Active imaging ladar

Active imaging ladar, because they provide their own illumination, are capable of operating 24 hours a day and are not dependent upon the angle of the sun. They can provide ultra-high resolution and three-dimensional imaging at long range. These capabilities would be promising in target detection and remote sensing and mapping. These capabilities would improve Battlefield Awareness (BA) and provide persistent Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) to perform target detection, recognition, and identification. This paper discusses two different approaches to active optical imaging. One is a coherent approach that uses synthetic aperture techniques with infrared laser radar, and another approach uses only the intensity of the speckle pattern in the aperture plane. Two different approaches to active optical imaging are introduced. The principle, advantage and progress of these two ladar systems are described. The key techniques and application prospect of them are also briefly discussed.