DMD-based infrared scene projection: comparison of MWIR and LWIR modulation transfer function

William R. Folks; Daniel Mullally; Guy Zummo; Arthur Robert Weeks; Glenn D. Boreman

doi:10.1117/12.542749

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4 August 2004 DMD-based infrared scene projection: comparison of MWIR and LWIR modulation transfer function

William R. Folks, Daniel Mullally, Guy Zummo, Arthur Robert Weeks, Glenn D. Boreman

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Proceedings Volume 5408, Technologies for Synthetic Environments: Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing IX; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.542749
Event: Defense and Security, 2004, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

We compare modulation-transfer-function (MTF) measurements for both mid-wave (MWIR) and long-wave IR (LWIR) bands for an IR-laser scene projector based on the digital micro-mirror device (DMD). We evaluate MTF for both IR-CO2 (10.6 micron) and IR-HeNe (3.39 micron) laser systems. This gives a quantitative image-quality criterion for verifying system performance using identical configurations of the DMD, lens, and screen. Different angles of illumination for the MWIR and LWIR were used, to give an output beam always perpendicular to the DMD. For this experiment a set of bar-target images was used to measure the residual modulation depth at the fundamental spatial frequency of the bars. As expected, the MWIR projector system has better MTF than the LWIR system because of diffraction effects occurring at the 17-micron pixels of the DMD.

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William R. Folks, Daniel Mullally, Guy Zummo, Arthur Robert Weeks, and Glenn D. Boreman "DMD-based infrared scene projection: comparison of MWIR and LWIR modulation transfer function", Proc. SPIE 5408, Technologies for Synthetic Environments: Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing IX, (4 August 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.542749

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