MULTI-BAND OPTICAL SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM (MBOSS) DETECTOR ARRAY ASSEMBLIES FOR STAND-OFF SURVEILLANCE APPLICATIONS

PSR AND TEAM MEMBER SANTA BARBARA FOCALPLANE WILL DEVELOP A DESIGN FOR A RECONFIGURABLE HGCDTE DETECTOR ARRAY ASSEMBLY WHICH IS COMPATIBLE WITH A GFE OPTICAL SCANNER. THIS NEW RECONFIGURABLE DETECTOR ARRAY WILL RESULT IN A DETECTOR THAT CAN PROVIDE EITHER AN INCREASE IN SENSITIVITY OR AN INCREASE IN RESOLUTION AS COMPARED TO EXISTING INFRARED LINE SCANNING SENSOR SYSTEMS. THE TECHNICAL APPROACH IS TO UTILIZE A TWO-DIMENSIONAL ARRAY OF SMALL DETECTOR ELEMENTS THAT CAN EMULATEA VARIETY OF FOCAL PLANE PATTERNS. DETECTOR ELEMENT ACTIVATION IS SOFTWARE CONTROLLED TO PERMIT REAL TIME MANIPULATION OF DETECTOR ARRAY GEOMETRIES. THE INITIAL BASELINE TECHNOLOGY UTILIZES HGCDTE IN ORDER TO OPERATE OVER THE FAR-IR WAVEBAND WHILE OPERATING AT LIQUID NITROGEN TEMPERATURES. THIS WILL ALLOW FOR THE UTILIZATION OF HIGH RELIABILITY CLOSED CYCLE CRYOGENIC COOLING.