Theoretical foundations for joint digital-optical analysis of electro-optical imaging systems

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Image Processing
• Systems Engineering

Background:

• Traditional optical design principles often optimize components in isolation.
• This can lead to suboptimal overall imaging system performance and capabilities.
• Integrating design and analysis offers potential for significant improvements.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel methodology for the joint optimization of imaging system design and analysis.
• To establish the mathematical and conceptual foundations for this integrated approach.
• To demonstrate advantages over conventional optical design methods.

Main Methods:

• Developed an end-to-end merit function based on predicted average pixel sum-squared error.
• Utilized this merit function to optimize optical and digital image processing parameters simultaneously.
• Focused on a holistic system approach rather than component-wise optimization.

Main Results:

• The proposed methodology enables joint optimization of optics, detector, and digital image processing.
• Minimization of the end-to-end merit function leads to improved system parameters.
• Demonstrated potential for enhanced imaging performance and expanded operating capabilities.

Conclusions:

• The novel methodology offers a unified framework for imaging system development.
• This integrated approach yields superior as-built performance compared to traditional methods.
• The findings pave the way for more advanced and efficient imaging systems.