Atmospheric Environmental Metrology for Electro-Optical/Infra-Red (EO/IR) Sensor Flight Test Navy SBIR FY2013.2 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2013.2 Topic No.: N132-090 Topic Title: Atmospheric Environmental Metrology for Electro-Optical/Infra-Red (EO/IR) Sensor Flight Test Proposal No.: N132-090-0859 Firm: SciTec, Inc. 100 Wall Street Princeton, New Jersey 08540 Contact: Jerome Tull Phone: (609) 921-3892 Web Site: www.scitec.com Abstract: The Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) needs accurate, autonomous techniques for atmospheric correction of airborne imaging sensors to support flight testing, specifically validation of Noise-Equivalent Differential Temperature (NEDT) capabilities of Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) sensors used for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) applications. Outside of a controlled laboratory environment, temperature retrieval and measurement of NEDT are subject to the uncertainties that enter in through a number of variable terms, most of which are due to the earth's atmosphere. The lack of timely atmospheric measurements with regard to any given test location and duration makes it a challenge to accurately characterize the composition of absorbing species along a sensor's line of sight to a target under real-world conditions. SciTec proposes to develop and deliver a capability to perform autonomous ingest and fusion of available atmospheric profile data with that collected by a ground-based meteorological station. This capability will contain a direct implementation of MODTRAN for performing the radiative transport calculations, thus providing representations of the atmosphere that will dramatically enhance EO/IR temperature retrieval and NEDT characterization. SciTec will bring its decades of experience in ISR sensor testing and performance evaluation to deliver a precision automated process for sensor calibration and testing to the NAVAIR T&E team. Benefits: The proposed effort will ultimately generate several important products including: 1) software for high-precision measurement of ISR sensor performance characteristics such as NEDT; 2) a meteorological station tailored to the ISR sensor flight tests performed by NAVAIR; 3) a capability to obtain an accurate atmospheric profile based on timely surface-level measurements; and 4) on-site support and training during tests and the subsequent data analysis Return