SBIR's family of MIRAGE infrared scene projection systems is undergoing significant growth and expansion. The first two lots of production IR emitters have completed fabrication at Microelectronics Center of North Carolina/Research and Development Institute (MCNC-RDI), and the next round(s) of emitter production has begun. These latest emitter arrays support programs such as Large Format Resistive Array (LFRA), Optimized Array for Space-based Infrared Simulation (OASIS), MIRAGE 1.5, and MIRAGE II. We present the latest performance data on emitters fabricated at MCNC-RDI, plus integrated system performance on recently completed IRSP systems. Teamed with FLIR Systems/Indigo Operations, SBIR and the Tri-Services IRSP Working Group have completed development of the CMOS Read-In Integrated Circuit (RIIC) portion of the Wide Format Resistive Array (WFRA) program-to extend LFRA performance to a 768 x 1536 "wide screen" projection configuration. WFRA RIIC architecture and performance is presented. Finally, we summarize development of the LFRA Digital Emitter Engine (DEE) and OASIS cryogenic package assemblies, the next-generation Command & Control Electronics (C&CE).

We report here the light emission from IR interband-cascade (IC) Type-II-super lattice LED structures. We employed two different IC epitaxial structures for the LED experiments consisting of 9 or 18 periods of active super lattice gain regions separated by multilayer injection regions. The light output (and the voltage drop) of the LEDs is observed to increase with increase of number of IC active regions in the device. The voltage drop decreases with increase of mesa size and light emission increases with mesa sizes. We have made 8x7 2-D LED array flip-chip bonded to fan out array. The black body emissive temperature is 650 and 1050 K for LED operation at room and liquid nitrogen temperature respectively. A comparison of different IR sources for scene generation is presented.

Plasma display technology was investigated to determine its suitability for scene projection, particularly in the ultraviolet portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. This technology, in several guises, was found to hold considerable promise for projecting very high radiance, broadband or narrowband scenes across the spectrum, from the ultraviolet to the infrared. Performance metrics such as temporal response and dynamic range were also found to be promising for this technology. High manufacturing yields at relatively low display cost (e.g. cost/pixel) are expected due to the simplicity of the devices, the ability to leverage modern microelectronics-based deposition, pattern and etching techniques as well as the commercial plasma display community that continues to improve performance and drive manufacturing costs down.

As the deployment of IR sensors increases in the military arena, so does the need for testing, calibration and training in realistic infrared environments. This paper introduces liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) technology and discusses key elements required to successfully transition these displays to the infrared. The resulting devices are not only appropriate for infrared scene projectors, but can also be used as infrared adaptive optics or non-mechanical beamsteering elements.

We successfully fabricated two lots of micromirror devices. Each device consisted of a fused silica substrate, a substrate grid layer, a micromirror array layer, a dielectric membrane layer, and a top electrode layer (patterned with collector grid and vent hole only). Each micromirror array contained 1920×1536 mirrors, corresponding to resolution of 1920×1536. The process approach was repeatable, and reliable. Optical microscopy showed that the micromirrors were suspended above the glass panel by mirror post regions. The membrane was suspended above the substrate panel and above the array of micromirrors by membrane post regions. Micromirrors were flat and clean.

An electrostatic MEMS actuator is described for use as an analog micromirror device (AMD) for high performance, broadband, hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) scene generation. Current state-of-the-art technology is based on resistively heated pixel arrays. As these arrays drive to the higher scene temperatures required by missile defense scenarios, the power required to drive the large format resistive arrays will ultimately become prohibitive. Existing digital micromirrors (DMD) are, in principle, capable of generating the required scene irradiances, but suffer from limited dynamic range, resolution and flicker effects. An AMD would be free of these limitations, and so represents a viable alternative for high performance UV/VIS/IR scene generation. An electrostatic flexible film actuator technology, developed for use as "artificial eyelid" shutters for focal plane sensors to protect against damaging radiation, is suitable as an AMD for analog control of projection irradiance. In shutter applications, the artificial eyelid actuator contained radius of curvature as low as 25um and operated at high voltage (>200V). Recent testing suggests that these devices are capable of analog operation as reflective microcantilever mirrors appropriate for scene projector systems. In this case, the device would possess larger radius and operate at lower voltages (20-50V). Additionally, frame rates have been measured at greater than 5kHz for continuous operation. The paper will describe the artificial eyelid technology, preliminary measurements of analog test pixels, and design aspects related to application for scene projection systems. We believe this technology will enable AMD projectors with at least 512² spatial resolution, non-temporally-modulated output, and pixel response times of <1.25ms.

