Implementation of Real-Time Calibration of Polarization Imaging Sensors

Abstract

Recent breakthroughs in nanofabrication techniques have led to development of sophisticated Division-of-Focal-Plane (DoFP) polarization imaging sensors. One such technique allows the fabrication of nanowire filters fabricated directly on the imaging sensor itself. This technique can be used to fabricate robust DoFP polarization imaging sensors. However, the polarization information captured by the imagers can be degraded due to imperfections in the fabrication of the nanowire filters on the imaging sensor. Polarization information can also be degraded from other sources including crosstalk between pixels. To compensate for these undesired effects, a calibration routine can be applied to each pixel after image capture. In this project, we implement a calibration routine as a step in the pipeline processing of captured polarization images. The polarization image processing and calibration are implemented on an FPGA development board to achieve a real-time response to image captures. Type of Report: MS Project Report Department of Computer Science & Engineering Washington University in St. Louis Campus Box 1045 St. Louis, MO 63130 ph: (314) 935-6160 Washington University in St. Louis School of Engineering and Applied Science Department of Computer Science and Engineering Project Examination Committee: Professor Viktor Gruev, Chair Professor Roger Chamberlain Professor William D. Richard Implementation of Real-Time Calibration of Polarization Imaging Sensors by Collin Foster A project presented to the School of Engineering of Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science December 2012 Saint Louis, Missouri