I2.3 - IR Dual-Band Camera Demonstrator and Dual-Band Image Fusion Techniques
- Event
- SENSOR+TEST Conferences 2009
2009-05-26 - 2009-05-28
Congress Center Nürnberg - Band
- Proceedings OPTO 2009 & IRS² 2009
- Chapter
- IRS² 2 - Pyrometry/Thermography
- Author(s)
- U. Adomeit - FGAN-FOM Research Institute for Optronics and Pattern Recognition, Ettlingen, Germany
- Pages
- 221 - 226
- DOI
- 10.5162/irs09/i2.3
- ISBN
- 978-3-9810993-6-2
- Price
- free
Abstract
During the last decades, thermal imagers have evolvolved from "simple" scanning systems to state-of-the-art focal plane arrays (FPA). Nowadays, different trends of development can be seen, for example decrease in pixel size, new materials (InAs/GaSb superlattices) and especially multispectral imagers. A multispectral imager is able to acquire information in different channels of the electromagnetic spectrum at the same time, while the standard broadband systems only work in one channel of the electromagnetic spectrum. One type of multispectral imager is the so-called Dual-Band Camera which typically acquires images simultaneously in the 8 – 12 μm (LWIR) and 3 – 5 μm (MWIR) spectral range. Advantages foreseen for these cameras are manifold. They range from simply using the pros and cons of both bands at the right time for automatic and human target recognition due to specific emissivity features. In Germany, AIM INFRAROT-MODULE GmbH in co-operation with the Fraunhofer IAF (Institute for Applied Solid State Physics) developed a Dual-Band Detector based on QWIP technology. This detectorcooler-assembly was made available to FGAN-FOM for system integration which was conducted in cooperation with IRCAM GmbH. The necessary special IR Dual-Band Optics was developed in co-operation of FGAN-FOM and Opto-System-Technik. All components together resulted in the IR Dual-Band Camera demonstrator which was then experimentally assessed in the thermal imager laboratory of FGAN-FOM. Additionally this demonstrator was used to test dual-band image fusion techniques in the laboratory as well as in field trials.