Abstract
This paper discusses the capabilities of an electrooptic signal processing device consisting of a light-emitting diode (LED), a matrix mask, and a customized charge-coupled device (CCD). Such a processor can perform a broad variety of useful one-dimensional operations including linear transformation (e.g., Fourier, Walsh, Hankel), multi-channel cross-correlation, filtering, and high-density read-only memory. Any desired window function can be designed into the mask and any desired amount of window overlap can be obtained by appropriate clocking of the CCD. Its strengths include high-speed, compact size, ruggedness, reliability, and potential low cost. However, as in other analog sampled-data systems, its accuracy is moderate (the equivalent of about 8 to 10 bits). The incorporation of a real-time programmable mask into this system expands its capabilities into the nonlinear and recursive filtering realms (in addition to programmable versions of the above-mentioned linear operations) at the expense of system size, complexity and cost. In many applications, the numerical computation capability of such a processor far surpasses that of its conventional electronic digital counterparts.
