SBIR Phase II: CLEAR-View - A Cost Effective Thermal Imaging Sensor

NSF SBIR第二阶段项目旨在开发和生产一套新的算法，以增强热成像仪的性能，为汽车、监控和热成像市场的其他细分市场提供实时解决方案。建议的算法与噪声肆虐的非制冷微测辐射热计红外相机集成在一起，提高了它们的性能，降低了制造成本，同时增加了新的特性和功能。该方法的核心是一种基于场景的非一致性校正(SBNUC)算法，该算法用于校正由于焦窗格阵列中不均匀的探测器对探测器的响应而产生的固定图案噪声。新的SBNUC方法依赖于利用视频序列中自然存在于几乎所有应用中的微小场景/相机运动的存在，以代数方式以动态方式提取非均匀噪声参数，而不需要传统上所做的机械快门。这种方法提高了相机的可靠性。如果成功商业化，最大的市场是汽车行业，该设备的较低成本和更高的性能可能会为汽车和卡车安装新的防撞系统带来数千万美元的收入。这项技术提供的增强功能和更低的成本也为扩大热成像在其他应用中的使用提供了潜力。在消防市场领域，为每位消防员配备热像仪将减少因烟雾吸入、高温和反应效率而造成的死亡人数。在安全应用中，将以更高的质量提供更多的信息。

This NSF SBIR Phase II project aims to develop and produce a novel suite of algorithms to enhance the performance of thermal imagers, offering real-time solutions in the automotive, surveillance and other segments of the thermal imaging market. The proposed algorithm is integrated with noise-infested, uncooled microbolometer infrared cameras, elevating their performance and offering manufacturing-cost reductions while adding new features and capabilities. At the heart of the approach is a Scene-Based NonUniformity Correction (SBNUC) algorithm, which works to correct the fixed-pattern noise resulting from nonuniform detector-to-detector responses in the focal-pane array. The novel SBNUC approach relies on exploiting the presence of minute amounts of scene/camera motion in a video sequence, naturally present in almost all applications, to algebraically extract the nonuniformity-noise parameters in a dynamic fashion, without the need for a mechanical shutter, as done conventionally. This approach improves the camera's reliability. If successfully commercialized, the largest market is in the automotive sector, where the lower cost and improved performance of the device can potentially lead to tens of millions of dollars from new installs of collision-avoidance systems in cars and trucks. The enhanced features and lower costs offered by this technology also offer the potential of expanding the use of thermal imaging in other applications. In the firefighting market segment, equipping every firefighter with a thermal imager will reduce the number of fatalities due to smoke inhalation, heat, and response efficiency. In security applications, more information will be delivered at a higher level of quality.