Advanced Optical System Technologies

Detection of missiles during the boost phase requires a sensor located on a high altitude forward deployed platform or on a spacecraft. Unlike a spacecraft, a forward deployed high altitude airship (HAA) or an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is relatively mobile and can be quickly deployed to areas of concern. For a single sensor to fit on a HAA or UAV, it must be compact, low-mass, and energy efficient while still being highly versatile to fulfill the broad mission requirements. A lightweight, high-resolution, all-reflective, zoom magnification, optical sensor is preferred because it delivers a large field of view with lower magnification during threat acquisition and a greatly magnified field of view to track and classify targets. The Schafer / University of Alabama in Huntsville Team has an innovative design approach that delivers the functional flexibility needed in the sensor. A unique telescope material choice is the silicon lightweight mirror technology, that is lighter than beryllium, as structurally efficient as SiC, and lower in cost to fabricate than comparable mirror technologies. This permits the deployment of many low cost sensors on many platforms to completely cover all possible threat areas.