Responsive, Pre-launch and On-orbit, Electro-Optical Sensor Characterization and Calibration

The On-Orbit calibration process for space-based electro-optical (E-O) sensors historically has required durations much longer than the 24 hours typically needed to meet Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) mission requirements. We can dramatically shorten the on-orbit calibration timelines by developing models that incorporate per-pixel response compensation models with empirically derived coefficients to correct the sensor response over the span of likely operational conditions in which the sensor will be expected to perform. We will use ground test data to empirically develop these models and the coefficients used by them to correct the sensor response as a demonstration of this approach so that the warfighter would receive calibrated data with its expected uncertainty directly from the sensor or its proximate ground station. We will verify the practicality and the utility of these models with data that was not used in the generation of the model coefficients from a prototype instrument. We will identify modifications to the standard ground testing approach of measuring response at a few (usually two or three) temperature levels or other operational parameters that are within the ‘best’ operational regime so that we have the data to extend the useful operational envelope. BENEFIT: The results of this work will be directly applicable to any sensing program that has either quick reaction timelines or undergoes changes in the sensor operating conditions during operation that are large enough to cause deviations in the calibrated data that are larger than the system performance requirements for accuracy. This work will provide the methodology to generate response correction models, a methodology for constructing these models, and a proof-of-concept demonstration that this technique is valid using actual sensor data that has been collected during ground testing.