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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday June 25 2019, @07:43AM   Printer-friendly
from the seeing-clearly-now dept.

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

Calibration method improves scientific research performed with smartphone cameras

Although smartphones and other consumer cameras are increasingly used for scientific applications, it's difficult to compare and combine data from different devices. A new easy-to-use standardized method makes it possible for almost anyone to calibrate these cameras without any specialized equipment, helping amateurs, science students and professional scientists to acquire useful data with any consumer camera.

"The low cost of consumer cameras makes them ideal for projects involving large-scale deployment, autonomous monitoring or citizen science," said Olivier Burggraaff, who led the research team from Leiden University in the Netherlands who developed the calibration method. "Our standardized calibration method will make it easier for anyone to use a consumer camera to do things like measure pollution by detecting aerosol particles in the air."

In The Optical Society (OSA) journal Optics Express, the multi-institutional group of researchers report their new standardized calibration method and database, called SPECTACLE (Standardized Photographic Equipment Calibration Technique And CataLoguE), which can be used for smartphones, digital single-lens reflex cameras and cameras aboard drones. The database allows users to upload calibration data from their cameras for others to use.

"SPECTACLE includes many do-it-yourself (DIY) methods, which we found provided results comparable to professional methods that require high-end laboratory equipment," said Burggraaff.

The standardized calibration method was developed in response to a need that arose as Burggraaff and his Leiden Univ. colleagues were developing citizen science methods to measure optical water quality using a smartphone add-on called iSPEX (Spectropolarimeter for Planetary EXploration), they originally developed to measure air pollution. This add-on allows a smartphone camera to measure extra optical information such as hyperspectral and polarimetric data. SPECTACLE and iSPEX are part of MONOCLE (Multiscale Observation Networks for Optical monitoring of Coastal waters, Lakes and Estuaries), a project funded by the European Commission aimed at creating sustainable solutions for measuring optical water quality.

[...] The researchers plan to apply the SPECTACLE methodology to a much larger number of cameras to fill in the database and get a broader idea of camera properties. This will be done by the researchers as well as anyone who wants to upload their calibration data into the database. They are also continuing to develop the iSPEX smartphone add-on to improve its ability to acquire water and air pollution measurements. This involves advancing its physical design and the algorithms for retrieving scientific results from its data while using the SPECTACLE methods and database to combine data from different smartphones.


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  • (Score: 1, Flamebait) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday June 25 2019, @06:45PM (1 child)

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Tuesday June 25 2019, @06:45PM (#859803) Journal

    Imagine what this thread would look like for an article with this title:

    Calibration Method Improves Scientific Research into Climate Change

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   -1  
       Flamebait=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Flamebait' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   1  
  • (Score: 1, Redundant) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday June 25 2019, @08:13PM

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Tuesday June 25 2019, @08:13PM (#859840) Journal

    Oooh, touchy!

    I just find it interesting that calibrating sensors is such normal science that an article about it in optics has a whole two comments.

    But you calibrate temperature sensors in climate science and it's evidence of a massive conspiracy.