An Integratable Ultra-Compact Optical Sensor System for Situation Awareness and Aircraft Self-Protection

The proposal addresses a new class of large field of view panoramic two color + RF sensor system that is based on a revolutionary concept in sensing optics, potentially providing all weather, all aspect, multi spectral threat warning system. The new design is a practical solution to incorporate uncooled IR detector and UV detector with existing RF warning sensors to significantly enhance situation awareness of aircrafts. Our approach offers all the desirable performance attributes in sensitivity, resolution, detection range, coverage area, accuracy, cost, and weight. The new approach is simple yet highly effective. The proposed system can instantaneously survey the full surrounding space without scanning mechanism, covering the area with the field of view 180° ' 360° FOV. In addition to the large angle of field view, the angle resolution of our system is adequate for detecting all type threat launch and trajectory tracking. Phase I work will demonstrate the feasibility and Phase II will produce the full specification-working prototype.