995 results about "Focal Plane Arrays" patented technology

Low cost millimeter wave imagers using two-dimensional focal plane arrays based on backward tunneling diode (BTD) detectors. Two-dimensional focal arrays of BTD detectors are used as focal plane arrays in imagers. High responsivity of BTD detectors near zero bias results in low noise detectors that alleviate the need for expensive and heat generating low noise amplifiers or Dicke switches in the imager. BTD detectors are installed on a printed circuit board using flip chip packaging technology and horn antennas direct the waves toward the flip chip including the BTD detectors. The assembly of the horn antennas, flip chips, printed circuit board substrate, and interconnects together work as an imaging sensor. Corrugated surfaces of the components prevent re-radiation of the incident waves.

A passive / active infrared imaging system apparatus for mounting on a head / helmet includes a passive infrared camera Head Pack having a removable narrow band filter cover, an objective lens, a beam splitter, an uncooled focal plane array (UFPA) package, an interface board, and a display unit such a liquid crystal display (LCD), with forward / back, up / down, and tilt adjustment functions fitting any mask, mounted in the front of said head / helmet for converting infrared light images into electronic signals. An electronic unit coupled between the UFPA of the infrared camera and the display unit, includes a controller for processing video signals from the infrared camera and supplying them to the display unit. The electronic circuit includes a wireless video & audio transceiver, a piezoelectric microphone, a voice controller, and a neural network pattern recognition chip. The display unit (such as LCD)] is inside the head pack and mounted on the head / helmet for converting electronic signals into visible light images, so that it is in front of eyes of a user, so that the user can directly view an external scene without blocking his normal vision, if the optical axis of the display unit is aligned with the optical axis of the objective lens, the system parallax is eliminated. A Battery Pack having a video controller board and battery is mounted on the rear of the head / helmet so that it gives the video output and power to the infrared system. An eye-safe near infrared laser diode with corresponding optical and electronic attachments mounted on the head / helmet illuminates targets to get images through same passive infrared system.

On-chip multispectral imaging and data management is provided in the form of an Adaptive Focal Plane Array (AFPA) that is capable of spectral tunability at the pixel level. Layers of photonic crystals are registered with pixels of a broadband focal plane array. Spectral tuning is accomplished by switching the photonic crystal layers on / off and / or by changing their material structure to tune their photonic band gaps and provide a passband for incident photons. The photonic crystal layers are preferably segmented to independently address different regions or “cells” of pixels down to a pixel-by-pixel resolution. The AFPA may simultaneously sense different regions of a scene at different spectral wavelengths, spatial resolutions and sensitivities.

A method for detecting tooth decay and other tooth anomalies wherein a tooth is transilluminated with a near-infrared light source preferably in the range from approximately 795-nm to approximately 1600-nm, more preferably in the range from approximately 830-nm to approximately 1550-nm, more preferably in the range from approximately 1285-nm to approximately 1335-nm, and more preferably at a wavelength of approximately 1310-nm, and the light passing through the tooth is imaged for determining an area of decay in the tooth. The light source is a fiber-optic bundle coupled to a halogen lamp or more preferably a superluminescent diode, and the imaging device is preferably a CCD camera or a focal plane array (FPA).

An imaging system has a single focal plane array that does not require the precise alignment of multiple cameras relative to one another. It incorporates a multi-band, band pass filter that includes filter elements corresponding to pixel regions of a detector within a camera. The imaging system may further incorporate a detector that vertically discriminates among radiation in different spectral bands incident on an image plane of the detector. In this manner, spectral content may be determined in each spatial region without the need for beam splitting or multiple cameras. The filter itself may further comprise different filter elements, for example, filter elements A and B arranged in a checkerboard pattern, where filter element A passes different spectral bands than filter element B. In this manner, multi-spectral, high resolution images may be generated using a single camera that significantly improves upon image discrimination as compared to, for example, the Bayer color filter array pattern. The single camera implementation is well suited for incorporation into marine, land and air vehicles.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an unmanned, fully automatic, security installation with electronic pan and tilt functions, the focal plane array based motion sensor (120) of the hybrid simultaneous-mode MPEG X / JPEG X security video camera (100) is positioned to capture moving suspects, the moving suspect (800) is shown, the local area network (LAN) cable (804) is shown leading away from the hybrid MPEG X / JPEG X security video camera (100), a security room personal computer viewing station (808) is shown, lastly a digital computer tape video logging station (816) is shown.

