This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 8867, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Introduction (if any), and Conference Committee listing.

Several studies have shown that a geostationary hyperspectral imager/sounder can provide the most significant value increase in short term, regional numerical prediction weather models over a range of other options. In 1998, the Geostationary Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (GIFTS) proposal was selected by NASA as the New Millennium Earth Observation 3 program over several other geostationary instrument development proposals. After the EO3 GIFTS flight demonstration program was changed to an Engineering Development Unit (EDU) due to funding limitations by one of the partners, the EDU was subjected to flight-like thermal vacuum calibration and testing and successfully validated the breakthrough technologies needed to make a successful observatory. After several government stops and starts, only EUMETSAT’s Meteosat Third Generation (MTG-S) sounder is in operational development. Recently, a commercial partnership has been formed to fill the significant data gap. AsiaSat has partnered with GeoMetWatch (GMW)¹ to fund the development and launch of the Sounding and Tracking Observatory for Regional Meteorology (STORM_TM) sensor, a derivative of the Geosynchronous Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (GIFTS) EDU that was designed, built, and tested by Utah State University (USU). STORM_TM combines advanced technologies to observe surface thermal properties, atmospheric weather, and chemistry variables in four dimensions to provide high vertical resolution temperature and moisture sounding information, with the fourth dimension (time) provided by the geosynchronous satellite platform ability to measure a location as often as desired. STORM_TM will enhance the polar orbiting imaging and sounding measurements by providing: (1) a direct measure of moisture flux and altitude-resolved water vapor and cloud tracer winds throughout the troposphere, (2) an observation of the time varying atmospheric thermodynamics associated with storm system development, and (3) the transport of tropospheric pollutant gases. The AsiaSat/GMW partnership will host the first STORM_TM sensor on their AsiaSat 9 telecommunications satellite at 122 E over the Asia Pacific area. GMW’s business plan is to sell the unique STORM data and data products to countries and companies in the satellite coverage area. GMW plans to place 6 STORM_TM sensors on geostationary telecommunications satellites to provide global hyperspectral sounding and imaging data. Utah State University’s Advanced Weather Systems Laboratory (AWS) will build the sensors for GMW.

We owe a major part of our knowledge about surface composition and structure of solid planetary surfaces to infrared imaging and Fourier transform spectroscopy. Based on these methods, it succeeds to observe single planetary objects in a global geo-scientific content. The topics of infrared surface studies are mineralogical composition analyses, measurement of surface temperature, thermal inertia, and photometric observation of surface regolith texture. The comparison of infrared with photogeologic data forms the essential basis for comparative studies in planetology. The present paper summarizes outstanding results by examples of ESA experiments like VIRTIS on Venus Express and Rosetta, PFS on Mars Express, MERTIS on Bepi Colombo, and TIRVIM on ExoMars, and provides an outlook for future plans. The instruments are described, and the interplay of disciplines like planetology, IR measuring techniques, and space flight engineering is demonstrated. Infrared remote sensing provides essential knowledge about the current state of solid planetary surfaces. This allows studying fundamental questions in comparative planetology.

This paper reports the design, assembly and calibration activities relative to the internal calibration unit mounted on the Visible and Infrared Hyperspectral Imager (VIHI). VIHI is one of the three optical channels of the SIMBIO-SYS suite (Spectrometers and Imagers for MPO BepiColombo Integrated Observatory SYStem), one of the payload instruments onboard the probe BepiColombo/MPO, the ESA cornestone mission to be launched in 2016-2017 to Mercury. The activities reported include also the qualification tests of the commercial sources (a Welch-Allyn 1163 incandescence lamp and the NICHIA NJSW036BLT LED) selected. All the qualifications (Thermal, Vibration and Radiation tests) were successful, demonstrating the suitability of the commercial sources as Flight hardware. The performances of the ICU were verified during its mounting and alignment in the VIHI optical bench. The ICU satisfy the requirements of providing a spectral radiance of the same order of magnitude of the signal from Mercury and of guaranteeing a good degree of spatial uniformity across the spectrometer slit for the verification of the flat field in flight. The LED source provide an uniformity of the order of 10%, while the lamp signal drops by about 30% at the extreme edges of the FOV.

