Lightweight Day-Night Camera

A lightweight intensified CCD camera capable of day and night operation will be developed for use in a Hand Launched Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (HL-UAV). A CCD and image intensifier will form the center of the design. State of the art image intensifier technology and miniaturization techniques will provide a camera with superior performance while providing a lightweight package. The power supply for the intensifier controls the intensifier gain and provides photocathode gating capability. Gating the intensifier synchronously with the CCD framing with variable period is used to adjust for higher illumination levels. The adjustment of the MCP gain and duty cycle of the gating will yield a dynamic range of over 9 orders of magnitude. Utilizing surface mount printed circuit construction and current technology in ASIC chips, the power supply, CCD camera board, and microcontroller will have a combined mass of less than 300 grams fully packaged. The Phase I effort will yield a laboratory demonstration that will provide a dynamic range over 9 orders of magnitude. The result of the Phase II work will be a lightweight day-night camera based on the technology demonstrated in the Phase I effort with mass less than 300 grams, size less than 2.7lx2.7ffx2.0", and less than 5 watts of power consumption.