Processing for Flexible Sensors

In contrast to the typical single aperture systems found in weapons today, arthropod compound eyes are multi-aperture optical systems. The compound eye has evolved into many forms, each one of which is specifically adapted to the optical environment of the insect or crustacean that it resides upon. The applications of artificial compound eye sensors range from highly complex applications such as terminal seeker optics and missile approach warning systems, to guidance sensors for micro-robots. This effort proposes the use of compound eye sensors as a replacement to dual mode sensors for use in target detection, tracking, and guidance integrated fuzing. BENEFITS: The multi-aperture optical system design has several advantages over the typical single aperture systems found in military weapons and commercial applications. The ability to maintain a large sensor FOV, with minimal distortion, and optimal depth of field, provides a great benefit for both commercial and military applications. This sensor, employed on a missile seeker, provides a WFOV, low frame rate capability required for target search, and a high frame rate lower resolution mode required for warhead fuzing, all in a single sensor.  The WFOV sensor allows for elimination of complexity and cost of seeker gimbals typically required to achieve adequate field-of-regard. For commercial applications, the low distortion WFOV sensor is ideal for surveillance covering a large area. Processing techniques are used to identify specific areas of interest, and provide a high resolution image chip for intruder identification. With the proliferation of surveillance cameras today and in the future, this capability provides a leap forward in state-of-the-art threat protection systems.