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It is well known that the quality of imagery captured by electro-optic cameras is degraded by atmospheric turbulence. This is especially true for horizontal path surveillance in challenging military environments (i.e. within 3m of the ground) where atmospheric turbulence is known to severely affect image quality. The acquisition ranges for even long range cameras can reduce from a few kilometres to less than 100 metres. In order to arrive at a solution that may be deployed in operationally significant scenarios, video imagery captured in these conditions was analysed. It became apparent that conventional civilian adaptive optics is not robust enough for generic military imaging. Therefore a pragmatic approach has been developed to lead to the design of a lens system that incorporates adaptive optics that may be used in challenging military scenarios.

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Lens technology has been developed that enables a scene to be scanned optically whilst the lens remains stationary. The covert optically-scanning enhanced (COSE) pinhole lens technology also has the option of incorporating a zoom capability. This allows any target in the scene to be isolated and zoomed onto for further scrutiny. The COSE lens has an external stationary entrance pupil. The operation of the lens may be visualized as optically pivoting about this pupil plane whilst scanning the scene but physically remaining stationary. A technology demonstrator has been built and its performance is discussed. Further developments of the COSE technology are also discussed.

A lens that incorporates an internal optical pan and tilt mechanism using a Risley prism has been designed. A zoom mechanism that provides various ratios up to 10x has also been incorporated. The design of the lens allows any object in the field of view to be brought into the centre of the field and then zoomed onto. The lens design is scalable. The first variant was designed with a focal range of 2-10mm with a pan/tilt of 46° within a field of view of 90° in a pinhole lens configuration. Importantly the lens has an external stationary entrance pupil that leads to a compact form. A technology demonstrator has been built and its performance is discussed. Further developments of the lens technology are also discussed, including a 120° field of view variant with a 10x zoom.