Infrared Panoramic Projection for Wide Field of Sensor Testing

ABSTRACT: Infrared (IR) imaging and sensing is used extensively for military purposes. Evolving threats have motivated a drive toward sensor systems with multiple aperture and wide fields of view. As a result, there is a need to improve test capabilities for these new sensor systems. Large panoramic IR displays are required to fully test and develop new wide field of view IR sensors. IST is developing display technology that efficiently emits IR and can be scaled to very large sizes. This new display technology is based on Plasma-shells. Plasma-shells are hollow gas encapsulating devices. When the Plasma-shell device is energized the gas inside ignites into plasma. Proper selection of gas and shell material allows for efficient emission of light in ultraviolet, blue, green, red, or IR. The technology is suitable for both flat and conformable large area panoramic dome displays. Under this SBIR IST will focus on the challenge of large area geodesic dome displays emitting in the 8 -12 micron range using the Plasma-shell technology. BENEFIT: The proposed panoramic IR display technology is important to the military because it address a problem that previously was not solved. The proposed display will allow test and verification of wide field of view IR sensors in a realistic environment. Ultimately the technology can be expanded to multi-spectral test applications to allow testing of a full range of sensors simultaneously. Beyond military applications, the plasma based technology has commercial applications in digital billboards and signage. The proposed technology allows for large area multi color displays that are a fraction the cost of LED technology.