A Visible/Infrared Omnidirectional Sensor Module for Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Target Acquisition (RSTA)/Mobilit

"The primary objective of the SBIR effort proposed herein is to develop and test the feasibility of two designs of novel omnidirectional day/night optical sensors that are able to provide 360-degree simultaneous RSTA capability with compact package size,light weight, and minimum moving parts. The first module we proposed, dubbed the OmniEye, is an omnidirectional sensor that is able to acquire 360-degree and -45 to +90 degree visible/IR video images simultaneously with no moving parts; it can not only be used for surveillance andreconnaissance but for vehicle navigation and obstacle avoidance as well. The second module, dubbed the OmniScan, employs a pair of optically aligned visible/IR sensors and a two-degree-of-freedom pan/tilt mirror to provide high-resolution remote target acquisition capability at long distance. It is able to resolve and detect HMMWV sized vehicles at 5,700 meters under daylight conditions and at 1,000 meters during nighttimes. The only moving part in the OmniScan module is the pan/tilt mirror, which in weight does not exceed more than a few ounces.The two sensor modules will be designed to have the same mechanical and electronic interface as its hosting vehicle has, and may be used separately for different mission requirements. However, we also propose a new capability that combines both modulestogether as a Master-Slave configuration, such that the OmniEye-MultiCam sensor demonstrates "global" RSTA f