Bio inspired infrared retina for fourth gen infrared sensors

Abstract

Infrared detectors are in the third generation of their evolution and are moving towards large format, multicolour and higher operating temperature imagers. However all the pixels in an infrared imager look essentially the same. In this paper, we will discuss the concept of a bioinspired infrared retina, in which added functionality such color, polarization or gain is encoded in the individual pixels. However, one distinguishing feature of the natural sensors like the human eye is ability to couple this powerful multimodal sensor with intelligent algorithms that only send small amounts of relevant data to the brain.