Agile Field-of-View Imaging Sensor

ABSTRACT: To address the Air Force need for an omnidirectional imaging sensor with a reconfigurable architecture for space surveillance, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to complete development of a new Agile Field-of-View (AFOV) sensor. It mimicks the vertebrate eye, providing a global view with hemispherical coverage and capturing local details with high-resolution in the direction of gaze. The AFOV sensor integrates an innovative adaptive superlens into a hemispherical FOV objective to enable smooth zooming up to 1:25 of regions of interest selected anywhere within the FOV without mechanical movement. The Phase II prototype will operate in the IR spectrum to make imaging independent of external light conditions, provide remote temperature characterization of space objects, and resist sunlight blinding. Object identifications are also supported by proven computationally efficient algorithms for image super-resolution and quality enhancement, allowing us to reach resolution better than 10 microradians, precise ranging and tracking. These capabilities, integrated into a compact design with low power consumption and functionality in low earth orbit (LEO) environments, directly address the Air Force requirements. In Phase II, POC will complete tests of system components in simulated LEO environments, fabricate and assemble a full-scale prototype, and demonstrate acquisition and tracking of ground-based objects. BENEFIT: Successful completion of the AFOV sensor development will bring benefits to military surveillance; situational awareness; and navigation and aiming for missiles, cruise missiles, and artillery shells. The AFOV sensor can be applicable to all autonomous air, land, and sea vehicles where payload, size, and weight are at a premium. The improved video enables such platforms to produce high-resolution imagery, which is becoming vital to various DoD and commercial applications involving surveillance, situational awareness, and tracking. The POC solution can be adopted in commercial video surveillance systems because of its advantages in terms of coverage and cost. This approach greatly simplifies problems of data fusion in multicamera video surveillance systems, drastically reducing setup and maintenance costs, and computational complexity too. The distinguishing features of the AFOV sensor will make it commercially attractive in multiple civilian applications, such as academic research, training and simulation, virtual design, education, robot navigation, and biomedical imaging. It will also find application in airport security, car traffic surveillance, emergency management, and natural disaster relief.