closely spaced defects. KW - Super resolution KW - Laser thermography KW - Compressed sensing KW - Laser scanning KW - Joint sparsity PY - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-509796 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optlaseng.2020.106279 SN - 0143-8166 VL - 134 SP - 106279 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-50979 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ahmadi, Samim A1 - Burgholzer, P. A1 - Mayr, G. A1 - Jung, P. A1 - Caire, G. A1 - Ziegler, Mathias T1 - Photothermal super resolution imaging: A comparison of different thermographic reconstruction techniques N2 - This paper presents different super resolution reconstruction techniques to overcome the spatial resolution limits in thermography. Pseudo-random blind structured illumination from a onedimensional laser array is used as heat source for super resolution thermography. Pulsed thermography measurements using an infrared camera with a high frame rate sampling lead to a huge amount of data. To handle this large data set, thermographic reconstruction techniques are an essential step of the overall reconstruction process. Four different thermographic reconstruction techniques are analyzed based on the Fourier transform amplitude, principal component analysis, virtual wave reconstruction and the maximum thermogram. The application of those methods results in a sparse basis representation of the measured data and serves as input for a compressed sensing based algorithm called iterative joint sparsity (IJOSP). Since the thermographic reconstruction techniques have a high influence on the result of the IJOSP algorithm, this paper Highlights their Advantages and disadvantages. KW - Super resolution KW - Compressed sensing KW - Laser thermography KW - Virtual wave KW - Defect reconstruction PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ndteint.2020.102228 VL - 111 SP - 2228 PB - Elsevier Ltd. CY - Netherlands AN - OPUS4-50419 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Ahmadi, Samim A1 - Hirsch, Philipp Daniel A1 - Lecompagnon, Julien A1 - Hassenstein, Christian A1 - Jung, P. A1 - Caire, G. A1 - Ziegler, Mathias T1 - New techniques in super resolution photothermal imaging for nondestructive testing N2 - In this work we focus on our most recent studies to super resolution (SR) laser thermography. The goal of SR nondestructive testing methods is to facilitate the separation of closely spaced defects. We explain how to combine laser scanning with SR techniques. It can be shown that stepwise as well as continuous scanning techniques are applicable. Finally, we discuss the effect of experimental parameters and im-age processing techniques to find the optimal SR technique which leads to the highest reconstruction quality within laser thermography. T2 - SMSI 2020 Conference CY - Online meeting DA - 22.06.2020 KW - Super resolution KW - Laser thermography KW - Nondestructive testing KW - Laser scanning KW - Photothermal imaging PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.5162/SMSI2020/C4.1 SP - 169 EP - 170 AN - OPUS4-50895 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Ahmadi, Samim A1 - Lecompagnon, Julien A1 - Hirsch, Philipp Daniel A1 - Burgholzer, Peter A1 - Jung, Peter A1 - Caire, Giuseppe A1 - Ziegler, Mathias T1 - Laser excited super resolution thermal imaging for nondestructive testing N2 - The work to be presented focuses on our most recent studies to laser excited super resolution (SR) thermography. The goal of nondestructive testing with SR is to facilitate the separation of closely spaced defects. Photothermal SR can be realized by performing structured illumination measurements in com-bination with the use of deconvolution algorithms in post-processing. We explain that stepwise as well as continuous scanning techniques are applicable to generate structured illumination measurements. Finally, we discuss the effect of experimental parameters and image processing techniques to find the optimal SR technique which leads to the highest reconstruction quality within laser thermography. T2 - Sensor and Measurement Science International Conference SMSI 2021 CY - Online meeting DA - 03.05.2021 KW - Super resolution KW - Laser thermography KW - Nondestructive testing KW - Laser scanning KW - Photothermal imaging PY - 2021 SP - 181 EP - 182 AN - OPUS4-52780 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Lecompagnon, Julien A1 - Ahmadi, Samim A1 - Hirsch, Philipp Daniel A1 - Rupprecht, C. A1 - Ziegler, Mathias ED - Kimata, M. ED - Shaw, J. A. ED - Valenta, C. R. T1 - Investigations on photothermal super resolution reconstruction using 2D-structured illumination patterns N2 - Active thermography as a