The MErcury Radiometer and Thermal infrared Imaging Spectrometer (MERTIS) is part of the payload of the Mercury Planetary Orbiter spacecraft of the ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission. MERTIS’s scientific goals are to infer rockforming minerals, to map surface composition, and to study surface temperature variations on Mercury. To achieve these science goals MERTIS combines a imaging spectrometer covering the wavelength range from 7-14 microns with a radiometer covering the wavelength range from 7-40 microns. MERTIS will map the whole surface of Mercury with a spatial resolution of 500m for the spectrometer channel and 2km for the radiometer channel. The MERTIS instrument had been proposed long before the NASA MESSENGER mission provided us with new insights into the innermost of the terrestrial planets. The discoveries of the MESSENGER fundamentally changed our view of Mercury. It revealed a surface that has been reshaped by volcanism over large parts of geological history. Volatile elements like sulfur have been detected with unexpectedly high abundances of up to 4%. MESSENGER imagined structures that are most likely formed by pyroclastic eruptions in recent geologic history. Among the most exciting discoveries of MESSENGER are hollows – bright irregularly shaped depressions that show sign of ongoing loss of material. Despite all this new results the MERTIS dataset remains unique and is now more important than ever. None of the instruments on the NASA MESSENGER mission covers the same spectral range or provides a measurement of the surface temperature. The MERTIS will complement the results of MESSENGER. MERTIS will for example be able to provide spatially resolved compositional information on the hollows and pyroclastic deposits – both among the most exciting discoveries by the MESSENGER mission for which the NASA mission can not provide compositional information.

The development of MERTIS, a miniaturized thermal infrared imaging spectrometer onboard of ESA's cornerstone mission BepiColombo to Mercury has been completed. Qualification of the design is followed by the calibration of the instrument showing up first results of the technology used. Based on subsequent viewing of different targets including on-board calibration sources the push-broom instrument will use a 2-dimensional bolometer detector to provide spatial and spectral information. Here repetition accuracy of pointing and spectral assignment is supported by the design of instrument components under the restriction of limited resources. Additionally a concept of verification after launch and cruise phase of the mission was developed. The article describes how this has been implemented and what the results under environment testing are.

ESA’s mission BepiColombo will be launched in 2016. MERTIS (Mercury Radiometer and Thermal imaging Spectrometer) is one of the key instruments. MERTIS is an imaging infrared spectrometer and radiometer using an uncooled detector technology with very small resources in terms of mass and power. The incentive of the MERTIS development is scientific requirements to study the surface composition and temperatures of Mercury under the extreme environmental condition at Mercury. Therefore, the state-of-the-art optical performance of MERTIS is unique. Components based on innovative technologies have been developed and qualified to realize the project. This approach required an advanced model philosophy and development process from the study up to the flight model completed in 2013. This paper describes the development process as well as challenges from the management and system engineering point of view up to a lessons learnt that lead to important conclusions.

The ACS package for ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter is a part of Russian contribution to ExoMars ESA-Roscosmos mission. On the Orbiter it complements NOMAD investigation and is intended to recover in much extent the science lost with the cancellation of NASA MATMOS and EMCS infrared sounders. ACS includes three separate spectrometers, sharing common mechanical, electrical, and thermal interfaces. NIR is a versatile spectrometer for the spectral range of 0.7-1.6 μm with resolving power of ~20000. It is conceived on the principle of RUSALKA/ISS or SOIR/Venus Express experiments combining an echelle spectrometer and an AOTF (Acousto-Optical Tuneable Filter) for order selection. Up to 8 diffraction orders, each 10-20 nm wide can be measured in one sequence record. NIR will be operated principally in nadir, but also in solar occultations, and possibly on the limb. MIR is a high-resolution echelle instrument exclusively dedicated to solar occultation measurements in the range of 2.2-4.4 μm targeting the resolving power of 50000. The order separation is done by means of a steerable grating cross-disperser, allowing instantaneous coverage of up to 300-nm range of the spectrum for one or two records per second. MIR is dedicated to sensitive measurements of trace gases, approaching MATMOS detection thresholds for many species. TIRVIM is a 2- inch double pendulum Fourier-transform spectrometer for the spectral range of 1.7-17 μm with apodized resolution varying from 0.2 to 1.6 cm^-1. TIRVIM is primarily dedicated to monitoring of atmospheric temperature and aerosol state in nadir, and would contribute in solar occultation to detection/reducing of upper limits of some components absorbing beyond 4 μm, complementing MIR and NOMAD. Additionally, TIRVIM targets the methane mapping in nadir, using separate detector optimized for 3.3-μm range. The concept of the instrument and in more detail the optical design and the expected parameters of its three parts, channel by channel are described.

