Characterization of a temporal contrast microbolometer infrared sensor

This paper presents the characterization of a novel event-based 64 times 64 pixel temporal contrast IR sensor. The device consists of a micro-bolometer thermistor array and a CMOS readout IC employing asynchronous, spiking pixel circuits. The pixels independently respond to changes in thermal IR radiation and communicate detected variations in the form of asynchronous ldquoaddress-eventsrdquo (AER). After a brief review of the implemented sensor architecture, a DFT-based approach to the characterization of asynchronous, spiking sensor arrays is discussed. We use a mechanical shutter (chopper) to generate a controllable and reproducible transient stimulus and evaluate the pixel response in time and frequency domain. Measurement results and analysis on pixel sensitivity, bandwidth and noise of the first fabricated sensor prototype are presented.