nondestructive testing modality suffers greatly from the limitations imposed by the diffusive nature of heat conduction in solids. As a rule of thumb, the detection and resolution of internal defects/inhomogeneities is limited to a defect depth to defect size ratio greater than or equal to one. Earlier, we demonstrated that this classical limit can be overcome for 1D and 2D defect geometries by using photothermal laser-scanning super resolution. In this work we report a new experimental approach using 2D spatially structured illumination patterns in conjunction with compressed sensing and computational imaging methods to significantly decrease the experimental complexity and make the method viable for investigating larger regions of interest. T2 - Future Sensing Technologies Conference 2021 CY - Online meeting DA - 15.11.2021 KW - Thermography KW - Super resolution KW - NDT KW - Inspection KW - Image resolution PY - 2021 DO - https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2603838 VL - 11914 SP - 124 EP - 131 PB - International Society for Optics and Photonics. SPIE AN - OPUS4-53745 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Lecompagnon, Julien A1 - Hirsch, Philipp Daniel A1 - Rupprecht, C. A1 - Ziegler, Mathias ED - Mendioroz, A. ED - Avdelidis, N. P. T1 - Thermographic testing using 2D pseudo-random illumination and photothermal super resolution reconstruction N2 - Due to the diffusive nature of heat propagation in solids, the detection and resolution of internal defects with active thermography based non-destructive testing is commonly limited to a defect-depth-to-defect-size ratio greater than or equal to one. In the more recent past, we have already demonstrated that this limitation can be overcome by using a spatially modulated illumination source and photothermal super resolution-based reconstruction. Furthermore, by relying on compressed sensing and computational imaging methods we were able to significantly reduce the experimental complexity to make the method viable for investigating larger regions of interest. In this work we share our progress on improving the defect/inhomogeneity characterization using fully 2D spatially structured illumination patterns instead of scanning with a single laser spot. The experimental approach is based on the repeated blind pseudo-random illumination using modern projector technology and a high-power laser. In the subsequent post-processing, several measurements are then combined by taking advantage of the joint sparsity of the defects within the sample applying 2D-photothermal super resolution reconstruction. Here, enhanced nonlinear convex optimization techniques are utilized for solving the underlying ill-determined inverse problem for typical simple defect geometries. As a result, a higher resolution defect/inhomogeneity map can be obtained at a fraction of the measurement time previously needed. T2 - Thermosense: Thermal Infrared Applications XLIV CY - Orlando, Florida, USA DA - 05.04.2022 KW - Thermography KW - Super resolution KW - NDT KW - Material testing KW - Internal defects KW - DMD KW - DLP PY - 2022 DO - https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2618562 SN - 0277-786X VL - 12109 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - SPIE AN - OPUS4-54909 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Ziegler, Mathias T1 - Thermographic super resolution reconstruction using 2D pseudo-random pattern illumination N2 - Thermographic non-destructive testing is based on the interaction of thermal waves with inhomogeneities. The propagation of thermal waves from the heat source to the inhomogeneity and to the detection surface according to the thermal diffusion equation leads to the fact that two closely spaced defects can be incorrectly detected as one defect in the measured thermogram. In order to break this spatial resolution limit (super resolution), the combination of spatially structured heating and numerical methods of compressed sensing can be used. The improvement of the spatial resolution for defect detection then depends in the classical sense directly on the number of measurements. Current practical implementations of this super resolution detection still suffer from long measurement times, since not only the achievable resolution depends on performing multiple measurements, but due to the use of single spot laser sources or laser arrays with low pixel count, also the scanning process itself is quite slow. With the application of most recent high-power digital micromirror device (DMD) based laser projector technology this issue can now be overcome. T2 - ICPPP21: International Conference on Photoacoustic and Photothermal Phenomena CY - Bled, Slovenia DA - 