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[Studies in Computational Intelligence 481] Artur Babiarz, Robert Bieda, Karol Jędrasiak, Aleksander Nawrat (auth.), Aleksander Nawrat, Zygmunt Kuś (eds.) - Vision Based Systemsfor UAV Applications (2013, Sprin

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Thermal Camera for Autonomous Mobile Platforms 105<br />

parameters like output impedance and possible output current. That is why it cannot<br />

be loaded with resistance lower than nom<strong>in</strong>al (for example 100 kΩ). The majority<br />

of fast analog-to-digital converters have low <strong>in</strong>put I pedance, so separate<br />

buffer is necessary. Additionally the buffer can be used to adjust the dynamic<br />

ranges of both devices – detector array and ADC. The most important parameters<br />

of ADC are resolution and speed. Sampl<strong>in</strong>g frequency of a converter depends on<br />

array design (readout speed and the number of outputs) and on frame rate. The<br />

required resolution of ADC is a result of signal to noise ratio (SNR) at the output<br />

of detector array If the amplitude of the noise <strong>in</strong> the array is UN, the amplitude of<br />

the signal is US, then the SNR is given by:<br />

<br />

(1)<br />

<br />

and the m<strong>in</strong>imal resolution of ADC converter can be then calculated accord<strong>in</strong>g to<br />

the formula:<br />

, (2)<br />

where N is a m<strong>in</strong>imal bit count of ADC converter word.<br />

Digital signals driv<strong>in</strong>g detector array, has to be generated for every type of the<br />

detector. The task is complex, because different types of detector arrays have different<br />

<strong>in</strong>terfaces and demands different signals and tim<strong>in</strong>gs, even <strong>in</strong> case of the<br />

same manufacturer. A block diagram of UL 04 27 2 detector readout module realized<br />

as a FPGA functional block is shown <strong>in</strong> Fig 12.<br />

Fig. 12. Block diagram of read-out control module for ULIS’ UL 04 27 2 microbolometer<br />

FPA<br />

The digital signals for controll<strong>in</strong>g the microbolometer array can be divided <strong>in</strong>to<br />

two groups. One is to provide proper tim<strong>in</strong>g dur<strong>in</strong>g readout from detectors whereas<br />

the second is used for array configuration. First group <strong>in</strong>cludes RESET, INT,<br />

MC and CLK_VIDEO. Execution of the module results <strong>in</strong> read<strong>in</strong>g all the pixel<br />

values which are then sent for further process<strong>in</strong>g via image data bus [8, 12, 13].<br />

Example signal diagrams for UL 04 27 2 array are shown on Fig. 13.

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