How to ensure the stability of airborne Electro-Optical(EO) equipment?
In the process of performing reconnaissance and strike missions, UAVs need to carry various electro-optical payloads, such as infrared thermal imaging cameras, laser rangefinders, etc. During flight, the UAV’s attitude movement and the windage torque will cause the boresight pointing to be unstable. These external factors will seriously affect the imaging quality of the electro-optical equipment carried by the UAV, resulting in blurred images and reduced clarity.
In aviation electro-optical imaging equipment, inertial sensors are usually used to measure carrier disturbance information, and control algorithms are used to compensate for the disturbance to achieve stable control of the boresight in the inertial space. However, the control of the electro-optical stabilization platform is a complex, coupled, and nonlinear problem, involving many factors such as the field of mechanical design, mathematical modeling methods, servo control systems, and sensor measurement technologies.
The main function of the airborne electro-optical platform is to isolate external disturbances, such as the aircraft's own shaking, wind drag disturbances during flight, and internal disturbances of the electro-optical platform. This ultimately enhances the pointing precision of the electro-optical platform's boresight and improves imaging quality. Operating within a complex airborne environment, the platform is affected by complex multi-source factors during flight, making the compensation of external disturbances crucial for achieving high-precision pointing of boresight.
Passive vibration reduction and isolation stability: Use vibration isolators installed on the outer frame or inner frame of the electro-optical platform to isolate external disturbances.
Active compensation stabilization is used to obtain image stability, including overall stabilization, electronic stabilization, and mirror stabilization. The overall stability is to use the inertial components installed inside the electro-optical platform to monitor the position and attitude of the platform in real time, and provide timely feedback of the monitored data, and then adjust the parameters and motor drive circuits to maintain the stability of the boresight.