Reducing missile dome cost using Segmented-APerture Hybrid Image Reconstruction (SAPHIR)

The missile dome represents an enormous percentage of a modern missile’s expense. This project seeks to develop image correction methods to relax the optical tolerances for missile domes, thus significantly reducing their cost. ASE Optics has extensive experience in digital image processing, optical design, and in the manufacturing and measurement of missile domes. Furthermore ASE Optics is strategically located within the Rochester, NY optics community, with fast access to dome manufacturers and optical fabrication shops. ASE Optics is thus uniquely qualified to solve this problem. We propose a hybrid optical and digital approach to minimize image sensitivity to aberrations produced by the missile dome. This new approach, termed segmented-aperture hybrid image reconstruction (SAPHIR), requires minimal computation power and should improve the image resolution by 2X without increasing the exposure time. We anticipate that SAPHIR will allow dome surface tolerances to be relaxed from 0.25 waves to 1 wave. It is expected that the final cost of the dome would be reduced by 10%.