The present invention generally provides a terahertz (THz) imaging system that includes a source for generating radiation (e.g., a quantum cascade laser) having one or more frequencies in a range of about 0.1 THz to about 10 THz, and a two-dimensional detector array comprising a plurality of radiation detecting elements that are capable of detecting radiation in that frequency range. An optical system directs radiation from the source to an object to be imaged. The detector array detects at least a portion of the radiation transmitted through the object (or reflected by the object) so as to form a THz image of that object.

An electro-optical framing camera forward motion compensation (FMC) reconnaissance system comprising a moving shutter and a full frame focal plane array detector is designed to minimize the variation of image motion from a target scene across the focal plane array. The full frame focal plane array, such as a Charge Coupled Device (CCD), is designed to transfer and add the image from pixel to pixel at a predetermined rate of image motion corresponding to the region exposed by the focal plane shutter. The focal plane shutter aperture and velocity are set to predetermined values coordinated with the available illumination. The CCD image transfer rate is set to minimize the smear effects due to image motion in the region of the scene exposed by the focal plane shutter. This rate is variable with line of sight depression angle, aircraft altitude, and aircraft velocity / altitude ratio. Further, a method of FMC utilizes a comparison of a measured light level to a standard value in order to determine the appropriate exposure time and shutter motion rate. An optimal FMC clocking signal is calculated based on image motion equations incorporated in the processing unit of the reconnaissance system.

A MOS or CMOS sensor for high performance imaging in broad spectral ranges including portions of the infrared spectral band. These broad spectral ranges may also include portions or all of the visible spectrum, therefore the sensor has both daylight and night vision capabilities. The sensor includes a continuous multi-layer photodiode structure on a many pixel MOS or CMOS readout array where the photodiode structure is chosen to include responses in the near infrared spectral ranges. A preferred embodiment incorporates a microcrystalline copper indium diselenide / cadmium sulfide photodiode structure on a CMOS readout array. An alternate preferred embodiment incorporates a microcrystalline silicon germanium photodiode structure on a CMOS readout array. Each of these embodiments provides night vision with image performance that greatly surpasses the GEN III night vision technology in terms of enhanced sensitivity, pixel size and pixel count. Further advantages of the invention include low electrical bias voltages, low power consumption, compact packaging, and radiation hardness. In special preferred embodiments CMOS stitching technology is used to provide multi-million pixel focal plane array sensors. One embodiments of the invention made without stitching is a two-million pixel sensor. Other preferred embodiments available using stitching techniques include sensors with 250 million (or more) pixels fabricated on a single wafer. A particular application of these very high pixel count sensors is as a focal plane array for a rapid beam steering telescope in a low earth orbit satellite useful for tracking over a 1500-meter wide track with a resolution of 0.3 meter.

A digital focal plane array includes an all-digital readout integrated circuit in combination with a detector array. The readout circuit includes unit cell electronics, orthogonal transfer structures, and data handling structures. The unit cell electronics include an analog to digital converter. Orthogonal transfer structures enable the orthogonal transfer of data among the unit cells. Data handling structures may be configured to operate the digital focal plane array as a data encryptor / decipherer. Data encrypted and deciphered by the digital focal plane array need not be image data.

A plurality of temperature dependent focal plane arrays operate without a temperature stabilization cooler and / or heater over a wide range of ambient temperatures. Gain, offset and / or bias correction tables are provided in a flash memory in memory pages indexed by the measured temperature of the focal plane arrays. The memory stores a calibration database, which is accessed using a logic circuit which generates a memory page address from a digitized temperature measurement of each of the focal plane array. The calibration database is comprised of an array of bias, gain and offset values for each pixel in the focal plane array for each potential operating temperature over the entire range of potential operating temperatures. The bias, gain and offset data within the database are read out, converted to analog form, and used by analog circuits to correct the focal plane array response. The output of each of the FPAs is multiplexed to a shared processing module and calibration data for each of the FPAs is accessed from the shared processing module.

