Today most of the telescopes from 1-meter to the 1 0-meter in diameter giants are designed to have multiple focal planes and hold various observational instruments. This multi-functional approach to designing telescope systems greatly increases the complexity and cost ofmanufacturing telescope systems.We are currently constructing a 0.5-meter and a 1 -meter wide-field telescope that will operate in tandem to detect and track Near Earth Obj ects (NEOs) and space debris. The telescopes have a single flat-plane Cassegrain focus, are optimized for a specific range ofwavelengths oflight, a small focal ratio with a wide field ofview, and hold a single multi-chip CCD camera as their only observational instrument. Because these telescopes are designed for a specific type of observation, the costs of the telescopes are greatly reduced compared to similar sized multipurpose telescopes systems.To achieve high-quality NEO/Space Debris observations, the manufacturers ofthe telescope systems, CCD cameras, facilities, and software work together to integrate their cutting-edge technologies into a single robust system. In this paper we discuss the strategy, design, and implementation of our manufacturing team approach to building cost-effective advanced technology telescope systems.
An effective enhanced vision system must operate over a broad spectral range in order to offer a pilot an optimized scene that includes runway background as well as airport lighting and aircraft operations. The large dynamic range of intensities of these images is best handled with separate imaging sensors. The EVS 2000 is a patented dual-band Infrared Enhanced Vision System (EVS) utilizing image fusion concepts to provide a single image from uncooled infrared imagers in both the LWIR and SWIR. The system is designed to provide commercial and corporate airline pilots with improved situational awareness at night and in degraded weather conditions. A prototype of this system was recently fabricated and flown on the Boeing Advanced Technology Demonstrator 737-900 aircraft. This paper will discuss the current EVS 2000 concept, show results taken from the Boeing Advanced Technology Demonstrator program, and discuss future plans for EVS systems.
The Trijicon ATWS™ is a high performance, lightweight, compact clip on thermal sight for use with the TA31RCO ACOG® weapon sight. FLIR Systems partnered with Trijicon to develop this sight using the Photon 640 imaging core. This paper will discuss the features and performance of the ATWS and describe some of the design challenges associated with this type of device.
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