Advanced Low Altitude Panoramic Camera Study

The report describes the results of a study investigating unique concepts to accomplish low altitude panoramic photography. The ultimate goal is to achieve tactical reconnaissance performance equivalent to that achievable today but with a minimal impact on vehicle weight/volume budgets. Two camera systems using quasi-panoramic scan techniques have been modeled and their attendant peculiarities analyzed. Both systems are sized for a 140 degree swath width and a 300 nautical mile flight line at 500 foot altitude. The performance predictions using Modulation Transfer Function techniques are within the guide lines established; i.e. nominally 0.3 milliradian per cycle. One system uses a conventional aerial photographic lens and achieves wide angle coverage by scanning about a vertical axis. The second system uses a unique monocentric lens design to achieve wide angle coverage in a strip camera mode. Since the lens is used in a slit configuration at a fixed field angle, normal degradation attributed to wide angle photography, i.e. distortion and illumination variation are negated.