Interleaved imaging: an imaging system design inspired by rod-cone vision

Under low illumination conditions, such as moonlight, there simply are not enough photons present to create a high quality color image with integration times that avoid camera-shake. Consequently, conventional imagers are designed for daylight conditions and modeled on human cone vision. Here, we propose a novel sensor design that parallels the human retina and extends sensor performance to span daylight and moonlight conditions. Specifically, we describe an interleaved imaging architecture comprising two collections of pixels. One set of pixels is monochromatic and high sensitivity; a second, interleaved set of pixels is trichromatic and lower sensitivity. The sensor implementation requires new image processing techniques that allow for graceful transitions between different operating conditions. We describe these techniques and simulate the performance of this sensor under a range of conditions. We show that the proposed system is capable of producing high quality images spanning photopic, mesopic and near scotopic conditions.