Patent ID: 8300276

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a detector array configured to receive electromagnetic (E-M) radiation from a target object, the detector array comprising a plurality of time delay and integration (TDI) detectors, the detectors organized into a plurality of segments, each segment comprising one or more rows of the detectors perpendicular to a designed scan axis, each segment comprising a plurality of columns of the detectors parallel to the designed scan axis, the detector array moving in a relative scan direction relative to the target object; and one or more processors configured to perform the following for each segment of the detector array: perform the following for each column of the each segment to yield a plurality of signals, the each column detecting a portion of the target object: if there is misalignment at the each segment, pass a signal to a correcting next column of a next segment in the direction of the misalignment, the signal accumulating scan data of the portion of the target object; and otherwise, pass the signal to a designed next column of the next segment in the direction of the designed scan axis.