Calibration and Characterization of a Low-Background Chamber in Support of Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing and Modeling of Infrared Seekers

Published

April 21, 2006

Author(s)

Richard D. Tschiegg, Steven J. Conard, Patrick L. Thompson, Adriaan C. Carter

Abstract

The authors have worked in the past year on integration, characterization and calibration of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory s (JHU/APL) Infrared Seeker - Space Calibration and Test (ISSCAT) Facility. The ISSCAT Facility is a cryogenic-vacuum chamber designed to test infrared (IR) seekers that detect targets against low-radiance backgrounds. The facility includes target-like IR sources with well-known and controllable radiometric attributes and well-known and controllable size, position, and motion. This paper summarizes the basic facility design, capabilities, concept of operations, current and projected uses, challenges, and lessons learned. It presents a description of the chamber calibration and characterization activities conducted jointly by JHU/APL and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). In particular, this includes a description of the calibration and characterization methodology, modeling of the chamber optical path from the chamber target source module (TSM) to the Unit-Under-Test (UUT) entrance aperture, the ongoing calibration of the TSM at NIST with an Absolute Cryogenic Radiometer (ACR), and the planned end-to-end calibration of the chamber at JHU/APL using NIST s transfer radiometer (i.e. the BMDO Transfer Radiometer (BXR)) and APL s Field Spectroradiometer.

Proceedings Title

SPIE Defense and Security Symposium | | | SPIE

Conference Dates

April 17-21, 2006

Conference Location

Undefined

Conference Title

Proceedings of the SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

ACR, APL, Blackbody, BXR, Cryogenic-Vacuum Chamber, GSEL, IR Seeker, LBIR, NIST

Citation

Tschiegg, R. , Conard, S. , Thompson, P. and Carter, A. (2006), Calibration and Characterization of a Low-Background Chamber in Support of Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing and Modeling of Infrared Seekers, SPIE Defense and Security Symposium | | | SPIE, Undefined (Accessed April 25, 2024)