Active Optical Zoom for Tracking

Abstract

In order to optically vary the magnification of an imaging system, continuous mechanical zoom lenses require multiple optical elements and use fine mechanical motion to precisely adjust the separations between groups of lenses. By incorporating active elements into the optical design, imaging systems that are capable of variable optical magnification with no macroscopic moving parts are possible. Changing the effective focal length and magnification of an imaging system can be accomplished by positioning two or more active optics in an optical design. In this application, the active optics (deformable mirrors) serve as variable focal-length lenses and steering mirrors making an active optical zoom system that can zoom in on off-axis points on the image and therefore track objects in the field of view of the system. We will present results from a bench top system.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2008
Accession Number
ADA532017

Entities

People

  • Brett E. Bagwell
  • Christopher C. Wilcox
  • David V. Wick
  • Don M. Payne
  • Freddie Santiago
  • Jonathan R. Andrews
  • Sergio R. Restaino
  • Ty Martinez

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Active Optics
  • Adaptive Optics
  • Cameras
  • Communication Systems
  • Deformable Mirrors
  • Laser Communications
  • Lenses
  • Liquid Crystals
  • Magnification
  • Mirrors
  • Modulators
  • Optical Modulators
  • Optics
  • Space Surveillance
  • Wavefronts
  • Zoom Lenses

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Image Processing and Computer Vision.
  • Phased Array Antenna Design.
  • Software Engineering