FLEXIBLE DETECTION AND POSTPROCESSING MODULE FOR OPTICAL PROCESSING SYSTEMS

The practical limit of optical processor technology ultimately relates to the detection and subsequent electronic interpretation process. Optical source and modulation components are capable of much higher throughput and dynamic range than the detector and postprocessing electronics. Detectors and readout electronics typically must be optimized to specific processor technology to make it useful in system application or critical mission. Many emerging optical processor architectures use two dimensions to encode and process data and thus require high-resolution, two-dimensional detector devices. As a leader in optical processing, Photonic Systems Inc. (PSI) has recognized that two dimensional detectors with highly flexible readout control and postprocessing capabilities are essential for delivering processing gain and data throughput commensurate with the requirements of new architectures. PSI has developed and implemented a very flexible control and readout detection assembly coupled with a very high thoughput Digital Signal Processing (DSP) package that is based on the Texas Instruments' TMS320C30 processor. All readout and post-processing algorithms are programmable on the fly though the Intel PC Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) peripheral bus. We propose to start with our working detector and postprocessing subsystem and degign a compact and rugged module that implements its' functionality in an approved form.