MEMBRANE LIGHT VALVE-BASED MULTI-SPECTRAL IR TARGET SIMULATOR

WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP A NEW INFRARED TARGET SIMULATION SYSTEM BASED ON AN ELECTRON-BEAM-ADDRESED MEMBRANE LIGHT VALVE. THIS NEW DEVICE DIRECTLY INTERFACES WITH A COMPUTER AND IS EXPECTED TO OFFER SIMULATED SCENES WITH LARGE DYNAMIC RANGE RATIO, HIGH CONTRAST, HIGH RESOLUTION, LARGE NUMBERS OF STATIC AND FAST-MOVING TARGETS, AND REAL-TIME OPERATION. THIS DEVICE OVERCOME THE LOW RESOLUTION, SLOW FRAME RATES AND DYNAMIC-RANGE LIMITATIONS OF THERMAL DEVICES SUCH AS RESISTOR ARRAYS AND THE BLY CELL. THE PHASE I PROGRAM INVOLVES DEVICE DESIGN OPTIMIATION AND MODELLING COMPONENT DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING, AND THE DEMONSTRATION OF A PROTOTYPE MODULATOR. THE PROTOTYPE MODULATOR IS EXPECTED TO EXHIBIT >10(4) RESOLUTION ELEMENTS AND A DYNAMIC RANGE RATIO OF ABOOUT 25 IN A SINGLE COLOR. THE DEVICE DEIGN CHOSEN IS SUCH THAT THE MODULATOR CAN SIMULATE TARGETS OVER A LARGE TEMPERATURE RANGE (UV TO MID-IR) WITH MINIMAL MODIFICATION. THUS IN THE PHASE II PROGRAM, WITH FURTHER DEVELOPMENT, WE EXPECT TO UPGRADE THE PERFORMANCE OF THE PROTOTYPE DEVICE AND COMBINE TWO OF THESE MODULATORS TO MEET, AT THE VERY LEAST, ALL THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE OPERATIONAL STAGE (30-60 HZ FRAME RATE, 256X256 PIXELS, SINGLE FRAME DYNAMIC RANGE RATIO OF 30 WITH AN EFFECTIVE MULTI-FRAME DYNAMIC RANGE OF 10(30, AND TWO COLORS).