Visible light-short wave infrared synchronous imaging equipment

Abstract

The utility model discloses visible light-short wave infrared synchronous imaging equipment which comprises an electric control module, an imaging system base, a short wave infrared camera, a visible light camera, an optical filter rotating wheel and a beam splitter, wherein the short wave infrared camera, the visible light camera, the optical filter rotating wheel and the beam splitter are arranged on the imaging system base and have the same optical axis height. A beam splitter, a short-wave infrared camera and a visible light camera are arranged, so that synchronous image pairs can be quickly obtained; by arranging the optical filter rotating wheel, light splitting imaging is carried out on a small number of broadband of short wave infrared, the imaging time is shortened, and the imaging signal-to-noise ratio is ensured; the electric control module hard triggers the optical filter rotating wheel, the short-wave infrared camera and the visible light camera, visible light and short-wave infrared images are read and processed in time, the synchronous imaging duration of the device is greatly shortened, and the device is convenient to carry, good in imaging quality, high in control degree, suitable for various application scenes, capable of achieving synchronous imaging in severe environments and high in practicability. The practicability is high.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The utility model relates to the technical field of synchronous imaging, and more particularly to a visible light-shortwave infrared synchronous imaging device. Background Art

[0002] Traditional optical imaging devices often utilize monocular visible light imaging technology, which suffers from poor imaging performance in low-light conditions, such as at night or in foggy conditions. Later, other types of light (such as infrared or ultraviolet) were combined with visible light for imaging, expanding the spectral range of optical imaging and reducing the impact of ambient light intensity on the device's imaging performance.

[0003] Currently, some surveillance imaging equipment combines visible and near-infrared bands for imaging. However, since near-infrared bands are often black and white and have shorter wavelengths, they cannot effectively handle inclement weather conditions such as haze, rain, and fog. Consequently, the quality of the spectral information collected is suboptimal. Existing maritime surveillance equipment uses the full short-wave infrared band for imaging, but due to its low spectral resolution, it cannot fully utilize the short-wave infrared's resolution capabilities. Short-wave infrared multispectral imaging equipment, widely used in industrial production, collects images from multiple short-wave infrared sub-bands. While rich in information and high-quality imaging, it suffers from data redundancy, high computational complexity, and long imaging times, making real-time imaging difficult. Some binocular imaging systems use two cameras placed side by side for imaging, which can lead to synchronization and misalignment issues, placing significant challenges on data processing. Furthermore, WO2018098742A1 combines visible and ultraviolet light for simultaneous imaging in harsh environments. However, due to the radiation effects of ultraviolet light on living organisms, its application scope is limited and its universality is poor.

[0004] Therefore, how to improve the optical imaging device in the existing technology, improve the short-wave infrared resolution capability, enrich the spectral information of imaging, shorten the imaging time, improve the imaging signal-to-noise ratio, and achieve synchronous imaging of visible light and short-wave infrared while taking into account the imaging efficiency, and achieve synchronous imaging that is suitable for a variety of scenarios and can be applied to harsh environments is a problem that technical personnel in this field urgently need to solve. Utility Model Content

[0005] In view of this, the present invention provides a visible light-shortwave infrared synchronous imaging device, which is used to solve the problem of unsatisfactory imaging of existing optical imaging devices.

[0006] In order to achieve the above purpose, the utility model adopts the following technical solutions:

[0007] A visible light-shortwave infrared synchronous imaging device, comprising: an electric control module, an imaging system base, and a shortwave infrared camera, a visible light camera, a filter wheel, and a beam splitter arranged on the imaging system base at the same optical axis height;

[0008] The beam splitter divides the incident light into two paths, short-wave infrared and visible light, and the short-wave infrared camera and the visible light camera are respectively arranged on the two paths of light; the short-wave infrared camera and the visible light camera respectively collect visible light imaging data and short-wave infrared imaging data;

[0009] The filter wheel is arranged between the beam splitter and the lens of the short-wave infrared camera, and is used to collect short-wave infrared imaging data of different wide bands;

[0010] The electronic control module provides hard trigger signals for the filter wheel, the shortwave infrared camera and the visible light camera, reads visible light and shortwave infrared images in a timely manner and processes the acquired image pairs.