The Micromirror Array Projector System (MAPS) is a state-of-the-art dynamic scene projector developed by Optical Sciences Corporation (OSC) for Hardware-In-the-Loop (HWIL) simulation and sensor test applications. Since the introduction of the first MAPS in 2001, OSC has continued to improve the technology and develop systems for new projection and test applications. The MAPS is based upon the Texas Instruments Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) which has been modified to project high resolution, realistic imagery suitable for testing sensors and seekers operating in the UV, visible, NIR, and IR wavebands. This paper reviews the basic design and describes recent developments and new applications of the MAPS technology. Recent developments for the MAPS include increasing the format of the micromirror array to 1280x1024, increasing the video frame rate to >230 Hz, development of a DMD active cooling system, and development of a high-temperature illumination blackbody.

Motion simulators have envelope, power, and dynamic parameters that must be considered in mounting a new target scene projector. The newer pixel array type target scene simulators are smaller in size than the older types and generally allow a higher dynamic performance. However, for safety and proper operation the same requirements as gimbal clearances, lateral accelerations, shock loads, vibration, and rigid mounting interfaces must be considered. Ignoring some of these parameters can cause significant damage, high repair costs, and/or degraded performance for the target scene projector. The newer control systems have software adjustments to account for weight and inertia changes to the target payload. This paper discusses the mechanical envelope considerations and performance limitations when a target scene projector is mounted to a moving gimbal set.

Results from application of the sparse grid nonuniformity correction procedure within the DSTO resistor array Primary Infrared Scene Projection system are reported. In particular, the techniques used to cover the full dynamic range and to combat camera drift are described. The effectiveness of the projector NUC procedure is assessed and discussed in terms of the scope for further improvement.

We present a technique for the correction of spatial non-uniformity in an infrared emitter array projection system for flood scenes. The technique is a sparse grid approach, but, instead of turning on a sparse grid of emitters to estimate the radiance of each one, the array is commanded uniformly to a constant level, and a sparse grid of emitters is turned off. The resultant loss of radiance in the neighborhood of each emitter is used to estimate its response. Typically, less than one percent of the emitters are turned off in a grid, so flood scene effects, such as substrate heating, are accounted for without the complexity of coupled outputs of a full flood process.

In seekers that never resolve targets spatially, it may be adequate to calibrate only with sources that have known aperture irradiance. In modern missile interceptors, the target becomes spatially resolved at close ranges, and the seeker's ability to accurately measure the radiance at different positions in the scene is also important. Thus, it is necessary to calibrate the seekers with extended sources of known radiance. The aperture irradiance is given by the radiance integrated over the angular extent of the target in the scene. Thus radiance calibrations and accurately presenting the targets spatially produces accurate irradiances. The accuracy of the scene radiance is also important in generating synthetic imagery for testing seeker conceptual designs and seeker algorithms, and for hardware-in-the-loop testing with imaging projection systems. The routine procedure at the Air Force Research Laboratory Munitions Directorate's AFRL/MNGG is to model and project the detailed spatial and radiometric content of the scenes. Hence, accurate depiction of the radiance in the scene is important. AFRL/MNGG calibrates the complete projection system (synthetic image generator and scene projector) with extended sources of known radiance, not unresolved sources of known irradiance. This paper demonstrates that accurate radiance calibrations and accurate spatial rendering do provide accurate aperture irradiances in the projection systems. In recent tests conducted by AFRL/MNGG, the projection system was calibrated in terms of radiance, and the aperture irradiances were determined both as they were observed in the synthetic images that drove the projection system and in the images of the projection system measured by the unit under test. The aperture irradiances were compared with the known truth data and errors were determined. This paper presents results of analyzing the errors associated with the observed aperture irradiances.

Efforts in developing a synthetic environment for testing LADAR sensors in a hardware-in-the-loop simulation are continuing at the Aviation and Missile Research, Engineering, and Development Center (AMRDEC) of the U.S. Army Research, Engineering and Development Command (RDECOM). Current activities have concentrated on developing the optical projection hardware portion of the synthetic environment. These activities range from system level design down to component level testing. Of particular interest have been schemes for generating the optical signals representing the individual pixels of the projection. Several approaches have been investigated and tested with emphasis on operating wavelength, intensity dynamic range and uniformity, and flexibility in pixel waveform generation. This paper will discuss some of the results from these current efforts at RDECOM's Advanced Simulation Center (ASC).