In the present work we describe a dedicated and fast monochromatic radiative transfer code, developed for computing Martian radiance spectra as seen by the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES), and its Jacobians with respect to gas, dust aerosol and ice concentrations, atmospheric temperatures, and surface emissivity. The code accuracy has been tested comparing its results with a state-of-art line-by-line radiative transfer model, and it has been optimized for simulating nadir-viewing spectra. The model is well-suited to simulate spectra with di erent amounts of methane in the atmosphere, whose detection is currently one of the most fascinating issues concerning the Martian atmospheric chemistry and planetary dynamics.

The permanent cloud cover of Venus prohibits observation of the surface with traditional imaging techniques most of the visible spectral range. Venus' CO2 atmosphere is transparent in small spectral windows near 1 micron. These windows have been successfully used from ground observers, during the flyby of the Galileo mission at Jupiter and most recently by the VMC and VIRTIS instruments on the ESA VenusExpress spacecraft. Studying surface composition based on only a small number of spectral channels in a very narrow spectral range is very challenging. The task is further complicated by the fact that Venus has an average surface temperature of 460°C. Spectral signatures of minerals are affected by temperature and therefore a comparison with mineral spectra obtained at room temperature can be misleading. We report here about first laboratory measurements of Venus analog materials obtained at Venus surface temperatures. The spectral signatures show clear temperature dependence. Based on the experience gained from using the VIRTIS instrument to observe the surface of Venus combined with the high temperature laboratory experiments we have developed the concept for the Venus Emissivity Mapper (VEM). VEM is a multi-spectral mapper dedicated to the task of multi-spectral mapping the surface of Venus. VEM imposes minimal requirements on the spacecraft and mission design and can therefore added to any future Venus mission. Ideally the VEM instrument is combined with a high resolution radar mapper to provide accurate topographic data.

It is well known that the varying geometrical relationships between the Sun and the Earth throughout the year can affect to some degree the performance of the instruments on-board Earth orbiting satellites. Following the commissioning of MetOp-A, EUMETSAT and NOAA have continued monitoring the long term trends in in-orbit performance of AVHRR, HIRS and AMSU-A. The data acquired since the launch of the satellite has allowed studying how the yearly seasonal variations, as well as aging, have affected the instrument performance. This paper presents the evolution of the performance of the AVHRR, HIRS and AMSU-A for more than six years since the launch of the MetOp-A satellite, as well as the early performance results for MetOp-B.

Open path tunable diode-laser absorption spectroscopy (OP-TDLAS) is a promising technique to detect low concentrations of possible biogenic gases on Mars. This technique finds the concentration of a gas by measuring the amount of laser light absorbed by gaseous molecules at a specific wavelength. One of the major factors limiting sensitivity in the TDLAS systems operating at low modulation frequencies is 1/f noise. 1/f noise is minimized in many spectroscopy systems by the use of high frequency modulation techniques. However, these techniques require complex instruments that include reference cells and other devices for calibration, making them relatively large and bulky. We are developing a spectroscopy system for space applications that requires small, low mass and low power instrumentation, making the high frequency techniques unsuitable. This paper explores a new technique using two-laser beam to reduce the affect of 1/f noise and increase the signal strength for measurements made at lower frequencies. The two lasers are excited at slightly different frequencies. An algorithm is used to estimate the noise in the second harmonic from the combined spectra of both lasers. This noise is subtracted from the signal to give a more accurate measurement of gas concentration. The error in estimation of 1/f noise is negligible as it corresponds to noise level made at much higher frequencies. Simulation results using ammonia gas and two lasers operating at 500 and 510 Hz respectively shows that this technique is able to decrease the error in estimation of gas concentration to 1/6 its normal value.

