Cincinnati Electronics Corporation

David E Schmit

Frank L Wedig, Jr

Jon C Richmond

The intensity and spectral content of a jet aircraft and/or missile plume is simulated with a xenon lamp that derives an optical beam which propagates through a filter. The filter prevents optical energy in the visible light region from propagating through it, to prevent eye damage, and enables an output beam to be derived that simulates the intensity and spectral content of the plume. The lamp is normally maintained in a keep-alive status, and its beam power is increased to simulate sudden changes of plume intensity. The beam is selectively passed and blocked by a shutter downstream of the filter to simulate plume presence and absence. The distance between the simulated plume and a target is simulated by controlling the opening of an iris in the beam path. The lamp, filter and drive mechanism for the shutter are cooled by air drawn into a housing by a fan and by fins inside of the housing. The fins are in dull black, radiation absorbing, optical energy trapping structures. The device can be used for testing IR detectors that monitor the plumes.

Jet aircraft and/or missile plume simulator

An optical scanner having a narrow instantaneous field of view optically scans an entire field of view to determine if a particular source of optical radiation is in the field of view. A first detector responds to energy of a source imaged by the scanner and derives a first signal having an amplitude versus time variation that is a convolution of dispersed spectral energy from the source. A second detector, displaced by a predetermined distance from the first detector, responds to substantially only one predetermined wavelength of the energy of the imaged source. In response to the energy from the second detector being above a predetermined amplitude, a waveform recognition network responsive to the first signal is enabled. The recognition network includes a circuit for detecting the amplitude of the peak value of an initial undulation of the first signal. In response to the detected peak being above a threshold value, the amplitude of the first signal is compared at a plurality of different time intervals following the initial peak with predetermined maximum and minimum percentages of the detected peak value. In response to the first signal falling between the maximum and minimum values during at least some of the different time intervals, a signal is derived to indicate that the particular source of optical radiation has been detected.

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Cincinnati, OH, United States of America

David E Schmit