IR panoramic alerting sensor concepts and applications

Abstract

During the last decade, protection of military and civilian operational platforms against weapons like guns, grenades, missiles, Unmanned Combat Aerial (and surface) Vehicles (UCAV's) and mines, has been an issue of increased importance due to the improved kill-probability of these threats. The standard countermeasure package of armour, guns, decoys, jammers, camouflage nets and smokes is inadequate when not accompanied by a suitable sensor package, primarily consisting of an alerting device, triggering consecutive steps in the countermeasure-chain. In this process of alert four different detection techniques are considered: pre-alert, giving the directions of possible attack, detection of an action of attack, identification of the threat and finally the precise localisation (3-D). The design of the alerting device is greatly depending on the platform, on which it will be used, the associated and affordable cost and the nature of the threat. A number of sensor packages, considered, developed and evaluated at TNO-FEL is presented for simple, medium size and large and expensive platforms. In recent years the requirements for these sensors have become more and more stringent due to the growing number of scenarios. The attack can practically be from any direction, implying the need for a large Field of Regard (FOR), the attack range can vary considerably and the type of threat can be very diverse, implying great flexibility and dynamic range and rapid response of the sensor. Especially the localisation at short ranges is a challenging issue. Various configurations including advantages and drawbacks are discussed.

Optical design of an hemispherical, long-wave infrared panomorph lens for total situational awareness

“…Panoramic imaging is of growing importance in many surveillance programs around the world [1][2][3] . While primarily valued for its ability to image a very large field of view (180 o X 360 o , hemispheric), other characteristics such as its ability to reduce the number of sensors and to increase the pixel/cost ratio are also important benefits of panoramic imaging-particularly if the panoramic imager is designed to increase the number of pixels in the zones of interest, as is the panomorph 4 .…”

Research topics on EO systems for maritime platforms

“…In order to do so in a horizon search, a large Field of Regard (FOR) is required [3]. Such a large FOR can be obtained with cameras with a large FOV, and scan these along the horizon, or multiple cameras.…”