OPTICAL DETECTION AND RANGING SENSOR SYSTEM FOR SENSE AND AVOID, AND RELATED METHODS

An apparatus carried by an unmanned vehicle to provide passive sensing and facilitate avoiding airborne aerial obstacles is provided. The apparatus can include at least one, but typically multiple optical systems installed, for example, in the nose of the aerial vehicle to passively sense and determine a range, direction, and velocity of the airborne obstacles to allow the aerial vehicle to avoid the airborne obstacles. The typical optical system includes at least one focal plane array or other imaging device configured to receive a wide field of view and at least one focal plane array or other imaging device configured to receive a steerable narrow field of view within the wide field of view to allow concentrated determination of the range, direction, and/or velocity of obstacles detected by the wide field of view imaging devices.