HIGH SPEED RANDOM ACCESS CAMERA

THERE ARE MANY MILITARY AND COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS WHERE VERY HIGH SPEED AND HIGH RESOLUTION SIGNAL PROCESSING, COMPUTING, IMAGE PROCESSING AND VISION SYSTEMS ARE DESIRABLE. CURRENT SYSTEMS ARE SEVERELY LIMITED BY DEVICES THAT REQUIRE RELATIVELY LONG TIMES TO GET INFORMATION INTO AND OUT OF THE SYSTEM. APPLICATIONS SUCH AS SURVEILLANCE, TRACKING, PROCESS MONITORING, QUALITY CONTROL AND MANY OTHERS, ARE REQUIRING HIGHER AND HIGHER RESOLUTION. IT IS DIFFICULT TO PROCESS THE DATA FROM A HIGH RESOLUTION CAMERA IN REAL TIME. WE PROPOSE TO EXAMINE THE USE OF A RANDOM ACCESS CAMERA, ONE IN WHICH PIXELS ARE INDIVIDUALLY ADDRESSABLE, TO PRODUCE A VARIABLE RESOLUTION CAMERA WHICH WOULD BE CAPABLE OF FINE AND COARSE RESOLUTION IMAGING UNDER SOFTWARE CONTROL. WE WILL INVESTIGATE METHODS FOR RANDOMLY ADDRESSING THE ARRAY OF DETECTORS ELECTRICALLY, AS WELL AS OPTICALLY. A SIMULATION OF THE BEHAVIOR OF SUCH CAMERAS WILL BE MADE TO DETERMINE THE ADVANTAGES OF RANDOM ACCESS TECHNOLOGY OVER STANDARD VIDEO TECHNOLOGY. A RANDOM ACCESS CAMERA OPERATING IN THE VISIBLE TO THE NEAR-INFRARED WAVELENGTH REGION WITH INDIVIDUAL PIXEL ACCESS TIME OF ONE MICROSECOND OR LESS IS A MUCH-NEEDED DEVICE FOR OPTICAL PROCESSOR AND OPTICAL COMPUTING OPERATION.