An Innovative Multi-Spectral Sensor For Ballistic Missile Defese Systems

Solid State Scientific Corporation proposes to design and model a unique spectral imaging sensor that will be capable of simultaneously imaging nine color bands at video rates. The approach will use existing technology to improve multispectral imagingcapabilities for ballistic missile defense systems by utilizing recent developments in micro-optics to create a nine-channel spectral imager based on a single focal plane array. The resulting spectral imager will operate in multiple electro-optic bands,including short wave infrared (SWIR) and medium wave infrared (MWIR), incorporate a 3'3 micro-lens array, and use a 512'512 staring imager to capture one 168'168'9 spectral data cube during each integration time. The new sensor will have no moving partsand a small physical form factor. The design and development of this sensor represents a unique opportunity in multispectral sensing and imaging.This effort will benefit the development of algorithms for exploiting time-evolving spectral signatures. This spectral imager will be able to sample the data at rates in excess of 200 multispectral data cubes per second with moderate spectral sampling.The sensor can be configured so that the spectral resolution varies independently of the sampling, allowing the sensitivity of the sensor to be optimized around phenomenologically important spectral regions. The proposed sensor combines staring imaging technology with recent developments in micro-lens technology from telecommunications to advance the state of the art in multispectral imaging. The ability of the new sensor concept to rapidly acquiremultispectral data cubes should provide an unprecedented opportunity to investigate algorithms for dynamic event classification based on temporal spectral signatures, countering CC&D, and evaluating surfaces. In addition, the small physical size of thesensor will demonstrate the possibility of portable multispectral imaging.Potential applications for defense purposes include buried mine detection, real-time bomb damage assessment, target tracking, and missile threat warning. In addition, we anticipate possible applications in medical diagnostics and medical imaging.