Designing a camera for a nanosatellite, diffraction confusion :S

[Joejoe912]

Hi guys, I'm Joe, this is my first post here but recently I've been on this website quite alot as a lurker!

Im designing a nanosatellite for my university dissertation, which is a satellite that weighs less than 10kg and a big part of that is the design of the imaging payload, which is pretty hard for me as I know nothing about photography.

I've been trying to get my head around diffraction limits and the ADD but to I still am incredibly confused. Ive found some good 5MP sensors, one CMOS with 2.2micron pixels and one CCD with 6.8micron pixels.

Assuming a wavelength of 600 microns and a lens with an f# of 1.4, my resulting ADD is 2.93 and my diffraction limit 0.833.

How do my sensors apply to this? Im assuming the CMOS's pixels are too small and therefore the ADD's will overlap which I don't want. However how will this affect my CCD sensor? and what do I use my diffraction limit for?!

I hope you guys are able to help me out and you'll definitely get a mention in my support section!

[Manfred M]

I seem to remember reading that one of the key problems with CCD technology devices is that it is quite sensitive to radiation damage. You might want to look at this before going too far down that route.

[AgfaB2]

I've been trying to get my head around diffraction limits and the ADD but to I still am incredibly confused. Ive found some good 5MP sensors, one CMOS with 2.2micron pixels and one CCD with 6.8micron pixels.

Hi Joe

This paper:

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/d...l_Limits_2.pdf

will keep you occupied for quite a few nanoseconds and will either solve your problem or make your head spin.

Probably both


Wolf