Ultra High Resolution/High Speed Visible Imagers

"We propose that the technologies used in advanced telecommunication circuits be applied to the development of a novel active pixel image sensor capable of exceeding the bandwidth-resolution product of present image sensors by a factor of 10x. We will usea bipolar-CMOS (BiCMOS) process to combine the high performance pixels available in CMOS technologies with the high-speed signal processing circuits made possible by utilizing bipolar transistors. BiCMOS has found wide usage in high-speedtelecommunication circuits and has proven itself as an economical and reliable process. We intend to use this technology to develop a 1000 frames per second, 12Megapixel, 12-bit image sensor.To support such a sensor, an equally high-performance data acquisition system is required. A critical element in this system is a compression chip (ASIC) that can interface with the pre-compression input/output (I/O) circuitry on the image sensor on oneside, and with high-speed network transceivers on the other. We are proposing a detailed study of and solution to the issues related to achieving "lossless" data compression at a ratio of 15:1 or better. Finally, we will create a preliminary design of afull data acquisition system capable of supporting a 12Megapixel, 12-bit, image sensor operating at 1000 fps. We believe the sensor and data acquisition system we are proposing will have a direct benefit to the US Military in their efforts to characterize weapon