The Guidance System Evaluation Laboratory of The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory developed a hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) simulation facility in 2000 for the test and evaluation of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) kinetic warhead. We continue to expand on this architecture to facilitate the test of the tactically deployed SM-3 system. An overview and philosophy of the HWIL facility is described. Each of the key test equipment devices is described, along with an upgrade path that provides more accuracy and reliability, as well as increased test capability. The key components are the body dynamics simulation control computer, a scene rendering computer, a resistive-array IR scene projector, and support optics.

Testing system performance early and often under flight conditions is fundamental to managing uncertainty in system performance predictions and reducing system life-cycle cost. As a Department of Defense (DoD) Major Range Test Facility Base (MRTFB), Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) strives to ensure that DoD system performance tests are not limited by test and evaluation capabilities. For over 30 years, the space chambers at AEDC have performed space sensor characterization, calibration, and mission simulation testing on space-based, interceptor, and air-borne sensors. In partnership with the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), AEDC continuously pursues capability upgrades in order to keep pace with evolving sensor technologies. Upgrades to sensor test facilities require rigorous facility characterization and calibration efforts, all of which are routinely included in AEDC's annual activities to ensure quality test data. This paper discusses the status of such upgrades especially with regard to scene projection.

This paper will present the progress on AMRDEC's development of a cold background, flight motion simulator (FMS) mountable, emitter array based projector for use in hardware-in-the-loop systems simulation. The goal for this development is the ability to simulate realistic low temperature backgrounds for windowed/domed seekers operating in tactical and exo-atmospheric simulations. The projector has been developed to operate at -10 degrees Celsius in order to reduce the apparent background temperature presented to the sensor under test. The projector system includes a low temperature operated Honeywell BRITE II emitter array, refractive optical system with zoom optics, integrated steerable point source and high-frequency jitter mirror contained within an FMS-mountable environmental chamber. This system provides a full-FOV cold background, two-dimensional dynamic IR scene projection, a high dynamic range independently steerable point source and combined optical path high frequency jitter control. The projector is designed to be compatible with operation on a 5 axis electric motor driven Carco flight motion simulator.

The increase in sophistication of shoulder and gun launched smart weapon systems have increased the demands placed on the flight motion simulator. The high spin rate and accelerations seen during launch drastically exceed the capability of the roll axes on today’s motion simulators. Improvements are necessary to the bearing and drive system to support these requirements. This paper documents the requirements, design, and testing of a flight motion simulator produced to meet these challenges. This design can be incorporated into a new flight motion simulator, or as this paper describes, can be retrofitted into an existing flight motion simulator to improve its capability.

The Advanced Multispectral Simulation Test Acceptance Resource (AMSTAR) is a suite of state-of-the-art Hardware-In-the-Loop (HWIL) simulation / test capabilities designed to meet the life-cycle testing needs of multi-spectral systems. This paper presents the major AMSTAR facility design concepts and each of the Millimeter Wave (MMW), Infrared (IR), and Semi-Active Laser (SAL) in-band scene generation and projection system designs. The emergence of Multispectral sensors in missile systems necessitates capabilities such as AMSTAR to simultaneous project MMW, IR, and SAL wave bands into a common sensor aperture.

The Air Force Electronic Warfare Evaluation Simulator (AFEWES) Infrared Countermeasures (IRCM) test facility currently has the ability to simulate a complete IRCM test environment, including IR missiles in flight, aircraft in flight, and various IR countermeasures including maneuvers, point-source flares, and lamp- and LASER-based jammer systems. The simulations of IR missiles in flight include missile seeker hardware mounted on a six degree-of-freedom flight simulation table. This paper will focus on recent developments and upgrades to the AFEWES IR capability. In particular, current developments in IR scene generation/projection and efforts to optically combining the IR image produced by a resistive array with existing foreground lamp sources.

Hardware in the Loop (HWIL) simulations are often spread over a large area with many hardware and software components. Open and closed loop tests necessitate a flexible test environment of allocating and ordering these components. These components may be connected in a star, a ring configuration, and/or any combinations of these two configurations, with shared memory wrappers connecting some of the software components. A Resource Allocation Program (RAP) is proposed along with a device table to allocate, organize, and document the communication protocol between the software and hardware components. Communication between software components is done through a single set of input output routines using information so that software objects may be changed with hardware objects or placed on different computers with minimal code changes.

