Multi-aperture 360-degree panoramic imaging for enhanced situational awareness

Laura V. Cowan; Ashley Lyons; James Babington; Guillem Carles; Andy Wood; Andy Harvey

doi:10.1117/12.2574802

Translator Disclaimer

10 October 2020 Multi-aperture 360-degree panoramic imaging for enhanced situational awareness

Laura V. Cowan, Ashley Lyons, James Babington, Guillem Carles, Andy Wood, Andy Harvey

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 11548, Optical Design and Testing X; 1154803 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2574802
Event: SPIE/COS Photonics Asia, 2020, Online Only

Abstract

When vision is provided through thermal-imaging systems field-of-view is reduced, effectively the soldier must operate with severe tunnel vision and so there is a requirement for a system which provides automated warning and immersive imaging. We present a computational multi-aperture thermal infrared (MA-TIR) imaging system with single-photon range imaging to provide enhanced video-rate detection of obscured biological signatures in clutter. Our multi-camera computational imaging system creates a 360° panoramic image, and we employ synthetic baseline integral imaging (SBII) for the construction of three-dimensional thermal scenes, including detection of occluded objects. We further fuse thermal imaging with covert time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC) LIDAR to provide the complementary capability of video-rate ranging with the ability to detect and classify targets through clutter, particularly based on movement signatures. Finally, we demonstrate the ability to discriminate between biological scene components and static clutter based on temporal modulations of picosecond resolution TCSPC returns.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Laura V. Cowan, Ashley Lyons, James Babington, Guillem Carles, Andy Wood, and Andy Harvey "Multi-aperture 360-degree panoramic imaging for enhanced situational awareness", Proc. SPIE 11548, Optical Design and Testing X, 1154803 (10 October 2020); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2574802

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE