Small, Light, Stable, Fast Scan Mirror for Electro-Optical Systems Navy SBIR FY2009.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2009.1 Topic No.: N091-087 Topic Title: Small, Light, Stable, Fast Scan Mirror for Electro-Optical Systems Proposal No.: N091-087-0625 Firm: Left Hand Design Corporation 7901 Oxford Road Longmont, Colorado 80503-8704 Contact: Lawrence Germann Phone: (303) 652-2786 Web Site: www.lefthand.com Abstract: Many aerospace optical sensor and communications applications are performance-limited by limitations in the optical pointing system. This is especially true when considering interceptor seeker, designator and surveillance sensor applications. The pointing components of these applications are generally performance-limited by some combination of size, mass, power consumption, positioning or position reporting repeatability, positioning or position reporting linearity, servo control bandwidth, acceleration and surface figure error (SFE) performance. To relieve these performance limitations, LHDC introduces three primary innovations to achieve the required repeatability and surface figure accuracy over a larger temperature range and high acceleration with reduced power dissipation. Reducing the size of the flexure suspension by using miniaturized components, enhancing actuator efficiency in terms of acceleration-per-current and introducing an ASIC implementation of their servo control electronics. These benefits will be accomplished, initially during Phase I, on a retrofitted LHDC inventory FSM. Testing and analysis results from the retrofit unit will be used in design and fabrication of the Phase II deliverable hardware. The expected increase in performance parameters are to be achieved without risking LHDC's proven capability in the areas of sub-microradian precision, lateral load capability for launch without caging, optical surface figure quality, compact size and low mass. Benefits: The development of a Fast Steering Mirror that incorporates high pointing and position accuracy with high speed and compact size provides the user communities with enhanced capabilities for target ranging and high resolution imaging.. Government, non-government and commercial users can benefit from using very accurate, stable, lightweight and compact FSM for responsive intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. A key government benefit of this technology is its tactical application aboard unmanned air vehicles due to its compact size and greatly improved accuracy. Industrial production automation applications such as in-process inspection can benefit from this technology's capability to rapidly survey large populations and quickly identify specific targets. Rapid inspection of assembly line operations and remotely located power transmission hardware are other potential benefits of very accurate, stable, fast, lightweight and compact FSM. US non-government commercial aerospace application benefits include high-resolution remote sensing and optical communication within constellations of communication satellites. The benefits of these applications include survivability and reduced size, mass and cost for these applications. The availability of very accurate, stable and compact FSM for these and other high-volume applications will increase the probability that the price will be reduced by high-volume production. Return