RTS Noise and Dark Current White Defects Reduction Using Selective Averaging Based on a Multi-Aperture System

Zhang, Bo; Kagawa, Keiichiro; Takasawa, Taishi; Seo, Min Woong; Yasutomi, Keita; Kawahito, Shoji

doi:10.3390/s140101528

Open AccessArticle

RTS Noise and Dark Current White Defects Reduction Using Selective Averaging Based on a Multi-Aperture System

by

Bo Zhang

^*,

Keiichiro Kagawa

,

Taishi Takasawa

,

Min Woong Seo

,

Keita Yasutomi

and

Shoji Kawahito

Research Institute of Electronics, Shizuoka University, 3-5-1 Johoku Nakaku Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 432-8011, Japan

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Sensors 2014, 14(1), 1528-1543; https://doi.org/10.3390/s140101528

Submission received: 21 November 2013 / Revised: 7 January 2014 / Accepted: 10 January 2014 / Published: 16 January 2014

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photonic Sensors for Industrial, Environmental and Health Monitoring)

Download

Browse Figures

Versions Notes

Abstract

In extremely low-light conditions, random telegraph signal (RTS) noise and dark current white defects become visible. In this paper, a multi-aperture imaging system and selective averaging method which removes the RTS noise and the dark current white defects by minimizing the synthetic sensor noise at every pixel is proposed. In the multi-aperture imaging system, a very small synthetic F-number which is much smaller than 1.0 is achieved by increasing optical gain with multiple lenses. It is verified by simulation that the effective noise normalized by optical gain in the peak of noise histogram is reduced from 1.38e⁻ to 0.48 e⁻ in a 3 × 3-aperture system using low-noise CMOS image sensors based on folding-integration and cyclic column ADCs. In the experiment, a prototype 3 × 3-aperture camera, where each aperture has 200 × 200 pixels and an imaging lens with a focal length of 3.0 mm and F-number of 3.0, is developed. Under a low-light condition, in which the maximum average signal is 11e⁻ per aperture, the RTS and dark current white defects are removed and the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) of the image is increased by 6.3 dB.

Keywords: noise reduction; multi-aperture; random telegraph signal (RTS) noise; dark current white defect

Graphical Abstract

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Zhang, B.; Kagawa, K.; Takasawa, T.; Seo, M.W.; Yasutomi, K.; Kawahito, S. RTS Noise and Dark Current White Defects Reduction Using Selective Averaging Based on a Multi-Aperture System. Sensors 2014, 14, 1528-1543. https://doi.org/10.3390/s140101528

AMA Style

Zhang B, Kagawa K, Takasawa T, Seo MW, Yasutomi K, Kawahito S. RTS Noise and Dark Current White Defects Reduction Using Selective Averaging Based on a Multi-Aperture System. Sensors. 2014; 14(1):1528-1543. https://doi.org/10.3390/s140101528

Chicago/Turabian Style

Zhang, Bo, Keiichiro Kagawa, Taishi Takasawa, Min Woong Seo, Keita Yasutomi, and Shoji Kawahito. 2014. "RTS Noise and Dark Current White Defects Reduction Using Selective Averaging Based on a Multi-Aperture System" Sensors 14, no. 1: 1528-1543. https://doi.org/10.3390/s140101528

APA Style

Zhang, B., Kagawa, K., Takasawa, T., Seo, M. W., Yasutomi, K., & Kawahito, S. (2014). RTS Noise and Dark Current White Defects Reduction Using Selective Averaging Based on a Multi-Aperture System. Sensors, 14(1), 1528-1543. https://doi.org/10.3390/s140101528

Article Menu

RTS Noise and Dark Current White Defects Reduction Using Selective Averaging Based on a Multi-Aperture System

Abstract

Share and Cite

Article Metrics

Article Access Statistics

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI