Imaging characteristics of an optical butting camera

Abstract

In some applications, especially in satellite or airborne cameras, the field of view (FOV) of imaging systems is limited by the format size of the image sensors. An optical butting system using optical butting technology is proposed to overcome such constraint. In this system the optical image is divided into four parts by a beam splitter, each of the four sub-images is received by a corresponding image sensor. The image characteristics of such optical butting system are investigated. To do that, the optical butting system is divided into four sub-imaging systems. An equivalent imaging system of the sub-imaging system is set up. Point spread functions (PSF) of the optical butting system are obtained by combining PSFs of the four sub-imaging system. We use the PSF amd MTF (Modulation transfer Function) to analyze the imaging characteristics of the optical butting system. The imaging characteristics can be used to decide the sub-image combining strategy and guide the design of the optical butting system.