Integrated Optical Synthetic Aperture Radar Processor.
Abstract
The principal objective of this research program was initiation of the development of a compact, rugged, low-cost, low-power optical synthetic aperture radar processor for real-time image formation aboard airborne and spaceborne platforms. The extremely high computational burden associated with SAR imaging has thus for limited the usefulness of the technique to non-real-time applications from fixed platform bases. Existing real-time digital and optical techniques are in general too bulky, power consumptive, and expensive for broad applicability, particularly in space-confined mobile environments. The integrated optics approach described herein provides a powerful solution with which to circumvent these limitations. The key to this novel optical processing concept is the use of planar optical wave guide technology (which allows the integration of optical components in a single substrate) in conjunction with a time-and-space integrating architecture (which allows two dimensional processing to be performed in a quasi-planar optical structure). An additional novel feature is the utilization of partial waveguide confinement to allow uniform light emission vertically out of the plane of the integrated optical substrate and onto a two-dimensional time-integrating detector.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1987
- Accession Number
- ADA188325
Entities
People
- Armand R. Tanguay Jr.
Organizations
- University of Southern California