[0011] Furthermore, the electric control module includes a power supply module, a single chip microcomputer and a soc chip;

[0012] The power supply module steps down the input 220V AC power and outputs stable DC power to power the single-chip microcomputer, SOC chip, visible light camera, filter wheel and short-wave infrared camera;

[0013] The soc chip communicates with the host computer and the single chip microcomputer in a two-way manner;

[0014] The single chip microcomputer is electrically connected to the filter wheel, the short-wave infrared camera and the visible light camera to provide a hard trigger signal;

[0015] The output ends of the visible light camera and the short-wave infrared camera are both connected to the input end of the SOC chip; the SOC chip synchronizes, aligns and packages the visible light imaging data and short-wave infrared imaging data collected by the two cameras respectively, and communicates with the host computer; the host computer responds to the control instructions of the synchronous imaging.

[0016] Furthermore, the model of the single-chip microcomputer is STM32 microprocessor, the model of the soc chip is RK3588 core board, the model of the short-wave infrared camera is AVT Goldeye-033, the model of the visible light camera is MV-CS050-60UC, and the model of the filter wheel is FLI HS-625.

[0017] Furthermore, it also includes a light-shielding sleeve, one side of which is connected to the lens of the short-wave infrared camera, and the other side of which is fixed to the filter wheel.

[0018] Furthermore, the light-shielding sleeve includes a base plate and a barrel, one side of the base plate is fixed to the filter wheel, and the other side is detachably mounted with the barrel; the lens of the short-wave infrared camera extends into the barrel.

[0019] The self-designed shading sleeve of the utility model is easy to disassemble, which is conducive to replacing the shading sleeve component and ensures the technical effect of the equipment on stray light.

[0020] In addition, after the relative positions of the shortwave infrared camera and the filter wheel are fixed, the cylinder is locked on the base plate; a vertical slide groove can be provided on the cylinder to accommodate the error adjustment of the height assembly; the inner diameter of the cylinder is 10 threads larger than the outer diameter of the shortwave infrared camera objective lens, allowing the objective lens to be smoothly focused and moved.

[0021] Furthermore, it also includes: a short-wave infrared camera base, a visible light camera base, a beam splitter base and a filter wheel base, which are used to ensure that the optical axes of the short-wave infrared camera, the visible light camera, the beam splitter and the filter wheel are at the same height;

[0022] Furthermore, three slide grooves are provided on the imaging system base, and the short-wave infrared camera base, the visible light camera base and the beam splitter base are installed on the three slide grooves in a one-to-one correspondence. The three slide grooves are provided under the premise that "the angle between the beam splitter 81 and the optical axis of the two cameras is 45°, and the angle between the optical axes of the two cameras is 90°". The purpose is that: the short-wave infrared camera base, the visible light camera base and the beam splitter base are installed on the three slide grooves in a one-to-one correspondence, and the position can be fine-tuned along the corresponding slide grooves on the imaging system base 3 to avoid affecting the imaging effect due to assembly errors during synchronous imaging, or to overcome the deficiency that the alignment accuracy of the pre-calibrated synchronous imaging equipment will gradually decrease with the use of the equipment.

[0023] Furthermore, the thickness and weight of the imaging system base are adaptively set according to the vibration amplitude of the filter wheel, so as to reduce the vibration amplitude of the filter wheel.

[0024] Furthermore, the number of switching channels used by the single chip microcomputer is consistent with the number of filters of the filter wheel, each switching channel corresponds to a filter, and each filter splits a band of short-wave infrared.

[0025] Furthermore, the filter wheel has three filters for splitting three wide bands of short-wave infrared, and the center wavelength / half-wave full width of the filters are 1040 / 120nm, 1260 / 160nm and 1570 / 210nm respectively; the number of switching channels used by the single-chip microcomputer is 3, and each switching channel corresponds to a filter.

