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US 2019/0356875 A1Published application
Rolling subframe pulsed bias microbolometer integration
AssigneeBAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc.
InventorsAllen W. Hairston, Daniel P. Lacroix
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Abstract
Methods and systems for enabling an approximation of true snapshot integration by lowering total power requirements, total detector bias current, integrated charge per detector and detector impedance while allowing for higher ROIC input noise through the use of microbolometer photodetectors, super-pixels, and techniques for their use are herein provided.
Claims17
An infrared imaging apparatus comprising:
- a focal plane array, said focal plan array comprising:
- a plurality of pixels, wherein said pixels are arranged into groups of equal numbers of pixels, each pixel comprising:
- a microbolometer configured to receive electromagnetic energy;
- and
- a readout integrated circuit configured to perform in-pixel analog to digital conversion,
- wherein at least a portion of said readout integrated circuit is shared between pixels of a given group.
3 more elements
An infrared imaging apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of groups of pixels;
- wherein each pixel in a group of pixels shares a plurality of components with other pixels in said group of pixels,
- wherein each pixel comprises a microbolometer photodetector, and
- wherein each of said groups of pixels is configured to perform in-pixel analog to digital conversion of electromagnetic energy collected by said photodetectors within that group of pixels using circuitry common to said group of pixels.
1 more element
A rolling subframe pulse bias integration method comprising:
- on a focal plane array comprising a plurality of pixels, wherein said pixels are grouped into subsets containing equal numbers of pixels, each pixel comprising a microbolometer photodetector:
- using a readout integrated circuit, integrating one microbolometer from each group of pixels simultaneously;
- integrating the remaining microbolometers in each group, one at a time, simultaneously with those of all other groups of pixels;
- summing the results of each integration, thereby providing a total frame integration value for each pixel;
- and
- reading the integrated current off of the readout integrated circuit.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.