Radiometric calibration and noise estimation of acousto-optic tunable filter hyperspectral imaging systems

The accuracy of the radiometric response of acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) hyperspectral imaging systems is crucial for obtaining reliable measurements. It is therefore important to know the radiometric response and noise characteristics of the hyperspectral imaging system used. A radiometric model of an AOTF hyperspectral imaging system composed of an imaging sensor radiometric model (CCD, CMOS, and sCMOS) and an AOTF light transmission model is proposed. Using the radiometric model, a method for obtaining the fixed pattern noise (FPN) of the imaging system by displacing and imaging an illuminated reference target is developed. Methods for estimating the temporal noise of the imaging system, using the photon transfer method, and for correcting FPN are also presented. Noise estimation and image restoration methods were tested on an AOTF hyperspectral imaging system. The results indicate that the developed methods can accurately calculate temporal and FPN, and can effectively correct the acquired images. After correction, the signal-to-noise ratio of the acquired images was shown to increase by 26%.