Image restoration from camera vibration and object motion blur in infrared staggered time-delay and integration systems

Time-delay and Integration (TDI) arrays are of great interest, especially in connection with civilian applications such as document scanning and industrial product inspection. We consider here a staggered TDI system, in which the even field is delayed with respect to the odd field by 29 pixels. Because of cooling system vibrations and the field differences, pictures become distorted as a result of motion blur. The proposed algorithm improves image quality. We build an analytical model of this system to describe all motion in the picture, including object motion in addition to cooling system vibrations, or either type of motion. We present a number of approaches that can be useful to solve such problems. These solutions are based on different applications of a block-matching algorithm (BMA). Full-search BMA yields the lowest complexity but not necessarily the best image quality. Interpolation BMA yields the best image quality.