Thermal infrared imager system is developed for HAYABUSA2, which is planned to be launched in 2014 and aims at sample-return from a C class near-Earth asteroid 1999JU3 considered to contain organic or hydrated materials. The system consists of a thermal-infrared imager (TIR) and a digital electronics, which is used not only for the scientific investigation of physical properties of the asteroid surface, but also for the assessment of landing site selection and safe descent operation onto the asteroid surface with in situ measurement. Since round trip communication time between the asteroid and the Earth is more than thirty minutes, onboard automatic data processing function and high speed data recording capability are provided to exploit the limited downlink capacity which is up to 32kbps. TIR adopts an uncooled bolometer with 320 x 240 effective pixels. Image operations as multiple images summation, dark image subtraction, and the compensation of dead pixels are processed onboard. A processing module is connected to sensor interfaces through SpaceWire in order to provide deterministic processing time. Data compression is also provided to reduce restriction on storage capacity and operation time, which provides the equivalent compression ratio as JPEG2000 in 1/30 processing time in average. A high speed data recorder is also connected through SpaceWire in 50Mbps in order to record TIR data in parallel with other sensor data. The modularity of SpaceWire enables to use as built devices for TIR and inherits the same design as the long-wavelength infrared imager developed for the Venus climate orbiter Akatsuki.

A new approach to measuring wind and temperature is under development that could revolutionize our ability to monitor wind and neutral temperature in the upper atmosphere. Using a Doppler modulated gas filter correlation technique, wind and temperature can be measured simultaneously from low Earth orbit, continuously from 15 km to over 200 km, on one second time intervals, both day and night. A constellation of six of these dual-sided Doppler Wind and Temperature Sensors (DWTS) on small-sat platforms could provide nearly real time global temperature and wind fields. The DWTS technique, measurements and weather forecast benefits are discussed.

The Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) is a mission on-board the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) SCISAT-1. ACE is composed of a suite of instruments consisting of an infrared Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) coupled with an auxiliary imager monitoring aerosols based on the extinction of solar radiation using two filtered detectors (visible and near infrared). A suntracker is also included to provide fine pointing during occultation. A second instrument, MAESTRO, is a spectrophotometer covering the near ultra-violet to the near infrared. In combination, the instrument payload covers the spectral range from 0.25 to 13.3 μm. The ACE mission came about from a need to better understand the chemical and dynamical processes that control the distribution of ozone in the upper troposphere and stratosphere, with particular emphasis on the Arctic region. Measurement of the vertical distribution of molecular species in these portions of the atmosphere permits elucidation of the key chemical and dynamical processes. The ACE-FTS measures the vertical distributions of trace gases as well as polar stratospheric clouds, aerosols, and temperature by a solar occultation technique from low earth orbit. By measuring solar radiation at high spectral resolution as it passes through different layers of the atmosphere, the absorption thus measured provides information on vertical profiles of atmospheric constituents, temperature, and pressure. Detailed and sensitive vertical distribution of trace gases help to better understand the chemical processes not only for ozone formation and destruction but also for other dynamic processes in the atmosphere. The ACE/SCISAT-1 satellite was successfully launched by NASA on August 12, 2003, and has been successfully operating since, now celebrating its 10^th year on-orbit anniversary. This paper presents a summary of the heritage and development history of the ACE-FTS instrument. Design challenges and solutions are related. The actual on-orbit performance is presented, and the health status of the instrument payload is discussed. Potential future follow-on missions are finally introduced.

We review development of the TIMS beginning in the early part of the decade and up to preliminary results of work in progress. We describe a geostationary application (geoCARB) at near PDR maturity for mapping CO2, CH4 and CO column mixing ratios on continental scale areas (e.g., Australia and East Asia) several times per day on contiguous samples with spacing the order 3 km at the sub satellite point. Measurements per footprint are expected to be acquired with median mission SNRs >> 300, 300 and 240 in the traditional spectral regions (e.g., OCO and TANSO-FTS on GOSAT) for CO2, namely the O2 A-band, and the weak and strong bands of CO2 near 1.61 and 2.06 microns; and >> 200 in a region near 2.32 microns for CO and CH4.The resolving powers are 15000, 15000, 11000 and 11000 in the 4 regions, respectively. Given this performance the median mission retrieval for CO2, CH4 and CO column mixing ratio is expected to be considerably better than 0.7, 1.0 and 10.0%, respectively. These measurements over several years would provide a break through reduction in the uncertainty for the sources of CO2 and CH4 within the large geostationary field of regard of the geoCARB, and the CO measurement would assist in source attribution.

