The U.S. Air Force seeks to advance the state-of-the-art in angle-of-incidence (AOI) sensing. A key motivation is that the lethality of certain weapon systems used against certain targets is often strongly influenced by AOI at a favorable aim point. Weapon systems that can most benefit from AOI sensing include directed energy weapons and precision guided munitions. The proposed work is divided into three phases. Phase I, the subject of the present proposal, focuses on assessing the feasibility of candidate AOI approaches and delivering a sensor concept likely to satisfy key USAF requirements. Phase II focuses on further validating the sensor concept by designing, assembling and testing the most promising AOI sensor prototype. Phase III will incorporate industry requirements into the design and proceed to full-scale commercial implementation. The proposer, Photon X, Inc. of Huntsville, AL, asserts that a key component of an AOI sensing solution is likely to be a spatial phase imaging (SPI) sensor. SPI imagers have the ability to stream high-accuracy 3D shape data from which optimal AOI/aim points can be determined. Importantly, SPI imagers (like conventional digital cameras) can be manufactured in low-SWaP, low-cost, multi-use sensor packages.
Benefit: SPI sensors will deliver remarkable benefit to the USAF in wide ranging applications including: ? Sense and avoid ? Situational awareness ? Target/human detection (ATR) ? Multi-modal, long-standoff, on-the-move biometrics ? UAS control, analytics and natural visualization ? Terrain analysis and geospatial imaging ? Battle damage assessment & recovery ? Modeling and simulation ? Training ? Mission planning and rehearsal
Keywords: Angle-Of-Incidence, Impact Angle, Precision Guided Munitions, 3d Imaging, Spatial Phase Imaging
