Geometrical super resolution in fixed or vibrating platforms using sensor masking

The resolution of many viewing and staring systems is often restricted by the spatial limited resolution of its sensing device rather than by diffraction limits related to the optical system. This spatial resolution of the sensor when limited by the pixels' dimensions is coined hereby 'geometrical resolution'. In this paper, we suggest a technique for overcoming this limit, thus obtaining 'geometrical super resolution'. The proposed approach is based on time sub pixel scanning procedure followed by a Gabor transform. In order to improve the obtained results a special pre-designed mask is attached to the sensing plane. When the sensor is placed on a fixed platform, the set of sub-pixel shifted images must be obtained by deliberate sub pixel scanning procedures. However, in cases when the sensor is placed on a vibrating platform, the vibration can be used to obtain the desired images set by capturing several images (while vibrating) and applying a registration algorithm.