Aberration characteristic correlation configuration optimization of a conformal dome based on the von Karman surface

In this paper, the von Karman surface is used in the configuration design of the infrared conformal dome to improve its aerodynamic performance. The principle of differential geometry is used to study the geometric characteristics of the von Karman dome. Additionally, by using ray tracing, the geometric aberrations and wave aberrations of the von Karman dome are analyzed. Further, considering the geometric characteristics and aberration characteristics, an optimization method for the configuration of the von Karman dome is proposed. To prove the effectiveness of the optimization method, the aberrations introduced by the conformal dome after the configuration optimization and the original von Karman dome are compared. The comparison showed that the geometric aberration of the optimized conformal dome is reduced by 43.68%. The optimization method can significantly correct the aberration introduced by the von Karman dome and improve the guidance capability of infrared detection technology.