In order to harness the potential of this technology in the military arena we plan to team with prime contractors, in particular Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems and Sensors and L-3 communications. We have worked with these companies in the past, transitioning SBIR technology into military programs of record. Regardless, the novel algorithms developed in this SBIR can be implemented in alternative low-cost platforms like CPUs and GPUs, enabling the same benefits in post-processing fashion. Once the cost of the technology is low enough, the applications of dead pixel mitigation algorithms are virtually limitless in the commercial imaging arena: TV broadcasting, medical imaging, digital photography, industrial inspection, robotics, surveillance, etc.
Although the primary application is for space missions involving the acquisition of HD video, NASA will be able to leverage our solution as a technique for mitigating the effects of sensor pixel damage in video imaging for space, air, land or maritime sensors. The dead-pixel problem is of particular importance for night-vision devices mounted in high vibration/dust environments, like aircraft, road-going vehicles and man-portable equipment. In some of these applications the bandwidth is available to process the raw data away from the sensor, enabling cost reductions.
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