Staring IR sensors

Developments in the thermal imaging sensor technology are reviewed as related to new IR devices called staring, or non-scanning, two-dimensional mosaic sensors. The device is basically an X-Y array of detector elements and on-focal plane electronics with various signal processing functions, such as time delay and integration for scanning focal planes, anti-blooming, nuclear effects circumvention, and signal loss correction in long shift registers. Such devices, which might have up to one million detector elements, would provide greater sensitivity, increased resolution, signal integration and high signal-to-noise ratios. These fast electronic scanning devices could be used as large field-of-view sensors in space. Potentials of different materials for focal plane detectors are compared. Initial production of small IR mosaic focal planes is predicted for 1983.