A super resolution bore imaging system for imaging a bore surface inside an approximately cylindrical bore, the bore surface extending along an axial direction and along a circumferential direction transverse to the axial direction, the bore imaging system comprising:
- a photodetector configuration having a known pixel geometry comprising at least a first set of pixels arranged along a direction on the photodetector configuration corresponding to the circumferential direction, at least some of the first set of pixels having a maximum dimension A along a direction on the photodetector configuration corresponding to the axial direction and at least some of the first set of pixels having a maximum dimension C along a direction on the photodetector configuration corresponding to the circumferential direction;
- a bore surface imaging arrangement configured to transmit image light arising from an image zone on the bore surface to the photodetector configuration, and provide an optical magnification M;
- and
- a controller configured to:
- operate the super resolution bore imaging system to acquire a plurality of sets of image data including a bore surface segment on the bore surface, the plurality of sets of image data comprising:
- a first acquired set of image data including the bore surface segment acquired using the first set of pixels of the photodetector configuration positioned, relative to the bore surface segment to be imaged, at a first imaging-Z coordinate Z1 along the axial direction and a first imaging-φ coordinate φ1 along the circumferential direction, the first set of image data having a raw data resolution along the axial and circumferential directions;
- and
- at least one additional acquired set of image data including the bore surface segment acquired using a set of pixels of the photodetector configuration positioned, relative to the bore surface segment to be imaged, at a respective imaging-Z coordinate Zi and a respective imaging-φ coordinate φi along the circumferential direction, where i is an index integer, each additional acquired set of image data having a raw data resolution along the axial and circumferential directions;
- wherein:
- the super resolution bore imaging system is configured such that at least one of the respective imaging coordinates Zi and φi used for at least one of the plurality of sets of image data of the bore surface segment is different than the corresponding imaging coordinate Z1 and φ1, to satisfy at least one of conditions (a) Zi=Z1+k(A/M) or Zi=Z1−k(A/M), where k is a number less than 1.0, or (b) φi=φ1+j(C/M) or φi=φ1−j(C/M), where j is a number less than 1.0;
- and
- the controller is configured to combine the plurality of sets of image data including the bore surface segment, based on the known pixel geometry and the imaging coordinates, to provide a corresponding set of super resolution image data of the bore surface segment having a resolution along at least one of the axial direction or the circumferential direction that is finer than the raw data resolution along the corresponding direction.