The future trends of EO/IR systems for ISR platforms

Rapid developments in infrared (IR) and electro-optical (EO) systems are crucial to further enhance the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities of platforms. The operational conditions of these platforms are getting harsher each day and new technologies must be adapted into these EO/IR systems swiftly to keep up with these challenges. While the performance requirements are increasing, the size, weight, and power (SWaP) constraints are becoming more stringent, especially in airborne platforms such as UAVs. Land systems and naval platforms don’t typically use EO/IR systems for the purpose of ISR, but regularly for situational awareness and self-defense. Airborne systems are where EO/IR systems are most used for ISR purposes. Especially with UAVs becoming cost effective and being deployed on longer missions EO/IR systems have become a vital part of UAVs. In both land and naval platforms these EO/IR systems are mostly placed upon a pan-tilt stage; however, on airborne platforms, the EO/IR systems are packaged in a tight gimbal where SWaP is a real issue. Advancements in infrared detector technology such as smaller detector pitch and high operating temperature (HOT) detectors are paving way for compact imagers with high resolution. Folding the optical path using mirrors in continuous zoom systems is a way to reduce the size of the objective which often takes a lot of space. Novel actuation methods have been gradually utilized in these systems. Incorporating all these new technologies and designs is a good way to meet the emerging challenges of EO/IR systems for the purpose of ISR.