Panoramic Lenses
@ INAF OAPd
Panoramic omnidirectional lenses have the typical draw-back effect to obscure the frontal view, producing the classic donut-shape image in the focal plane, but our bifocal panoramic lens is able to record a field of view of 360° in azimuth, i. e. a panoramic field and, simultaneously, to record also a zoomed part of it with a selectable magnification factor.
How the objective works is sketched in the figure:
The classic panoramic field (PF) is included between the chief rays at -40° and +60° with respect to the horizon line. Its image on the focal plane has the classic donut shape with an unused central part of the focal plane detector.
A further optics – the frontal optics FO - may look at a desired part of the panoramic field by means of a folding mirror and have a longer focal length. In this way one can obtain an enlargement of the pointed region. The enlarged field is imaged on the central part of the panoramic donut-like shape.
An unique detector is then needed for imaging the panoramic field and an enlargement part of it simultaneously.
The following applications mount our panoramic lens:
A star tracker for mini- and micro-satellites
To explore lunar caves
For Lunar human exploration
Comet Interceptor's Entire Visible Sky Camera
