Portable Infrared Measurement System

Pacific-Sierra Research Corporation (PSR) proposes to design a portable instrument to determine the long wave infrared (LWIR) characteristics of any EO sensor. Such an instrument would be valuable in LWIR sensor flightline testing, production checks, and foreign material exploitation. This field/production instrument would automatically provide detailed performance information for CM vulnerability assessment, specification verification, data gathering, or flightline testing of IR and EO sensors. The battery powered unit would require no on-site support, takes less than 30 minutes to acquire data, and would be man-portable. The instrument will be fully automatic, with self test, self calibration, and complete computer control over test data date and time annotation. The unit will measure the IR (8-12 micron wavelength) characteristics of operating or non-operating sensors, including spectral throughput, resolution, field of view, and OA signature. Phase I effort will culminate in an instrument design based on recent PSR internal research and development (IRAD) development. The system would be designed to make measurements on any IR or EO sensors of interest to BMDO. It will allow personnel with minimal training to collect high quality, objective data anywhere in the world.