A High-Speed, Solid-State Camera for Stereo Photogrammetry

Ultrafast imaging is an important need for the development, control and evaluation of modern air-deliverable weapons systems. Current high-speed cameras are based upon rotating prism/mirror assemblies which require a time delay for start-up and synchronization. Because of the mechanical inertia involved, the camera must trigger the experiment (rather than the other way around), and only fixed interframe periods are possible. Silicon Mountain Design proposes a completely solid-state alternative which allows for film quality imagery with asynchronous triggering capability. A user selectable interframe period combined with asynchronous triggering and fast gating control allows for random access to temporal image data with nanosecond temporal resolution, and provides for stereo photogrammetry through the use of common, precision triggering of multiple cameras.Under this Phase I development , SMD proposes to build a proof of concept camera to demonstrate the variable interframe period on a lower resolution (256 X256) camera running at frame rates up to 10 million frames per second (MFPS). Temporal gating techniques will also be evaluated using the Phase I camera. In Phase II, multiple, film quality versions of a higher speed camera will be incorporated into a complete 3-D imaging system.