Ladar

1
Ladar Optical Communications Institute

• Dr. Paul McManamon
• Chief Scientist, Sensors Directorate
• Air Force Research Laboratory
• Joseph W. Haus
• Electro-Optics Program
• University of Dayton
• July , 2007

2
AFRL motivation

• Develop and demonstrate ladar and communications
• Ladar is a very rich ID sensor
• We need high bandwidth comm.
• Enhance the workforce for AFRL
• We need US national researchers in these areas
• Cultivate government, industry and academic
  partners
• Network throughout the community

3
The Vision of LOCI

• Sematech like center for laser radar research and
  graduate study
• Added lasercom since many aspects are very
  synergistic
• Advance laser radar research in pre-competitive
  areas
• Industry participation
• Both education needs and research
• Collaboration between AFRL, AFIT, the University
  of Dayton, and the laser radar / lasercom
  communities
• Provide graduate education in laser radar and
  lasercom
• Phds
• MS, plus about a semester long certificate
• The place for graduate education in ladar
  lasercom

4
Why Ladar and Lasercom?

• Ladar is the best ID sensor
• It has very rich phenomenology
• Many different aspects to explore
• It is early in its development
• It can leverage off of radar development (e.g.
  SAR)
• It can and should work with radar of the future
• Ladar is on the verge of significant
  developments, like synthetic aperture ladar and
  phased array beam steering
• It has commercial applications
• Auto ladar (all finishers of the DARPA Grand
  Challenge used ladar)
• Medical imaging?
• AFRL/SN has a large amount of work in ladar
• Free space lasercom is a spin off
• Many waveforms and components are the same as
  ladar
• It has commercial applications (e.g. last mile)
• The AF needs high bandwidth comm

5
The Center is

• UD contract
• Congressional add (through WBI)
• AFRL in-house
• SNJ systems in-house
• SND device in-house
• AFIT research
• UD and AFIT courses
• Industry sponsored research

6
Ten Year Goal

• LOCI is known as the go to place for the USA in
  at least some part of cutting edge ladar or
  lasercom research.
• LOCI has the researchers
• LOCI has the facilities
• LOCI has multiple spin off local small companies
  and local offices of big companies
• Mostly military, but some commercial
• Many companies fund research at LOCI
• Mostly funded in groups that work together
• LOCI supports company educational needs
• Ongoing as well as new students
• The best graduates in the world in laser radar
  and lasercom come from LOCI
• Most of them are US nationals

7
Twenty year goal

• US national capability in laser radar and in
  lasercom is beginning to be dominated by LOCI
  grads
• Industry
• Government
• Commercial applications rival military
  applications

8
LOCI Facility plan
-12,000 sq ft of space in College Park Center
Fifth Floor - four labs, visitor student office
space, admin Industrial collaborative space for
joint projects.
9
Graduate Degrees

• MS track (30 credits)
• Certificates ( one semester)
• Laser radar
• Laser communications
• PhD

10
ENDOWED CHAIR IN LADAR AND OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS

• U.S. citizen.
• Nationally recognized scholar in laser radar
  and/or free space optical communications (FSOC).
• Work with LOCI and its constituency to prioritize
  research and develop future directions

11
Board of Governors

• Current Board
• Chair Raytheon, Nick Uros
• UD Mickey McCabe, VP for Research and Executive
  Dir. of UDRI
• AFRL Joe Sciabica, Director, AFRL/SN
• AFIT Marlin Thomas, Dean of the Graduate School
• Lockheed Martin - Doug Pasquan, Director,
  Aircraft Systems Technology
• Textron - John Boness, VP
• Anticipate 6-8 companies by fall BOG meeting

12
Areas of interest

• Synthetic apertures
• Sub-aperture imaging
• Aperture motion
• Non-mechanical beam steering
• Obscurant penetration
• Vibration signature detection
• Imaging through foliage
• Other?

13
Aperture Synthesis Taxonomy

• Spatial Synthesis
• (Sparse Apertures)
• AS Aperture Separation
• Modes
• Imaging Gain few x RA

• Temporal Synthesis
• (Synthetic Aperture Ladar)
• AS Aperture Translation
• Modes

• Cross Over Synthesis
• (Phased Arrays)
• AS Translation Separation
• Modes

• Spatial Imaging Vibration Primary Modes
• Drives primary problem set Aperture phasing
  and phase histories
• Polarization, multiple colors are
  plumbing/complexity

14
Temporal Synthesis Sparse Apertures Aperture
Synthesis
Provide increased resolution for tactical combat
identification using distributed optical
apertures. Smaller, lightweight apertures allow
for conformal surface placement and less complex
compensation for atmospheric turbulence.

• Sparse aperture arrays require performance
  trade studies. In-House efforts have
  characterized the effects. Miller et al., 2006

AFRL/SNJM University of Dayton
AFIT RA Atm Compensation
LMCT S3
15
Summary

• LOCI ( the center) is gaining momentum
• LOCI will ensure the development of laser radar
  and lasercom technology
• This is a national need for the US
• Military, commercial, medical, and homeland
  security applications
• LOCI will ensure the US has a supply of expert
  manpower in ladar and lasercom
• Military applications first
• Then commercial applications