Defect avoidance in a 3-D heterogeneous sensor [acoustic/seismic/active pixel/IR imaging sensor array]

A 3D heterogeneous sensor using a stacked chip is investigated. Optical active pixel sensor (APS) and IR bolometer detectors are combined to create a multispectral pixel for aligned color and infrared imaging. An acoustic and seismic micromachined sensor array obtains sound spectral and directional information. For the optical/IR imagers, fault tolerant APS cells and software methods are used for defect avoidance. For the acoustic/seismic array, spare detectors are combined with signal processing to compensate for changes in detector positions due to defects. The sensor fault distribution in turn impacts the defect avoidance in the fault tolerant TESH networked processors analyzing the sensor array.