High Dynamic Range, Mulit-Band Scene Generator for Accurate HWIL Testing

Ion Optics will build on established, successful experience with resistive emitter arrays and add high dynamic range capabilities in two ways. First, Ion Optics is already developing a SiC-based emitter technology which will permit simulation of targets with radiometric temperatures up to 1200,aC. Second, we will add high radiance light (apparent temperature to 3000,aK) from a diode source to those few pixels that need it. In the phase 1 effort, we will analyze particular optical configurations, including micromirror array assemblies, that combine the output from a 2D resistive emitter array and one or more IR LEDs or lasers. Through rigorous methods including ray-tracing, we will establish the expected performance characteristics for each configuration. We will establish figures of merit including cost, precision (spatial and thermal), reliability. We will also determine alignment tolerances. We will obtain some small micromirror arrays (1 x 10 arrays are available) to perform some lab bench scale tests. Based on the analysis from phase 1, we will make a recommendation to build a prototype dual-band scene projector of say 64 x 64 or 256 x 256 pixels (depending on cost) in phase II.