Multiple Target Laser Designator

To address the Navy's need for a wide-area beam steering system for simultaneous laser designation of more than four targets, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new multiaperture, multiwavelength, Multiple-Target Laser Designator (MTLD). The proposed system is a novel full-scale laser designator system that integrates uniquely designed, aberration-corrected, high-gain multiband holographic telescopic optics (antenna) with an automatic target discrimination and tracking system, signal processing software and hardware, and high-speed data interfaces. The key advantages of this system over current systems include real-time multiwavelength, multiaperture transmit-receive target designation operation without the need for separate units; gain improvement of orders of magnitude, in a small-envelope, lightweight, low-cost system; highly efficient real-time background noise reduction through narrowband filtering of the unique hybrid transmission/reflection holographic antenna element, and camouflage penetration technologies. MTLD has no moving parts, which makes it rugged and particularly well suited to U.S. Navy applications. In Phase I, POC will demonstrate the feasibility of the MTLD by developing a laser designator system for five targets. Phase II will result in practical multi-aperture multiple-target (more than five dynamic targets), field-deployable, coded laser designation system, with performance superior to that of the best current technology.