Christopher T Warren

US Patent:

6831688, Dec 14, 2004

Filed:

Apr 8, 2002

Appl. No.:

10/118534

Inventors:

Andre G. Lareau - Bloomingdale IL
Bradford Speer - San Diego CA
William R. Pfister - Rolling Meadows IL
Stephen R. Beran - Mt. Prospect IL
Barry Swartz - San Diego CA
James P. Karins - Orlando FL
Robert J. Lintell - Honolulu HI
Christopher P. Warren - Carlsbad CA

Assignee:

Recon/Optical, Inc. - Barrington IL

International Classification:

H04N 5335

US Classification:

348272, 348294, 348340, 348342, 356419

Abstract:

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.