Innovative optronics for the new PUMA tank

J. Fritze, M. Münzberg, H. Schlemmer, Carl Zeiss Optronics GmbH, Oberkochen, Germany

ABSTRACT

The new PUMA tank is equipped with a fully stabilized 360° periscope. The thermal imager in the periscope is identical
to the imager in the gunner sight. All optronic images of the cameras can be fed on every electronic display within the
tank. The thermal imagers operate with a long wave 384x288 MCT starring focal plane array. The high quantum
efficiency of MCT provides low NETD values at short integration times. The thermal imager has an image resolution of
768x576 pixels by means of a micro scanner. The MCT detector operates at high temperatures above 75K with high
stability in noise and correctibility and offers high reliability (MTTF) values for the complete camera in a very compact
design. The paper discusses the principle and functionality of the optronic combination of direct view optical channel,
thermal imager and visible camera and discusses in detail the performances of the subcomponents with respect to
demands for new tank applications.
Keywords: PUMA tank, periscope, long wave infrared, staring.

1. INTRODUCTION
The new PUMA is a new infantry fighting vehicle (IFV). It offers a viable compromise between mobility, protection,
and firepower in asymmetrical warfare. The PUMA is highly mobile and equipped with a 30 mm gun for up to 3000 m
shooting range. The PUMA will replace fully the old Marder tank in the German Army until 2020. It is equipped with a
fully stabilized 360° periscope with different magnification stages for the commander. The motion of the hull relative to
the turret is compensated by an innovative joined direct optical channel in the center of the turret. It provides a direct
optical view either to the commander or to the gunner. The periscope contains a cooled thermal imager and a visible
camera to provide a digital image parallel to the direct view optical channel. The fully optronic stabilized gunner sight is
coaxial mounted to the main gun and is equipped with a visible camera, a cooled thermal imager and a laser range finder.
All optronic images can be fed on every electronic display within the vehicle and can provide also for the infantry squad
in the PUMA tank a good overview of the scene. In addition the thermal image can be displayed on an OLED inside the
direct view optical channel. The thermal imager in the periscope and the gunner sight are virtually identical, providing
the same NFOV and WFOV with the same ranges for Gunner and Commander. This enables the Commander to identify
a target, rather than only to detect and recognize it, like it is the case in some other tanks due to the larger NFOV of the
commanders sight. The PUMA has hunter - killer capability by transmitting the view of the commander to the gunner
sight.

2. OVERVIEW OF THE SIGHT SYSTEMS

2.1 Periscope
The periscope of the commander in the PUMA tank is equipped with a direct view optical channel, a daysight camera, a
laser range finder and a thermal imager. The azimuth drive of the periscope of the thermal imager was adopted from the
Leopard 2 tank periscope. The concept of the new PUMA tank differs from all of its German predecessors that the turret
is unmanned while the tank crew finds a relatively safe seating down in the hull indicated in Figure 1. This, of course,
has drawbacks for the concept of the panoramic periscope needs to have a high quality glass optical channel with a
stabilized line of sight for reconnaissance tasks. Visible light as well as infrared radiation emitted by the scenery passes
the periscope head through a multispectral window and is directed into the vertical by a stabilized elevation mirror as
schematically shown in Figure 2. The incoming IR radiation is then separated from the visible light by a dichroic
beamsplitter and reflected into the entrance pupil of a thermal imaging camera. The visible light is transmitted further
into the direct view channel. The component following next is a FOV changer unit providing three magnification values

Infrared Technology and Applications XXXVI, edited by Bjørn F. Andresen, Gabor F. Fulop, Paul R. Norton,
Proc. of SPIE Vol. 7660, 76600A · © 2010 SPIE · CCC code: 0277-786X/10/$18 · doi: 10.1117/12.849872

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 (2x, 3.8x and 14.6x) followed by an image de-rotation prism which compensates the image rotation caused by rotation of
the periscope head. After a Keplerian telescope serving as a first relay system the light enters a beamsplitter unit
comprising two partly reflecting mirror surfaces under 45° angle of incidence. The first beam splitting surface reflects
part of the light into the entrance pupil of a CCD camera while the second mirror surface couples the ray bundles emitted
by an OLED display into the direct view optical channel. Instead of a physical crosshair the OLED creates a reticule in
the ocular image and provides in addition valuable information e. g. laser range finder results, direction of the line of
sight, status information about the system, etc. to the observer. Even the video stream as recorded by the thermal imaging
camera can be displayed allowing the observer to watch with the eyepiece unit.
The relatively long optical path of about 2 m length between this main unit and the eye piece is bridged by means of an
optical arm containing five glass optical relay systems.

