Abstract :
Describes how a line-scan sensor used as a near real-time surveillance sensor has features which make it particularly attractive for use in unmanned aircraft. The sensor output has a data content, permitting a combination of high resolution and wide field of view. For examples, 4000 picture points over a lateral field of view of up to 180° are readily achievable. The resultant signal bandwidth is low due to the absence of redundancy in the data. For a low speed unmanned aircraft, this may be as low as 300 KHz analogue bandwidth. With a wide field of view, the sensor does not require steering commands. This allows long periods of radio silence at the ground station which is an important factor to counter enemy ESM. Due to the single axis scan, the sensor is simpler, cheaper, more robust, and lighter than an equivalent steered framing thermal imager