19.06.2022 KW - Thermography KW - Super resolution KW - NDT KW - Inspection KW - Internal defects KW - DMD KW - DLP PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-551224 UR - https://indico.ung.si/event/5/contributions/237/ AN - OPUS4-55122 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lecompagnon, Julien A1 - Ahmadi, Samim A1 - Hirsch, Philipp Daniel A1 - Rupprecht, C. A1 - Ziegler, Mathias T1 - Thermographic detection of internal defects using 2D photothermal super resolution reconstruction with sequential laser heating N2 - Thermographic photothermal super resolution reconstruction enables the resolution of internal defects/inhomogeneities below the classical limit, which is governed by the diffusion properties of thermal wave propagation. Based on a combination of the application of special sampling strategies and a subsequent numerical optimization step in post-processing, thermographic super resolution has already proven to be superior to standard thermographic methods in the detection of one-dimensional defect/inhomogeneity structures. In our work, we report an extension of the capabilities of the method for efficient detection and resolution of defect cross sections with fully two-dimensional structured laser-based heating. The reconstruction is carried out using one of two different algorithms that are proposed within this work. Both algorithms utilize the combination of several coherent measurements using convex optimization and exploit the sparse nature of defects/inhomogeneities as is typical for most nondestructive testing scenarios. Finally, the performance of each algorithm is rated on reconstruction quality and algorithmic complexity. The presented experimental approach is based on repeated spatially structured heating by a high power laser. As a result, a two-dimensional sparse defect/inhomogeneity map can be obtained. In addition, the obtained results are compared with those of conventional thermographic inspection methods that make use of homogeneous illumination. Due to the sparse nature of the reconstructed defect/inhomogeneity map, this comparison is performed qualitatively. KW - Thermography KW - Super resolution KW - NDT KW - Inspection KW - Internal defects PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-548351 DO - https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0088102 SN - 1089-7550 VL - 131 IS - 18 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - AIP Publishing AN - OPUS4-54835 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Lecompagnon, Julien A1 - Hirsch, Philipp Daniel A1 - Rupprecht, C. A1 - Ziegler, Mathias T1 - Hochaufgelöste thermografische Detektion eingeschlossener Defekte mit Hilfe von 2Dstrukturierten Beleuchtungsmustern N2 - Für die aktive Thermografie als zerstörungsfreie Prüfmethode galt lange Zeit die Faustformel, dass die Auflösung interner Defekte/Inhomogenitäten auf ein Verhältnis von Defekttiefe/Defektgröße ≤ 1 beschränkt ist. Die Ursache hierfür liegt in der diffusiven Natur der Wärmeleitung in Festkörpern. Sogenannte Super-Resolution-Ansätze erlauben seit Kurzem die Überwindung dieser physikalischen Grenze um ein Vielfaches. Damit ergibt sich die attraktive Möglichkeit die Thermografie von einem rein oberflächensensitiven Prüfverfahren hin zu einem Verfahren mit verbesserter Tiefenreichweite zu entwickeln. Wie weit diese Entwicklung getrieben werden kann, ist Gegenstand aktueller Forschung. Wir konnten bereits zeigen, dass diese klassische Grenze für 1D- und 2D Defektgeometrien mit Hilfe des Abscannens des Prüfkörpers mittels einzelner Laserspots und der anschließenden Anwendung von photothermischer Super-Resolution-Rekonstruktion überwunden werden kann. Bei dieser Methode wird eine Kombination aus sequenzieller räumlich strukturierter Beleuchtung und numerischen Optimierungsmethoden eingesetzt. Dies geschieht allerdings auf Kosten der experimentellen Komplexität, die zu einer langen Messdauer, großen Datensätzen und langwieriger numerischer Auswertung führt. In dieser Arbeit berichten wir über einen neuen experimentellen Ansatz, bei dem räumlich strukturierte 2D-Beleuchtungsmuster in Verbindung mit Compressed-Sensing und Computational-Imaging-Methoden verwendet werden, um die experimentelle Komplexität deutlich zu verringern und die Methode für die Untersuchung größerer Prüfflächen nutzbar zu machen. Der experimentelle Ansatz basiert dabei auf der wiederholten (blinden) photothermischen Anregung mit räumlich strukturierten 2D-Mustern unter Verwendung moderner Projektortechnik und eines Hochleistungslasers. In der anschließenden numerischen Rekonstruktion werden mehrere Messungen unter Ausnutzung der Joint-Sparsity der Defekte innerhalb des Prüfkörpers mittels