Seaborne electro-optical sensors and their technologies

The United States Navy (USN) has long placed a strong emphasis on the production and use of electro-optical (EO) sensors for a wide variety of missions on naval aircraft. Numerous EO fire control and surveillance sensor systems have been developed for USN surface ship applications, but production and deployment has been limited. This apparent dichotomy is due to the vastly different missions and environments of aircraft and ships, and to the need for shipboard systems that will support operations dictated by our global interests. EO technology has now evolved to the point where surveillance and fire control sensor systems can be built that have excellent performance under the preponderance of environmental conditions, and where atmospheric refraction, rather than transmission, is the primary design driver. In addition, the consensus of USN decision-makers is that EO sensor systems that are designed to complement not supplant, radar systems can provide dramatic improvements in combat system performance at acceptable costs. The two sensor classes that have achieved this level of maturity are Horizon Infrared Surveillance Systems (HISS) and the Thermal Imaging Sensors(TIS). This paper describes the technologies that have made these sensors possible as well as some of the phenomenological drivers to their designs.