DARPA wants to replace heavy sensor gimbals with gimbal-less platforms.
“There is a critical DoD need for a new class of broadband, random access electro-optic sensors on lightweight, airborne platforms,” said the DARPA research solicitation. “A conformal, thin, broadband and rapid steering beam steering device would overcome the usual, disadvantages of traditional optical systems and electro-optical devices beam steering devices, which use heavy and power-hungry gimbals and optical components making large mechanical motions.”
Goals include a 10-centimer-diameter aperture, a 60-degree field of steering in both angular dimensions, greater than 75 percent optical transmission efficiency, broadband operation over at least 10 percent bandwidth, and beam quality no worse than three times diffraction limit.
