Research of improved sparse grid non-uniformity correction technologies for infrared resistor array

Infrared resistor arrays perform a vital role in the hardware in the loop testing of infrared seekers. Infrared resistor arrays composed of large numbers of suspended resistor elements are commonly used to produce dynamic two-dimensional images of infrared radiation. Due to inconsistencies in the fabrication process of the resistor arrays, the temperature each resistor elements reaches for a given input voltage is variable and this leads to more significant radiance differences, these differences result in spatially-distributed radiance non-uniformity. Therefore, in order to obtain an available infrared image, non-uniformity correction (NUC) is necessary. In this paper, the non-uniformity characters of the infrared resistor arrays are analyzed base on measured data and then an improved sparse grid method for engineering are discussed and analyzed. First of all, the NUC camera has a strong influence on the effectiveness of the infrared resistor arrays NUC procedure. According to the actual fact and the laboratory condition, we presented an alternative method for collecting resistor arrays intended to reduce the influence causing by the NUC camera. Secondly, based on the measured non-uniformity data, we obtain the response characteristics of the infrared resistor arrays. In each gray level, we take two points or several points correction algorithm to calculate the gain data and the offset data, and then the linear look-up table is established. Finally, through MATLAB we develop the correction software, and we can obtain the driving output conveniently. The result shows that the image quality has a remarkable improvement after non-uniformity correction, the non-uniformity correction flow and algorithm preferably satisfies the requirement of the high confidence infrared imaging simulation.