High Resolution Laser Warning Device with Directional Determination Capability

With the rapid development of laser weapons that are fast, accurate, and with high energy, many laser weapons have been incorporated in various military platforms. As a consequence, the safety concern of military personnel including aircrew demands foradvanced laser warning devices that can help provide earlier warning and also provide detail enemy laser parameters for protection arrangement. Existing laser warning devices are not capable of providing all required laser parameters in a single devicepackage. New Span Opto-Technology Inc. proposes herein a new laser warning device based on intelligent use of a high Finesse Fabry-Perot etalon. The new device with minimal device components can be rugged and compact packaged to satisfy militaryrequirement on vibration insensitivity. It offers the capability of simultaneous coherence discrimination laser warning, laser wavelength determination, laser beam direction determination, and laser status (CW or pulsed) classification. Large field of view(over 100¿ full angle) and fast response are other important features. Phase I research will construct a laser warning device prototype for feasibility demonstration of the proposed concept. The device operation parameters will be evaluated. Phase IIdevelopment will focus of achieving fast response using a specially designed integrated electronic evaluation chip.The successful development of the proposed laser warning device will be valuable to aircrew and other military applications by identifyingenemy laser parameters in near real-time. Combining the required measurement features into a simple compact device is a significant advantage of the proposed concept. The development will also have significant impact to commercial applications includinglaboratory laser wavelength evaluator, territory surveillance position determination, aircraft automated landing through laser guiding, and laser based friend and foe identification.