Computer Simulation Of Spatial Nonuniformity Correction In A Staring Sensor

This paper discusses a computer model of a staring thermal imaging sensor with respect to spatial nonuniformities. The staring sensor is a two-dimensional array of infrared detectors that is often called a focal plane array (FPA). Microscopic differences in the fabrication of a detector and nonuniformity in the input and output circuits of the charge-coupled device (CCD) can cause spatial nonuniformities across the FPA. Thus an image viewed by such a sensor will be covered with spatial noise for which correction should be made. Since the computer model can generate output images for a staring sensor with spatial nonuniformities, the objective of this paper is to present a computer simulation of the one-point and two-point spatial nonuniformity correction of a staring sensor. The corrections will be performed on flat fields and barcharts with spatial noise. The signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) for the bars and the background will be calculated before and after the correction. In addition, the simulated image after correction will be evaluated by comparing it with an image from a real system. The limits and assumptions of the simulation also will be discussed.