Ricardo Delgadillo, Advanced Scientific Concepts; Robert Stevenson-Karl, Advanced Scientific Concepts; Roger Stettner, Advanced Scientific Concepts; Lane Fuller, Advanced Scientific Concepts; Bruce Anderson, Advanced Scientific Concepts; Michael Dahlin, Advanced Scientific Concepts
https://doi.org/10.64861/FJME7949
Keywords: Lidar, Relative Navigation, Software Configurable
Abstract:
The frontier of space missions demands advanced precision in three-dimensional mapping and hazard detection technologies. Three-dimensional mapping and hazard detection lidar is well established as a critical component for successful mapping, rendezvous, docking, and landing applications. Global shutter flash lidar is the leading technology for addressing this need because it measures organized 3D point clouds without any of the computational complexity or motion distortions of other 3D sensor technologies. A space-based flash LiDAR performance limitation is the fixed and static optical field of view. To look in a different direction, the entire sensor must be physically reoriented, and to change the angular extent of the field of view, the optical assembly itself must be swapped out for a different one. This makes the system inherently inflexible in dynamic operational environments where coverage requirements may change. Scanning lidar systems, on the other hand, cannot sample multiple spatial locations simultaneously and thus suffer from motion distortions, which severely limit their application in high-speed scenarios. The ideal lidar sensor is a flash lidar sensor that has the flexibility to change its optical configuration and scanning location while on-orbit. _x000D_
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Emerging liquid crystal polarization grating (LCPG) technologies have the potential to deliver this enhancement to flash lidar. Non-mechanical beam steering devices composed of LCPGs can be integrated into a flash lidar camera to steer the field of view of the lidar, turning into a flash/scanning lidar hybrid. Each individual frame has the simultaneous capture and blur free point cloud like a flash lidar, but also can sample a different area like a scanning lidar. Patterning the LCPG into a lens pattern creates a device that can change focal length when a voltage is applied. This can be used to construct a parfocal zoom lens that is entirely non-mechanical. When integrated with a flash lidar system, this lets the camera zoom in or out, increasing the resolution or widening the field of view in each frame. _x000D_
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Configuring the lidar with a narrow laser beam and a narrow field of view enables long range performance, which is suitable for ranging applications such as altimetry. Combining this mode with non-mechanical beam steering reconfigures the system for space domain awareness applications, such as detection and tracking of orbital debris. Expanding the laser divergence and widening the lidar field of view enables the system to measure full 3D point clouds of mid-range targets. This is suitable for applications such as target identification and pose estimation. When combined with non-mechanical beam steering, this forms the basis of a system that can track a Resident Space Object (RSO) while measuring its pose, thus enabling rendezvous application. Typically, all of those different mission concepts of operation would require an entirely different lidar camera, but with the addition of LCPG, this lidar system will be capable of handling any of those situations. _x000D_
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This work develops a prototype reconfigurable flash lidar camera that is capable of changing field of view and field of regard on a per frame basis. This camera combines the novel liquid crystal polarization gratings with a Technology Readiness Level 9 (TRL-9) solid state flash lidar camera. The entire system can be deployed in a radiation hardened configuration for high reliability performance in a wide variety of space applications. _x000D_
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The combination of non-mechanical beam steering and non-mechanical refocusing to existing global shutter flash lidar technology opens the door to a lidar camera that can be reconfigured on orbit to address the mission’s immediate need. To make the most of this immediate reconfigurability, ASC proposes to incorporate on-board processing and control algorithms so that the lidar can intelligently steer itself and refocus to maintain optimal system configuration parameters through the lifetime of its mission. This intelligent back end will draw upon ASC’s existing Intelligent 3D Vision Sensor System technology, adapting it for aerospace applications._x000D_
Date of Conference: September 15-18, 2026
Track: SDA Systems & Instrumentation