Numerous infrared scene projection technologies have been investigated since the 1970s. Notably, from the late 1980s the development of the first resistor array infrared projectors gained leverage from the strong concurrent developments within focal plane array imaging technology, linked by the common need for large integrated circuits comprising a 2-dimensional array of interconnected unit cells. In the resistor array case, it is the unit cell comprising the resistively heated emitter and its dedicated drive circuit that determines the projector response to its associated scene generator commands. In this paper we review the development of resistor array technology from a historical perspective, concentrating on the unit cell developments. We commence by describing the technological innovations that forged the way, sharing along the way stories of the successes and failures, all of which contributed to the steady if somewhat eventful growth of the critical knowledge base that underpins the strength of today's array technology. We conclude with comments on the characteristics and limitations of the technology and on the prospects for future array development.

This paper describes the current research and development of advanced scene generation technology for integration into the I2RSS - Hardware-in-the-Loop (HWIL) facilities at the US Army AMRDEC at Redstone Arsenal, AL. A real-time dynamic infra-red (IR) scene generator has been developed in support of a high altitude scenario leveraging COTS hardware and open source software. The Multi-Spectral Mode Scene Generator (MMSG) is an extensible software architecture that is powerful yet flexible. The I2RSS scene generator has implemented dynamic signature by integrating the signature prediction codes along with Open Source Software, COTS hardware along with custom built interfaces. A modular, plug-in framework has been developed that supports rapid reconfiguration to permit the use of a variety of state data input sources, geometric model formats, and signature and material databases. The platform independent software yields a cost-effective upgrade path to integrate best-of-breed graphics and system architectures.

The revolution in commercial PC video graphics hardware continues to converge on the territory previously dominated by the “big iron” image generator systems of the past three decades. PC video graphics chip designers have made great strides in feature sets, including: register combiners, on-chip anti-aliasing, programmable vertex and pixel shaders, and high dynamic range (HDR) pixel-processing pipelines. This paper will illustrate how these advanced features and commercial programmable post-processing hardware have been combined to achieve the previously unattainable goal of delivering the high-quality, 16-bit precision rendering tools required to meet today's hardware-in-the-loop and human-in-the-loop scene generation demands.

The standard anti-aliasing techniques within commercial graphics hardware are unsatisfactory for simulations involving targets at long ranges, e.g. that for imaging infrared weapons. In this case, due to the presence of high spatial frequency components beyond the Nyquist frequency, the resulting scenes will contain aliasing and scintillation artifacts. Custom anti-aliasing techniques (that operate by supersampling) have been devised to deal with this; for example, Zoom Anti-Aliasing and the Corrected Super Sampling and Scaling derivative. An alternative technique in which the target is pre-filtered, shown to be equivalent to three-dimensional blurring of target objects at the vertex level, is described in this paper. An analysis of anti-aliasing performance is provided together with example imagery.

This paper describes the current research and development of advanced scene generation technology for integration into the Advanced Multispectral Simulation Test and Acceptance Resource (AMSTAR) Hardware-in-the-Loop (HWIL) facilities at the US Army AMRDEC and US Army Redstone Technical Test Center at Redstone Arsenal, AL. A real-time multi-mode (infra-red (IR) and semi-active laser (SAL)) scene generator for a tactical sensor system has been developed leveraging COTS hardware and open source software (OSS). A modular, plug-in architecture has been developed that supports rapid reconfiguration to permit the use of a variety of state data input sources, geometric model formats, and signature and material databases. The platform-independent software yields a cost-effective upgrade path to integrate best-of-breed personal computer (PC) graphics processing unit (GPU) technology.

During the flight of guided submunitions, translation of the missile with respect to the designated aimpoint causes a rotation of the Line-of-Sight (LOS) in inertial space. Large transmit arrays or 5 axis CARCO tables are used to perform True LOS (TLOS) for in-band simulations. Both of these TLOS approaches have cost or fidelity issues for RF seekers. Typically RF Hardware-in-the-Loop (HWIL) simulations of these guided submunitions are mounted on a Three Axes Rotational Flight Simulator (TARFS), which is not capable of translation, and utilize a 2 to 3 seeker beam width transmit array. This necessitates using a Synthetic Line-of-Sight (SLOS) algorithm with the TARFS in order to maintain the proper line-of-sight orientation during all phases of flight which typically includes largely varying LOS motion. This paper presents a simple explanation depicting TLOS and SLOS (TARFS) geometry and the seamless boresight/target SLOS algorithm utilized in AMRDEC's RF4 facility for a test article flight profile. In conclusion this paper will summarize the current state of SLOS algorithms utilized at AMRDEC and challenges and possible solutions envisioned in the near future.