Low Contrast Midwave FLIR Imager

An unexpected DoD issue recently arose when flight crews, field-testing their forward-looking infrared (FLIR) systems, complained of poor contrast in their displays (the critical Human-System Interface), which prevents them from performing surveillance missions and even safely landing when flying in relatively low-temperature environments (e.g., 0o C .)  This led to an investigation by the USAF Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, which resulted in well-correlated  laboratory characterization of the problem and sufficient understanding of the underlying cause.  It was found that the noise performance of the FLIR was directly related to how full the integration charge well became in each frame; the higher the well fill percentage, the lower the noise equivalent target (NET) became with respective improvements in the noise performance of the imager. This project will capitalize on emerging IR sensor technology to rapidly field-test prototypes demonstrating significant improvements (5 10X) in operational capabilities.  Specifically, a new sensor control architecture will be integrated with advances in IR focal plane array (IRFPA) technology to continuously optimize the operation of the IRFPA (the critical sensor component at the front end of the FLIR system), so as to maximize the pilots display contrast over the full range of operational temperatures. BENEFITS: Optimizing the noise performance of the IRFPA over the full range of target and scene temperatures will permit improvements in the infrared imaging systems ability to produce a good display in spite of low contrast scene conditions.  Such real-time display contrast improvement will permit pilots to more effectively assess target conditions and will improve situational awareness.