A real-time lucky imaging algorithm based on Fourier transform and its implementation techniques

Abstract

Abstract Lucky imaging is a high-angular-resolution astronomical image reconstruction technique which can effectively reduce or remove the effects of atmospheric turbulence. There have been successful real-time lucky imaging algorithms and corresponding implementations in the spatial domain. Although the results of lucky imaging algorithms in the frequency domain are better than in the spatial domain, until now there has been no corresponding real-time algorithm and implementation due to its complexity. This paper proposes a real-time lucky imaging algorithm based on Fourier transform that features real-time processing and dynamic updating and display. The algorithm is implemented on a small- or medium-scale field programmable gate array (FPGA) development board. In this system, a two-dimensional fast Fourier transform of the image is carried out by means of dimension reduction. In order to achieve real-time lucky imaging in the frequency domain, the sum of the squares of the real and imaginary parts are used to replace the amplitude for data selection, and the method of image grouping is used to speed up the data selection. Compared with other real-time lucky imaging algorithms in the spatial domain, this algorithm shows great advantages in image quality. Moreover, the system can carry out real-time lucky imaging processing in the frequency domain for more than 10000 frames of an original image of 512 × 512 pixels continuously, and dynamic display with an image of 128 × 128 pixels. The experimental results illustrate the validity of the proposed algorithm and the feasibility of the proposed implementation techniques for the FPGA-based algorithm.