Polarization Projection Control for Space Simulation Chambers

Polarization can offer opportunities for additional discriminants for a variety of space based applications including SSA, tracking threat missiles in the boost and mid-course phases of their trajectory, target detection and discrimination, surveillance, communications, and earth remote sensing. A means to test these systems requires the ability to simulate the polarization of representative scenes with the appropriate uniform and cold background of space and to correct for effects of the optics in current space chambers. Polaris Sensor Technologies, Inc. is proposing to first design, construct, and integrate a scene projector polarization controller (SPPC) that will be able to produce a linear polarization state. The sources can be any combination of the sources available currently or in the future to the AEDC Space Sensor Test Chambers user. Polaris will demonstrate the concept in Phase I. Secondly, Polaris will design an imaging polarimetric system that will be used to characterize the scene projector system. Such a characterization system is required in order to understand the scene projector system polarization so that those effects may be corrected in the polarized scene projection system. Both steps are needed in order to present calibrated polarized scenes to the SUT.