May 26, 2026

US12638564 - Wavefront correction for aerodynamic and atmospheric effects to an optical sensor on a high-speed flight vehicle

A system and method for measurement and correction of aero-optical and aero-thermal effects to an EO/IR sensor's window/dome on a supersonic flight-vehicle. Range-gating of laser pulses measures and separates aerodynamic and atmospheric effects. Separate control algorithms and control loops at different update rates both simplifies the control algorithms and improves overall performance. The use of a MEMS MMA having tip/tilt/piston capabilities as the deformable mirror to provide wavefront correction enhances overall performance. The corrected laser pulses may also be used to actively illuminate a target to provide both active and passive detection.

Assignee: Raytheon Company
Inventors: Sean D. Keller, David J. Knapp, Jon E. Leigh
Filing date: 2022-04-21

The patent describes an optical sensor system for supersonic flight vehicles that corrects for aero-optical and aero-thermal effects on the sensor’s window using a deformable mirror and a pulsed laser. This system enhances target detection capabilities by actively illuminating targets while measuring and compensating for distortions caused by environmental factors.

Claim 1

1 . An optical sensor for a supersonic flight vehicle in which an optical window to the sensor undergoes aero-optical and aero-thermal effects in flight, said optical-sensor comprising: a clock; a pulsed laser that emits laser pulses through the optical window with timing codes referenced to the clock; a wavefront sensor referenced to the clock to detect returning laser pulses that lie within a first time delay window to measure the aero-optical and aero-thermal effects on or just in front of the optical window and to exclude atmospheric effects beyond the optical window, wherein aero-optical effects are caused by fluctuations of a refractive index of the optical window due to temperature and pressure differences around the optical window and aero-thermal effects are caused by heating of the optical window; an optical detector; an optical path that couples light received through the optical window onto the optical detector; and a deformable mirror positioned in the optical path, said deformable mirror responsive to command signals to piston orthogonal to the plane of the mirror to correct a wavefront of the received light for the measured aero-optical and aero-thermal effects. a clock; a pulsed laser that emits laser pulses through the optical window with timing codes referenced to the clock; a wavefront sensor referenced to the clock to detect returning laser pulses that lie within a first time delay window to measure the aero-optical and aero-thermal effects on or just in front of the optical window and to exclude atmospheric effects beyond the optical window, wherein aero-optical effects are caused by fluctuations of a refractive index of the optical window due to temperature and pressure differences around the optical window and aero-thermal effects are caused by heating of the optical window; an optical detector; an optical path that couples light received through the optical window onto the optical detector; and a deformable mirror positioned in the optical path, said deformable mirror responsive to command signals to piston orthogonal to the plane of the mirror to correct a wavefront of the received light for the measured aero-optical and aero-thermal effects.

Google Patents

https://patents.google.com/patent/US12638564

USPTO PDF

https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/12638564