optical path of the periscope

Figure 1: Optical path of the panoramic periscope inside the PUMA tank

periscope head

Vis L
& R
IR F
multispectral window
thermal
dichroic beamsplitter imager

FOV changer ΓN ΓL ΓW

image rotation

CCD
beam splitter

flexible relay optics OLED

observer

eye piece unit

Figure 2: Block diagram of panoramic periscope PERI RTWL-B

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 The periscope head is fix mounted at the top of the turret while the ocular box is fix mounted on the wall of the hull
which relatively moves to the turret whenever the vehicle is in motion. A conventionally designed rigid optical arm
would inevitably suffer mechanical stress and bending which would result at least in decentering of the optics and
consequently deviation of the line of sight and additional degradation of the optical performances of the direct view
optical channel.
A new design was introduced to compensates the relative movement of the turret and the hull. A flexible relay optics
similar to a cardan shaft of an automobile allows relative motion of the periscope head to the eye piece unit without
boresight retention and optical performance degradation.
The optical channel of the eye safe laser range finder has its own elevation mirror which is mounted on the same
mechanical axis as the main elevation mirror. It's line of sight is horizontally displaced and a separate laser window
made from high quality optical glass reduces the backscatter of the laser beam. The laser range finder is identical to the
laser range finder of the gunner sight which is discussed later in this paper.
The used thermal imager ATTICA Ref 1 is sensitive in the long wave wavelength range and is used in the periscope as
well as in the gunner sight. The fields of view of the thermal imager in the gunner sight and in the commander sight only
differ in the WFOV, whereas the NFOV and LFOVs are identical .
A wide field maneuvering CCD camera is integrated into the periscope head and aligned on the azimuth axis of the
periscope side by side to direct view optical channel observing through the same window. It is used as an instruction
camera for the crew.
The general characteristics of the periscope are listed in Table 1. The complete periscope is shown in Figure 3.

Table 1: General characteristic of the periscope PERI RTWL-B

Magnification 2x, 3.8x, 14.6x
Elevation range -15° to +45°
Azimuth range n x 360°
Optical length 3760 mm
Weight 210 kg

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 Figure 3: Stabilized panoramic periscope RTWL-B

2.2 Gunner sight

The gunner sight of the PUMA tank consists of a two axis stabilized platform with integrated thermal imager, day sight
camera and laser range finder as shown in Figure 4. The azimuth and elevation range is n x 360° and between -15° and
+70°, respectively. The maximum slew rate in all directions is 2 rad/s. The remaining stabilization error in all directions
is less than 100 µrad (1σ value). The same stabilized platform is also available in a qualified maritime version and can
be equipped in this case with an ATTICA thermal imager sensitive in the mid wavelength range and with higher
geometrical resolution up the 1280x1024. Upgrade programs of existing tanks with modern optronics are in the view
with this platform.

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 Figure 4: Two axis stabilized gunner sight of the PUMA tank
The long wave thermal imager used in the PUMA gunner sight uses the same infrared optics with programmable fields
of view, the same mechanical structure and the same electronic boards as used in the periscope. The Figure of merit and
the differences to the periscope thermal sight are given in Table 3 of Section 3.5.

3. MAIN CHARACTERISTICS
3.1 Direct view optical channel of the persicope
The direct view optical channel of the commander features a flexible relay optics to cope with the relative shift of the
mounting flanges on the turret and the hull and small angular vibrations on the optics. The mechanical and the optical
design are harmonized that in any case of relative movement the center of mechanical rotation coincides with the center
of an intermediate optical image plane in the mechanical ball joints as of Figure 5.

ball joint longitudinal slide

Figure 5: Principle of flexible relay optics with ball joint and longitudinal slide

The compensation of axial shift between the mounting flanges is accomplished by a pair of tightly matched coaxial tubes
acting as a longitudinal slide which are located in section the optical path where the beams are collimated. This setup
allows stretching and compression of the optical path without reducing the imaging quality or changing the direction of
the line of sight and given in Figure 6. The optical design data of the direct view optical channel are listed in Table 2.