[0026] Furthermore, the included angle between the beam splitter and the optical axes of the two cameras is 45°, and the included angle between the optical axes of the two cameras is 90°.

[0027] The visible light-shortwave infrared synchronous imaging device disclosed in the present utility model has the following beneficial effects:

[0028] (1) The optical axes of the short-wave infrared camera, visible light camera, filter wheel and beam splitter on the base of the imaging system are at the same height; the beam splitter divides the incident light into two paths, short-wave infrared and visible light, and the short-wave infrared camera and the visible light camera are respectively set on the two paths of light; this is conducive to achieving synchronous imaging of short-wave infrared and visible light.

[0029] (2) Using the filter wheel to select a small number of wide bands of short-wave infrared for spectrometry can improve the resolution of short-wave infrared, shorten the overall imaging time, improve the imaging signal-to-noise ratio, and facilitate the real-time performance of simultaneous imaging of visible light and short-wave infrared.

[0030] (3) The electronic control module provides hard trigger signals for the filter wheel, short-wave infrared camera, and visible light camera, and reads the visible light and short-wave infrared images in a timely manner and processes the acquired images. This electronic control solution is easy to operate and improves the efficiency and quality of synchronous imaging.

[0031] (4) The entire visible light-shortwave infrared synchronous imaging device has a compact structure, is easy to move or carry, and is easy to operate. It can be adapted to various application scenarios such as remote sensing detection, industrial inspection, and monitoring, and can also perform synchronous imaging in some harsh environments (such as at night or in foggy days).

[0032] (5) Combining visible light technology with short-wave infrared technology has richer spectral information than devices that perform imaging based solely on visible light; compared with combining with infrared technology, the resulting image has color; compared with combining with ultraviolet light, it is harmless to organisms and has a wider range of application scenarios; compared with placing two cameras side by side, synchronous imaging is easy to achieve; compared with visible light-short-wave infrared full-spectrum imaging equipment, its imaging time is short, real-time performance is good, and short-wave infrared resolution is high. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art. Obviously, the drawings described below are merely embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on the provided drawings without paying any creative work.

[0034] Figure 1 This is a structural diagram of a visible light-shortwave infrared synchronous imaging device provided by the utility model;

[0035] Figure 2 This is a structural schematic diagram of a light-shielding sleeve in a visible light-shortwave infrared synchronous imaging device provided by the utility model;

[0036] Figure 3This is a schematic top view of the structure of a base in a visible light-shortwave infrared synchronous imaging device provided by the utility model;

[0037] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the electronic frame of a visible light-shortwave infrared synchronous imaging device provided by the utility model.

[0038] Among them, 1 is the filter wheel, 2 is the filter wheel base, 3 is the imaging system base, 4 is the fixed area of the control circuit, 5 is the short-wave infrared camera, 6 is the short-wave infrared camera base, 7 is the light-shielding sleeve, 81 is the beam splitter, 82 is the beam splitter base, 9 is the visible light camera base, 10 is the visible light camera, 11 is the adjustment direction of the visible light camera base, 12 is the adjustment direction of the beam splitter, and 13 is the adjustment direction of the short-wave infrared camera base. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0039] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the embodiments described are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative efforts are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0040] See also Figure 1 As shown, the utility model discloses a visible light-shortwave infrared synchronous imaging device, comprising: an electric control module, an imaging system base 3, and a shortwave infrared camera 5, a visible light camera 10, a filter wheel 1 and a beam splitter 81 arranged on the imaging system base 3 at the same optical axis height;

[0041] The beam splitter 81 splits the incident light into two paths, short-wave infrared and visible light, and sets a short-wave infrared camera 5 and a visible light camera 10 on the two paths respectively; the short-wave infrared camera 5 and the visible light camera 10 collect visible light imaging data and short-wave infrared imaging data respectively;

[0042] The filter wheel 1 is arranged between the beam splitter 81 and the lens of the short-wave infrared camera 5 and is used to collect short-wave infrared imaging data of different wide bands;

[0043] The electronic control module provides hard trigger signals for the filter wheel 1, the shortwave infrared camera 5 and the visible light camera 10, reads the visible light and shortwave infrared images in a timely manner and processes the collected image pairs.

[0044] In this embodiment, the included angles between the beam splitter 81 and the optical axes of the two cameras are both 45°, and the included angle between the optical axes of the two cameras is 90°, which is conducive to ensuring the quality of synchronous imaging of the two cameras.

[0045] In this embodiment Figure 1The apparatus further includes a light shielding sleeve 7, one side of which is connected to the lens of the short-wave infrared camera 5, and the other side of which is fixed to the filter wheel 1. In other words, the light shielding sleeve 7 is located between the short-wave infrared lens and the filter wheel 1 to prevent stray light from entering the short-wave infrared lens and affecting its imaging quality.

[0046] In this embodiment Figure 2 In the figure, the light-shielding sleeve 7 comprises a base plate and a cylindrical body. One side of the base plate is fixed to the filter wheel 1, and the other side is detachably mounted to the cylindrical body. The lens of the short-wave infrared camera 5 extends into the interior of the cylindrical body. Therefore, the light-shielding sleeve 7 is not only easy to remove from the synchronous imaging device, but its split structure also facilitates replacement of either or both of its two components. This low-cost design helps the synchronous device consistently maintain the performance of "preventing stray light from entering the lens of the short-wave infrared camera 5 and affecting the short-wave infrared imaging quality."

[0047] In this embodiment, since the light-shielding sleeve 7 is designed independently, it is more suitable for shading the objective lens of the short-wave infrared camera 5 in the synchronous imaging device of the present invention.

[0048] In addition, after the short-wave infrared camera 5 and the filter wheel 1 are fixed in relative position, the barrel is first locked on the base plate, and then the base plate and the filter wheel 1 are fixed; the inner diameter of the barrel is 10 mm larger than the outer diameter of the objective lens of the short-wave infrared camera 5, that is, 0.1 mm, allowing smooth focusing and movement of the objective lens.

[0049] In this embodiment Figure 1 The optical system further includes: a short-wave infrared camera base 6, a visible light camera base 9, a beam splitter base 82 and a filter wheel base 2, which are used to ensure that the optical axes of the short-wave infrared camera 5, the visible light camera 10, the beam splitter 81 and the filter wheel 1 are at the same height;

[0050] In this embodiment Figure 1 In the figure, three slide grooves are set on the imaging system base 3, and the short-wave infrared camera base 6, the visible light camera base 9 and the beam splitter base 82 are installed on the three slide grooves in a one-to-one correspondence. The three slide grooves are set under the premise that "the angle between the beam splitter 81 and the optical axis of the two cameras is 45°, and the angle between the optical axes of the two cameras is 90°". The purpose is that the short-wave infrared camera base, the visible light camera base and the beam splitter base are installed on the three slide grooves in a one-to-one correspondence, and the position can be fine-tuned along the corresponding slide grooves on the imaging system base 3 to avoid affecting the imaging effect due to assembly errors during synchronous imaging, or to overcome the deficiency that the pre-calibrated synchronous imaging equipment has a registration accuracy that gradually decreases with the use of the equipment.

[0051] In this embodiment Figure 3In the figure, there are adjustment directions for the visible light camera base 9, the shortwave infrared camera base 6, and the beam splitter base 82. 11 is the adjustment direction of the visible light camera base 9, 13 is the adjustment direction of the shortwave infrared camera base 6, and 12 is the adjustment direction of the beam splitter base 82. In other words, the adjustment direction 11 of the visible light camera base 9 is consistent with the adjustment direction 13 of the shortwave infrared camera base 6, and both are perpendicular to the adjustment direction 12 of the beam splitter base 82.