The geoCARB sensor uses a 4-channel push broom slit-scan infrared imaging grating spectrometer to measure the absorption spectra of sunlight reflected from the ground in narrow wavelength regions. The instrument is designed for flight at geostationary orbit to provide mapping of greenhouse gases over continental scales, several times per day, with a spatial resolution of a few kilometers. The sensor provides multiple daily maps of column-averaged mixing ratios of CO2, CH4, and CO over the regions of interest, which enables flux determination at unprecedented time, space, and accuracy scales. The geoCARB sensor development is based on our experience in successful implementation of advanced space deployed optical instruments for remote sensing. A few recent examples include the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) and Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on the geostationary Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS GEO-1) and the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), along with sensors under development, the Near Infared camera (NIRCam) for James Webb (JWST), and the Global Lightning Mapper (GLM) and Solar UltraViolet Imager (SUVI) for the GOES-R series. The Tropospheric Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (TIMS), developed in part through the NASA Instrument Incubator Program (IIP), provides an important part of the strong technological foundation for geoCARB. The paper discusses subsystem heritage and technology readiness levels for these subsystems. The system level flight technology readiness and methods used to determine this level are presented along with plans to enhance the level.

Our companion paper ‘Progress in development of Tropospheric Infrared Mapping Spectrometers (TIMS): geostationary greenhouse gas (GHG) application’ describes geoCARB performance and science. Here we describe a geoCARB instrument design study leading to near PDR maturity. It is based on heritage geostationary (AIA and HMI on SDO, SBIRS GEO-1 and upcoming GLM on GOES-R as examples) and other (IRIS and NIRcam) flight instrumentation. Heritage work includes experience and well developed specifications for near a-thermal carbon fiber honeycomb composite optical benches and optical element mounting design forms that utilize a “family” of mounts for nearly any type of optical element. The geoCARB approach utilizes composite optical benches and bipod flexures to kinematically mount optics. Tooling for alignment and staking of all elements is integral to the design and is “removed before flight” for mass minimization. GeoCARB requires a cryogenic region for focal planes and spectrometers but front end optics and main structure are designed to run much warmer. A star tracker is used for geoCARB posteriori geolocation including pseudo-diurnal thermal distortion characterization. It is kinematically mounted by low conductance thermal isolators directly on to the low expansion high stiffness composite bench that defines the master optical surfaces including the scanning mirrors. The thermal load from the camera heads is routed away from the bench heat pipes. Use of kinematic mounting is advantageous for low thermal conduction designs. Honeycomb composites enable the design’s low thermal mechanical distortions.

The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is an airborne observatory, carrying a 2.5 m telescope onboard a heavily modified Boeing 747SP aircraft. SOFIA is optimized for operation at infrared wavelengths, much of which is obscured for ground-based observatories by atmospheric water vapor. The SOFIA science instrument complement consists of seven instruments: FORCAST (Faint Object InfraRed CAmera for the SOFIA Telescope), GREAT (German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies), HIPO (High-speed Imaging Photometer for Occultations), FLITECAM (First Light Infrared Test Experiment CAMera), FIFI-LS (Far-Infrared Field-Imaging Line Spectrometer), EXES (Echelon-Cross-Echelle Spectrograph), and HAWC (High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera). FORCAST is a 5–40 μm imager with grism spectroscopy, developed at Cornell University. GREAT is a heterodyne spectrometer providing high-resolution spectroscopy in several bands from 60–240 μm, developed at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy. HIPO is a 0.3–1.1 μm imager, developed at Lowell Observatory. FLITECAM is a 1–5 μm wide-field imager with grism spectroscopy, developed at UCLA. FIFI-LS is a 42–210 μm integral field imaging grating spectrometer, developed at the University of Stuttgart. EXES is a 5–28 μm high-resolution spectrograph, developed at UC Davis and NASA ARC. HAWC is a 50–240 μm imager, developed at the University of Chicago, and undergoing an upgrade at JPL to add polarimetry capability and substantially larger GSFC detectors. We describe the capabilities, performance, and status of each instrument, highlighting science results obtained using FORCAST, GREAT, and HIPO during SOFIA Early Science observations conducted in 2011.

