Digital images and image processing: OCR A‑Level Physics B questions

OCR A-Level Physics B past-paper questions on 3.1.1.2 Digital images and image processing, 2016–2025, with mark schemes and examiner’s reports where available.

All 45 questions on Digital images and image processing, as a list

June 2025, Paper 1, Q1 (1 mark): A rectangular digital image measures 1900 pixels by 1100 pixels. Each pixel is represented using 3 bytes. What is the total amount of information in this image?
June 2024, Paper 2, Q8(b)(i) (2 marks): Suggest why the camera is designed to resolve to a smaller angle than that calculated in (a). image resolution = rad pixel–1 Suggestion: [2]
June 2024, AS Paper 1, Q5 (1 mark): An automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system identifies cars by reading the number plate from a camera image. Which image processing technique can be use
June 2023, Paper 1, Q32(a)(i) (1 mark): Calculate the number of bits in a single image uploaded from the webcam. number = bits [1]
June 2023, Paper 1, Q32(a)(ii) (1 mark): The number of bits per image is reduced by a process called compression. The camera captures 30 images each second. A recording of a 40-minute lesson is uploade
June 2023, Paper 1, Q32(b) (2 marks): A second camera has a greater number of pixels. The teacher decides not to use this camera for streaming lessons. Suggest two reasons for this decision. 1 2 [2]
June 2023, AS Paper 1, Q25(c) (2 marks): How many bits per pixel are required to resolve over 16 million different colours? bits per pixel = [2] The dashcam records 22 frames of video per second and co
June 2023, AS Paper 1, Q25(d) (3 marks): Show that no more than 21 minutes of video could be stored on a 64 GB memory card. [3]
June 2022, Paper 1, Q2 (1 mark): A light sensitive microchip in a camera has 3.2 × 109 pixels. Each pixel records intensity level 2 with 12 bits. How much information can be stored per image? A
June 2022, AS Paper 1, Q25(a) (1 mark): Determine the number of different shades of grey that can be represented by 8 bits. number of shades = [1]
June 2022, AS Paper 1, Q25(b) (2 marks): Calculate the time taken to transmit this image at a rate of 54 megabits per second. time taken = s [2]
June 2022, AS Paper 1, Q25(c) (4 marks): The virus particles are approximately 100 nm in diameter. Determine the approximate resolution of the image in metres per pixel. Give your answer to 2 significa
June 2022, AS Paper 1, Q25(d) (2 marks): The original image was enhanced before publication on the internet. Suggest two ways in which this image might have been enhanced. 1 2 [2]
June 2022, AS Paper 2, Q6(b)(i) (2 marks): The CCD sensor in each camera consists of an array of square pixels. There are 1600 × 1200 square pixels in an area of 1.05 × 10–4 m2. Show that the length of a
June 2022, AS Paper 2, Q6(b)(ii) (2 marks): When the camera records an image of a distant object, the image distance v from the lens to the CCD sensor is 19.5 mm. Show that the camera can resolve two poin
June 2022, AS Paper 2, Q6(b)(iii) (2 marks): The full-colour images recorded by each camera are encoded at 11 bits pixel–1. Suggest why more than 8 bits pixel–1 are needed and calculate the number of image
June 2022, AS Paper 2, Q6(b)(iv) (6 marks): This question is about using remote sensors to make measurements on the planet Mars. (iv)* As much of the data recorded by Perseverance on its 8 Gb memory unit
November 2021, Paper 1, Q2 (1 mark): The camera in a smartphone contains a CCD detector of 1136 pixels × 640 pixels. Each pixel records in full RGB colour, encoded into three bytes of memory. How m
November 2021, Paper 2, Q8(a) (2 marks): Calculate the resolution of the image. resolution = mm [2]
November 2021, Paper 2, Q8(b) (2 marks): The image size is 644 000 bits. Explain why this suggests that each pixel in the image is either white or black and suggest how the image appears to show shades
November 2020, Paper 2, Q4(e) (4 marks): There are 12 × 106 square pixels on the rectangular light-sensitive surface. The dimensions of the surface are 4.89 mm × 3.65 mm. Use these data and your answer
November 2020, Paper 2, Q4(f) (4 marks): The image in Fig. 4 b has been processed. Identify a change that has been made in the image and explain how the data producing the image has been altered. Expla
