Focal plane array-based compressive imaging in medium wave infrared: modeling, implementation, and challenges

DMD Mask Construction to Suppress Blocky Structural Artifacts for Medium Wave Infrared Focal Plane Array-Based Compressive Imaging

“…Although the FPA CI systems have been implemented in visible [15,16] and short-wave infrared (SWIR) wavebands [17], comparatively few systems are implemented in MWIR. To our knowledge, only two experimental studies in the area of MWIR FPA CI are reported: Mahalanobis of Lockheed Martin built the first MWIR FPA CI system [18], which is a "merged-type", and we built a "separate-type" system [19].In spite of the acceleration of imaging speed, FPA CI has brought new challenges to the quality of reconstructed high-resolution images. As observed by Chen [17], blocky structural artifacts (BSA) are present in the reconstructed images, because of slight numerical fluctuations among the compressed samples for the same block.…”

“…As observed by Chen [17], blocky structural artifacts (BSA) are present in the reconstructed images, because of slight numerical fluctuations among the compressed samples for the same block. For MWIR FPA CI, due to physical limitation of the size of digital micro-mirror devices (DMD), aperture interference phenomena would also be observed [19], which aggravate the BSA and declines the image quality. An elaborate design for a DMD mask could alleviate the aperture interference in the low-resolution MWIR images obtained by the FPA sensor.…”

“…Because of aperture interference, the direct application of Hadamard matrix for DMD masks leads to obvious variations of light and dark areas distribution across the low-resolution images. As a result, the quality of the reconstructed high-resolution MWIR images will decline with an increase in the number of the low-resolution images.In our previous work [19], the Hadamard matrix is directly applied to the DMD mask design, where all blocks have the same pattern in each DMD mask. Due to the aperture interference phenomenon, BSA has been observed in reconstructed high-resolution MWIR images.…”

“…Although the FPA CI systems have been implemented in visible [15,16] and short-wave infrared (SWIR) wavebands [17], comparatively few systems are implemented in MWIR. To our knowledge, only two experimental studies in the area of MWIR FPA CI are reported: Mahalanobis of Lockheed Martin built the first MWIR FPA CI system [18], which is a "merged-type", and we built a "separate-type" system [19].…”

“…In our previous work [19], the Hadamard matrix is directly applied to the DMD mask design, where all blocks have the same pattern in each DMD mask. Due to the aperture interference phenomenon, BSA has been observed in reconstructed high-resolution MWIR images.…”