DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A LONG RANGE TELESCOPE COUPLED WITH CCD CAMERA FOR REMOTE DETECTION APPLICATIONS

Abstract

With the availability of variety formatted Charge Coupled Device (CCD) sensors as detecting elements. the ff!al time imaging applications aff! expanding rapidly. The combination of conventional optical telescope technology and CCD sensors is enabling ellgineers to design and develop real time. better dynamic range, long-range imaging devices for detection. recognition. identification and image capturing applications. Our group has undertaken one such application relevant to the military instrumentation activity. The aim is to design and develop a ff!motely operational, real time. large dynamic range. and long-range detection device for motion capturing application. This device is intended to be useful in real time flight capture of a live weapon. Other applications foreseen are remote identification offlora andfauna, remote detection of leakage of toxic gases in nuclear power plants, remote detection and identification of glowing materials etc. The paper deals with application specific design. development activities of a longrange telescope-CCD camera. The advantages are explained. Salient features of this system are capturing of the flight event/image and retrieval of the image for analysis and feedback.