Phase-Space Imager

The proposed sensor, Phase-Space-Imager (PSI), is based on space-time projection optical tomography to overcome the camera exposure limitation associated with fast-moving aerial objects such as commercial and military air traffic as well as hypersonic vehicles. Despite advanced radar surveillance systems and the launch of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), aerial objects including commercial and general aviation aircraft, microlights, drones, and birds continue to face the threat of mid-air collision. In particular, the proliferation of drones profoundly challenges conventional civilian air traffic and air defense monitoring systems. They are physically small and low-flying targets exceeding the detection limits of radars. OpticalX herein proposes to develop and demonstrate PSI, as a synthetic exposure vision sensor for moving aerial targets providing superior detection and tracking sensitivity over a 180 degree field-of-view (FOV). In contrast to conventional imaging, optical signals are processed simultaneously via space-time analysis in the spatial and velocity domain. GPU-based algorithms synthetically enhance exposure by two orders of magnitude or more allowing the detection of smaller or distant targets. For proof-of-concept, we will deploy a wide FOV visible-light CMOS camera and process the frames first in an embedded platform (Jetson AGX Orin) and then in the cloud via the more capable NVIDIA H100 to observe commercial air traffic near San Francisco Bay and verify sensitivity improvement using Open-SkyNetwork.org ADS-B data for the detection probability and the probability of false alarm.