Binary Joint Research Articles

Performance of the binary nonlinear joint transform correlators in the presence of the Fourier plane quantization

The quantization effects of the joint power spectrum on the performance of both binary joint transform correlator (JTC) and the conventional linear JTC are investigated. Computer simulation is used to determine the correlation peak intensity, peak to sidelobe ratio, and the correlation width for various quantization levels. We show that in binary JTC, a capture effect for the number of the quantization levels exists. No correlation signal is produced when the joint power spectrum is quantized below a certain number of quantization levels. For the quantization levels of the joint power spectrum above this capture level, the correlation performance is comparable to that of the unquantized JTC. For conventional linear JTC, the effects of the quantization is to deteriorate the correlation performance steadily.

Video rate optical correlation using a magneto-optic spatial light modulator

A new driver has been developed for the magneto-optic spatial light modulator. This driver allows the user to feed video directly to the spatial light modulator. Several characteristics of the spatial light modulator have been measured and a binary joint transform correlator has been built and tested. The results of these experiments as well as a description of the video driver are presented here.

1-f binary joint transform correlator

A one lens focal length binary joint transform correlator is described. This correlator uses a magneto-optic spatial light modulator, lens, and standard 8-bit resolution CCD camera. Computer simulations and experimental results of the effects of changes in scale, in-plane rotation, out-of-plane rotation, target/reference separation, and multiple targets are discussed. The performance using actual sensor imagery containing clutter is presented.

Comparison Of Binary Joint Transform Correlators And Phase-Only Matched Filter Correlators

We compare the performances of the binary joint transform correlator, the continuous phase-only matched filter correlator, the binary phase-only matched filter correlator, and the classic correlator for a limited set of patterns. Areas of comparison are the correlation peak, autocorrelation peak to sidelobe ratio, autocorrelation width, and discrimination sensitivity. In these areas, it is shown that the performance of the binary joint transform correlator is similar to the phase-only matched filter correlator.