Fundamentals of conformal missile dome design

Conformal missile domes have moved from concept to reality. Conformal domes are characterized as having external optical surfaces that are optimized for non-optical system requirements. Typically, these surfaces are chosen to minimize drag. These exterior surfaces in turn induce aberrations that vary across the field of regard of a gimbaled imager. This leads to a challenging optical design problem for the engineer. Success has been found in developing three distinct aspects of conformal optical design. First, a general correction approach must be chosen. Second, effective surface types are required in ray trace programs to represent the correction approach. Third, effective design tools are required for analysis and optimization. This paper reviews the fundamentals of conformal optical design and shares some of the latest developments.