Naomichi YOKOI and Yoshihisa AIZU¹

Department of Mechanical Systems Engineering, Asahikawa National College of Technology, 2-2-1-6 Syunkodai, Asahikawa, Hokkaido 071-8142, Japan
¹Division of Science for Composite Functions, Muroran Institute of Technology, 27-1 Mizumoto-cho, Muroran, Hokkaido 050-8585, Japan

(Received September 18, 2009; Accepted December 28, 2009)

Two novel estimation parameters are proposed for bio-speckle blood flow imaging in skin tissue with reducing effects of a speckle contrast and random noises. Estimation parameters are introduced to reduce the effect of the speckle contrast on the sensitivity of the blood flow sensing and to eliminate an offset component due to random noises superimposed on the speckle images. Experiments were conducted for a sample model using ground-glass plates, human vein and finger to confirm the feasibility of the proposed parameters.

Key words: blood flow imaging, bio-speckles, image processing