INTELLISENSE SYSTEMS INC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: N201-079

Description

To address the Navy need for an extremely accurate star tracker for deployment to the Trident II weapon system, Intellisense Systems, Inc. (Intellisense) proposes to develop a new Holographic Low-SWaP Telescope Array Reconfigurable Star Tracker (HoloSTAR) based on a new design that leverages NASA-developed interferometry fringe methodology. Specifically, the innovative modification and improvement of stellar interferometry by using scanning holographic planar afocal telescopes, a fiber-linked optical waveguide stellar interferometer with dynamically controlled telescope phasing via local interferometer laser metrology, with surface-mounted micro-optics delay line, and a focal plane fringe sensor allows HoloSTAR to be extremely accurate and have low SWaP. As a result, it will be deployable on the Trident II (D5) weapon system and reconfigurable for astronomical imaging and data collection required by the Navy. In Phase I, Intellisense will develop the design of the HoloSTAR system that implements the NASA JPL interferometer fringes technique to measure stars extremely accurately, meet the Navy’s SWaP and accuracy requirements, and demonstrate its feasibility by computer simulation and experimental testing via a laboratory setup. Potential risks will be identified and a mitigation plan will be developed. In Phase II, Intellisense will develop and deliver a prototype HoloSTAR system for Navy hardware-in-the-loop testing in emulated missile and spacecraft environments and will implement changes via the Navy’s feedback.