nichtlinearer konvexer Optimierungsmethoden kombiniert. Als Ergebnis kann eine 2D-sparse Defekt-/Inhomogenitätskarte erstellt werden. T2 - DGZfP-Jahrestagung 2022 CY - Kassel, Germany DA - 23.05.2022 KW - Thermografie KW - Super resolution KW - NDT KW - ZfP KW - Eingeschlossene Defekte KW - Projektor PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-548945 SN - 978-3-947971-25-1 VL - 177 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Zerstörungsfreie Prüfung AN - OPUS4-54894 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lecompagnon, Julien A1 - Hirsch, Philipp Daniel A1 - Rupprecht, C. A1 - Ziegler, Mathias T1 - Influence of the number of measurements on detecting internal defects using photothermal super resolution reconstruction with random pixel patterns N2 - In this work, the limits of using spatially structured heating combined with subsequent photothermal super resolution reconstruction for the thermographic detection and resolution of internal defects are investigated. The approach is based on the application of modern high-power laser projector technology, which is used to repeatedly project varying spatially structured 2D pixel patterns to photothermally heat the object under test. After processing the generated thermographic data using nonlinear convex optimisation in conjunction with exploiting the joint-sparse nature of the defect signals within the individual measurements, a high-resolution 2D-sparse defect/inhomogeneity map is obtained. The main focus of the investigation is set on the influence of the number of individual measurements on the achievable reconstruction quality. Using numerical simulations based on an analytical representation of the forward solution to the underlying inverse problem, the convergence rate over performed measurements of the achievable reconstruction quality is determined. Finally, all findings are experimentally validated by reconstructing a set of internal defects in an additively manufactured sample. In this work, it is shown that for a variety of different defect separation distances, the projection of 50 different pixel patterns allows for a good trade-off between experimental complexity and reconstruction quality. KW - Super resolution KW - Digital micromirror device KW - Digital light processing KW - Internal defects PY - 2023 DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/17686733.2023.2223392 SN - 2116-7176 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Taylor & Francis AN - OPUS4-57778 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Lecompagnon, Julien A1 - Hirsch, Philipp Daniel A1 - Rupprecht, C. A1 - Ziegler, Mathias ED - Maldague, X. T1 - Detection of internal defects applying photothermal super resolution reconstruction utilizing two-dimensional high-power random pixel patterns N2 - In this work, we report on our progress for investigating a new experimental approach for thermographic detection of internal defects by performing 2D photothermal super resolution reconstruction. We use modern high-power laser projector technology to repeatedly excite the sample surface photothermally with varying spatially structured 2D pixel patterns. In the subsequent (blind) numerical reconstruction, multiple measurements are combined by exploiting the joint-sparse nature of the defects within the specimen using nonlinear convex optimization methods. As a result, a 2D-sparse defect/inhomogeneity map can be obtained. Using such spatially structured heating combined with compressed sensing and computational imaging methods allows to significantly reduce the experimental complexity and to study larger test surfaces as compared to the one-dimensional approach reported earlier. T2 - Quantitative Infrared Thermography 2022 CY - Paris, France DA - 04.07.2022 KW - Thermography KW - Super resolution KW - NDT KW - inspection KW - Internal defects KW - DMD KW - DLP PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-577795 DO - https://doi.org/10.21611/qirt.2022.1005 SN - 2371-4085 SP - 1 EP - 7 PB - QIRT Council AN - OPUS4-57779 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lecompagnon, Julien A1 - Hirsch, Philipp Daniel A1 - Rupprecht, C. A1 - Ziegler, Mathias T1 - Nondestructive thermographic detection of internal defects using pixel-pattern based laser excitation and photothermal super resolution reconstruction N2 - In this work, we present a novel approach to photothermal super resolution based thermographic resolution of internal defects using two-dimensional pixel pattern-based active photothermal laser heating in conjunction with subsequent numerical reconstruction to achieve a high-resolution reconstruction of internal defect structures. With the proposed adoption