LIGHTWEIGHT EXO-ATMOSPHERIC PROJECTILE SEEKERS USING A SCANNED IMAGE AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL FOCAL PLANE TECHNOLOGY

THE DESIGN OF AN EXO-ATMOSPHERIC PROJECTILE SEEKER REQUIRES THE CAPABILITY TO DETECT AND TRACK TARGETS AGAINST THE BACKGROUND, PARTICULARLY, THE EARTH BACKGROUND RAPIDLY MOVING BEHIND THE TARGET AND PRODUCING A FALSE SIGNAL MASKING THE SLOWLY MOVING TARGET. CURRENT SENSOR TECHNOLOGY HAS NOT BEEN ABLE TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM. A LIGHTWEIGHT EXO-ATMOSPHERIC PROJECTILE SEEKER APPROACH CAPABLE OF EXTRACTING, ACQUIRING AND TRACKING TARGETS IN THE PRESENCE OF HIGHLY CLUTTERED AND DYNAMIC BACKGROUNDS IS BEING INVESTIGATED. THIS APPROACH TO INFRARED IMAGING, WHICH USES A SCANNED IMAGE AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL FOCAL PLANE TECHNOLOGY TO PUT INTRAFRAME AND INTERFRAME IMAGE PROCESSING ON THE FOCAL PLANE, ALLOWS ON-FOCAL PLANE EXTRACTION OF LOW OBSERVABLES FROM EARTH CLUTTER AND NUCLEAR STRUCTURED ENVIRONMENTS. NORMAL MISSILE BODY MOTION CAN BE USED TO GENERATE THE DITHER SCAN, NEGATING THE NEED FOR SCANNING OPTICS. DATARATES AND OFF-FOCAL PLANE PROCESSING LOADS ARE REDUCED SUFFICIENTLY TOELIMINATE THEM AS MAJOR ISSUES IN THE SEEKER DESIGN. THE NATURE OF THE SAMPLING PROCESS ALSO IS EXPECTED TO CONTROL OR ELIMINATE THE EFFECTS OF GAMMA PULSE EVENTS ON THE SENSOR. THE ALGORITHM FOR INCLUSION IN AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT IS BEING ANALYTICALLY VALIDATED ANDTHE OPERATING PARAMETERS OF THE INTEGRATED CIRCUIT ARE BEING DEFINED FOR INSERTION IN FUTURE GENERATIONS OF FOCAL PLANE MODULES FOR THE EXO-ATMOSPHERIC PROJECTILE SEEKERS.