A Multispectral Polarized Scene Projector (MPSP) had been developed in the short-wave infrared (SWIR) regime for the test & evaluation (T&E) of spectro-polarimetric imaging sensors. This MPSP generates multispectral and hyperspectral video images (up to 200 Hz) with 512×512 spatial resolution with active spatial, spectral, and polarization modulation with controlled bandwidth. It projects input SWIR radiant intensity scenes from stored memory with user selectable wavelength and bandwidth, as well as polarization states (six different states) controllable on a pixel level. The spectral contents are implemented by a tunable filter with variable bandpass built based on liquid crystal (LC) material, together with one passive visible and one passive SWIR cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) notch filters, and one switchable CLC notch filter. The core of the MPSP hardware is the liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCoS) spatial light modulators (SLMs) for intensity control and polarization modulation.
This newly developed prototype Multispectral Polarized Scene Projector (MPSP), configured for the short wave
infrared (SWIR) regime, can be used for the test & evaluation (T&E) of spectro-polarimetric imaging sensors. The
MPSP system generates both static and video images (up to 200 Hz) with 512×512 spatial resolution with active spatial,
spectral, and polarization modulation with controlled bandwidth. It projects input SWIR radiant intensity scenes from
stored memory with user selectable wavelength (850-1650 nm) and bandwidth (12-100 nm), as well as polarization
states (six different states) controllable on a pixel by pixel basis. The system consists of one spectrally tunable liquid
crystal filter with variable bandpass, and multiple liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) spatial light modulators (SLMs) for
intensity control and polarization modulation. In addition to the spectro-polarimetric sensor test, the instrument also
simulates polarized multispectral images of military scenes/targets for hardware-in-the loop (HIL) testing.
A newly fabricated Infrared Scene Projector (IRSP) configured for the Long Wave IR (LWIR) regime has
demonstrated simulated apparent temperatures exceeding 1500 oC, more than doubling the maximum
temperature capability of prior pixilated scene projector devices. Since the entire array surface is capable of
this high temperature output, the same device can be used to generate both the moderate temperature scene
background and an unlimited number of high temperature targets in the scene, without having to optically
combine a few discrete "hot spot" generators. This performance was enabled by advances in a new large pixel,
high voltage, 16-bit backplane Spatial Light Modulator (SLM) coupled with an intense spectral illumination
source, and special formulation liquid crystal (LC). The new LC formulation and SLM configuration also
achieves an effective usable frame rate of up to 200Hz capability. Performance characterization and resulting
data will be discussed in the paper.
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