Imaging quality evaluation of aerodynamically heated faceted dome based on ray tracing

We investigated the influence exerted by the aerodynamic heating of the faceted dome on imaging quality degradation of an airborne optical system. Optical transmission through the faceted dome was simulated using the ray-tracing program based on a recursive algorithm. To validate the ray-tracing program, a ray trace through the homogeneous faceted dome was performed. The program was shown to possess great accuracy. Three kinds of imaging quality evaluation parameters were presented, wave aberration of the exit pupil, point spread function and modulation transfer function. The results show that the aerodynamic heating of the faceted dome significantly affects the airborne optical system.