Electronic gimbal system for electronically aligning video frames from a video sensor subject to disturbances

DETAILED DESCRIPTION This invention discloses an electronic gimbal system used either alone or in combination with a mechanical gimbal for image stabilization of consecutive video images from an imaging sensor system mounted on a platform subject to disturbances.
More particularly, an inertial sensor is incorporated as part of the imaging system to provide an output signal of how much the platform has been disturbed relative to an inertial coordinate system such that the video input signal can be repositioned relative to the inertial coordinate system.
In one preferred embodiment, a digital signal representing pixel locations of an image as sensed by a sensor is applied to an input frame storage device.
The storage device applies the digital signal as a two-dimensional array of the image to an address look-up calculator.
The address look-up calculator provides a means for randomly addressing the storage location for each of the pixel locations.
The address look-up calculator also receives a signal from an inertial sensor which continually determines the platforms position relative to the inertial coordinate system.
The address look-up calculator adjusts each of the pixel locations of the two-dimensional input frame image from the input frame storage device according to the signal from the inertial sensor, and applies the altered image to an output frame storage device which outputs the digital video signal as a stabilized image.
The address look-up calculator can either adjust the image from the input frame storage device a desirable number of offset pixels vertically and horizontally in order to realign the image, or it can apply an interpolation algorithm to average a weighted sum of pixels to derive the desirable stabilized output.
Additional objects, advantages, and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.