MECHANICAL FMC TECHNIQUES FOR REMOVING IMAGE BLUR IN DIGITAL AERIAL CAMERAS

Image blur caused by high speed motion is one of the main problems of aerial digital cameras. Removing image blur with special techniques is called Forward Motion Compensation (FMC) techniques. During the exposure time of the sensor, image of the same earth region moves more than many pixels on the sensor due to high speed, and causes image blur. Expensive TDI (time delay integration) sensors are now available and electronically compensate the motion within the sensor. In this article we propose mechanical compensation methods. During the exposure time, movement of the camera with proper angular speed will result in FMC. This can be achieved by pure older mechanical methods. Another method is to move the sensor linearly, proportional the speed of image walk. This can be provided by piezo-actuators. In this paper we present examples of these two mechanical FMC techniques. By these methods cheaper standard sensors can be used in digital aerial cameras.