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 Figure 6: Design of the flexible relay optics connecting the main periscope unit to the eyepiece unit

Table 2: Optical design data of the direct view optical channel of periscope PERI RTWL-B
LFOV WFOV NFOV
Magnification 2x 3.8 x 14.6 x
Angular field of view 22.2° x 16.7° 11.3° x 8.5° 2.8° x 2.1°
Entrance pupil diameter 10 mm 16 mm 60 mm
Ocular field of view 41° x 32°
Exit pupil distance 25 mm

3.2 Imaging camera in the periscope

A video imaging camera mounted inside the periscope in front of a beam splitter as shown in Figure 2 is used to record
the direct optical sight of the commander and transmit the commander view to other monitors in the vehicle. The camera
is a monochrome ½" CCD camera with a resolution of 752 × 582 pixel and automatic contrast and brightness
adjustment. The field of view as shown on the video monitor is identical with the field of view of the direct view optical
channel.

3.3 Maneuvering camera in the persicope

The maneuvering camera is integrated in the periscope head and aligned on the azimuth axis of the periscope side by side
to the direct view optical channel observing through the same window. It is used by the commander for a good overview
of the vehicle’s surroundings. The video signal is provided on monitors for infantry squad and crew instruction inside the
vehicle. The fixed field of view is 60° x 45° provides a sharp images in the distance range between 1 m and infinity over
the full field of view. The geometrical resolution of the monochrome ½" CCD camera is the same as in the imaging
camera. The reached MTF is 0.5 at 27 lp/mm and 0.10 at 50 lp/mm.

3.4 Video zoom camera in the gunner sight

The video zoom camera in the gunner sight is a monochrome video camera with a linear zoom and three fixed
programmable field of views for the identification of targets and for reconnaissance tasks. The geometrical resolution of
the monochrome ¼ " CCD camera is 752 × 582 pixel with automatic contrast and brightness adjustment. The horizontal
field of view can vary between 2° and 22° and the programmed fixed field of views of 2.8°x2.1°, 7.2°x 5.4° and 22.2° x
16.6° are harmonized with the thermal imager field of views as given in Table 3. The line of sight stability during field
of view change from the wide field of view to the narrow field of view is better than 125 µrad.

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 3.5 Thermal imager in the periscope and the gunner sight
The cooled thermal imager ATTICA in the PUMA tank is a cross functional thermal sight sensitive in the long
wavelength range and shown in Figure 7. It was developed for the PUMA tank as well as for other platforms. First
publications are issued in Ref1.

Figure 7: Thermal imager ATTICA long wave for tank applications

The thermal imager is equipped with a 384x288 MCT long wave starring focal plane array [2] with high sensitivity and
high MTF values in order to reach long ranges also under severe weather conditions. Thanks to the progress in the MCT
technology in the long wavelength range the responsivity spread limitations as well as the narrow noise spread
limitations ( < 2x noiseRMS ) of the focal plane array guarantees a low number of low and high frequency noise elements
which are masked by image improvement algorithms during run time. A scene based offset correction during the switch
on procedure is sufficient to operate the thermal imager stable during its operational life time. The deliveries of MCT
detectors in series production ramp-up show evidence that the demanding requirements on the MCT detector can be
easily fulfilled. The total defective element density across the focal plane array defined by the stringent requirements on
noise spread and responsivity spread for all received detectors in the range of 0.2 – 0.7 % . The measured NETD values
of the camera including the optics is less than 20 mK. The MTTF value of the complete camera is > 2500 h under the
defined PUMA vehicle military life cycle, desiring at least on 5000 h MTTF on detector/cooler level. The high MTTF
values are derived if the focal plane array operates at about 75 K [3].
For logistical reasons the mechanical and optical design of the ATTICA used in the commander as well as in the gunner
sight system is identical. Only the FPA is rotated by 90° compared to the gunner sight due to the optical path in the
periscope in front of the thermal sight system.
The thermal imager for the PUMA tank was designed to meet the system requirements of the new PUMA tank but fits
mechanically also in the Leopard 2 tank periscope i.e. for upgrade purposes. The following narrow space limitations are
met be using a three times folded optics as shown in Figure 8.
The narrow field of view was selected to meet the specified ranges for a NATO standard target. The maximum possible
diameter of the optics of 90 mm was limited by the beam-splitter diameter and size of the elevation mirror in the
periscope. These boundary conditions define the necessary pitch, number of lines and columns of the detector and the F#
of the optics and are summarized in Table 3. The software programmable fields of view are harmonized for the PUMA
application with the selected field of view of the direct view optical channel.

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 Microscanner
Compensator lens
Variator lens

Image plane

Figure 8: Folding concept of the ATTICA optics.

