Wide Field of View Electronically Stearable Imaging Sensors

This proposal provides a breakthrough solution to flexibly direct the field of view of an imaging system over a wide acceptance angle, having significant advantages over other candidate technologies. The innovation is based on an unconventional beam steering technology covering a wide angle ranging over at high speed with low power consumption and in a compact and lightweight construction. The design is simple comprising an IR lens array and two mirror arrays to divide a picture of a wide field into an image array with individual image cell of small angle FOV, which make it easy to minimize the dispersion of imaging system. The module offers unprecedented high speed and high reliability due to the use of electric rotation actuation controlling two single mirrors scanning in two dimensions. Our beam steering device can operate over wide IR spectral rang. In Phase I, the feasibility will be demonstrated in a functional prototype and the system design will be optimized. A prototype fully functional wide field of view imaging system with unprecedented performance is anticipated in Phase II.