Development of an automatic system for counting asbestos fibers using image processing

Atmospheric concentrations of carcinogenic asbestos fibers, have traditiona lly been measured visually using phase contrast microscopy. However, becaus e this measurement method requires great skill, and has poor reproducibilit y and objectivity, the development of automatic counting methods has been l ong anticipated. We have developed the Asbestos Fibers Automatic Counting S ystem (AFACS), and verified its accuracy via application to illustrations o btained from the Asbestos International Association (AIA). Important featur es of the AFACS system are as follows: (1) Counting criteria of the automatic counting system conform to those of visual counting. (2) The cost of the whole system is low because it is microcomputer-based.