Institut National D'optique

Raysecur, Inc

Optosecurity Inc.

Glaxosmithkline Biologicals Sa

European Space Agency

Alain Bergeron

Linda Marchese

Michel Doucet

Hubert Jerominek

Marc Terroux

Nichola Desnoyers

Luc Perron

Eric Bergeron

Pascal Bourqui

Donald Pr&eacute;vost

Eric Giroux

Normand Blais

Bruno Tremblay

Michel R Bouchard

Simon Turbide

Hassane Oulachgar

Bernd Harnisch

Anthony Pilorget

Francis Genereux

Donald Prevost

Sébastien Roy

Chen Xu

Yves Fradet

Remi M Palmantier

Éric Giroux

An imaging system that includes an image sensor and imaging optics is provided. The image sensor has a sensing surface and it captures images of a scene. The imaging optics is optically coupled to the image sensor and is configured to form the images of the scene onto the sensing surface of the image sensor. The imaging optics includes a sensor-adjacent optical element having an exit surface located in close proximity to the sensing surface of the image sensor. The exit surface of the sensor-adjacent optical element and the sensing surface of the image sensor are spaced apart by a gap having a gap width enabling evanescent-wave coupling from the exit surface to the sensing surface for light having wavelengths within the sensor spectral range.

Terahertz imaging system with evanescent-wave coupling

A mail screening apparatus is provided to perform the inspection of mail or similar objects. Terahertz inspection is used to localize potential suspicious areas by imaging the contents inside the envelope or small parcel. The mail screening apparatus includes a primary and a secondary inspection zone, preferably allowing inspection of the mail in a normal and a zoomed mode, respectively. The same light source, image capture device and intervening optical components are used in both normal and zoomed modes. Metal detection may optionally be used to enhance awareness in the presence of metallic content. In one implementation, metal detection zones are provided in an orthogonal configuration with respect to the primary inspection zone used for terahertz imaging to accommodate for both manual and automatic inspection of mail.

Mail screening apparatus

A method and system for imaging a target scene using a microbolometer array having multiple lines of microbolometer pixels are disclosed. Each line is switchable between an exposed state and a shielded state, where the line is exposed to the target scene and a reference scene, respectively. The method may include alternating between generating a target frame of the target scene and generating a reference frame of the reference scene, each of which in a rolling shutter mode. The method may also include, concurrently with the generating steps, alternating between sequentially shielding each line after its readout in the exposed state for its next readout in the shielded state, and sequentially exposing each line after its readout in the shielded state for its next readout in the exposed state. The method may also include adjusting the target frames using the reference frames to generate thermal images of the target scene.

Image acquisition method for microbolometer thermal imaging systems

A method is for phase-error correction in a synthetic aperture (SA) imaging system. A transmission signal and a local oscillator (LO) signal are generated with a relative time delay, which can be adjusted in real-time to match a range to a target region to be imaged. A portion of the transmission signal is transmitted onto the target region and a return signal is collected and mixed with a portion of the LO signal to provide a raw SA signal. Transmission and LO phase errors associated respectively with the transmission and LO signals are determined, as well as a frequency jitter between the transmission and LO signals. A phase-corrected SA signal is obtained by applying a phase correction to the raw SA signal based on the transmission phase error, the LO phase error and the frequency jitter. An SA imaging system is capable of implementing the method for phase-error correction.

Phase-error correction in a synthetic aperture imaging system with local oscillator time delay adjustment

There is described a method for processing data generated by a synthetic aperture imaging system, comprising: receiving raw data representative of electromagnetic signals reflected by a target area to be imaged; receiving a parameter change for the synthetic aperture imaging system; digitally correcting the raw data in accordance with the parameter change, thereby compensating for the parameter change in order to obtain corrected data; and generating an image of the target area using the corrected data.

Method and apparatus for compensating for a parameter change in a synthetic aperture imaging system

A beam conditioning device includes a coherence-breaking module and a beam transforming module. The coherence-breaking module is configured to break a spatial coherence between beam components of the light beam and may include coherence-breaking mirrors having a structured pattern on their reflective surfaces. The beam transforming module may include a primary optical element and a secondary optical element and is configured to transform the spatial energy distribution and the footprint of the light beam. The beam conditioning device may be used to transform a Gaussian light beam into a flat-top light beam suitable for terahertz imaging applications, although other initial and/or final energy distributions may be considered.

Optical beam conditioning device with coherence-breaking and beam transforming modules

There is provided a System and method of wavefront compensation in a synthetic aperture imaging system. A return signal data representative of a signal reflected by a target area to be imaged is received. A compensation phase figure corresponding to a wavefront compensation to be applied is provided. The compensation phase figure is added or otherwise applied to the phase pattern of the return signal data in order to obtain a compensated phase pattern. An optical beam is spatially modulated according to the compensated phase pattern to produce a modulated optical beam such that the compensation phase figure produces a wavefront compensation on the optical beam. An image of the target area is optically generated using the modulated optical beam.

Wavefront compensation in optical synthetic aperture imaging processors

There is described a method for determining a Doppler centroid in a synthetic aperture imaging system, comprising: receiving raw data representative of electromagnetic signals reflected by a target area; selecting, among the raw data, at least two sets of sub-area data each representative of electromagnetic signals reflected by a corresponding sub-area of the target area, the sub-areas being substantially aligned along an azimuth axis of the target area and having a substantially identical surface area; for each one of the sets of sub-area data, generating an image corresponding to the corresponding sub-area; and measuring a mean intensity of the image; and estimating the Doppler centroid from a skew of an intensity function representing the mean intensity as a function of a look number for the corresponding sub-area.

Method and apparatus for determining a doppler centroid in a synthetic aperture imaging system

Antigen binding proteins, such as antibodies, which bind to human MAGE-A3, polynucleotides encoding such antigen binding proteins, and uses and manufacture thereof.

MAGE antigen binding proteins

There is described a method for generating a synthetic aperture image of a target area, comprising: receiving, from a synthetic aperture imaging system, first raw data representative of electromagnetic signals reflected by the target area and detected by the synthetic aperture imaging system according to a first angle of view; digitally combining the first raw data with second raw data, thereby obtaining combined data, the second raw data being representative of the electromagnetic signals reflected by the target area and detected by the synthetic aperture imaging system according to a second angle of view different from the first angle of view; and generating an interference pattern of the target data using the combined data.

Synthetic aperture imaging interferometer

There are provided a method and a system for illuminating one or more target in a scene. An image of the scene is acquired using a sensing device that may use an infrared sensor for example. From the image, an illumination controller determines an illumination figure, such that the illumination figure adaptively matches at least a position of the target in the image. The target is the selectively illuminated using an illumination device, according to the illumination figure.

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Alain Bergeron