Long Range Acquisition and Tracking SWIR Sensor System Comprising Micro-Lamellar Spectrometer
A sensor system is provided having a precision tracking sensor element and a micro-lamellar spectrometer for determining the wavelength of an electromagnetic source such as a laser designator source. Acquisition sensor elements may be provided and mounted on a rotating base element that rotates about a first axis. The precision tracking sensor elements may be mounted on a hinged or pivoting element or gimbal on the housing and provided with drive means to permit a user to selectively manually or automatically direct it toward a scene target of interest detected by the acquisition sensor elements. At least one of the imaging elements in the precision tracking sensor or acquisition sensors is stacked micro-channel plate focal plane array element.
1 . A sensor system comprising:
a first precision tracking element comprising imaging means for providing an electromagnetic illumination beam having a predetermined imaging wavelength and at least one precision tracking photo-detector element,
wherein at least one of the photo-detector elements comprises an electronic module comprising a stack of layers wherein the layers comprise a micro-lens array layer having at least one individual lens element for providing a beam output,
a photocathode layer for generating a photocathode electron output in response to a predetermined range of the electromagnetic spectrum,
a micro-channel plate layer comprising at least one micro-channel for generating a cascaded electron output in response to the photocathode electron output,
a readout circuit layer for processing the output of the micro-channel, and,
spectrometer means for determining the wavelength of an electromagnet imaging source.
2 . The sensor system of claim 1 wherein the acquisition sensor element is mounted on a rotating base element that rotates about a first axis.
3 . The sensor system of claim 1 wherein the precision tracking sensor element is movably mounted to a housing to permit the selective direction toward a predetermined scene of interest.
4 . The sensor system of claim 1 further comprising at least one Risley prism assembly.
5 . The sensor system of claim 1 comprising Gray code counter circuit means.
6 . A sensor system comprising:
a first precision tracking element comprising imaging means for providing an electromagnetic illumination beam having a predetermined imaging wavelength, scanning means for scanning the illumination beam on a target, a parabolic reflector element, a hyperbolic reflector element, beam-splitting means, a first precision tracking photo-detector element responsive to a predetermined first range of the electromagnetic spectrum having a first active field of view, a second precision tracking photo-detector element responsive to a predetermined first range of the electromagnetic spectrum having a first passive field of view, and,
wherein at least one of the photo-detector elements comprises an electronic module comprising a stack of layers wherein the layers comprise a micro-lens array layer comprising at least one individual lens element for providing a beam output,
a photocathode layer for generating a photocathode electron output in response to a predetermined range of the electromagnetic spectrum,
a micro-channel plate layer comprising at least one micro-channel for generating a cascaded electron output in response to the photocathode electron output,
a readout circuit layer for processing the output of the micro-channel, and,
spectrometer means for determining the wavelength of an electromagnet imaging source.
7 . The sensor system of claim 6 wherein the parabolic reflector element and the hyperbolic reflector element are configured as a Cassegrain reflector telescope assembly.
8 . The sensor system of claim 6 wherein the illumination beam is projected through and incoming electromagnetic radiation is received through a common aperture.
9 . The sensor system of claim 6 wherein at least one of the first and second precision tracking photo-detector elements comprises an electronic module comprising a stack of layers wherein the layers comprise,
a micro-lens array layer comprising at least one lens element for providing a beam output,
a photocathode layer for generating a photocathode electron output in response to a predetermined range of the electromagnetic spectrum,
a micro-channel plate layer comprising at least one micro-channel for generating a cascaded electron output in response to the photocathode electron output, and,
a readout circuit layer for processing the output of the micro-channel.
10 . The sensor system of claim 6 wherein the readout circuit layer comprises a first sub-layer and a second sub-layer that are electrically coupled by means of a through-silicon via.
11 . The sensor system of claim 6 further comprising a thermoelectric cooling layer.
12 . The sensor system of claim 6 wherein the beam output of the lens element is substantially collimated.
13 . The sensor system of claim 6 wherein the readout layer is comprised of a set of readout sub-layers comprising a capacitor top metal and analog preamp sub-layer, a filtering and comparator sub-layer and a digital processing sub-layer.
14 . The sensor system of claim 6 wherein the predetermined ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum comprise ranges selected from the ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared, short-wave infrared, medium-wave infrared, long-wave infrared, far-infrared and x-ray ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum.
15 . The sensor system of claim 6 wherein the micro-channel plate is comprised of at least one micro-channel having a diameter of less than about 10 microns.
16 . The sensor system of claim 6 wherein the micro-channel plate is comprised of at least one micro-channel having a diameter of less than about five microns.
17 . The sensor system of claim 6 wherein the acquisition sensor is mounted on a rotating base element that rotates about a first axis.
18 . The sensor system of claim 6 wherein the precision tracking sensor element is movably mounted to a housing so as to be selectively directed toward a predetermined scene of interest.
19 . The sensor system of claim 6 further comprising at least one Risley prism assembly.
20 . The sensor system of claim 6 comprising Gray code counter circuit means.