The folded optics consists of 9 lenses with partly aspheric surfaces and three mirrors, whereas one mirror acts as a 2 x 2
µ-scanner to increase the geometrical resolution and also the range. Field of view and focus setting as well as the active
athermalisation is realized by positioning of the variator and compensator lenses in Figure 8.
The scene based offset correction uses a total defocusing position of the optics, realized by variator and compensator. No
any additional thermal reference is used in the system. This guarantees that during offset calibration at the beginning of
operation, all optics effects as well as all detector non uniformity effects are removed for operation. The focus function is
user selectable either manually or activated automatically.
Table 3: Main characteristics of the ATTICA long wave
Detector material MCT
Spectral band 7.6 – 9.3 µm
Number of detector elements 384x288
Pitch 25 µm
Cooler Integral Rotary, 0.4 W
Geometrical camera resolution 768x576
FOVs NFOV 2.8°x2.1°
WFOV 11.3°x8.5° (Commander Sight)
WFOV 7.2°x 5.4° (Gunner Sight)
LFOV 22.2° x 16.6°
F# 2.24
Time to operation Less than 7:00 minutes
Environmental temperature range -46°C to +71°C
Qualification MIL STD 810 E

In the Puma tank as the command interface CANopen is used, however ATTICA provides also for other applications an
RS422 and optionally Ethernet Interface.

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 In the sight system two analog video outputs are used. In addition ATTICA enables a 14 Bit homogenized digital video
output for tracker applications as well.
The ATTICA long wave camera can be easily upgraded by using a 640x512 MCT focal plane array [5,6] with
approximately 15 or 16 µm pitch having the same focal plane array size as the currently used 384x288 MCT focal plane
array with 25 µm pitch [2]. With the 640x512 detector the camera gains up to 15 % range with higher geometrical
resolution and depending on the detector NETD. However, the main advantage by using a full format detector is, that
during observation of fast moving scenes or objects, not any image artifacts and not any defragmentation in the image
occur because no µ-Scan has to be used for image capture and increase of geometrical resolution.

3.6 Laser range finder

The range finder in the periscope as well as in the gunner sight is an optical parametrical oscillator (OPO) shifted
Nd:YAG laser emitting at a wave length at 1570 nm and a nominal ocular hazard distance of zero meter. The measuring
range is 100 m to 20 km with an accuracy of +/-5 m and with multiple target discrimination capability. The pulse
repetition rate is 1 Hz continuously and 3 Hz in the burst mode for 10 s. The beam divergence is 0.4 mrad (1/e value) and
defines the line of sight accuracy. The receiver field of view is 1 mrad. For the harmonization of all optical axis of the
sight systems relative to the laser range finder, the laser range finder is equipped with an aiming point collimator.

4. CONCLUSIONS
The direct view optical channel for the commander provides still unbeatable range performances during day. The
optronic sensors of the periscope and of the gunner sight are able to be distributed on different screens for the PUMA
crew. The developed thermal imager fits in the periscope as well as in the gunner sight and can be used also for other
upgrades of periscope or gunner sights like in the Leopard 2 to replace the first and second generation thermal imagers
still used. The thermal imager is already prepared to operate with a full format 640x512 LW detector which do not need
a micro scanner to provide full format resolution. This version of thermal imager ATTICA LW is fully insensitive
against image defragmentation on moving targets and reaches up to 15 % higher ranges depending on the NETD of the
full format sensor. This thermal imager with reduced field of view is also ideal for targeting under military airborne
application with battlefield environment like smoke and dust in the air.

REFERENCES

[1[ G. Kürbitz, J. Fritze, J-R. Hoefft, B Ruf, ATTICA family of thermal cameras in submarine applications, Proc. SPIE
Vol. 4369, p. 185-193, Orlando 2001
[2] A. Manissadjian et al, Long wave HgCdTe staring arrays at Sofradir: From 9μm to 13+μm cut-offs for high
performance applications, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 5783, No. 25, Orlando 2005
[3] A. Filis et al, Micro miniature rotary Stirling cryocooler for compact, lightweight and low power thermal Imaging
Systems, Proc. of SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7298, No. 45, Orlando 2009
[4] N. Pundak et al, Field reliability of RICOR microcooler, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 7298, No. 122, Orlando 2009
[5] L. Rubaldo et al., New challenges for cooled IR technologies, to be published OPTRO 2010
[6] L.G. Hipwood et al, LW Hawk: A 16 μm pitch Full-TV LW IRFPA made from HgCdTe grown by MOVPE, Proc. of
SPIE Vol. 7298, No. 74, Orlando 2009

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