Design of Adaptive Optics System for Terrestrial Surveillance

Abstract

Adaptive optic systems have been successfully implemented in astronomy applications to counteract the effects of atmospheric distortion. There is relatively little research in the application of adaptive optics in the area of terrestrial surveillance. This research project aimed to design an adaptive optics system for terrestrial surveillance. The performance of individual components were characterised in order to optimise system performance. Field testing indicates that a quadrature photodiode is able to adequately map wavefront distortion over 185m range at night. The level of atmospheric distortion was able to be mapped to a range of ±1.5mm lateral displacement. The designed PID controller algorithm was shown to be accurate for a range of PID controller variants. The implemented data collection functionality enabled the post processing of experimental results to aid system development. The results obtained will guide the further development of the system as a correctional mirror is implemented to complete the control system design.