This thesis describes an evaluation of a novel low light level charge couple device (L3CCD) technology. Two L3CCDs have been fully evaluated in terms of their signal and noise properties. The primary aim of this work is to identify the device characteristics that affect the overall performance. Conclusions have been made to this end and a prediction of the optimal performance in terms of the device sensitivity is made. Comparisons with other detectors suitable for use in medical imaging have shown that the L3CCD surpasses other detectors in specific performance characteristics and is comparable in others. The competitive performance of the L3CCD confirms that it may afford benefits in those areas in which the L3CCD has superior performance compared to other detectors. Two diagnostic imaging techniques which were identified as applications of L3CCD technology have been investigated. Linear systems analysis has been used to predict the performance of two L3CCD based imaging systems for use in fluoroscopic imaging. Comparison of the predicted performance of the two system with systems in clinical use show that an L3CCD coupled to an x-ray phosphor via a tapered fibre optic is a competitive alternative to present fluoroscopic imaging systems. Experimental validation of the model has confirmed this conclusion. An L3 detector has been designed, built and evaluated for diffraction enhanced breast imaging. To demonstrate the use of the L3 detector for diffraction enhanced breast imaging it has been used to acquire diffraction images of human breast tissue with cancerous inclusions. Measurements of scatter contrast confirm improvements in scatter contrast compared to transmission contrast. The successful demonstration of the L3CCDs ability to collect diagnostic information has shown that the L3CCD is suitable for diffraction enhanced breast imaging.

<div>As the number of Resident Space Objects around Earth continues to increase, the need for an optimal sensor tasking strategy, specifically with Ground-Based Optical sensors, continues to be of great importance. This thesis focuses on the single and multi-sensor tasking problem with realistic optical sensor modeling for the observation of objects in the Geosynchronous Earth Orbit regime. In this work, sensor tasking refers to assigning the specific?c observation times and viewing directions of a single or multi sensor framework to either survey for or track new or existing objects. For this work specifically, the sensor tasking problem will seek to maximize the total number of Geosynchronous Earth Orbiting objects to be observed from a catalog of existing objects with a single and multi optical sensor tasking framework. This research focuses on the physical assumptions and limitations on an optical sensor, and how these assumptions affect the single and multi sensor tasking scenario. First, the concept of the probability of detection of a resident space object is calculated based on the viewing geometry of the resident space object. Then, this probability of detection is compared to the system that avoids the computational process by implementing a classical heuristic minimum elevation constraint to an electro-optical charged coupled optical sensor. It is shown that in the single and multi-sensor tasking scenario if the probability of detection is not considered in the sensor tasking framework, then a rigid elevation constraint of around 25^o-35^o is recommended for tasking Geosynchronous objects. Secondly, the topic of complete geo-coverage within a single night is explored. A sensor network proposed by Ackermann et al. (2018) is studied with and without the probability of detection considerations, and with and without uncertainties in the resident space objects' states. (then what you have). For the multi-sensor system, it is shown that with the assumed covariance model for this work, the framework developed by Ackermann et al. (2018) does not meet the design requirements for the cataloged Geosynchronous objects from March 19th, 2019. Finally, the concept of a variable repositioning time for the slewing of the ground-based sensors is introduced and compared to a constant repositioning time model. A model for the variable repositioning time is derived from data retrieved from the Purdue Optical Ground Station. This model is applied to a single sensor scenario. Optimizers are developed using the two repositioning time functions derived in this work. It is shown that the constant repositioning models that are greater than the maximum repositioning time produce results close to the variable repositioning solution. When the optimizers are tested, it is shown that there is a small increase in performance only when the maximum repositioning time is significant.</div>