A two-dimensional focal plane array (FPA) is divided into sub-arrays of rows and columns of pixels, each sub-array being responsive to light energy from a target object which has been separated by a spectral filter or other spectrum dividing element into a predetermined number of spectral bands. There is preferably one sub-array on the FPA for each predetermined spectral band. Each sub-array has its own read out channel to allow parallel and simultaneous readout of all sub-arrays of the array. The scene is scanned onto the array for simultaneous imaging of the terrain in many spectral bands. Time Delay and Integrate (TDI) techniques are used as a clocking mechanism within the sub-arrays to increase the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the detected image. Additionally, the TDI length (i.e., number of rows of integration during the exposure) within each sub-array is adjustable to optimize and normalize the response of the photosensitive substrate to each spectral band. The array provides for parallel and simultaneous readout of each sub-array to increase the collection rate of the spectral imagery. All of these features serve to provide a substantial improvement in the area coverage of a hyperspectral imaging system while at the same time increasing the SNR of the detected spectral image.

An apparatus and method to determine the surface orientation of objects in a field of view is provided by utilizing an array of polarizers and a means for microscanning an image of the objects over the polarizer array. In the preferred embodiment, a sequence of three image frames is captured using a focal plane array of photodetectors. Between frames the image is displaced by a distance equal to a polarizer array element. By combining the signals recorded in the three image frames, the intensity, percent of linear polarization, and angle of the polarization plane can be determined for radiation from each point on the object. The intensity can be used to determine the temperature at a corresponding point on the object. The percent of linear polarization and angle of the polarization plane can be used to determine the surface orientation at a corresponding point on the object. Surface orientation data from different points on the object can be combined to determine the object's shape and pose. Images of the Stokes parameters can be captured and viewed at video frequency. In an alternative embodiment, multi-spectral images can be captured for objects with point source resolution. Potential applications are in robotic vision, machine vision, computer vision, remote sensing, and infrared missile seekers. Other applications are detection and recognition of objects, automatic object recognition, and surveillance. This method of sensing is potentially useful in autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance systems in automobiles and automated manufacturing and quality control systems.

A LIDAR sensor element and system for wide field-of-view applications such as autonomous UAS landing site selection is disclosed. The sensor element and system have an imaging source such as a SWIR laser for imaging a field of regard or target with a beam having a predefined wavelength. The beam is scanned over the field of regard or target with a beam steering device such as Risley prism. The reflected beam is captured by the system by receiving optics which may comprise a Risley prism for receiving and imaging the reflected beam upon a photodetector array such as a focal plane array. The focal plane array may be bonded to and a part of a three-dimensional stack of integrated circuits, a plurality of which may comprise one or more read out integrated circuits.

The present invention is an optical image system having at least a first camera including a first lens and at least a second sensor including a second lens. The system also includes at least one beam splitter for transmitting an incoming beam of electromagnetic radiation of at least a first band of wavelength to a focal plane array of the first camera and reflecting an incoming beam of electromagnetic radiation of at least a second band of wavelength to a focal plane array of the second camera. The first lens is positioned behind the beam splitter for focusing the beam of the first band of wavelength onto an image at the focal plane array of the first camera and the second lens is positioned behind the beam splitter for focusing the beam of the second band of wavelength onto the image at the focal plane array of the second camera.

An apparatus carried by an unmanned vehicle to provide passive sensing and facilitate avoiding airborne aerial obstacles is provided. The apparatus can include at least one, but typically multiple optical systems installed, for example, in the nose of the aerial vehicle to passively sense and determine a range, direction, and velocity of the airborne obstacles to allow the aerial vehicle to avoid the airborne obstacles. The typical optical system includes at least one focal plane array or other imaging device configured to receive a wide field of view and at least one focal plane array or other imaging device configured to receive a steerable narrow field of view within the wide field of view to allow concentrated determination of the range, direction, and / or velocity of obstacles detected by the wide field of view imaging devices.

Autonomously operating analog to digital converters are formed into a two dimensional array. The array may incorporate digital signal processing functionality. Such an array is particularly well-suited for operation as a readout integrated circuit and, in combination with a sensor array, forms a digital focal plane array.

An imaging device formed as a monolithic complementary metal oxide semiconductor integrated circuit in an industry standard complementary metal oxide semiconductor process, the integrated circuit including a focal plane array of pixel cells, each one of the cells including a photogate overlying the substrate for accumulating photo-generated charge in an underlying portion of the substrate, a readout circuit including at least an output field effect transistor formed in the substrate, and a charge coupled device section formed on the substrate adjacent the photogate having a sensing node connected to the output transistor and at least one charge coupled device stage for transferring charge from the underlying portion of the substrate to the sensing node.

