Mobile imaging systems and methods utilizing angular velocity in mitigating adverse jitter effects

1. An enhanced resolution imaging system secured with a vehicle, comprising:

a mounting configured to secure with the vehicle;

an electro-optical image capture system cooperated with the mounting, wherein the image capture system is configured to sequentially obtain a series of frames per second; and

a first jitter compensation system to implement a first technique of angular displacement mitigation to mitigate an effect of line of sight (LOS) angular displacement of the image capture system, comprising:

an angular velocity sensor system cooperated with the mounting and configured to detect velocity of change of LOS angular displacement of the image capture system caused by angular jitter noise; and

an image capture control circuit communicatively coupled with the angular velocity sensor system and the image capture system, wherein the image capture control circuit, during each frame of the series of frames, is configured to:

receive, in real-time, angular velocity data from the angular velocity sensor system;

identify, in real-time during the frame, when an angular velocity is less than an angular velocity threshold; and

activate, during the frame and in response to identifying that the angular velocity is less than the angular velocity threshold, exposure of the image capture system to illumination for at least one of: at least a minimum integration period of time during the frame, and while the angular velocity is less than the angular velocity threshold during the frame.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the image capture control circuit is configured to continue to activate the exposure of the image capture system during the frame and while the angular velocity continues to be less than the angular velocity threshold, and to terminate the exposure of the image capture system to the illumination, following the minimum integration period of time, in response to one of: detecting, based on the angular velocity data, the angular velocity exceeding the angular velocity threshold and a frame duration of time of the frame expires.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the image capture control circuit is further configured to:

detect, during the frame, that a minimum threshold amount of time remains of the frame duration of time;

detect that the exposure of the image capture system has not yet been activated resulting from the angular velocity not having dropped below the angular velocity threshold during the frame; and

activate, during the frame and in response to detecting that the minimum threshold amount of time remains and the exposure of the image capture system has not been activated during the frame, the exposure of the image capture system for at least the minimum integration period of time during the frame.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the image capture control circuit is further configured to register an orientation of the image capture system during the exposure of the image capture system and in association with an orientation of one or more previous frames.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the image capture control circuit is further configured to modify in real-time the angular velocity threshold prior to a subsequent successive frame as a function of historic angular velocity detected over a set of multiple frames occurring prior to the subsequent successive frame.

6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

an illumination source system cooperated with the mounting; and

wherein the image capture control circuit is communicatively coupled with the illumination source system, and wherein the image capture control circuit in activating the exposure of the image capture system is configured to activate the illumination source system to emit at least some of the illumination for at least the minimum integration period of time during the frame.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the image capture control circuit is configured to:

obtain external illumination characteristics corresponding to a target being imaged by the image capture system;

access a signal to noise ratio threshold; and

determine the minimum integration period of time as a function of the signal to noise ratio threshold, and illumination characteristic.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the angular velocity sensor system comprises at least one gyroscope, wherein the image capture control circuit is configured to integrate gyroscope data received from the at least one gyroscope and obtain time-dependent angular position of the line of sight of the image capture system over each frame.

9. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

a second jitter compensation system to implement a second technique of angular displacement mitigation to mitigate the effect of the LOS angular displacement of the image capture system, wherein the second technique of angular displacement mitigation is different than the first technique of angular displacement mitigation, wherein the second jitter compensation system is configured to operate in cooperation with the first jitter compensation system, and wherein the second jitter compensation system comprises:

an angular jitter sensor system coupled to the mounting and configured to detect angular jitter noise causing line of sight (LOS) angular displacement of the image capture system; and

the image capture control circuit, wherein the image capture control circuit, during each frame of the series of frames, is configured to:

receive, in real-time, LOS angular displacement data from the angular jitter sensor system;

obtain, during the frame, an angular displacement of the image capture system and monitor when the detected angular displacement of the image capture system, based on the LOS angular displacement data, is within an angular displacement threshold envelope; and

activate exposure of the image capture system to the illumination, multiple times during the frame, when the detected angular displacement of the image capture system is within the angular displacement threshold envelope.

10. A method of capturing enhanced resolution images from a vehicle, comprising:

by an image capture control circuit:

implementing a first jitter compensation technique of angular displacement mitigation to mitigate an effect of line of sight (LOS) angular displacement of an image capture system configured to sequentially obtain a series of frames per second, comprising:

receiving, in real-time, angular velocity data from an angular velocity sensor system secured with a mounting secured with the vehicle;

identifying, in real-time during the frame, when an angular velocity change in line of sight (LOS) angular displacement of an image capture system, caused by angular jitter noise, is less than an angular velocity threshold; and

activating, during the frame and in response to identifying that the angular velocity is less than the angular velocity threshold, exposure of the image capture system to illumination for at least one of: at least a minimum integration period of time during the frame, and while the angular velocity is less than the angular velocity threshold during the frame.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the activating the exposure comprises activating the exposure of the image capture system during the frame and while the angular velocity continues to be less than the angular velocity threshold, and terminating the exposure of the image capture system to the illumination, following the minimum integration period of time, in response to one of: detecting, based on the angular velocity data, the angular velocity exceeding the angular velocity threshold and a frame duration of time of the frame expires.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

detecting, during the frame, that a minimum threshold amount of time remains of the frame duration of time;

detecting that the exposure of the image capture system has not yet been activated resulting from the angular velocity not having dropped below the angular velocity threshold during the frame; and

activating, during the frame and in response to detecting that the minimum threshold amount of time remains and the exposure of the image capture system has not been activated during the frame, the exposure of the image capture system for at least the minimum integration period of time during the frame.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

registering an orientation of the image capture system during the exposure of the image capture system and in association with an orientation of one or more previous frames.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

modifying in real time the angular velocity threshold prior to a subsequent successive frame as a function of historic angular velocity detected over a set of multiple frames occurring prior to the subsequent successive frame.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the activating the exposure of the image capture system comprising activating an illumination source system to emit at least some of the illumination for at least the minimum integration period of time during the frame.

16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

obtaining external illumination characteristics corresponding to a target being imaged by the image capture system;

accessing a signal to noise ratio threshold; and

determining the minimum integration period of time as a function of the signal to noise ratio threshold, and illumination characteristic.

17. The method of claim 10 , wherein the identifying the angular velocity comprises integrating gyroscope data received from at least one gyroscope of the angular velocity sensor system, and obtaining time-dependent angular position of the line of sight of the image capture system over each frame.

18. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

implementing a second jitter compensation technique of angular displacement mitigation to mitigate the effect of the LOS angular displacement of the image capture system, wherein the second technique of angular displacement mitigation is different than the first technique of angular displacement mitigation, and wherein the second jitter compensation system is configured to operate in cooperation with the first jitter compensation system, comprising:

receiving, in real-time, LOS angular displacement data from an angular jitter sensor system;

obtaining, during the frame, an angular displacement of the image capture system and monitoring when the detected angular displacement of the image capture system, based on the LOS angular displacement data, is within an angular displacement threshold envelope; and

activating exposure of the image capture system to the illumination, multiple times during the frame, when the detected angular displacement of the image capture system is within the angular displacement threshold envelope.