Fabrication of an Eye Safe, High Resolution Laser Radar FPA 3-D Imaging System

CURRENTLY, FOCAL PLANE ARRAY (FPA) SENSOR TECHNOLOGY REQUIRES READING OUT AND DIGITIZING EACH AND EVERY PIXEL ON THE FPA. IN ADDITION, ALL DATA PROCESSING IS PERFORMED ON A OFF-SENSOR DIGITAL COMPUTER. TO UTILIZE HUMAN-LIKE VISION IN LARGE-STARING-ARRAY HIGH-SPEED ACQUISITION AND TRACKING SENSORS, UNMANNED VEHICLES, OR IN COMMERCIAL MACHINE VISION, IT WILL BE NECESSARY TO DEVELOP A RETINA-LIKE ELECTRONIC IMAGE PROCESSOR. OTHERWISE THE DATA PROCESSING TASK WILL BE TOO LARGE, COSTLY AND IMPRACTICAL FOR CURRENT DIGITAL PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY. THIS IS A PROPOSAL FOR THE DESIGN, FABRICATION AND TEST OF A COMPLEMENTARY METAL OXIDE SEMICONDUCTOR (CMOS) CHIP WHICH WILL PROCESS IMAGE INFORMATION "LIKE" A HUMAN RETINA. THE CHIP IS CALLED THE SILICON TECHNOLOGY FOR A RETINA IMAGE PROCESSOR (STRIP). UNLIKE OTHER ELECTRONIC RETINA DESIGNS WHICH ATTEMPT TO MIMIC A BIOLOGICAL STRUCTURE USING SILICON, THE STRIP FOCUSES ON THE ADVANTAGES IF SILICON IN ACHIEVING RETINA-LIKE PERFORMANCE. IN ADDITION, THE STRIP CONCEPT CAN BE USED WITH VISIBLE OR INFRARED DETECTORS, EXTENDING VISION APPLICATIONS BEYOND THE SPECTRAL RANGE OF HUMAN VISION. THE MAIN FOCUS OF THE PHASE I PROGRAM IS THE DESIGN, FABRICATION AND TESTING OF THE STRIP IMAGE PROCESSOR CHIP FOR MILITARY SCENARIOS, USING EXISTING 1.5 UM CMOS DESIGN RULES. THE FOCUS OF PHASE II WILL BE THE FABRICATION AND TESTING OF A FULL SCALE STRIP DESIGN INCLUDING DETECTOR, READOUT, CORRECTION AND IMAGE PROCESSOR CHIPS.