A two-frame approach for scene-based nonuniformity correction in array sensors

Abstract

This paper introduces a new scene-based technique to correct the fixed-pattern noise (FPN) in array sensors. This method registers a pair of image frames exhibiting small relative scene translation and then the noise pattern can be reconstructed using the constrained least-squares estimation. The key advantage of this technique is that the accurate estimates of the bias nonuniformity can be obtained with only two images, without imposing any assumptions on the structure of the FPN. Besides, the method works on almost static scene, and therefore does not require larger scale global motion and statistical assumptions on the scene irradiance. We test our method on synthetically generated FPN as well as with real infrared data, and experimental results demonstrate the significant reduction in FPN, validating the effectiveness of our approach. Finally, we validate the feasibility and validity of using the proposed method as a first step fostering the success of more sophisticated registration-based time-evolving correction algorithms.