End-to-end design of electro-optic imaging systems using backwards ray tracing from the detector to the source

摘要

A unified design strategy takes into account different subsystems within an overall electro-optic imaging system. In one implementation, the design methodology predicts end-to-end imaging performance using a spatial model for the source and models for the optical subsystem, the detector subsystem and the image processing subsystem. The image produced by the detector subsystem is estimated by tracing rays backwards from the detector subsystem through the optical subsystem to the source. This image can then be propagated through the digital image processing subsystem to model the entire electro-optic imaging system. The optical subsystem is designed taking into account the entire system.