RIT CIS Summer Internship: Sensors/Advanced Instrumentation

Yesterday, all of the interns did a practice presentation in the morning. Joe asked us some good questions that we figured out, and now know how to answer. Peter and I finally finished our presentation, and then presented in front of Dmitry. Today, we will continue to practice. Our goal is to for everyone to understand our goal and problem. I can't believe the internship is almost done! I'm sad that I won't get to see everybody everyday, but I'm ready to be able to sleep in again :)

Today, Peter and I worked on our presentation all day. We presented in front of Dmitry, but we still have information to change. Peter and I are going to work on actually presenting our information and using correct terminology. Overall, it was a very productive day. Shout-out to Emily and Paige for going on a Starbucks run for our afternoon pick-me-up!

On Friday, Peter and I started to look for error and the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) in our pictures. We used MATLAB to look at which pictures had the highest SNR and lowest error. We decided that pictures taken with an exposure time of 8500 microseconds and at lower angles had the best SNR. In the afternoon, we worked on our PowerPoint and did a mock presentation in front of Dmitry. We have a lot of things to change in our presentation organization-wise, but nothing too bad. It was beneficial to verbalize our info, and get constructive criticism. One thing we didn't emphasize enough in our original presentation was what Peter and I actually did, including designing the track and the glass holder. In our final presentation, we are going to explain more of what we actually did, so it will be more fun for us to present and more entertaining for the audience.

Today, Peter and I tested out different angles of incidence and changed exposure time on our camera. We are still looking for the best angle of incidence, but we think it's between 23.5 and 78.5 degrees. We are continually processing images with our code in MATLAB. Hopefully tomorrow we will finish our presentation, and can go over it with Dmitry. In the afternoon, we helped Dmitry take down his telescope on the roof of the Carlson building that he's going to ship to Oregon for the solar eclipse. I had to leave early for a dentist appointment.

Today, Peter and I worked on our code more. We were able to perfect the normalization process and calculating Stokes parameters. We then created many images that we will be able to use in our presentation, and maybe show tomorrow during the morning meeting about the difference in normalized and non-normalized images. Also, Joe came back today. After lunch, we started to test out different angles of incidence by moving our light source along our track by increments of 5 degrees. We will analyze the images, and look for which angle produces the best resolution and degree of linear polarization. We will then put our light source at this angle when taking the rest of our pictures. Tomorrow, Peter and I will take more pictures using the proper angle of incidence, and will continue to work on our presentation. On Monday, we will do a mock presentation in front of Dmitry, so we are well prepared for next Thursday.

Today, Peter and I worked on more coding and analyzing images. We learned how to normalize our images to make sure that the polarization signal we collect is in fact polarization, not error from the camera pixels. We are finally collecting data and will be able to add more info to our presentation. Tomorrow, we will do more coding, and hopefully be able to take pictures and look at correct data.

Today, Peter and I finally picked up our part. It fit perfectly! During the morning, we worked on our code in MATLAB. We were finally successful, which was pretty cool. We took more pictures, and changed the exposure settings on our camera to get rid of noise. During the afternoon, we adjusted the camera a little bit, and started to read a paper done by researcher Stephen Jacques, that also used polarized light to measure skin birefringence. We hope to apply some of the methods used in the paper to our research. Tomorrow, we will take more pictures and work on our code, utilizing Jacques methods.

On Friday, the Undergraduate Research Symposium was happening on campus, so Tristan, Peter, and I went to a couple of presentations. One was about quantum dots being used on sensors, and the other was Lee's presentation about polarized cameras. In the afternoon, Peter and I continued to work on our code in MATLAB. Through our code, we are able to average information from a file folder full of pictures, and then measure the Stokes parameters from the average data. We took some more pictures of skin, and realized that the skin has to be pretty uniform in color for taking pictures, or else the camera creates false polarization. What this means is that in order to take a picture of a darker area of skin, such as a mole or scar, the camera will have to be zoomed in to just that darker area of skin; lighter skin that surrounds the darker skin cannot be in the photo or else the data will be incorrect.

Today, in the morning, Peter and I toured around other interns' lab spaces. I especially liked Anjana's lab space. Her project is kind of similar to ours in that she is also trying to develop a new sensing device. After, Peter and I worked on our presentation for a little bit and checked on our part in the Machine Shop (part will be done tomorrow). We then took a lunch break. After lunch, we took some more pictures with the camera, and started to separate the raw data with MATLAB. The process was actually easier than I anticipated once I learned the basics. We separated the pixels into the 0,90,45,and135 degree pixels, and then used the Stoke's Parameters to look at total intensity (which was the original picture), preference for horizontal versus vertical, and preference for positive 45 and negative 45. Tomorrow, we will take some pictures of skin, and then use the parameters to view polarization in the skin. Tomorrow is also the undergraduate research symposium,  so we

During the morning meeting, we presented our outline to the group. It was beneficial to put our purpose and background information into words, and then verbalize them to a group of people (good practice for our actual presentation). After the meeting, Peter and I continued to work on our presentation until 11am, when we went to Chris G., a REU (research experiences for undergraduates) student's presentation. During his research at RIT, Chris used hyperspectral imaging to examine soil moisture content in fields in California. The benefits of using hyperspectral imaging versus the conventional, "going into the field" to take samples method are that hyperspectral imaging is faster, cheaper, and more efficient than taking samples. After Chris's presentation, we went to the last tech talk, which was also about an imaging method, called DIRSIG. I thought both presentations were pretty cool. After lunch, Peter and I continued to work on our presentation while we waited fo

Today, during the morning meeting, Matt had us look over other interns' outlines and revise them. After the meeting, Peter and I went to the Machine Shop, and had the LEXAN cut with a panel saw. Then, we reread the packet Dmitry gave us about the polarization of light.  Around 11am, went to the lab, and used the camera to take some pictures of more skin samples. Emily came downstairs to visit, so we explained our project and looked at her skin with the camera. Then we took a lunch break. After lunch, we started to work on our presentation while we waited for our part to finish at the Machine Shop. Dmitry gave us some good tips about presentation length, and the content of our presentation. For our project, about half of our PowerPoint will be background information about our, "problem," and the other half will be raw data/pictures, and the next steps. After our part is done, we will begin to collect data, and analyze the data for birefringence.