Variable-Resolution Compact 3D Range Imaging Ladar

There is a need for an Obstacle Avoidance System (OAS) for small unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) to detect fixed obstacles (e.g., trees, buildings, and wires) and proximity to manned aircraft or other UAVs. Small UAVs impose many different constraints, such as flying close to the ground, and limited size, weight and power (SWAP) for system components and on-board processing. Therefore, obstacle avoidance sensors and signal processing hardware must be compact, lightweight, and moderate to low cost. CTI, proposes to design and develop a novel eyesafe, compact, lightweight, scaleable, dynamically configurable 3D camera with near even trades between field of view (FOV), frame-rates, range-resolution, and range-search interval, for UAV obstacle avoidance. This flexible approach allows a single device to be reconfigured "on the fly" for a wide variety of military and commercial applications. The proposed sensor will be capable of providing ~500 of 10-cm range resolution elements over 5 degree field of view with 500 urad angular resolution. In Phase I CTI will demonstrate sensor feasibility through extensive modeling and analysis, produce a preliminary design, and perform risk reduction experiments to demonstrate key aspects of the novel sensor design. In the Phase I Option, CTI will perform a detailed design. In Phase II CTI will build and demonstrate the prototype transceiver/signal-processor and conduct field tests at an Army test site. The proposed will leverage CTI's extensive experience in developing flight qualified laser radar systems.