1. Automatic Image Acquisition of Underground Contaminant Transport
Presenter: Matilda Urie
Northeastern University, Boston MA
University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez
Project Advisor: Dr. Ingrid Padilla, Dept. Civil Engineering, UPRM
Graduate Mentor: Maria Fernanda Serrano
Collaboration with Dr. Shawn Hunt and Dr. Raul Torres, Dept. Electrical Engineering, UPRM
Muchas Gracias por venir.
My undergraduate experience was spectacular, as it was located in Bella Mayaguez Puerto Rico.
The task I was assigned was to investigate white sand beaches and improve my tan.
No…I kid.
My obligation was to produce a system capable of automatic image acquisition of underground contaminant transport. The idea was to track the movements of contaminants in a tank of sand using two methods; cross well radar antennas and my system.
The image acquisition system would produce a series of photos in form time lapse photography to verify the data garnered from the antenna.

2. Abstract
The impetus of this project was to develop a system capable of automatically capturing a series of images of a soil test bed. The use of non-interfering image tracking of the transport of underground contaminants has the advantage of producing valuable visualization without altering the flow.
The main components included
High resolution camera
Program to control camera

3. Some of the Components of the Imaging System
The Hitachi KP M2A Monochrome camera
The subject: TCE tinted with Sudan IV
Image Capture board – interfaces camera with computer
Soil Test Bed (small model displayed right)

4. The program to regulate the camera was designed using the MatLab.
Allows the user freedom to define two separate rates of image acquisition.
-The reason being; a predicted flow deceleration of contaminants after initial introduction to soil test bed.

5. Acquiring The Images
Controlled by the program, the camera captures images at the specified rates.
The program is also responsible for saving each individual image in user- desired format with a unique name so that each photograph can be accessible for future processing.
The images below have already been processed to highlight the region of contaminated soil depicted here in blue.
The time line of these images shows the transport of the contaminant temporally.

6. Processing Image Data Goals Produce vivid visualization.
Calibrate contaminant concentrations for reference.
Small elected area
pixel data based on
grey scale between
0 = black and
256 = white.
Observe that the uncontaminated sand region has grey scale values in the range, while the dye falls in the darker, range.

7. Processing Image Data
To concentrate on the region of contaminated dye, a uniform background was established in this image. By using a threshold to set all the pixel values in the “uncontaminated sand” range to a solitary color, the variability of the background was eliminated. The color map can be used to calibrate the stain concentrations.

8. Overview of the Strategic Research Plan
Bio-Med
Enviro-Civil L3 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5
Validating TestBEDs L2 R2 L1
Fundamental Science R1 R3