FOA/DSTO uncooled IR-sensors. Summary of activities 1994-2000
Publish date: 2001-01-11
Report number: FOA-R--00-01715-408
Pages: 25
Written in: Swedish
Abstract
This report is a summary of the activities and research results obtained in the cooperation between FOA and DSTO (Defence Science and Technology Organization, Australia) in the area of uncooled IR-sensors. All publications produced within the project are referred to in the report. The research cooperation has been running from 1994 to 2000 and also involved participation from LiTH (University of Linkoping) where one member of the project team received his Ph.D. Two unique and patented concepts for digital readout from an uncooled IR-array have been presented. The project was focused on the task to get one of these concepts to work in an image-generating uncooled IR-sensor. The concept meant that the analogue signal from the detector array was converted to a digital signal with 16 bits resolution in direct connection with the detector array. The sensor would thereby be completely digital, and analogue signals would not be needed for so called offset correction. The design was carried out in standard CMOS technique, making the concept useful in future uncooled image-generating IR-systems where simple processes are requested to keep the cost low. The detector development at DSTO is briefly described. We have together built and demonstrated working arrays with the resolution 16x16 and 320x240 detectors respectively. A demonstration camera has been built and samples of images are shown.