[0052] In this embodiment, considering that the high-speed filter wheel 1 vibrates during operation, the thickness and weight of the imaging system base 3 are adaptively set according to the vibration amplitude, thereby avoiding the adverse effect on imaging quality caused by excessive vibration amplitude generated by the high-speed operation of the filter wheel.

[0053] In this embodiment, the number of switching channels used by the single-chip microcomputer is consistent with the number of filters of the filter wheel. The number of switching channels of the single-chip microcomputer is 3, and the filter wheel uses 3 filters. The center wavelength / half-wave full width of the filters are wide bands of 1040 / 120nm, 1260 / 160nm and 1570 / 210nm respectively; each switching channel corresponds to a filter, and each filter splits a band of short-wave infrared.

[0054] In this embodiment Figure 4 In the figure, we can see the electronic framework diagram of the visible light-shortwave infrared synchronous imaging device. The electronic control module includes a power supply module, a single-chip microcomputer and a soc chip;

[0055] The power supply module steps down the input 220V AC power and outputs stable DC power to power the MCU, SOC chip, visible light camera 10, filter wheel 1 and short-wave infrared camera 5;

[0056] The soc chip has two-way communication with the host computer and the microcontroller;

[0057] The single chip microcomputer is electrically connected to the filter wheel 1, the short-wave infrared camera 5 and the visible light camera 10 to provide a hard trigger signal;

[0058] The output ends of the visible light camera 10 and the short-wave infrared camera 5 are both connected to the input end of the SOC chip; the SOC chip synchronizes, aligns and packages the visible light imaging data and short-wave infrared imaging data collected by the two cameras respectively, and communicates with the host computer; the host computer responds to the control instructions of the synchronous imaging.

[0059] In this embodiment, the model of the single chip microcomputer is STM32 microprocessor, the model of the soc chip is RK3588 core board, the model of the short wave infrared camera 5 is AVT Goldeye-033, the model of the visible light camera 10 is MV-CS050-60UC, and the model of the filter wheel 1 is FLI HS-625.

[0060] In this embodiment, the single-chip microcontroller generates hard-trigger control signals for the visible light camera, shortwave infrared camera, and filter wheel. The SOC chip, acting as the primary control platform, controls the single-chip microcontroller to simultaneously send hard-trigger control signals to the visible light camera, shortwave infrared camera, and filter wheel, enabling timely reading and preprocessing of visible light and shortwave infrared images. The chip also communicates bidirectionally with a host computer and responds to control commands. Preprocessing includes, but is not limited to, image registration and data packaging. The host computer can be connected via USB or Ethernet cable, or via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to a computer, mobile phone, tablet, or other terminal device.

[0061] In this embodiment, the filter wheel 1 adopts the FLI HS-625 high-speed filter wheel, the purpose of which is to separate different segments of short-wave infrared light and improve the resolution of short-wave infrared light.

[0062] In this embodiment, the filters used split a small number of broad bands, which not only maintains the richness of imaging information but also reduces imaging time and signal-to-noise ratio. The filter wheel utilizes three filters to select the three broad bands most suitable for detecting typical targets such as pedestrians and vehicles from the full shortwave infrared spectrum. These three broad bands balance spectral information richness and imaging signal-to-noise ratio, ensuring rapid imaging and improving the real-time nature of synchronous imaging. Overall, this reduces imaging time and improves image quality.

[0063] In this embodiment, when collecting shortwave infrared imaging of different channels, the single-chip microcomputer hard triggers the visible light and shortwave infrared cameras to image after the channel switching is completed to ensure the consistency of imaging time, and finally obtain three visible light-shortwave infrared image pairs.

[0064] The various embodiments in this specification are described in a progressive manner, with each embodiment focusing on the differences from other embodiments. Reference can be made to the common and similar parts between the various embodiments. For the devices disclosed in the embodiments, since they correspond to the methods disclosed in the embodiments, the description is relatively simple, and the relevant parts can be referred to the method description.

