Field-of-view overlap effects in multiaperture vision systems with apposition eyelets

Abstract

The study of multiaperture vision systems (MAVS's), or insectlike systems, is still in its infancy. It is known that, for simple tasks, these systems provide an advantage over single-aperture systems in the reduction of processor complexity. Conventional spatial sampling and optical-modeling techniques, however, do not appear to describe the advantages of multiaperture systems accurately. In an attempt to describe the basic task of point-source response, or resolution, a surprising result is shown with regard to the overlapping field-of-view characteristic of a MAVS. Two types of five-eyelet multiaperture system, zoomed and nonzoomed, are shown to provide varying resolution as a function of eyelet overlap. A better-than-conventional point-source resolution for eyelets of uniform spatial response is exhibited by these systems. This characteristic holds for both uniform and normal target distributions.