YCBCR pulsed illumination scheme in a light deficient environment

A system for digital imaging in an ambient light deficient environment comprising:

• an imaging sensor comprising an array of pixels for sensing electromagnetic radiation;
• an emitter configured to emit a pulse of electromagnetic radiation;
• and
• a control unit comprising a processor and wherein the control unit is in electrical communication with the imaging sensor and the emitter;
• wherein the control unit is configured to synchronize the emitter and the imaging sensor so as to produce a plurality of image reference frames;
• and
• wherein the plurality of image reference frames comprise a luminance frame comprising luminance image data and a chrominance frame comprising chrominance data that are combined to form a color image;
• wherein the image sensor comprises pixels having a plurality of pixel sensitivities;
• wherein the pixel sensitivities comprise a long exposure and a short exposure;
• and
• wherein the image sensor is configured to produce a sequence of frames comprising:
• a luminance frame of long exposure pixel data and short exposure pixel data,
• a red chrominance frame of long exposure pixel data and short exposure pixel data,
• and
• a blue chrominance frame of long exposure pixel data and short exposure pixel data.