Meteorological Operational (METOP)-B spacecraft was launched on September 17, 2012, and the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) IR channels were activated October 18. AVHRR instrument has been tested and characterized pre-launch under thermal vacuum (TV) condition by the instrument vender. The instrument dynamic range, noise equivalent differential temperature (NEDT), and nonlinear response have been characterized in the test. Basing on the TV test data, the calibration coefficients are generated for post-launch. The on-orbit verification tests have been performed to verify the instrument response and performance, including the dynamic range, NEDT, on-board blackbody (BB) temperature, instrument response calibration, and instrument status from the telemetry data. The post-launch Cal/Val test is to improve the calibration accuracy and enhance the L1B data quality. These tests include stray light analysis, instrument gain verification, and uncertainty assessment. The stray light impact on the calibration is estimated as 0.2% for 11 μm channel, 0.3% for 12 μm channel, and 3% for 3.7μm channel. The inter-comparison AVHRR IR channel radiances with the radiance derived from Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) measurement has been performed and the AVHRR bias shoes brightness temperature dependency.

This paper surveys the need for oxygen A-band spectroscopy to improve our understanding of clouds and their key role in the climate system. We then report on a novel holographic A-band substrate-guided spectrometer device recently developed at Luminit. This A-band spectrometer prototype is based on an innovative structure of two thick reflection substrate-guided wave-based holograms (SGWHs) that act as dispersive and/or imaging elements to enable a sufficient spectral resolution. The technology is made very attractive by its significantly lower cost compared to currently available systems/devices with similar A-band capability, while providing higher light throughput, a better out-of-band rejection ratio, higher resolution at a smaller size, and better stability and reliability.

There is an increasing interest in the development of high operating temperature (HOT) detectors with InAs/Ga(In)Sb Type-II superlattice (T2-SL) material systems. A wide variety of unipolar barrier structures have been investigated and successfully implemented in low-noise device architectures. In this paper, some of our recent work on the development of HOT mid-IR (MWIR) T2-SL photodetectors with interband cascade schemes will be summarized. In these structures, the discrete InAs/GaSb SL absorbers are sandwiched between quantum-engineered electron and hole barriers, which facilitate photovoltaic operation and efficient photo-carrier extraction. Even at its initial stage of development, such an advanced design has led to the demonstration of mid-IR photodetectors with background-limited operation above 150 K (300 K, 2π field-of-view), as well as above room temperature zero-bias operation. Further understanding of the device operation and design principles will also be discussed.

A multi-range focal plane was developed and delivered by Raytheon Vision Systems for a docking system that was demonstrated on STS-134. This required state of the art focal plane and electronics synchronization to capture nanosecond length laser pulses to determine ranges with an accuracy of less than 1 inch.

Raytheon Vision Systems (RVS) has developed scanning, high-speed (<3klps), all digital, with on-chip Analog-to-Digital Conversion (ADC), mid-wave infrared (MWIR 3-5mm) focal plane arrays (FPA) with excellent modulation transfer function (MTF) performance. Using secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) data and detailed models of the mesa geometry, RVS modeled the predicted detector MTF performance of detectors. These detectors have a mesa structure and geometry for improved MTF performance compared to planar HgCdTe and InSb detector structures and other similar detector structures such as nBn. The modeled data is compared to measured MTF data obtained from edge spread measurements and shows good agreement, Figure 1. The measured data was obtained using a custom advanced test set with 1µm precision alignment and automatic data acquisition for report generation in less than five minutes per FPA. The measured MTF values of 83 unique parts, Figure 2, had a standard deviation of 0.0094 and a mean absolute deviation of 0.0066 at half Nyquist frequency, showing excellent process repeatability and a design that supports high MTF with good repeatability.

An infrared system architecture (software and hardware) has been studied and developed to allow long term monitoring of transport infrastructures in a standalone configuration. It is based on the implementation of low cost infrared thermal cameras (equipped with uncooled microbolometer focal plane array) available on the market coupled with other measurement systems. All data collected feed simplified radiative models running on GPU available on small PC to produce corrected thermal map of the surveyed structure at selected time step. Furthermore, added Web-enabled capabilities of this new infrared measurement system are also presented and discussed. A prototype of this system was tested and evaluated on real infrastructure opened to traffic. Results obtained by image and signal processing are presented. Finally, conclusions and perspectives for new implementation and new functionalities are presented and discussed.

