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Development of a sensor hardened against laser damage independent of wavelength by off-focus imaging
The use of complementary wavelength bands in camera systems is a long-known principle. The camera system’s spectral range is split into several spectral channels, where each channel possesses its own imaging sensor. Such an optical setup is used, for example, in high-quality three-sensor color cameras. A three-sensor camera is less vulnerable to laser dazzle than a single-sensor camera. However, the separation of the individual channels is not high enough to suppress cross talk, and thus, all three channels will suffer from laser dazzling. To solve that problem, we suggest two different optical designs in which the spectral separation of the channels is significantly increased. The first optical design is a three-channel camera system, which was already presented earlier. The second design is a two-channel camera system based on optical multiband elements, which delivers undisturbed color images even under laser dazzle.
The system provides realistic simulations of various laser-based threats to ships on sea and allows studies of the efficacy of onboard laser warning receivers. MARLA assists laser counter-measures and enables to include environmental studies (atmospheric transmission, water reflections etc.). Redundant system design ensures laser safety even in public areas.
The core of MARLA is a modular laser unit (LU) consisting of five laser modules (LM) and the dedicated laser controllers (LC). The laser modules are mounted on a pan-tilt positioner. MARLA covers the most common laser threats like laser target designator (LTD), laser range finder (LRF), laser beam rider (LBR) and laser dazzler (LD). The individual laser modules are based on commercially available laser sources fitted with multi-stage attenuators to set the laser irradiance within a range of seven orders of magnitude without losing beam quality. By means of a photo detector, the energy of the emitted laser pulses is recorded. An integrated beam shaper enables to vary the beam divergence.
The further crucial parts of MARLA are the control and data acquisition system with operating and visualization software and a general laser safety monitoring system. All the subsystems are integrated into a climate-controlled movable 20' sea container. Use of a stand-alone verification system provides reference data to verify the actual on-site irradiation at the test target.
In the first part, we outline the experimental setup of our testbed. It allows for mimicking infrared imaging of real scenes in a controlled laboratory environment. We describe the process of dynamic infrared scene generation as well as the physical limitations of our scene projection setup.
A second part discusses ongoing and future applications. This testbed extends our standard lab measurements for thermal imagers by a image based performance analysis method. Scene based methods are necessary to investigate and assess advanced digital signal processing (ADSP) algorithms which are becoming an integral part of thermal imagers. We use this testbed to look into inferences of unknown proprietary ADSP algorithms by choosing suitable test scenes.
Furthermore, we investigate the influence of dazzling on thermal imagers by coupling infrared laser radiation into the projected scene. The studies allow to evaluate the potential and hazards of infrared dazzling and to describe correlated effects. In a future step, we want to transfer our knowledge of VIS/NIR laser protection into the infrared regime.
The performance evaluation approaches are applied on experimental data obtained with two different imaging sensors hardened against laser dazzling. The hardening concept of the first sensor is based on the combination of a spatial light modulator and wavelength multiplexing. This active protection concept allows spatially and spectrally resolved suppression of laser radiation within the sensor's field of view. The hardening concept of the second sensor utilizes the principle of “complementary bands”. The optical setup resembles a common 3-chip camera, with the difference that dedicated filters with steep edges replace the regular spectral band filters. Although this concept does not really represent a “protection measure”, it allows the sensor to provide information even in laser dazzling situations.
The data for the performance evaluation was acquired both in a dedicated laboratory setup using test charts comprising triangles of different size and orientation as well as in field trials.
The experimental setup for the investigation of laser-induced damage is described in detail. As laser sources both pulsed lasers and continuous-wave (CW) lasers are used. The laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) is determined by the single-shot method by increasing the pulse energy from pulse to pulse or in the case of CW-lasers, by increasing the laser power.
Furthermore, we investigate the morphology of laser-induced damage patterns and the dependence of the number of destructed device elements on the laser pulse energy or laser power. In addition to the destruction of single pixels, we observe aftereffects like persisting dead columns or rows of pixels in the sensor image.
The Fraunhofer IOSB has been working on the evaluation and development of non-conventional laser protection methods for more than 20 years. An overview of the past and present research activities shall be presented, comprising protection measures against laser damaging and laser dazzling.
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