Recent advances in joint optical-digital design for optronics applications

Increasing the capture volume of visible cameras while maintaining high image resolutions, low power consumption and standard video-frame rate operation is of utmost importance for hand-free night vision goggles or embedded surveillance systems. Since such imaging systems require to operate at high aperture, their optical design has become more complex and critical. Therefore new design alternatives have to be considered. Among them, wavefront coding changes and desensitizes the modulation transfer function (MTF) of the lens by inserting a phase mask in the vicinity of the aperture stop. This smart filter is combined with an efficient image processing that ensures optimal image quality over a larger depth of field. In this paper recent advances are discussed concerning design and integration of a compact imaging system based on wavefront coding. We address the design, the integration and the characterization of a High Definition (HD) camera of large aperture (F/1.2) operating in the visible and near infrared spectral ranges, endowed with wavefront coding. Two types of phase masks (pyramidal and polynomial) have been jointly optimized with their deconvolution algorithm in order to meet the best performance along an increased range of focus distances and manufactured. Real time deconvolution processing is implemented on a Field Programmable Gate Array. It is shown that despite the high data throughput of an HD imaging chain, the level of power consumption is far below the initial specifications. We have characterized the performances with and without wavefront coding through MTF measurements and image quality assessments. A depth-of-field increase up to x2.5 has been demonstrated in accordance with the theoretical predictions.