An infrared (IR) camera and associated electronics including power are integrated into portable, self-contained, vision-enhancement apparatus useful in environments of dense air-borne particulate and thermal extremes such as encountered in fire fighting situations, in accordance with the invention. The IR camera is integral with a self-contained power supply so that the system is portable and requires no umbilical cord or other external connections. The camera includes an imager that is preferably an un-cooled focal plane array, and associated imaging, storing, processing and displaying electronics that are cooled in the extreme thermal environment using an integral plural phase heatsink.

In a multimode FPA, all of the FPA's conducting layers including all of the absorbing layers are patterned to form electrically isolated commons for at least two, and in some instances all of the photodetector sub-arrays, to support independent mode biasing of the photodetectors. Because the commons are electrically isolated, the bias voltages are not constrained by the CMOS design rules. The commons can accommodate large bias amplitude differences and different temporal bias profiles to address a wide range of multimode sensing applications.

A lightweight, low volume, inexpensive LADAR sensor incorporating 3-D focal plane arrays is adapted specifically for modular manufacture and rapid field configurability and provisioning. The present invention generates, at high speed, 3-D image maps and object data at short to medium ranges. The techniques and structures described may be used to extend the range of long range systems as well, though the focus is on compact, short to medium range ladar sensors suitable for use in multi-sensor television production systems and 3-D graphics capture and moviemaking. 3-D focal plane arrays are used in a variety of physical configurations to provide useful new capabilities.

The multi-target tracking and discrimination system (MOST) fuses with and augments existing BMDS sensor systems. Integrated devices include early warning radars, X-band radars, Lidar, DSP, and MOST which coordinates all the data received from all sources through a command center and deploys the GBI for successful interception of an object detected anywhere in space, for example, warheads. The MOST system integrates the optics for rapid detection and with the optical sensor array delivers high-speed, high accuracy positional information to radar systems and also identifies decoys. MOST incorporates space situational awareness, aero-optics, adaptive optics, and Lidar technologies. The components include telescopes or other optical systems, focal plane arrays including high-speed wavefront sensors or other focal plane detector arrays, wavefront sensor technology developed to mitigate aero-optic effects, distributed network of optical sensors, high-accuracy positional metrics, data fusion, and tracking mounts. Field applications include space monitoring, battlefield artillery, battlefield management, ground defense, air defense, space protection, missile defense, gunfire detection, and the like.

A polarization camera includes a microlement polarizer that is situated in proximity to a focal plane array. The microlement polarizer is selectively scanned with respect to an optical image direct to the focal plane array, and an image processor stores a set of images associated with the scanning. Based on the stored images, a polarization image can be produced and displayed. A periodic microelement polarizer modulates the individual images of the set, and these images can be processed by filtering in the spatial frequency domain to isolate contributions associated with one or a combination of Stokes parameters. After filtering, Stokes parameter based images can be obtained by demodulating and inverse Fourier transforming the filtered frequency domain data.

A hybrid three dimensional imaging camera comprises a 2-D video camera utilizing a focal plane array visible light detector and a 3-D flash laser radar utilizing an infrared focal plane array detector. The device is capable of capturing a complete 3-D scene from a single point of view. A production system combining multiple hybrid 3-D cameras around a subject provides 3-D solid models of an object or scene in the common field of view.

An integrated infrared and millimeter-wave monolithic focal plane sensor array having a substrate upon which an integrated array of infrared sensors and mm-wave sensors are provided at a first planar level on the same side of the substrate, and a planar antenna for receiving incident millimeter-wave radiation located at a second planar level located between the integrated array of sensors and the surface of the substrates for coupling the mm-wave radiation field to the mm-wave sensor. The antenna receiver of electromagnetic radiation, in one embodiment, is an antenna having a crossed bowtie configuration which efficiently couples the radiation field to the mm-wave sensor. The invention also is directed to a method of fabricating such a radiation sensor.

