A Versatile Hybrid MWIR Scene Projector for Testing of Advanced Focal Plane Arrays

Physical Sciences Inc. will develop a versatile, next generation high dynamic range  foveated infrared scene projector (HF-IRSP) that combines a flickerless, wide-field, field of regard (FOR) projector channel with an overlaid flickerless, high-intensity, narrow-field region of interest (ROI) projector channel. Both channels employ digital micromirror devices (DMDs) as spatial light modulators with thermal IR illumination sources. The proposed configuration offers unprecedented contrast (6400:1) over a large effective spatial format (~3800 × 3800) at frame rates > 100 Hz with high maximum apparent temperature (> 1100K).  The technology platform is capable of projecting dynamic, high brightness, high contrast, complex scenes onto a wide range of advanced sensor technologies that include always-integrating, digital-pixel, HDR, coded access optical sensor , and foveated focal plane arrays  in hardware in the loop  training and testing scenarios.  The technology developed in this program is targeted for integration with the 7V Space Chamber at the Arnold Engineering and Development Center (AEDC) in Tennessee, specifically with the 7V’s Short Focal Length Collimator (SFLC).  The key enabling features of this technology include: A flickerless wide field FOR scene projection module capable of providing persistent 6-bit grayscale images with 384×384 spatial format and apparent temperatures approaching 1300K that fill the entrance pupil of the SFLC, A flickerless high-intensity narrow field ROI scene projection module capable of presenting high spatial resolution (foveated) persistent 6-bit images over an agile 10% portion of the SFLC entrance pupil, resulting in an effective 3840×3840 format and 6400:1 maximum contrast, An optional, high-spectral brightness, broadband quantum cascade laser  illuminator channel capable of projecting apparent temperature in excess of 3000K,  A 2-axis scanning system that steers the foveated image within the FOR, and A custom developed, FPGA-based image conditioning module  to command the DMDs with sufficient speed to train or test EO/IR sensors framing at >100 Hz.