Applications of super-resolution and deblurring to practical sensors

In image formation and recording process, there are many factors that affect sensor performance and image quality that result in loss of high-frequency information. Two of these common factors are undersampled sensors and sensor's blurring function. Two image processing algorithms, including super-resolution image reconstruction¹ and deblur filtering ², have been developed based on characterizing the sources of image degradation from image formation and recording process. In this paper, we discuss the applications of these two algorithms to three practical thermal imaging systems. First, super-resolution and deblurring are applied to a longwave uncooled sensor in a missile seeker. Target resolution is improved in the flight phase of the seeker operation. Second, these two algorithms are applied to a midwave target acquisition sensor for use in long-range target identification. Third, the two algorithms are applied to a naval midwave distributed aperture sensor (DAS) for infrared search and track (IRST) system that is dual use in missile detection and force protection/anti-terrorism applications. In this case, super-resolution and deblurring are used to improve the resolution of on-deck activity discrimination.