Pseudo-apposition Eye Spectral Imaging Array
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current spectral imaging systems are bulky, expensive, and unsuitable for miniaturized applications due to their size and weight, limiting their use in military, medical, and machine vision fields, as they rely on large tunable filters and monochrome sensors.
Innovation Solution
A multi-spectral imaging system comprising an array of parallel spectral channels with microlenses and narrowband interference filters that exhibit the Bragg effect for blue-shifted wavelength filtering, enabling hyperspectral imaging through virtual channels, which reduces size and weight while maintaining spectral filtering capabilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional spectral imaging systems use tunable filters and monochrome sensors, then spectral imaging capability is achieved, but system size and weight become prohibitive
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the spectral imaging function into multiple parallel spectral channels, each with its own microlens and spectral filter. This segmentation allows the use of small, fixed-bandwidth filters instead of large tunable filters, dramatically reducing system weight while maintaining spectral imaging capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses an array of microlenses that create multiple copies of the spectral filtering function. Each microlens focuses light onto a corresponding spectral filter, creating parallel spectral channels. This copying approach eliminates the need for a single large tunable filter system, reducing weight while preserving measurement precision.
2Measurement precision
If conventional spectral imaging systems use tunable filters, then spectral filtering is achieved, but system cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the spectral filtering function into multiple fixed-bandwidth channels, the system uses inexpensive, mass-producible narrowband interference filters instead of costly tunable filters. This segmentation approach maintains spectral filtering precision while dramatically reducing manufacturing cost.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of spectral filtering from tunable (variable bandwidth and wavelength) to fixed multiple discrete bands. This parameter change allows the use of cheaper, fixed-bandwidth interference filters that can be manufactured at lower cost while still achieving the required spectral filtering precision through the array of parallel channels.
3Measurement precision
If conventional spectral imaging systems are designed for spectral imaging, then imaging capability is achieved, but system volume becomes prohibitive for handheld applications
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the imaging function into a compact array of microlenses and spectral filters arranged in a planar configuration. Each spectral channel is a miniaturized imaging subsystem, allowing the entire system to fit in a handheld form factor while maintaining imaging capability through the parallel channel architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a single-channel depth-based optical path to a multi-channel planar array configuration. By arranging microlenses and spectral filters in a two-dimensional array, the system achieves spectral imaging capability in a compact footprint suitable for handheld applications, effectively using dimensional reorganization to reduce volume.
4Measurement precision
If spectral filters are designed for normal incidence, then filtering precision is achieved, but angle of incidence variations cause wavelength shifts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making each spectral filter's angular response characteristic match the specific angular range of its corresponding microlens channel. This localized optimization ensures that each filter operates at or near normal incidence for its designated field of view, maintaining filtering precision while accommodating angular variations across the overall system.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system provides compact, cost-effective hyperspectral imaging capabilities, enabling handheld versions suitable for diverse applications by utilizing an array of microlenses and spectral filters to create multiple spectrally filtered images, enhancing spectral sensitivity and reducing physical size.
Implementation Method 1
the spectral filters are narrowband interference filters that exhibit the Bragg effect of blue-shifted wavelength filtering for increasing angle of incidence
Data Source
AI summary
A spectral imaging system comprises a plurality of spectral units arranged in an array, each spectral unit of the plurality of spectral units comprising: a microlens having an optical axis; a spectral filter having a center wavelength and aligned with the optical axis; a fiber optic bundle, the fiber optic bundle having a curved light receiving surface and a planar light output surface, wherein the curved light receiving surface is aligned with the optical axis; and a plurality of pixel sensors configured to receive light from the planar light output surface of the fiber optic taper portion.