Laser DEW Threat Detection System for UAV

With improved performance in directed energy weapons (DEW), the susceptibility of modern weapon, reconnaissance, and surveillance systems – in particular those with optical sensors – is acute. Recent interest in protection of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and their sensor suites has become extremely important as the use of UAV’s on the modern battlefield increases. There is currently no means of rapidly detecting the direct or scattered radiation from laser-based DEW, determining the precise location of the source, and directing countermeasures to the potentially hazardous energy. The ability to rapidly scan a full hemisphere for potential threats would allow the UAV system to quickly take evasive action or engage optical sensor protection systems. Nanohmics proposes to build and flight test a novel, low-cost optical system for integration on existing UAV platforms that has a spherical field of regard. The optical system has no moving parts, has a very small depth along the optical axes, and can be constructed from light and extremely low-cost glass or injection-molded polymers. Based on a wide-angle laser threat detector system, the innovative Argus laser threat assessment system combines non-imaging optics with integrated reflective surfaces to achieve a wide optical field without sacrificing angular accuracy, sensitivity, or collection aperture.