Aerooptical Design of a Long-Range Oblique Photography Pod

In recent years, the long-range oblique photography (LOROP) technique has become a preferred technique for aerial photography. The LOROP technique provides a safer mission ight prole for medium- and high-altitude photography. Most of the LOROP camera sare designed for pod applicationsand not for internal aircraft installation. Thetechnique requires that the optical windows would resideon at planesonthe sides ofthe containing pod. Consequently, performance of the LOROP camera strongly depends on the quality of the ow around the windows. Furthermore, issues of aerooptical qualities of the ow must be taken into account in the design of the pod geometry. The aerooptical design process of the LOROP pod is described. The design was conducted using computational uiddynamics methods. Results from wind-tunnel experiments and a photograph taken by the camera during a supersonicight are presented to validate the numerical simulationsresults