Imaging system with multiple focal plane array sensors

1. An optical imaging system comprising:

an integrated dewar assembly including a two-dimensional multi-waveband staring detector including a plurality of single-color focal plane array sensors spatially distributed over a common focal plane and co-aligned side-by-side relative to one another, each of the plurality of single-color focal plane array sensors being configured to produce a two-dimensional staring image signal in a different waveband, the plurality of single-color focal plane array sensors including a first single-color focal plane array sensor configured for a first waveband and a second single-color focal plane array sensor configured for a second waveband;

foreoptics coupled to the integrated dewar assembly and configured to direct and focus light from an entrance pupil of the optical imaging system into an optical beam incident on at least one of the plurality of single-color focal plane array sensors, wherein the foreoptics comprises a wide field-of-view telescope including at least four mirrors, one of the at least four mirrors being a movable optical element;

a tilt mechanism coupled to the movable optical element and configured to move the movable optical element over a range of angular motion so as to sequentially direct the optical beam onto the first single-color focal plane array sensor and then onto the second single-color focal plane array sensor; and

an image processor coupled to the two-dimensional multi-waveband staring detector and configured to spatially combine the two-dimensional staring image signals from the first and second single-color focal plane array sensors to produce a multi-wavelength image.

2. The optical imaging system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of single-color focal plane array sensors are mounted side-by-side on a common substrate to provide the two-dimensional multi-waveband staring detector.

3. The optical imaging system of claim 1 , wherein the at least four mirrors include:

a primary mirror configured to receive the light from the entrance pupil of the optical imaging system and to reflect the light;

a secondary mirror configured to receive the light reflected from the primary mirror and to further reflect the light;

a tertiary mirror configured to receive the light reflected from the secondary mirror and to further reflect the light, wherein the tertiary mirror is the movable optical element, and the tilt mechanism is coupled to the tertiary mirror; and

a quaternary mirror configured to receive the light reflected from the tertiary mirror and to reflect and focus the light to provide the optical beam and to direct the optical beam to the two-dimensional multi-waveband staring detector.

4. The optical imaging system of claim 1 , further comprising a housing, the foreoptics and the integrated dewar assembly being contained within the housing.

5. The optical imaging system of claim 4 , wherein the integrated dewar assembly is a cryogenic integrated dewar assembly configured to cool the two-dimensional multi-waveband staring detector to cryogenic temperatures during operation of the optical imaging system.

6. An imaging method comprising:

focusing incoming light from a scene with a wide field-of-view telescope including a plurality of at least four mirrors to provide an optical beam, one of the four mirrors being a movable mirror;

receiving the optical beam at a two-dimensional multi-waveband staring detector that includes a plurality of single-color focal plane array sensors spatially distributed over a common focal plane and co-aligned side-by-side relative to one another;

producing from the plurality of single-color focal plane array sensors a corresponding plurality of two-dimensional staring image signals, each single-color focal plane array sensor producing the corresponding two-dimensional staring image signal in a corresponding waveband;

combining the plurality of two-dimensional staring image signals to provide a multi-wavelength image of the scene;

analyzing the multi-wavelength image;

detecting an object of interest in the multi-wavelength image; and

sequentially directing a field-of-view of each of the plurality of single-color focal plane array sensors one after another toward the object of interest by moving the movable mirror over a range of angular motion.

7. The imaging method of claim 6 , further comprising cryogenically cooling the staring detector.

8. An imaging method comprising:

focusing incoming light from a scene with a wide field-of-view telescope including a plurality of at least four mirrors to provide an optical beam;

receiving the optical beam at a two-dimensional multi-waveband staring detector that includes a plurality of single-color focal plane array sensors spatially distributed over a common focal plane and co-aligned side-by-side relative to one another;

producing from the plurality of single-color focal plane array sensors a corresponding plurality of first two-dimensional staring image signals, each single-color focal plane array

sensor producing the corresponding first two-dimensional staring image signal in a corresponding waveband;

sweeping the optical beam over the two-dimensional multi-waveband staring detector by tilting one of the at least four mirrors of the wide field-of-view telescope over a range of angular motion to obtain over time, sequentially from each of the plurality of single-color focal plane array sensors one after another, a plurality of second two-dimensional staring image signals corresponding to a common region of the scene; and

combining the plurality of first two-dimensional staring image signals from the plurality of single-color focal plane array sensors to provide a first multi-wavelength image of the scene.

9. The imaging method of claim 8 , further comprising combining the plurality of second two-dimensional staring image signals to produce a second multi-wavelength image of the common region of the scene.

10. The imaging method of claim 8 , wherein sweeping the optical beam over the staring detector further includes sequentially obtaining over time from each single-color focal plane array sensor a plurality of two-dimensional staring single-color image signals of adjacent regions of the scene; and

for each single-color focal plane array sensor, combining the plurality of two-dimensional staring single-color image signals to produce a corresponding two-dimensional single-color image of the scene.

11. The imaging method of claim 10 , further comprising combining the two-dimensional staring single-color images of the scene from each single-color focal plane array sensor to produce a multi-color image of the scene.