Marotta Controls, Inc. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: OSD181-002

Description

Rapid strikes upon targets hidden in cluttered background may require a self-guided gun launched high velocity projectile having a unique seeker. A gun hard seeker that employs long wave polarimetry to quickly discriminate man-made objects in natural scenes is proposed. Simple polarimetric schemes that minimizes part count and utilizes no moving parts makes gun launch survival designs accessible. Two such schemes are of interest implementing a pixel level wire grid polarizer micro array or a pseudo division of amplitude monolithic optic for performance and feasibility. Both designs have been contemplated, designed, built and tested in the past. Seeker applications generate requirements involving target position angle accuracy per slant range that drives unobvious optical requirements that conflict with degradations the aforementioned polarization schemes introduce. Modern LWIR microbolometer advancements may offset concerns of sensor speed and optical signal loss due to polarization system implementation. And hardware implementation details of optics, sensor, and electronics packaging regarding high G loads and thermal challenges have been studied by test on recent DARPA programs. Using such results based experience and optics centers of knowledge, we can generate a feasible and affordable solution rapidly.