Uncooled Thermal Imaging Signal Processing And Compression Technology Research

Since 1960s many achievements have been made in the research and application of night vision technology which includes the infrared thermal imaging system, LLL(low level light) night vision system and the image fusion system. The multi-sensor information fusion is a hot spot in the field of night vision. LLL night vision is to enhance weak optical, while infrared night vision is to transform infrared light into visible light. Methodology of fusion LLL night and thermal images provides more details information. The research on fusion LLL night and thermal images has important theoretic significance and applied value in areas in military defense and industrial areas, such as security monitoring, observation reconnaissance, driving safety assistance and so on.In the beginning of this paper, the development and actuality of night vision technology and image fusion technology are introduced. Secondly, it proposed a new digital image fusion method based synchronous LLL night and thermal images. Thirdly, it analyzes the working principle of uncooled infrared focal plane and the nonuniformity correction algorithm of infrared focal plane arrays (IRFPA). Then it discusses infrared image processing algorithm including histogram equalization correlation algorithm and infrared image enhancement algorithm, realized algorithms in MATLAB. A small volume and light weight infrared imaging system was designed with 384×288 UL03041 detector, adopting the NiosII CPU to realize menu and infrared signal processing was realized in FPGA. Based on investigations about application of H.264 video coding standard, after comparing schemes from different firms, TI's DM365 was selected to process the infrared signal. The application program under DM365 was designed to compress the infrared video. Finally experiments were conducted in outdoor and indoor environments, and the results shows that the infrared image is stable and clear. The infrared system provided stable performance and portability and was able to meet the need of hand-held thermal imager, military requirements of reconnaissance with low-cost and high-performance, monitoring equipment of vital departments and so on.