[0065] The above description of the disclosed embodiments will enable one skilled in the art to implement or use the present invention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments shown herein but is intended to conform to the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A visible light-shortwave infrared synchronous imaging device, characterized in that: include: An electric control module, an imaging system base, and a short-wave infrared camera, a visible light camera, a filter wheel, and a beam splitter arranged on the imaging system base at the same height as the optical axis; The beam splitter divides the incident light into two paths, short-wave infrared and visible light, and the short-wave infrared camera and the visible light camera are respectively arranged on the two paths of light; the short-wave infrared camera and the visible light camera respectively collect visible light imaging data and short-wave infrared imaging data; The filter wheel is arranged between the beam splitter and the lens of the short-wave infrared camera, and is used to collect short-wave infrared imaging data of different wide bands; The electronic control module provides hard trigger signals for the filter wheel, the shortwave infrared camera and the visible light camera, reads visible light and shortwave infrared images in a timely manner and processes the acquired image pairs.

2. The visible light-shortwave infrared synchronous imaging device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The electronic control module includes a power supply module, a single chip microcomputer and a soc chip; The power supply module steps down the input 220V AC power and outputs stable DC power to power the single-chip microcomputer, SOC chip, visible light camera, filter wheel and short-wave infrared camera; The soc chip communicates with the host computer and the single chip microcomputer in a two-way manner; The single chip microcomputer is electrically connected to the filter wheel, the short-wave infrared camera and the visible light camera to provide a hard trigger signal; The output ends of the visible light camera and the short-wave infrared camera are both connected to the input end of the SOC chip; the SOC chip synchronizes, aligns and packages the visible light imaging data and short-wave infrared imaging data collected by the two cameras respectively, and communicates with the host computer; the host computer responds to the control instructions of the synchronous imaging.

3. The visible light-shortwave infrared synchronous imaging device according to claim 2, characterized in that: The model of the single chip microcomputer is STM32 microprocessor, the model of the soc chip is RK3588 core board, the model of the short wave infrared camera is AVT Goldeye-033, the model of the visible light camera is MV-CS050-60UC, and the model of the filter wheel (1) is FLI HS-625.

4. The visible light-shortwave infrared synchronous imaging device according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes a light-shielding sleeve, one side of which is connected to the lens of the short-wave infrared camera, and the other side of which is fixed to the filter wheel.

5. The visible light-shortwave infrared synchronous imaging device according to claim 4, characterized in that: The light-shielding sleeve comprises a base plate and a barrel. One side of the base plate is fixed to the filter wheel, and the other side is detachably mounted with the barrel. The lens of the short-wave infrared camera extends into the barrel.

6. The visible light-shortwave infrared synchronous imaging device according to claim 1, characterized in that: Also includes: The shortwave infrared camera base, the visible light camera base, the beam splitter base and the filter wheel base are used to ensure that the optical axes of the shortwave infrared camera, the visible light camera, the beam splitter and the filter wheel are at the same height.

7. The visible light-shortwave infrared synchronous imaging device according to claim 1, characterized in that: Three slide grooves are provided on the imaging system base, and the short-wave infrared camera base, the visible light camera base and the beam splitter base are mounted on the three slide grooves in a one-to-one correspondence.

8. The visible light-shortwave infrared synchronous imaging device according to claim 2, characterized in that: The number of switching channels used by the single chip microcomputer is consistent with the number of filters of the filter wheel. Each switching channel corresponds to a filter, and each filter splits a band of short-wave infrared.

9. The visible light-shortwave infrared synchronous imaging device according to claim 8, characterized in that: The filter wheel uses three filters, whose center wavelength / half-wave full width are 1040 / 120nm, 1260 / 160nm and 1570 / 210nm respectively; the number of switching channels of the single-chip microcomputer is 3.

10. The visible light-shortwave infrared synchronous imaging device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The included angle between the beam splitter and the optical axes of the two cameras is 45°, and the included angle between the optical axes of the two cameras is 90°.

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