Expendable Electro-Optic Infrared Camera System

The Forward Observer Laser Designator Unmanned Aerial System (FOLD-UAS) concept has been developed as the airborne component of the Precision Urban Mortar Attack (PUMA) program. The PUMA program has targeted the tier II STUAS as the unmanned aerial vehicle of choice for this program. A successful Phase II FOLD-UAS demonstration provides a significant risk reduction of the airborne ISR & T portion of the PUMA program. It also positions the PUMA program to demonstrate a UAS-based system as soon as the airborne laser designator is available. Major areas where risk is reduced by the FOLD-UAS Phase II program includes the following: • Demonstration of the ability to locate ground-based laser designator • Demonstration of the ability to search for target and lock on target • Demonstration of the line-of-sight stability while locked and in “Designator Mode” • Validation of the Size, weight and power required for the FOLD-UAS system Areté Associates’ approach to the challenging CONOPS of the FOLD-UAS/PUMA system is to leverage Areté’s Mini-Scan Mirror (MSM) Technology. The MSM is a fast scanning mirror technology that replaces the large, heavy, power hungry, and costly gimbals. By manipulating a low mass mirror as opposed to the entire sensor and designator system, a higher imaging performance, more reliable, lighter, smaller, and cost effective solution can be developed. There are other added benefits to this approach which include the ability to rapidly reposition the fast scan mirror to any position within the field-of-regard (FOR) between image frames at a rate exceeding 30Hz. This allows the system to simultaneously image different locations within the FOR as well as provide a unique solution to the challenges of acquiring the spot being designated by the ground forces. With the MSM, the entire FOR can be searched far more quickly than by a traditional gimbal (> 10x). Additionally when the system is operated in ISR mode the operator can trade frame rate for search area. Given a typical camera system operating at 30Hz, the operator could be presented with the following options: • A single 30Hz video stream. • Multiple video streams at a reduced frame rate (frame rate = 30Hz/number of vide streams). This is truly unique feature that can allow the operator to track multiple targets simultaneously anywhere in the FOR. • Generation of a mosaic image stream that is updated at a nominal 1 Hz that represents 30 different looks stitched together