SHARED-APERTURE ELECTRO-OPTIC IMAGING AND RANGING SENSOR

摘要

A shared-aperture EO imaging and ranging sensor is implemented by time multiplexing an optical imaging channel and an optical ranging channel. The optical ranging channel is allocated the “unused portion” of each frame; that portion of the frame that is reserved from electronics processing of the imaging channel. The electronics processing of ranging channel is performed during the integration period of the next frame. This allows ranging to be provided without sacrificing the performance of the imaging channel. Ranging may be provided using either “coded aperture” or “wavefront coding”.

主权项

1. A shared-aperture electro-optic (EO) imaging and ranging sensor, comprising:
a shared-aperture including an objective optical system that receives a wavefront of optical radiation emanating from one or more objects in a scene within a field of view (FOV) and converts the wavefront into a first optical image; an optical imaging channel comprising a first detector configured to convert the optical radiation of the first optical image into a first electrical signal; an optical ranging channel comprising an adaptive optical modulator configured to optically modulate the amplitude or phase of the wavefront with a spatial pattern and a second detector configured to convert the optical radiation of a second optical image of the modulated wavefront into a second electrical signal, wherein objects in the scene within a certain range window associated with that spatial pattern produce image components in the second optical image, said image components having a distinct spatial structure sensitive to the range to the one or more objects within the range window; an optical switch configured to alternately direct the optical radiation to the optical imaging channel and to the optical ranging channel to time multiplex the FOV in a sequence of frames; and one or more controllers configured to
control the optical switch to direct the optical radiation to the optical imaging channel for a portion of each frame, said portion corresponding to an integration period for the optical imaging channel;process the first electrical signal during the remaining portion of each frame to provide an electronic representation of the first optical image;control the optical switch to direct the optical radiation to the optical ranging channel during the remaining portion of each frame; andprocess the second electrical signal associated with each said spatial pattern during the integration period of the next frame to determine the spatial structure of the image components in the second optical image to provide a range estimate to the one or more objects; and wherein said one or more controllers are configured to control the adaptive optical modulator to modulate the wavefront with at least two different spatial patterns associated with two different range windows during the remaining portion of a frame or in successive frames.