Processor for Real-Time Atmospheric Compensation in Long-Range Imaging, Phase I

Range surveillance is a critical component of space exploration because of its implications on safety, cost, and overall mission timeline. However, launch delays, due to the difficulty of verifying a cleared range, are common and will increase as spaceports are developed in new areas. In order to expedite range clearance, it is vital to see "through" the atmosphere. Unfortunately, the quality of the images taken with long-range optical systems is severely degraded by atmospheric movements in the path between the region under observation and the imaging system. We therefore propose the use of custom hardware, specifically designed to compensate for atmospheric disturbances in long range imaging. Furthermore, we propose the use of a reconfigurable hardware platform, specifically field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), to reduce costs and development time, as well as increase flexibility and reusability. Alternative hardware platforms are not well suited for this particular application. Our unique approach would allow a single device, with the computational power of a computer cluster, to be used for not only atmospheric compensation, but also encrypted communications, audio and video encoding/decoding and transmission, neural network implementations, etc. The applications of such a technology are virtually limitless!

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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