Wide Field of View Primary Optic for Semi-Active Laser Sensor

The US Army employs Semi-Active Laser seeker (SAL-seeker) sensors on several missile platforms to provide precision guidance to targets. The sensor for a SAL-seeker is typically a narrow FOV quad-cell based sensor integrated onto a gimbal, providing a wide Field of Regard to acquire and lock onto a laser designator beam for guidance to the target. The objective of this work is to develop a novel primary optic for a wide field of view SAL seeker (SAL-seeker). The wide FOV of the primary optic would eliminate the need for a gimbal, thus reducing cost and complexity (risk of operational failure) of the SAL seeker sensor head. Three different novel SAL seeker optical architectures will be compared in terms of performance and cost. Two of the designs involve bio-inspired compound eye lens-let arrays and a third design is a more conventional single aperture design. The designs will be developed, modeled, refined, and analyzed to arrive at a final design that is optimized in terms of estimated performance and cost. A final design will be done in the Phase I Option that will be developed in a Phase II effort.