MW120 Multi Aperture System
The Multi-Aperture MWIR seeker shown in the photograph was designed for a very wide field of view across multiple apertures.The7 apertures of the optical system enable wide angle imaging in a compact format. The seeker’s performance characteristics are listed below:
· FOV: 120 degwith 2FtanΘ/2 mapping function
· Focal Length; F/#: 4.16 mm;F/3.25
· Spectral Band: 3.4 – 4.8 µm across 640 x 512 pixels
The 2FtanΘ/2
mapping function is a compromise between oversampling at the periphery (wasting
pixels) and limiting distortion, which can be corrected in software.
The first images captured by the MW120◦ seeker are shown below. In all three cases a 2 Pt. NUC was applied, but no warping or stitching was performed. The NUC was applied using hot and cold aluminum bowls painted black on the concave side (one of the bowls is visible on the table in the right-hand image). It is evident that the 2 Pt. NUC does not completely remove the artifacts generated by self emission from the external spider mount. The images do reveal sharp resolution across the entire FOV, as predicted by the optical performance simulations. The signal flux and image contrast are also consistent across the entire FOV. The depth of field is also extremely good: objects are in focus at all distances.
The image below shows great high-resolution depth of field between person in fore-ground and back wall of the lab. The curved poll in the peripheral region is warped as the images from the 7 apertures are also stitched together.
The image below shows that the beams behind the walls are colder than the ambient temperature in the lab. This indicates temperature outside the building is low.
The image below shows the foveal region is distortion free. The peripheral region distorts the pole on the left and duct above. The curvature is corrected in the warped image.