A system and method adapted for use with a focal plane array of electromagnetic energy detectors to receive first and second frames of image data from electromagnetic energy received from at least a portion of a scene. The first frame is a focused frame and the second frame is a blurred frame. In a feed-forward path the system compares the first frame to the second frame and provides an error signal in response thereto. In a main path, the system multiplies at least a portion of the second frame of image data with the error signal to provide an noise error corrected output signal. In the preferred embodiment, the error signal is scaled prior to being multiplied by the second frame. A min-mean filter is provided to remove dome shading effects from the frames of image data. In the best mode, the min-mean filter is disposed in the main path and blurred and focused outputs therefrom are weighted, averaged and stored. The weighted, averaged and stored focused frames are compared to the weighted, averaged and stored blurred frames to provide a fixed pattern noise error signal. A temporal noise error signal is identified from the weighted, averaged and stored focused frames. The fixed pattern and temporal noise error signals are fed forward and shunted from a current frame using multiplication or division. Thereafter, a constant mean value may be added to provide the output signal. Pixel replacement is consolidated into a single circuit and positioned prior to the min-mean filter.

An uncooled infrared sensor can be used for a plurality of applications such as fire fighting, surveilling a border or any desired area, and limb sounding. The uncooled infrared sensor includes manually or automatically adjustable optics that receive an electromagnetic signal, focus the electromagnetic signal and provide a focused electromagnetic signal to a focal plane array. The focal plane array includes a plurality of detector devices disposed in rows and columns to form the focal plane array. Each detector device is constructed so as to have a reduced pitch and provide a maximum number of detectors within a minimum square area of the focal plane array. Each detector device detects the focused electromagnetic signal incident upon it, converts the focused electromagnetic signal into a sensed signal and outputs the sensed signal so that the focal plane array provides a plurality of sensed signals. The sensor also includes a focal plane array processor that has a plurality of cells corresponding to the plurality of detector devices. The focal plane array processor receives the plurality of sensed signals, processes the plurality of sensed signals to correct for any gain and any offset errors between the plurality of sensed signals due to any inconsistencies between any of the detector devices of the focal plane array and any inconsistencies within the cells of the focal plane array processor itself, and outputs a plurality of processed signals. The sensor also includes a display processor that receives the plurality of processed signals and converts the plurality of processed signals into a video signal suitable for display. The focal plane array processor, the display processor and a controller also provide temperature stabilization of the sensor, manual or automatic calibration of the sensor, manual or automatic gain and level control of the sensor and automatic or manual calibration of the sensor.

Techniques for providing spectroscopic imaging integrates an acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF), or an interferometer, and a focal plane array detector. In operation, wavelength selectivity is provided by the AOTF or the interferometer. A focal plane array detector is used as the imaging detector in both cases. Operation within the ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared (NIR) spectral regions, and into the infrared spectral region, is achieved. The techniques can be used in absorption spectroscopy and emission spectroscopy. Spectroscopic images with a spectral resolution of a few nanometers and a spatial resolution of about a micron, are collected rapidly using the AOTF. Higher spectral resolution images are recorded at lower speeds using the interferometer. The AOTF technique uses entirely solid-state components and requires no moving parts. Alternatively, the interferometer technique employs either a step-scan interferometer or a continuously modulated interferometer.

A single-shot spectral imager or imaging system which acquires multiplexed spatial and spectral data in a single snapshot with high optical collection efficiency and with the speed limited only by the readout time of the detector circuitry. The imager uses dispersive optics together with spatial light modulators to encode a mathematical transform onto the acquired spatial-spectral data. A multitude of encoded images is recorded simultaneously on a focal plane array and subsequently decoded to produce a spectral / spatial hypercube.

A two-dimensional focal plane array (FPA) is divided into sub-arrays of rows and columns of pixels, each sub-array being responsive to light energy from a target object which has been separated by a spectral filter or other spectrum dividing element into a predetermined number of spectral bands. There is preferably one sub-array on the FPA for each predetermined spectral band. Each sub-array has its own read out channel to allow parallel and simultaneous readout of all sub-arrays of the array. The scene is scanned onto the array for simultaneous imaging of the terrain in many spectral bands. Time Delay and Integrate (TDI) techniques are used as a clocking mechanism within the sub-arrays to increase the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the detected image. Additionally, the TDI length (i.e., number of rows of integration during the exposure) within each sub-array is adjustable to optimize and normalize the response of the photosensitive substrate to each spectral band. The array provides for parallel and simultaneous readout of each sub-array to increase the collection rate of the spectral imagery. All of these features serve to provide a substantial improvement in the area coverage of a hyperspectral imaging system while at the same time increasing the SNR of the detected spectral image.