Aeon Imaging LLC is medical device company developing imaging systems for diabetic retinopathy screening, low vision assessment, biomedical imaging and spectroscopy. The firm's core technology came out of a collaboration with researchers at the Schepens Eye Research Institute and the Indiana University School of Optometry. This technology exploits the flexible electronic aperture inherent in current CMOS sensors in order to perform unique confocal imaging. Aeon Imaging is currently developing two retinal imaging cameras for wide-spread screening of retinal disease and low vision assessment. The first camera technology, the Laser Scanning Digital Camera (LSDC), is a low-cost, easy to use confocal line-scanning laser ophthalmoscope that records images of the back of the eye. The LSDC can finely adjust the offset of its confocal aperture with respect to the illumination light on the retina electronically in real-time. With a confocal aperture offset, the LSDC records images composed of multiply scattered light from the deeper layers of the retina, while rejecting the much stronger direct backscatter from superficial layers. The result is increased sensitivity to scattering defects such as drusen and to the presence of edema. The LSDCs illumination source is more commonly used in telecommunication applications that require intensity modulation. In structured illumination mode, the source is modulated while imaging, producing a sequence of stripes across the image. The contrast or amplitude of the stripes measured through-focus provides a localized point-spread function. When measured near the fovea, this mode provides auto-focus; when combined with peripheral point-spread function measurements, the topography of the focused light on the retina can be reconstructed. Common uses for topography include modeling peripheral refraction and detecting retinal thickening commonly associated with eye disease. The second camera technology, the Digital Light Ophthalmoscope (DLO) achieves its small size and low cost using a digital light projector (DLP) as the imaging source. A series of lines are rapidly projected onto the retina to simulate line scanning. Light return is spatially filtered by the electronic rolling shutter of a CMOS sensor to achieve high contrast confocal imaging.
