Night Vision Image Alignment for Motion Smear Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Night vision cameras suffer from image smear due to long shutter times in low light conditions, which reduces image quality and obscures critical details, particularly in fast-moving systems like head-mounted displays and head-up displays.
Innovation Solution
A method using motion data from a tracker system to align and average sequential images, combined with filtering techniques like the Wiener filter, to mitigate smear without altering shutter time or increasing signal-to-noise ratio.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If the shutter time is increased to maximise sensitivity in low light conditions, then the image brightness is improved, but image smear increases and image quality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the long exposure image into multiple shorter exposure images (first image and second image taken at different times). By segmenting the total exposure time into discrete intervals, the system captures motion information at different moments, enabling subsequent processing to remove smear while preserving the benefits of long integration time for sensitivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses tracker system feedback to determine motion between exposures and applies this information to align and process the multiple images. The tracker provides real-time motion data that feeds into the image processing algorithm, allowing the system to compensate for camera or scene motion and eliminate smear artifacts.
2Manufacturing precision
If the shutter time is decreased to reduce smear, then image quality is improved, but sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple short-exposure images (first and second images) into a single processed output image. By combining the information from multiple exposures while using tracker data to align them, the system achieves the quality benefits of short exposures without sacrificing the signal accumulation benefits of long exposures, thereby maintaining high signal-to-noise ratio.
3Manufacturing precision
If motion data from tracker system is used to align and average sequential images, then smear is reduced and image clarity is improved, but processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a tracker system as an intermediary device that measures motion between exposures. This separate measurement system provides motion data that simplifies the image processing task, as the tracker independently captures motion information that would otherwise require complex analysis of the images themselves. The tracker acts as a mediator between the camera and the processing algorithm.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques to modify an image from a night vision camera so as to reduce smear. An example method comprises receiving at least one image from a night vision camera; modifying the at least one image, based on motion data from a tracker system and a shutter time of night vision camera, to reduce smear in the image; and outputting the modified at least one image.