APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING POINTING CAPABILITY FOR A FIXED CAMERA

摘要

Reflective movable mirrors (22, 26, 38) are used to reflect an image (12) from a desired direction into the lens (14) of a camera (10). This apparatus is preferably used with infrared (IR) cameras (10, 46). To capture images from different directions, the orientations of the mirrors (22, 26, 38) are modified. The mirrors (22, 26, 38) are light, requiring only miniature motors (30, 36) and actuators (28, 54) for moving them. The mirrors (22, 26, 38) are also much smaller than the focal plane electronics and the IR lens (14, 50), requiring much less space for moving them than would be required for moving the camera (10, 46). This provides a pointing capability for an airframe-fixed IR camera (10, 46) and this capability is provided with minimum additional payload, space and power requirements. The apparatus and method can be used for IR (46) and electro- optical (EO) cameras (44).