A fully functional, prototype night vision camera system is described which produces true-color imagery, using a visible/near-infrared (VNIR) color EMCCD camera, fused with the output from a thermal long-wave infrared (LWIR) microbolometer camera. The fusion is performed in a manner that displays the complimentary information from both sources without destroying the true-color information. The system can run in true-color mode in day-light down to about 1/4-moon conditions, below this light level the system can function in a monochrome VNIR/LWIR fusion mode. An embedded processor is used to perform the fusion in real-time at 30 frames/second and produces both digital and analog color video outputs. The system can accommodate a variety of modifications to meet specific user needs, and various additional fusion algorithms can be incorporated making the system a test-bed for real time fusion technology under a variety of conditions.

Date Published: 27 April 2010
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 7697, Signal Processing, Sensor Fusion, and Target Recognition XIX, 76970Z (27 April 2010); doi: 10.1117/12.849575

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7697:
Signal Processing, Sensor Fusion, and Target Recognition XIX
Ivan Kadar, Editor(s)