Design And Performance Of Ranging Telescopes: Monolithic Vs. Synthetic Aperture

James E Harvey; Malcolm J. MacFarlane; James L Forgham

doi:10.1117/12.937572

2 March 1984 Design And Performance Of Ranging Telescopes: Monolithic Vs. Synthetic Aperture

James E Harvey, Malcolm J. MacFarlane, James L Forgham

Proceedings Volume 0440, Synthetic Aperture Systems I; (1984) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.937572
Event: 27th Annual Technical Symposium, 1983, San Diego, United States

Abstract

For the special case of monolithic ranging telescopes, a family of characteristic design curves for various system performance requirements is discussed. The required secondary mirror displacement and the tolerance on this position, as well as the corresponding depth of field for any desTd range can be readily obtained from this normalized family of curves. The hyperfocal distance (closest range within depth of field when infinite range is also in focus) is also displayed on this set of curves and can be used to determine when it is necessary to activate ranging. The degradation in system performance is then plotted vs. range, and the closest effective range is determined. This range is a strong function of telescope diameter and is crucial to certain ranging telescope applications. This degradation in system performance is then determined for various properly phased synthetic aperture systems (multiple mirror telescopes) and compared to the monolithic telescope of equivalent aperture. For certain applications these results provide a strong motivation for going to synthetic aperture telescopes based upon optical performance alone.

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James E Harvey, Malcolm J. MacFarlane, and James L Forgham "Design And Performance Of Ranging Telescopes: Monolithic Vs. Synthetic Aperture", Proc. SPIE 0440, Synthetic Aperture Systems I, (2 March 1984); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.937572

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