of pixelated patterns generated using laser coupled high-power DLP projector technology the complexity for achieving true two-dimensional super resolution can be dramatically reduced taking a crucial step forward towards widespread practical viability. Furthermore, based on the latest developments in high-power DLP projectors, we present their first application for structured pulsed thermographic inspection of macroscopic metal samples. In addition, a forward solution to the underlying inverse problem is proposed along with an appropriate heuristic to find the regularization parameters necessary for the numerical inversion in a laboratory setting. This allows the generation of synthetic measurement data, opening the door for the application of machine learning based methods for future improvements towards full automation of the method. Finally, the proposed method is experimentally validated and shown to outperform several established conventional thermographic testing techniques while conservatively improving the required measurement times by a factor of 8 compared to currently available photothermal super resolution techniques. KW - Thermography KW - Super resolution KW - NDT KW - Inspection KW - Internal defects KW - DMD KW - DLP PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-570551 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-30494-2 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 13 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Nature Research AN - OPUS4-57055 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Burgholzer, P. A1 - Berer, T. A1 - Ziegler, Mathias A1 - Thiel, Erik A1 - Ahmadi, Samim A1 - Gruber, J. A1 - Mayr, G. A1 - Hendorfer, G. T1 - Blind structured illumination as excitation for super-resolution photothermal radiometry N2 - Using an infrared camera for radiometric imaging allows the contactless temperature measurement of multiple surface pixels simultaneously. From the measured surface data, a sub-surface structure, embedded inside a sample or tissue, can be reconstructed and imaged when heated by an excitation light pulse. The main drawback in radiometric imaging is the degradation of the spatial resolution with increasing depth, which results in blurred images for deeper lying structures. We circumvent this degradation with blind structured illumination, combined with a non-linear joint sparsity reconstruction algorithm. The ground-breaking concept of super-resolution can be transferred from optics to thermographic imaging. T2 - Conference QIRT 2018 CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 25.06.2018 KW - Thermography KW - Laser thermography KW - Super resolution PY - 2018 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-454506 SN - 978-3-940283-94-8 DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/17686733.2019.1655247 SP - We.3.A.2, 1 EP - 7 AN - OPUS4-45450 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Ahmadi, Samim A1 - Thiel, Erik A1 - Karagianni, Christina A1 - Hirsch, Philipp Daniel A1 - Burgholzer, P. A1 - Mayr, G. A1 - Jung, P. A1 - Caire, G. A1 - Ziegler, Mathias T1 - Photothermal super resolution image reconstruction using structured 1D laser illumination N2 - The separation of two closely spaced defects in fields of Thermographic NDE is very challenging. The diffusive nature of thermal waves leads to a fundamental limitation in spatial resolution. Therefore, super resolution image reconstruction can be used. A new concerted ansatz based on spatially structured heating and joint sparsity of the signal ensemble allows for an improved reconstruction of closely spaced defects. This new technique has been studied using a 1D laser array with randomly chosen illumination pattern. This paper presents the results after applying super resolution algorithms, such as the iterative joint sparsity (IJOSP) algorithm, to our processed measurement data. Different data processing techniques before applying the IJOSP algorithm as well as the influence of regularization parameters in the data processing techniques are discussed. Moreover, the degradation of super resolution reconstruction goodness by the choice of experimental parameters such as laser line width or number of measurements is shown. The application of the super resolution results in a spatial resolution enhancement of approximately a factor of four which leads to a better separation of two closely spaced defects. T2 - Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation Conference 2019 CY - Portland, OR, USA DA - 14.07.2019 KW - Super resolution KW - Photothermal KW - Thermography KW - Laser PY - 2019 SP - Paper 8593, 1 PB - ASME AN - OPUS4-50924 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -