Patent ID: 8854619

Claim:
A multispectral imaging device for satellite observation by “push broom” scanning over an observed area, operating in N wavelength bands, where N is greater than one, each band respectively centered on a first wavelength (λ 1 ) through an Nth wavelength (λ N ) comprising: a. a light source emitting a beam in each of the N wavelength bands; b. a wide-field optic for collecting the beam from the light source; c. N rows of detectors (L 1 , . . . , L N ) for acquiring images of the observed area in differing emission bands (B 0 , B 1 , B 2 , B 3 ); and d. an optical filter located in an optical path between the wide-field optic and the N rows of detectors further comprising: i. a first dispersion element (R 1 , R) for dispersing the collected beam into N wavelength bands; ii. at least one micro-opto-electro-mechanical system (MOEMS) for receiving the N wavelength bands and applying N filtering functions to the N wavelength bands, wherein the MOEMS is configured to reflect only certain wavelength bands; iii. a controller for the MOEMS configured to select one of the N filtering functions as a selected filtering function and vary the selected filtering function with a period equivalent to an acquisition time for an image corresponding to a displacement time equivalent to a scrolling row of detectors facing the observed area; and iv. a second dispersion element (R 2 ) for the purpose of recombining all reflected wavelength bands corresponding to the differing emission bands (B 0 , B 1 , B 2 , B 3 ) at the output of the filter, wherein the device is configured to move perpendicular to a direction of displacement (D) of the observed scene.