Frame type imaging sensors
Earth resources satellite missions TV systems design, using vidicon as sensing element
SEARCH · Search NASA
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Earth resources satellite missions TV systems design, using vidicon as sensing element
A silicon monolithic multispectral photosensor device is described. Fabrication techniques and preliminary spectral response data are presented. The device is designed to meet small size and weight requirements and to impose a reduced load upon cooling systems in use on satellites.
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
Review of the results of an investigation of the magnitude of the degradation effects of radiation on the operating characteristics of camera tubes using silicon diode arrays in the space environment, and discussion of the radiation damage mechanisms concerned. The effects produced by bombardment of bare-silicon-diode arrays or vidicon tubes with 85-kV X rays, Cobalt 60 gamma rays, 1 MeV and 11 MeV electrons, 3 MeV and 142 MeV protons, and reactor neutrons are presented. Interference effects produced by radiation bombardment during operation of television tubes are investigated, and limiting fluxes of electrons and protons are given.
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
The experimental development and evaluation of infrared vidicons for use in solving high precision high flux broadband astronomical problems are discussed. Data cover the EOS, silicon, and doped germanium vidicons. Results are graphed and problems encountered using the vidicons in electrical cameras are reported.
Test techniques were developed making use of computer processing of the video data. The results of testing device noise and nonuniformity were obtained. Read-out noise levels of 25 to 50 electrons rms and uncorrected nonuniformity of response of about 1 to 3% were measured. A simple technique for linearly correcting nonuniformity was described and examples given. The technique was shown to be successful in reducing nonuniformity to the level of random noise.
Philosophy, requirements, and methods of calibration of multispectral space sensor systems as applicable to the Earth Observing System (EOS) are discussed. Vicarious methods for calibration of low spatial resolution systems, with respect to the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), are then summarized. Finally, a theoretical introduction is given to a new vicarious method of calibration using the ratio of diffuse-to-global irradiance at the Earth's surfaces as the key input. This may provide an additional independent method for in-flight calibration.
Specially built intensified CCD (ICCD) detector tubes were purchased and the performance of the electron bombardment process was investigated. In addition to studying the signal characteristics of the photoevents, there was interest in demonstrating that back-illuminated chips were not susceptible to radiation damage to their clocking electrodes. How to perform a centroid analysis for a 2-dimensional Gaussian distribution of charge is described. Measurement of the projection (along columns or rows) of the average charge spread profile is discussed. The development and flight of the Interstellar Medium Absorption Profile Spectrograph (IMAPS) is discussed.
The performance requirements for scientific-quality CCDs are discussed, focusing on the design of two devices, and the progress toward achieving the desired performance is discussed. These devices are intended for rear-illuminated applications and have 512 x 512 and 2048 x 2048 pixel formats. The thinned 10 to 20 micron thick Si membrane is fully supported by a unique glass ceramic substrate. Quantum efficiencies of greater than 70 percent at 700 nm and greater than 40 percent at wavelengths less than 400 nm have been measured on a test device. Dark currents as low as 6 pA/sq cm also have been measured recently.
Methods are needed for evaluating the quality of augmented visual displays (AVID). Computational quality metrics will help summarize, interpolate, and extrapolate the results of human performance tests with displays. The FLM Vision group at NASA Ames has been developing computational models of visual processing and using them to develop computational metrics for similar problems. For example, display modeling systems use metrics for comparing proposed displays, halftoning optimizing methods use metrics to evaluate the difference between the halftone and the original, and image compression methods minimize the predicted visibility of compression artifacts. The visual discrimination models take as input two arbitrary images A and B and compute an estimate of the probability that a human observer will report that A is different from B. If A is an image that one desires to display and B is the actual displayed image, such an estimate can be regarded as an image quality metric reflecting how well B approximates A. There are additional complexities associated with the problem of evaluating the quality of radar and IR enhanced displays for AVID tasks. One important problem is the question of whether intruding obstacles are detectable in such displays. Although the discrimination model can handle detection situations by making B the original image A plus the intrusion, this detection model makes the inappropriate assumption that the observer knows where the intrusion will be. Effects of signal uncertainty need to be added to our models. A pilot needs to make decisions rapidly. The models need to predict not just the probability of a correct decision, but the probability of a correct decision by the time the decision needs to be made. That is, the models need to predict latency as well as accuracy. Luce and Green have generated models for auditory detection latencies. Similar models are needed for visual detection. Most image quality models are designed for static imagery. Watson has been developing a general spatial-temporal vision model to optimize video compression techniques. These models need to be adapted and calibrated for AVID applications.
We present in detail the laboratory apparatus and techniques that were used to complete a full radiometric calibration of two space-based lightning detectors developed at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). A discussion of the methods applied to geolocate lightning and to estimate lightning detection efficiency are provided.
We report a 64x64 element CMOS active pixel sensor (APS) with ultra-high-dynamic-range linear output. The chip features a new architecture enabling multiple samples per pixel per frame.