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HybridImager

Open hybrid scientific imaging: single-pixel, event, frame, and spectral sensing in one maintainable research stack.

HybridImager is a research and design workspace for a mixed scientific detector. The concept combines a high-dynamic-range single-pixel bucket detector, event-camera timing, frame-camera texture, and optional spectral measurements under one synchronized data model.

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System Concept

• Single-pixel branch: a central low-noise detector/TIA path for absolute intensity, high dynamic range, and spectral or coded measurements.
• Event branch: asynchronous temporal contrast from commercial event cameras first, then open FPGA interfaces when practical.
• Frame branch: global-shutter frame modules for texture, calibration, and human-readable inspection.
• Fusion layer: timestamped streams with exposure, gain, calibration profile, trigger, and pattern metadata.

V1 Sensor Board

The first board draft is a KiCad-generated Weiqi sparse sensor carrier with 21 single-pixel detector sites, not one central bucket only. It includes per-site signal pads, explicit ground routing, three AFE placeholders, a QFN timing placeholder, SMA sync in/out, power/sync header, and a 2x20 expansion header for later event/frame/tile work.

Review package: hardware/v1-weiqi-sensor/ contains the KiCad board, dataset, BOM, clean DRC JSON, STEP model, Gerbers, drill files, and full-view renders.

V2 ALS-PT19 Matrix

V2 is a dense 32x32 sensor-board draft using the ALS-PT19 phototransistor family from the CustomSensor/digiOBSCURA reference. Unlike the older 45-degree, 2.0 mm layout, V2 uses unrotated footprints on a 2.54 mm pitch so each sensor pad, row header pin, and column header pin is aligned and routable.

Review package: hardware/v2-als-pt19-32x32/ contains the KiCad board, CustomSensor source dataset, BOM, clean DRC JSON, STEP model, Gerbers, drill files, and full-view renders.

Current Contents

Area	Location
Concept paper	publications/hybrid_camera_concept.pdf
Open camera survey	publications/open_camera_project_survey.pdf
V1 sparse sensor board	hardware/v1-weiqi-sensor/
V2 aligned ALS-PT19 matrix	hardware/v2-als-pt19-32x32/
Research notes	references/
Deterministic diagrams	figures/hybrid_board_layout.*, figures/hybrid_signal_chain.*
Hardware plan	hardware/board_architecture.md
Reconstruction plan	algorithms/reconstruction_plan.md
Prior context	copied-context/
Open project mirrors	external/ as git submodules

Quick Start

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/lachlanchen/HybridImager.git
cd HybridImager
make all

If the repository is already cloned:

git submodule update --init --recursive
make survey

Research Baseline

The strongest open single-pixel path is ONE-PIX plus ONE-PIX_hardware. For event vision, the realistic first build uses commercial event cameras with OpenEB, jAER, v2e, and E2VID. For frame hardware, the useful open references are OneInchEye, Antmicro OV9281, AXIOM Beta, and Seeed reCamera.

The project does not assume a custom event-sensor ASIC in the first stage. It starts with open board-level synchronization, open data formats, open reconstruction, and reusable mechanical/PCB references.

CAD And Hardware Notes

Preferred Shapr3D export package for editable mechanical work:

STEP + native .shapr + Parasolid + DXF from sketch + 3MF/STL preview

Use STEP as the main interchange format, Parasolid as the high-fidelity solid backup, DXF for 2D outlines and plates, and STL/3MF only for print or mesh preview.

Build Commands

make figures   # regenerate deterministic diagrams
make paper     # compile the HybridImager concept paper
make survey    # compile the open camera project survey
make all       # run paper and survey builds
make clean     # remove LaTeX build byproducts

Citation

If you use HybridImager in research, cite the repository. GitHub reads CITATION.cff and shows a Cite this repository panel on the repo page.

@software{chen_hybridimager_2026,
  author = {Chen, Lachlan},
  title = {HybridImager: Open Hybrid Scientific Imaging Research Workspace},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://github.com/lachlanchen/HybridImager}
}

Status

This is an early research workspace, not a certified imaging product. The immediate goal is a maintainable experiment pipeline for optical and microscopy setups: build with available modules, synchronize cleanly, reconstruct reproducibly, and only integrate custom hardware after the data contract is stable.

Build less. Image more.