Speckle image processing for conformal sub-aperture arrays

Optical Physics Company has developed two speckle imaging techniques to achieve diffraction-limited quality using subaperture data. Both have already been proven by the Air Force - one in the lab and the other in ground-to-space imaging. Each method uses a different process for recovering the sub-aperture phase and reconstructing the image. During this STTR effort, we will combine these two techniques to design, build, and demonstrate an end-to-end practical and cost-effective conformal sub-aperture array. Based on our preliminary estimates, the resulting imaging system has the signal-to-noise ratio to image a target 100 km away at a resolution of 7.5 cm with automatic compensation for atmospheric and boundary layer turbulence. When combined with liquid crystal and laser technologies already being developed by the Air Force, a TRL 8 sub-aperture based conformal array flight system can be deployed within six years. During Phase I, we will develop the initial opto-mechanical and algorithm design and perform a high fidelity simulation to evaluate vibration, jitter, noise, thermal gradients and atmospheric turbulence. This will be followed by a lab demonstration using 256x256 sub-apertures, scaled to an AF selected operational scenario. Phase I work will conclude with the Phase II prototype design.