Image Analysis Hardware for High-Speed, Sub-Diffraction MDA Applications (Topic 02-003)

The ability to resolve closely spaced objects, which are separated by angles less than the diffraction limit of the observing platform, greatly facilitates the early discrimination of missile payloads. We demonstrate that our image processing providesaccurate source positions and radiometry for sources separated by 0.25-0.5 of the full-width at half maximum (FWHM) of the point-spread function, or a factor of 2-4 closer than a separation of 1 FWHM or more, conventionally thought to be required foraccurate detection. Furthermore, we show that this performance is at or near the theoretical limit derived from the signal-to-noise ratio of the data.We propose to design custom image analysis hardware that implements our image processing in a small fraction of a second. This hardware is expected to be relatively compact (a few printed-circuit boards) and require low power, allowing its use aboardspacecrafts. Future ASIC implementation will further reduce size and power.In addition to missile defense, the proposed hardware will find applications in a number of military and commercial markets, such as military intelligence, medical imaging, commercial satellite imaging, and high-end microscopy. Missile Defense, Military Intelligence, Surveillance, Law Enforcement, Commercial Satellite Imaging, Medical Tomography, Rational Drug Design, Microscopy.