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The goal of this paper and research effort is to develop a simple and clear apparatus and approach to
quantify the effectiveness of sensor systems as it relates to their ability to penetrate camouflage and
resolve skin depth. Over the last decade, several attempts have been made to leverage advances in
Infrared (IR) imaging, made by the military, into medical sensing [1]. Several promising technologies
have been evaluated and thus far determined to be lacking when compared to the current standards of care
based on x-ray imaging [2]. While progress has been made this general class of technology has not
generated wide spread interest from the medical community. This lack of interest is discouraging,
especially when considering the great potential for good that would result in successfully demonstrating a
truly passive tumor detection system based on thermal signatures.
Recently, this team participated as part of a larger group in the development and testing of a novel class of
algorithms using images from two separate IR spectra. This area of spectral fusing algorithms is called
the Single Pixel-Blind Source Separation (SP-BSS). While the goal of experiment is not new, our results
showed this approach provided potential improvements over more traditional thermography, particularly
in the area of overcoming environmental noise. These promising results have motivated us to develop a
method for running controlled experiments so that the equipment and algorithms can be optimized and the
significant engineering challenges of frame registration, data standardization, and sensor optimization for wellness screening can be accomplished. Conducting these efforts using data from human subjects is both impractical and unwarranted at this time. We have developed a physics-physiological under-dermal model of internal vascular circulation that approximates not only a healthy human body (angiogenesis effect) but also a human body developing a tumor (neo-angiogenesis effect). This physical model also provides useful insight into the detection of objects concealed on a person. We call this dual use target an Under-Dermal Emulator.
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