VP8 Image Analyzer

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The VP-8 Image Analyzer was an analog computer produced by Pete Schumacher of Interpretation Systems Incorporated (ISI) in 1972.

Contents

Imaging the Shroud of Turin

The VP-8 Image Analyzer has been used to image the Shroud of Turin. [1] The VP8 makes a brightness map of whatever data it processes. White areas on the map appear to be higher in elevation; black areas appear lower in elevation, and mid-range areas appear between these two extremes. [2] [3]

When the device was used with photographs or paintings, the result was a distorted and inaccurate representation of the original image. However, the Shroud image produced an accurate three-dimensional representation of the man depicted on the Shroud, with facial features, arms, legs and chest all contoured correctly. This was shown to Peter Schumacher, the inventor of the device, and he later recalled his astonishment:

"I had never heard of the Shroud of Turin before that moment. I had no idea what I was looking at. However, the results are unlike anything I have processed through the VP-8 Analyzer, before or since. Only the Shroud of Turin has produced these results from a VP-8 Image Analyzer isometric projection study." [4]

Other applications

Energy and mineral resource exploration

The Mississippi Mineral Resources Institute used the VP-8 Image Analyzer from 1973 to 1977 to make profile maps of "several geologic areas in Mississippi" to explore possible sites of mineral or petroleum reserves. Using isometric profiling from the VP-8 unit, scientists from the Institute analyzed LANDSAT images of the region. Their analysis supported findings of the production unit of Amoco that the area of Possumneck, Mississippi contains a large anticline, a potentially significant reserve of oil and natural gas. [5] Nineteen wildcat wells were drilled in Attala County, Mississippi by 17 different oil refineries, both before and after the 1970s, but all were later plugged and abandoned with little or no actual oil having been found. [6]

Forestry resource management

Scientists at the University of Minnesota, using a NASA grant in 1973, were able to use the VP-8 Image Analyzer to create density slices from infrared aerial photos from the Chippewa National Forest region. The goal was to better predict areas likely to have aquatic vegetation, which define peatlands. These areas lessen the severity of floods. By identifying these areas, they can potentially be buttressed and preserved by "biological treatment of secondary effluent." [7]

The VP-8 did not perform as well as anticipated in the study, failing to provide information that had not already been gleaned from the filtered infrared images. The reason was cited as "electronic drift" caused by a malfunction of the device itself. The study authors suggested the device probably needed "additional adjustment by the manufacturer.": p. 30  [7]

The NASA Skylab program attempted to use the VP-8 Image Analyzer for more precise measurement of timber resources, inputting to the device Earth images returned from space, to better inventory forested areas in the Trinity Alps of northern California. The VP-8 Image Analyzer malfunctioned again, experiencing "many electrical and other engineering problems" and the data returned by the VP-8 was unable to be used. [8]

The University of Tennessee in partnership with NASA used the VP-8 to analyze Landsat program imagery for the purpose of detecting declines in forested areas due to coal strip mining. [9] Although the study was largely unsuccessful due to cloud cover at the time the images were made, the researchers did discover that the imaging systems "must be tied to a very good local ground to eliminate noise problems" and that video lines must be properly terminated. Thus, the study may have contributed to helping later researchers understand the proper use and handling of the VP-8 unit.: p. 20  [9]

Predicting rice acreage

NASA also stated in a 1973 report that it was planning to use the VP-8 to perform feasibility studies on trending the acreage of rice in the "California rice-growing region." [10] Rice is a staple throughout the world, and knowledge of trends could be used in predicting where malnutrition and starvation are likely to arise. [11] Data on trended rice acreage can also be used to predict water use in the areas where the rice is grown. [12] These studies were suspended due to problems with the unit, which were possibly caused by underexposure of the test images, or by the analyzer's difficulty in reading densitometry data from black and white film; however, once color infrared (CIR) images taken from NASA-supported aircraft were used, performance results of the device improved. [13]

References

  1. ↑ Heller, John H. Report on the Shroud of Turin. Houghton Mifflin, 1983. ISBN   0-395-33967-7 page 207 "It is only when actual depth or remoteness is manifest by less light that the VP-8 can produce an authentic 3-D picture." (Dr. Heller is not an expert on the VP8 but a blood chemist.)
  2. ↑ Bernard Ruffin, 1999, The Shroud of Turin ISBN   0-87973-617-8 page 79
  3. ↑ Heller, John H. Report on the Shroud of Turin. Houghton Mifflin, 1983. ISBN   0-395-33967-7 page 207
  4. ↑ The Shroud, ISBN   9780593063590 by Ian Wilson p. 22
  5. ↑ Minshew, Velon H.; Lee, Tsean-shu (June 1980). "Structural Evaluation of Selected Areas in Mississippi Utilizing Landsat imagery". Oxford, Mississippi: Mississippi Mineral Resources Institute, Univ. Miss. pp. 4–5, 7–8. Retrieved 23 December 2025.
  6. ↑ "Well search". Mississippi State Oil & Gas Board. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
  7. 1 2 Personnel of the Institute of Agriculture Remote Sensing Laboratory (July 1973). "Remote Sensing Applications in Agriculture and Forestry" (PDF). Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota. p. 23. Retrieved 23 December 2025.
  8. ↑ Philip G. Langley, Earth Satellite Corporation (EarthSat) (31 March 1974). Forbes, Clayton (ed.). "Evaluation of Usefulness of Skylab EREP S-190 and S-192 Imagery in Multistage Forest Surveys" (PDF). Earth Resources Survey Program Investigations. NAS 9-13289. Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas: NASA: 5, 8–9. Retrieved 23 December 2025.
  9. 1 2 Robert E. Bodenheimer (April 1974). "ERTS - 1 Imagery Interpretation Techniques in the Tennessee Valley" (PDF). NASA Earth Resources Survey Program information and the Department of Electrical Engineering at University of Tennessee. NAS 5-21875. Goddard Space Flight Center: NASA: 16–18, 37–38. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
  10. ↑ Charles E. Poulton, Earth Satellite Corporation (EarthSat) (30 November 1973). Kirby, Ryborn (ed.). "Plan for the Uniform Mapping of Earth Resources and Environmental Complexes from Skylab Imagery" (PDF). Earth Resources Survey Program Investigations. NAS 9-13286. Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas: NASA: 6. Retrieved 23 December 2025.
  11. ↑ Frisa Irawan Ginting; Rudiyanto; Fatchurrachman; Ramisah Mohd Shah; Norhidayah Che Soh; Sunny Goh Eng Giap; Dian Fiantis; Budi Indra Setiawan; Sam Schiller; Aaron Davitt; Budiman Minasny. "SEA-Rice-Ci10: High Resolution Mapping of Rice Cropping Intensity and Harvested Areas Across Southeast Asia using the Integration of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 Data" (PDF). Earth System Science Data. 2024 (90): 1. doi: 10.5194/essd-2024-90 . Retrieved 24 December 2025.
  12. ↑ Rocchio, Laura E. P. (18 December 2015). "Mapping Rice, Managing Water in Parched California". NASA Landsat Home. Retrieved 24 December 2025.
  13. ↑ Charles E. Poulton, Earth Satellite Corporation (EarthSat) (31 January 1974). Forbes, Clayton (ed.). "Plan for the Uniform Mapping of Earth Resources and Environmental Complexes from Skylab Imagery" (PDF). Earth Resources Survey Program Investigations. NAS 9-13286. Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas: NASA: 3, 5–6. Retrieved 24 December 2025.
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