November 2020, AS Paper 1, Q1 (1 mark): Which method of image manipulation could be used to show different temperatures in an infra-red image? A edge detection B enhanced contrast C false colour D noi
November 2020, AS Paper 1, Q21(a) (1 mark): How many bits are required to distinguish the 256 shades? number of bits = [1]
November 2020, AS Paper 1, Q21(b) (2 marks): Calculate the amount of information in the image, in kilobytes. information = kB [2]
June 2019, Paper 1, Q36(a)(ii) (1 mark): State an advantage that the response of the detector D has over that of the film F. [1]
June 2019, Paper 1, Q36(a)(iii) (2 marks): For detector D the relative intensity is the pixel value. Show that 14 bits per pixel are enough to cover the range of intensities plotted. [2]
June 2019, Paper 1, Q36(b)(i) (2 marks): The image format is 2048 × 1680 pixels with 4096 greyscale levels. Calculate the amount of memory in bits needed to store an uncompressed image. memory required
June 2019, Paper 1, Q36(b)(ii) (1 mark): During image processing the radiologist interpreting the image can stretch the contrast of the bone structures (whiter parts of image) more than the darker regi
June 2019, Paper 1, Q36(b)(iii) (1 mark): Identify one process (other than contrast improvement) that has been applied to the image in Fig. 36.2 to produce the enhanced image in Fig. 36.3. Suggest the b
June 2019, Paper 2, Q7 (2 marks): Fig. 7.1 is an image from Mariner 9. It shows most of the crater at the top of Olympus Mons. 832 pixels 700 pixels 70 km 70 km 70 km Fig. 7.1 Use data from Fig.
June 2018, Paper 1, Q4 (1 mark): An image sent from Pluto to Earth is 1024 # 1024 pixels. Each pixel is coded by 12 bits. The data is transferred at a rate of 200 bytes per second. How long doe
June 2018, AS Paper 1, Q27(a)(i) (1 mark): The image is 1024 × 711 pixels. The original data transmitted for this image was 5.8 Mbits. Calculate the number of bits per pixel in the original data. bits pe
June 2018, AS Paper 1, Q27(b)(i) (3 marks): Two radii of the moon Enceladus have been added to Fig. 27.1. The resolution of the image is 330 m per pixel. Show that the diameter of Enceladus is less than 5
June 2018, AS Paper 2, Q2(a) (2 marks): Each pixel is encoded by 3 bytes, one for each of the colours red, green and blue. A new image is displayed on the screen 30 times each second. Calculate the nu
June 2018, AS Paper 2, Q2(b) (2 marks): When this one-hour high-definition video is downloaded, it takes up 13 GB on the digital storage. This value is much smaller than the value calculated in (a). S
June 2017, Paper 2, Q4(b)(i) (3 marks): Calculate the resolution of the image in km pixel –1. resolution = km pixel–1 [3]
June 2017, Paper 2, Q4(b)(ii) (4 marks): The image in Fig. 4.1a was taken at a distance of 770 000 km. The angular resolution of LORRI is 5 × 10–6 radian per pixel. This means that each pixel covers an
June 2017, AS Paper 1, Q5 (1 mark): A spacecraft sends images of Pluto to Earth. Each image consists of 1024 × 1024 pixels. Each pixel is coded by 12 bits. The data transfers at a rate of 200 byte
June 2017, AS Paper 2, Q7(a)(i) (2 marks): State how this fact shows that each pixel was encoded by one byte (8 bits) of data. [2]
June 2017, AS Paper 2, Q7(a)(ii) (2 marks): Radiation from the Sun affected the cameras in the probe, changing the values of some pixels, so the photograph of Fig. 7.1 was severely affected by noise. Fig.
June 2017, AS Paper 2, Q7(b) (2 marks): Fig. 7.2 is a magnified view of part of Fig. 7.1. 25 km Fig. 7.2 13 Use Fig. 7.2 to estimate the resolution of the surface of Mercury in this image. Show your w
June 2017, AS Paper 2, Q7(c) (4 marks): The data generating Fig. 7.1 was processed by computer to give the image shown in Fig. 7.3. Fig. 7.3 Removal of noise has both advantages and disadvantages. Sug
June 2016, AS Paper 2, Q1(b)(iii) (2 marks): The 5 megapixel CCD detector in the camera is shown in Fig. 1. Calculate the distance in mm on the object page corresponding to 1 pixel on the detector. 6.4 mm
June 2016, AS Paper 2, Q1(b)(iv) (2 marks): Here is an equation printed on the object page: ⎛ ⎞ Vtotal b = log2 . ⎜ ⎟ Vnoise ⎝ ⎠ It is the same size on this examination paper as it is on the object page.

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