<title>Electro-Optical Deep-Space Surveillance: An Update On Teal Amber I</title>

Abstract

Deep space surveillance is undergoing evolutionary change. The impetus for change stems from the dynamic and advancing nature of the threat which places severe demands on existing technology, and forces the development of new technology. This need to counter a higher order threat has stimulated the search for new technology developments that will provide greater performance. The emergence of a charge coupled device (CCD) technology offers great promise in the area of deep-space surveillance. To pursue further the capability of CCD's and to quantify their performance advantages, DARPA sponsored the Teal Amber I program in early 1976. Teal Amber I is designed to develop visible CCD technology and to conduct a CCD focal plane development and demonstration program. Phase II of the program, the field demonstration of a partially populated focal plane, has recently been completed and provides the impetus for this paper. As background, a description of the sensor system concept and the sensor performance goals are given. The focal plane signal processing used for background scene supression and target detection is described. The paper concludes with a description of the Phase II field demonstration and the performance results that were achieved.© (1980) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.