Controlling lines of sight and lines of propagation in stable systems

The stability of lines of sight for imaging optics and lines of propagation for illuminators and lasers are determined by the structural load paths that support and connect them. The optical effects are coupled to the structure by the influence coefficients in the Optomechanical Constraint Equations. This paper shows how the optomechanical engineer can use mathematical spread sheets and finite element codes to combine the optical influence coefficients of the lines of sight and lines of propagation with the displacements of a structural analysis to predict (and minimize) pointing and bore sight errors in a suite of instruments.