Abstract: An electro-optical imaging array having pixels arranged in rows and columns electronically compensates for image motion in the plane of the array regardless of whether the motion vector is in the row direction, the column direction, or in a diagonal direction, i.e., in some vector combination of row and column directions. In an aerial reconnaissance application, the image motion may be due to rotation of the aircraft about roll, pitch and/or yaw angles in addition to forward velocity of the aircraft. The image motion compensation is achieved with no moving parts and does not require a stabilized platform.A camera control computer determines the magnitude and direction of the image motion from inertial navigation system inputs, including velocity, flight, and aircraft rotation information, and calculates pixel information transfer rates in the row and column directions. The pixel information transfer rates are supplied to a counter and clock driver circuit for the array.

Abstract: An electro-optical imaging array provides compensation for image motion due to variations in scene terrain electronically and with no moving parts. Pixel information representing scene information is transferred through the array in column groups. Each column group has its own charge transfer rate U. Successive images of the scene are generated by the imaging array, and the images are correlated by electronic signal processing circuitry to determine the image displacement of a fixed point in the scene between successive images. The image displacement is used to calculate a residual image velocity U.sub..delta. in each column group. As successive images of the scene are generated, the charge transfer rates U for each column group are updated, whereby U=U.sub.0 -U.sub..delta., where U.sub.0 is the charge transfer rate for the previous exposure, and U.sub..delta. is the residual image velocity in each column group.

Abstract: An electro-optical step-frame camera system in which successive overlapping frames of scene imagery are generated by an electro-optical imaging array, and in which electronic image motion compensation is performed by the array during the generation of at least some of the frames of imagery. The successive frames of imagery are made in a stepping pattern that is repeated in a series of cycles of steps, each step separated by a framing interval in which a frame of imagery is obtained. The stepping cycles of the camera generate sweeping coverage of the terrain of interest. As the velocity to height ratio of the reconnaissance aircraft changes, the stepping cycle and electronic image motion compensation are continually adjusted, so as to ensure maximum scene coverage and preservation of image resolution.