Analysis of aero-optical effects within supersonic vehicle imaging fields

With the development of supersonic vehicles, aero-optical effects on imaging have attracted significant attention. However, previous studies have typically concentrated on the paraxial region, with limited consideration given to the influence of aero-optical effects within the entire imaging field. This study presents research findings on this topic, and establishes a field-of-view (FOV) model for analyzing aero-optical effects, which enables direct sampling of the field angle without specific optical system parameters. Based on this, a comprehensive analysis method for aero-optical effects within the FOV is proposed. The results of a typical study of a blunt-cone supersonic vehicle with concave windows are presented. It is demonstrated that the distribution characteristics and trends of aero-optical aberrations differ between the along-track and across-track FOVs, which can be attributed to the different non-uniform structures that pass through when rays incident in varying directions. After correcting for the central aberration, the angles of incidence that can be imaged clearly in these two directions are -3.89° to 0.56° and -2.78° to 2.78°, respectively.