Adaptive coded aperture imaging in the infrared: towards a practical implementation

TLDR: System size, weight and cost calculations indicate that the coded aperture approach, employing novel photonic MOEMS micro-shutter architectures, has significant merits for a given level of performance in the MWIR when compared to more conventional imaging approaches.

Abstract: An earlier paper [1] discussed the merits of adaptive coded apertures for use as lensless imaging systems in the thermal infrared and visible It was shown how diffractive (rather than the more conventional geometric) coding could be used, and that 2D intensity measurements from multiple mask patterns could be combined and decoded to yield enhanced imagery Initial experimental results in the visible band were presented Unfortunately, radiosity calculations, also presented in that paper, indicated that the signal to noise performance of systems using this approach was likely to be compromised, especially in the infrared This paper will discuss how such limitations can be overcome, and some of the tradeoffs involved Experimental results showing tracking and imaging performance of these modified, diffractive, adaptive coded aperture systems in the visible and infrared will be presented The subpixel imaging and tracking performance is compared to that of conventional imaging systems and shown to be superior System size, weight and cost calculations indicate that the coded aperture approach, employing novel photonic MOEMS micro-shutter architectures, has significant merits for a given level of performance in the MWIR when compared to more conventional imaging approaches