Mosaic multispectral focal plane array cameras

Mosaic technology has gained considerable popularity and has become mainstay in commercial digital color cameras. In a mosaicked sensor, each pixel detector is covered with a wavelength-specific optical filter. Since only one spectral band is sensed at each pixel, the other bands must be estimated from neighboring pixels. In the commercial digital color cameras, sophisticated algorithms have been developed to perform this estimation, based upon properties of the human visual system to minimize artifacts. To expand this technology for use in military applications such as missiles and smart ordnance, various modifications need to be made. Two of the bigger problems are the choice of spectral sensitivities for the filters and the pattern used in the mosaic. We propose a novel seven-band setup for multispectral imaging systems along with a choice of spectral sensitivities that "best" distinguish target from clutter in an information theoretic sense. These ideas are illustrated with hyperspectral visible/near-infrared images taken by the AVIRIS sensor. Following the image-capture stage, the display of these multispectral images on a three-channel display is also addressed.