Efficiency of image processing architectures near the focal plane array

We report on the capabilities and efficiencies made possible by placing image processing functions near or on the Focal Plane Array (FPA). Recent work in advanced near FPA signal processing has shown that it is possible to migrate many of the heretofore off focal plane image processing tasks onto the Readout Integrated Circuit (ROIC). The goals of this work are to describe and demonstrate the feasibility of "Activity Sensing" and the associated computational efficiency with this type of on FPA processing. Bottleneck reduction, intelligent information processing, and adaptive bandwidth compression are also key challenges of the next generation FPA architectures with on FPA processing. We report on the development and performance benefits expected from an Activity Sensing algorithm using recorded infrared (IR) Data from a large format 1024 × 1024 variable acuity Indium-Antimonide¹ FPA sensor.