FOCAL PLANE IMAGE COMPRESSION IN THE CHARGE DOMAIN

THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES CHARGE-DOMAIN IMAGE COMPRESSION ON A MONOLITHIC CHARGE-COUPLED DEVICE (CCD) DETECTOR. SUCH A DEVICE WOULD HAVE SUBSTANTIALLY REDUCED OUTPUT BANDWIDTH COMPARED WITH EXISTING PIXEL-BY-PIXEL READOUT SYSTEMS. BECAUSE CURRENT IMAGE COMPRESSION ALGORITHMS CAN PROVIDE COMPRESSION FACTORS OF GREATER THAN 10:1 WITH LITTLE VISIBLEDEGRADATION, A CHARGE-DOMAIN COMPRESSOR CCD COULD REDUCE SYSTEM ELECTRONICS MASS AND POWER REQUIREMENTS BY AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE WITHOUT COMPROMISING IMAGE QUALITY. THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROJECT ARE TO DEVISE AN IMAGE COMPRESSION ALGORITHM THAT CAN BE IMPLEMENTED IN THE CHARGE DOMAIN AND TO PRODUCE AN ELECTRICAL DESIGN FOR A CCD THAT IMPLEMENTS THE COMPRESSION ALGORITHM AND A BLOCK DESIGN FOR THE SYSTEM THAT INCORPORATES IT. THE EFFORT WILL DEVELOP A SOFTWARE SIMULATION OF A CHARGE-DOMAIN COMPRESSOR, USE THE SIMULATION TO OPTIMIZE THE COMPRESSOR PERFORMANCE, DETERMINETHE OPTIMAL PARTITIONING BETWEEN ON-CHIP AND OFF-CHIP, AND ESTIMATE THE POWER REQUIRED FOR SUCH A SYSTEM. POTENTIAL NASA USES FOR A CHARGE-DOMAIN IMAGE COMPRESSOR CCDINCLUDE MINIMIZING ELECTRONICS RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS FOR VERY HIGH RESOLUTION (E.G., LANDING SITE SELECTION) AND VERYSMALL (E.G., ROVER AND PENETRATOR) PLANETARY MISSION CAMERAS. THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES CHARGE-DOMAIN IMAGE COMPRESSION ON A MONOLITHIC CHARGE-COUPLED DEVICE (CCD) DETECTOR. SUCH A DEVICE WOULD HAVE SUBSTANTIALLY REDUCED OUTPUT BANDWIDTH COMPARED WITH EXISTING PIXEL-BY-PIXEL READOUT SYSTEMS. BECAUSE CURRENT IMAGE COMPRESSION ALGORITHMS CAN PROVIDE COMPRESSION FACTORS OF GREATER THAN 10:1 WITH LITTLE VISIBLEDEGRADATION, A CHARGE-DOMAIN COMPRESSOR CCD COULD REDUCE SYSTEM ELECTRONICS MASS AND POWER REQUIREMENTS BY AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE WITHOUT COMPROMISING IMAGE QUALITY. THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROJECT ARE TO DEVISE AN IMAGE COMPRESSION ALGORITHM THAT CAN BE IMPLEMENTED IN THE CHARGE DOMAIN AND TO PRODUCE AN ELECTRICAL DESIGN FOR A CCD THAT IMPLEMENTS THE COMPRESSION ALGORITHM AND A BLOCK DESIGN FOR THE SYSTEM THAT INCORPORATES IT. THE EFFORT WILL DEVELOP A SOFTWARE SIMULATION OF A CHARGE-DOMAIN COMPRESSOR, USE THE SIMULATION TO OPTIMIZE THE COMPRESSOR PERFORMANCE, DETERMINETHE OPTIMAL PARTITIONING BETWEEN ON-CHIP AND OFF-CHIP, AND ESTIMATE THE POWER REQUIRED FOR SUCH A SYSTEM. POTENTIAL NASA USES FOR A CHARGE-DOMAIN IMAGE COMPRESSOR CCDINCLUDE MINIMIZING ELECTRONICS RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS FOR VERY HIGH RESOLUTION (E.G., LANDING SITE SELECTION) AND VERYSMALL (E.G., ROVER AND PENETRATOR) PLANETARY MISSION CAMERAS.