SBIR-STTR Award

New technologies are required to support MDA requirements in the area of high performance UV/VIS/NIR scene projectors for laboratory closed-loop testing of sensors and their associated control and image processing systems. Plasma display technology, currently popular for commercial television, has the potential to meet all the projection requirements such as high brightness (6000 K apparent temperature) non-modulated addressing methods, simultaneous 'snapshot' pixel update, scene dynamic range of 14 bits, dynamic response of less than 1 millisecond, pixel non-uniformity of less than 1%, and scene formats of 1024x1024 or greater. Plasma operating conditions, gases, phosphors, cell geometry and excitation conditions will be investigated and modeled in order to design a pixilated micro-discharge display that meets all the DoD UV/VIS/NIR scene projector requirements.

Benefits:
The technology being proposed will substantially improve the capabilities of UV/VIS/NIR scene projectors with respect to both cost and performance. The technology proposed is expected to meet all of the requirements outlined in the solicitation. The solution offered will provide broadband and/or narrowband radiance over the entire spectral range, is capable of being 'tuned,' in the sense of providing the capability to project different spectral content by differences in device geometries, material doping, etc., within the same technology platform. This would enable swapping out projector chips within a common projector system to meet differing sensor test requirements. Substantial commercial potential exists for plasma display technology in the area of television, portable projectors and large area displays.

Keywords:
UV/VIS scene projector, plasma display, HWIL testing

Projecting high radiance, broadband scenes in the spectral range from 0.2-14 mm is desired to simulate operating environmental scenarios for testing ultraviolet , visible and infrared sensors in a hardware-in-the-loop environment. The ideal solution will provide high radiance levels over the entire spectral range along with the capability for both broad and narrowband emission, as is appropriate to the particular sensor under test. The adopted technology should be capable of being “tuned,” in the sense of projecting different spectral regions without having to change technology platforms, which would enable swapping out projector chips within a common projector system to meet differing sensor test requirements. Plasma display technology, the subject of this proposal, holds enormous potential for scene simulation across the spectrum in terms of its ability to produce very high radiance, as well as other critical performance figures of merit such as temporal response and dynamic range. Plasma-based devices are capable of high yields at relatively low cost due to the inherent device simplicity, the ability to leverage modern microelectronics-based techniques as well as a commercial plasma display community that continues to improve performance and drive manufacturing costs down.

Keywords:
ULTRAVIOLET SCENE GENERATOR, MICRO-DISCHARGE DISPL