×

Compact fixed-source array test station for calibration of a semi-active laser (SAL) seeker

  • US 8,447,550 B1
  • Filed: 05/23/2012
  • Issued: 05/21/2013
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2010
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
Patent Images

1. A test station for calibrating a semi-active laser (SAL) seeker including a SAL detector, comprising:

  • a fixture for mounting the SAL seeker, said seeker including an optical system having an entrance pupil that gathers optical energy over a field of view (FOV) and focuses the optical energy into a spot on the SAL detector;

    a spherical lens having a first side positioned at a location in front of where the entrance pupil of the seeker would be located, said spherical lens comprising one or more materials each having an index of refraction greater than one and less than or approximately equal to two;

    an array of fixed optical sources that generate respective temporally pulsed divergent optical beams, said sources positioned on a surface of a focal sphere at an effective focal length of the spherical lens offset from a second, opposite side of the spherical lens over the entire FOV of the seeker and aligned along respective radial lines to the center of the spherical lens so that each said divergent optical beam is collimated by the spherical lens to form a collimated optical beam that overlaps the entire entrance pupil of the seeker;

    a memory that stores a first source activation profile to generate a transfer function for the SAL detector, said transfer function mapping a spatial displacement Δ

    X and Δ

    Y in orthogonal axes of a centroid of the spot to azimuth and elevation angles for the source of the spot;

    a controller responsive to the first source activation profile to activate the sources one at a time in a phase delayed manner to implement the activation profile; and

    a computing device responsive to a measured spatial displacement Δ

    X and Δ

    Y of the spot on the SAL detector for each source as the source is activated to create a table entry for the transfer function in a calibration table that maps the measured Δ

    X and Δ

    Y to the known azimuth and elevation angles of the activated source.

View all claims
  • 1 Assignment
Timeline View
Assignment View
    ×
    ×