We describe a new apparatus for measuring the spectral irradiance of the Moon at visible wavelengths. Our effort builds upon the United States Geological Survey’s highly successful Robotic Lunar Observatory (ROLO), which determined a precise model for the time-dependent irradiance of the Moon from six years of observations obtained with an imaging telescope equipped with a set of narrow-band filters. The ROLO Irradiance Model allows the Moon to be used as a radiometric reference for tracking changes in the absolute responsivity of near-infrared to visible satellite sensors as a function of time to better than 1 %. The goal of the present effort is to improve the absolute radiometric accuracy of the ROLO model, presently estimated at 5 % - 10 %, to better than 1 %. Our approach, which uses an integrating sphere at the focal plane of a telescope to direct light from the integrated lunar disk into a stable spectrograph, also eliminates the need to interpolate between the 32 visible and near-infrared bands measured by ROLO. The new measurements will allow weather, climate, land-surface, and defense satellites to use the Moon as an absolute calibration reference, potentially reducing the impact of disruptions in continuous long-term climate data records caused by gaps in satellitesensor coverage.

Ultra-spectral sounders (USS) in low earth orbit have significantly improved weather forecast accuracy in recent years, and their impact could be significantly improved with reduced revisit times. The GeoMetWatch, Inc.¹ Sounding and Tracking Observatory for Regional Meteorology (STORM_TM) program is designed to place a constellation of six USS units in spaced geostationary (GEO) positions around the earth. From GEO, the repeat time for a specific weather feature can be reduced to minutes, and the vertical temperature, water vapor and wind profiles can provide detailed warnings not available by any other means. The STORM_TM sensor, a derivative of the Geosynchronous Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (GIFTS) EDU that was designed and built for NASA by Utah State University (USU) and rigorously tested in 2006, will be launched on a commercial geostationary satellite in late 2016. It combines advanced technologies to provide improved performance and reliability over the original EDU. From GEO the USS can observe surface thermal properties and atmospheric weather and chemistry variables in four dimensions. This paper provides an overview of the STORM_TM instrument and the measurement concept. STORM_TM’s USS will provide data of the same quality as the current LEO satellite sounders (AIRS, CrIS, and IASI) but with the ability to track storm development with soundings and images at any desired rate. Wind profiles obtained from a time sequence of STORM_TM water vapor retrieval images will provide additional input to now casting and regional models.

The influence of thermal radiation on wall surface temperatures in a typical stationary conjugate heat transfer problem is studied. Free convective heat transfer, accounted for phenomenologically through the introduction of heat transfer coefficients, is supplemented by surface thermal radiation. The calculations clearly indicate that surface radiation can change significantly the surface temperatures which are, in general, reduced with increasing emissivities of the walls. In particular, in the case of small convection heat transfer coefficients, small thermal transmittances of the walls and high values of emissivities, the temperature difference across the temperature boundary layers adjacent to the walls could even be reversed.

Vectorial Shearing Interferometer is able to select variable shear and tilt along any wavefront direction. This system is self-referenced and with variable sensibility. We proposed this instrument to measure a phase object without rotational symmetry. Phase recovery is implemented by a Fourier-based algorithm and spatial unwrapping methods. We show results emphasizing the advantage in the easier selection of fringe density and directional derivative orientation for a speci c optical element.

A simple technique for wavefront measurement is presented. This technique is based on the use of a computer display (LCD monitor) to generate color fringe patterns, which are imaged by a single-CCD color camera; whereas a phase object is placed in the ray path for imaging. The ray de ections distort the image of the pattern. By measuring this distortion, the gradients of the phase change caused by the object can be obtained. For the evaluation of the acquired fringe patterns, we use a classical phase-shifting technique with three fringe patterns encoded in a single color image displayed by the monitor; therefore, this proposed technique allows for real-time object shape measurement. Experiments are presented to demonstrate the success of this technique.

Previously, we examined an unknown several-hundred-year old undocumented painting for presence of any identifying symbols. Employing diverse IR techniques, we found invisible signatures, dates, and under-drawings. Here, we describe the theory of color in IR: we propose that the area on the painting where three constituent colors are present in approximately the same amount corresponds to a gray in IR. While IR imaging indeed functions well to identify invisible symbols, some spectral regions are more easily read than others, when symbols are written out with gray levels that significantly differ from those of the background. We observe different transparency on several areas of the painting with the IR LED illumination at 1.2 μm, indicating touch-ups and reparations after the creation of the original art piece.

We define the simplest signal-to-noise ratio to determine the optimal wavelength interval for extra-solar planet detection. For a solar system similar to our own, we find it to be one hundred times smaller than that considered earlier. We propose the planet detection in a spectral interval around 0.3mm (900 GHz) where high-altitude observatories report atmospheric transmission of about 0.4.