Programmable digital tdi eo/ir scanning focal plane array with multiple selectable tdi sub-banks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019373194-A1
Application number	US-201916426863-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 30, 2019
Priority date	May 31, 2018
Publication date	Dec 5, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

A TDI scanner including a dynamically programmable focal plane array including a two-dimensional array of detectors arranged in a plurality of columns and a plurality of rows, the array being divided into a plurality of banks separated from one another by gap regions, each bank including a plurality of sub-banks, and each sub-bank including at least one row of detectors, a ROIC coupled to the focal plane array and configured to combine in a TDI process outputs from detectors in each column of detectors in each sub-bank, and a controller configured to program the focal plane array to selectively and dynamically set characteristics of the focal plane array, the characteristics including a size and a location within the two-dimensional array of each of the plurality of sub-banks and the gap regions, the size corresponding to a number of rows of detectors included in the respective sub-bank or gap region.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A time delay and integration (TDI) scanner comprising:
a dynamically programmable focal plane array including a two-dimensional array of detectors arranged in a plurality of columns and a plurality of rows, the array of detectors being divided into a plurality of banks separated from one another by gap regions, each bank including a plurality of sub-banks, and each sub-bank including at least one row of detectors; a read-out integrated circuit (ROIC) coupled to the focal plane array, the ROIC being configured to combine in a TDI process outputs from detectors in each column of detectors in each sub-bank to provide, for each sub-bank, a plurality of column output values; and a controller configured to program the focal plane array to selectively and dynamically set characteristics of the focal plane array, the characteristics including a size and a location within the two-dimensional array of each of the plurality of sub-banks, the size corresponding to a number of rows of detectors included in the respective sub-bank, and locations of the gap regions within the two-dimensional array.

2 . The TDI scanner of claim 1 wherein the scanner is configured to sequentially activate the rows of detectors to scan a field of view of the focal plane array across a scene to be imaged at a line rate, and wherein the controller is configured to reprogram at least some of the characteristics of the focal plane array within a time period corresponding to the line rate.

3 . The TDI scanner of claim 1 wherein detectors within the two-dimensional array corresponding to the gap regions are inactive in the TDI process and are shunted to ground.

4 . The TDI scanner of claim 1 wherein each bank includes at least one sub-bank having a first gain state and at least one sub-bank having a second gain state different from the first gain state, and wherein the controller is further configured to dynamically reprogram gain states of the plurality of sub-banks in each bank.

5 . The TDI scanner of claim 1 further comprising a filter disposed in at least one of the gap regions.

6 . The TDI scanner of claim 5 wherein the filter is one of a spectral filter and a neutral density filter.

7 . The TDI scanner of claim 1 wherein at least some detectors in each of the sub-banks include a charge drain to prevent excess charge over a saturation limit of the respective detector from being accumulated.

8 . The TDI scanner of claim 7 wherein the controller is configured to exclude saturated detectors from the TDI process.

9 . A method of operating a Time Delay and Integration (TDI) scanning sensor that includes a focal plane array having a plurality of banks of imaging detectors, each bank divided into a plurality of sub-banks of the imaging detectors, the method comprising:
scanning a field of view of the sensor across a scene to be imaged; collecting image data from each of the plurality of sub-banks; analyzing the image data from each of the plurality of sub-banks to determine whether a sub-bank in the plurality of sub-banks has been contaminated by over-illumination from an illumination threat present in the scene to be imaged and identifying any contaminated sub-banks; and performing a TDI process on the image data to produce an image of the scene, wherein the image data from the contaminated sub-banks is excluded from the TDI process.

10 . The method of claim 9 wherein analyzing the image data from each of the plurality of sub-banks includes comparing the image data from each sub-bank with the image data from each other sub-bank, and identifying a contaminated sub-bank based on differences in the comparison.

11 . The method of claim 9 further comprising dynamically reconfiguring a number of the plurality of sub-banks included in each of the plurality of banks during the scanning.

12 . The method of claim 11 further comprising dynamically configuring a gain state of at least one of the plurality of sub-banks during the scanning.

Assignees

• Raytheon Co

Inventors

• Botts Steven
• Kean Bryan W
• Peralta Richard J
• Vampola John L
• Harris Micky R

Classifications

• H04N25/622

  by controlling anti-blooming drains · CPC title

• H04N25/711

  Time delay and integration [TDI] registers; TDI shift registers · CPC title

• H04N25/768

  for time delay and integration [TDI] · CPC title

• H04N25/713

  Transfer or readout registers; Split readout registers or multiple readout registers · CPC title

• H04N25/44 Primary

  by partially reading an SSIS array · CPC title