Hyperpixel Sensor

Technology is still a long way from packaging an electromagnetic sensor as efficiently as the eye of the mammal. This is especially true in the mechanics of focus, iris control, and pointing. However the eye is a good model for the features which should be emulated in a next generation sensor. Electronic and signal processing emulation techniques have already been demonstrated. As higher and higher resolution sensors are implemented an electronically steerable ¿fovea¿ can be contemplated in a wide field of view optical system. This combined with on and near the focal plane processing could provide a sensor with eye type capabilities. Those include: wide field of view, staring sample rates, image resolution enhancement through saccadic motion and image motion compensation, spatial and temporal pre-filtering, and fovea resolution enhancement in the area of most interest. ISC plans to architect such a sensor in the Phase I program using its Z-technology focal plane architecture and Vector Image Processor technology for signal processing. A novel on focal plane pixel summing (hyperpixel) technique will be used for the majority of the focal plane array in order to reduce output bandwidth, except in an electronically steerable fovea area where high resolution is required.