Real Time Non uniformity Correction Algorithm and Implementation in Reconfigurable Architecture for Infra red Imaging Systems

Sudhir Khare; Manvendra Singh; Brajesh Kumar Kaushik

doi:10.14429/dsj.69.12947

Sudhir Khare DRDO-Instruments Research and Development Establishment, Dehradun - 248008
Manvendra Singh DRDO - Instruments Research and Development Establishment, Dehradun - 248008
Brajesh Kumar Kaushik Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee – 247 667

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14429/dsj.69.12947

Keywords: Thermal imaging, Infra-red, Non uniformity, FPGA, Fixed pattern noise

Abstract

In modern electro-optical systems, infra-red (IR) imaging system is an essential sensor used for day and night surveillance. In recent years, advancements in IR sensor technology resulted the detectors having smaller pitch, better thermal sensitivity with large format like 640.512, 1024.768 and 1280.1024. Large format IR detectors enables realisation of high resolution compact thermal imager having wide field-of view coverage. However, the performance of these infrared imaging systems gets limited by non uniformity produced by sensing element, which is temporal in nature and present in spatial domain. This non uniformity results the fixed pattern noise, which arises due to variation in gain and offset components of the each pixel of the sensor even when exposed to a uniform scene. This fixed pattern noise limits the temperature resolution capability of the IR imaging system thereby causing the degradation in system performance. Therefore, it is necessary to correct the non-uniformities in real time. In this paper, non uniformity correction algorithm and its implementation in reconfigurable architectures have been presented and results on real time data have been described.

Author Biographies

Sudhir Khare, DRDO-Instruments Research and Development Establishment, Dehradun - 248008

Mr Sudhir Khare is presently working as Scientist in DRDO-Instruments Research and Development Establishment, Dehradun. His research interests include system design, IR signal processing and performance evaluation of thermal imaging systems. He has published more than 20 paper in journals. He is recipient of DRDO Scientist of the Year Award-2017 and ‘Agni Award for Excellence in Self Reliance’ in 2009, 2012 and 2014.
Contribution in the current study, he has carried out comparative study of various NUC techniques, algorithms and finalised hardware design based on reconfigurable architecture.

Manvendra Singh, DRDO - Instruments Research and Development Establishment, Dehradun - 248008

Mr Manvendra Singh, obtained MTech (VLSI & Microelectronics) from IIT Kanpur, in 2002. Currently working as a Scientist DRDO-Instruments Research and Development Establishment, Dehradun. He has wide knowledge and experience of design and development of Electro-optical Instruments for fire control and stand-alone surveillance systems. He has published more than 15 paper in journals. He is recipient of DRDO Scientist of the Year Award-2015.

Contribution in the current study, he has contributed in the hardware implementation of selected NUC algorithm.

Brajesh Kumar Kaushik, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee – 247 667

Dr Brajesh Kumar Kaushik received PhD from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, in 2007. Presently he is working as an Associate Professor at Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India. His research interests are in the areas of high-speed interconnects, low-power VLSI design, memory design, carbon nanotube-based designs, organic electronics, FinFET device circuit co-design, electronic design automation, spintronics-based devices, circuits and computing, image processing, and optics and photonics based devices.

Contribution in the current study, he has guided and supervised the work presented in this paper.

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