OPTICAL LIGHT DETECTION AND RANGING TOMOGRAPHIC IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION PROCESSOR

LIGHT DETECTION AND RANGING (LIDAR) TECHNOLOGY PROVIDES A POWERFUL MEANS OF IMAGING SPACEBORNE OBJECTS USING INVERSE SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR (ISAR) RANGE RESOLVE TOMOGRAPHIC RECONSTRUCTION PROCESSING TECHNIQUES. THESE ISAR TECHNIQUES, HOWEVER, BECOME INEFFECTIVE WHEN THE OBJECT IS ONLY VIEWED FOR A SMALL FRACTION OF A ROTATIONAL. THE FORMIDABLE SIGNAL PROCESSING REQUIREMENTS INHERENT IN AN ISAR IMAGING APPLICATION REQUIRE INNOVATIVE TECHNIQUES TO MINIMIZE THE SIZE, POWER, AND WEIGHT OF THE SIGNAL PROCESSOR, PARTICULARLY FOR SPACEBORNE APPLICATIONS. A NEW ALGORITHMIC APPROACH TO THE LIMITED VIEWING ANGLE PROBLEM USES A SIGNAL PROCESSING ANALOG TO TIME-OF-FLIGHT POSITION EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY (TOFPET) TO RECONSTRUCT THE OPTICAL RANGE-DOPPLER SCATTERING FUNCTION OF THE OBJECT. IN THIS EFFORT, AN OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSOR IS BEING DEVELOPED USINGACOUSTO-OPTIC TECHNOLOGY THAT RECONSTRUCTS LIDAR TOMOGRAPHIC IMAGES. THE VERSATILITY AND LOWER SIZE, POWER, AND WEIGHT OF THIS PROCESSOR COULD IMPACT MANY IMAGING RADARAND LIDAR SYSTEMS THROUGHTOUT THE MILITARY SERVICES. SIGNALPROCESSING INTENSIVE FUNCTIONS IN INDUSTRY, SUCH AS SEISMIC PROCESSING, COULD ALSO BENEFIT FROM THIS CAPABILITY.