Multi-Band Infrared Emitter Architecture for Large-Format Local Area Scene Projection

Date of Award

5-9-2026

Degree Name

M.S. in Electro-Optics

Department

Department of Electro-Optics and Photonics

Advisor/Chair

Andrew Sarangan

Abstract

Engineers increasingly rely on MWIR (Mid-Wave Infrared) imaging systems for sensing and detection, which demands precise assessment of system viability. Historically, expensive and time-consuming field tests dominated MWIR system evaluation, producing sparse data sets with limited statistical basis. To expand available case studies, some current methods test signature detection algorithms using Digital Sensor Models (DSM), inserting modeled signals into pre-recorded sensor backgrounds to emulate cluttered environments in a costly and time-consuming process. This study supports an optical simulation capability that directly challenges the prevailing DSM approach by proposing an integrated multi-band, MWIR LED array concept into an existing HITL (Hardware-in-the-Loop) capability. Radiometric metrics rigorously guide LED candidacy and down-selection, and the results substantiate selection compared to published data. This study per- forms heat-transfer analysis for heat-sink optimization combined with optical lens evaluations that demonstrate significant directionally-enhanced radiance improvements controllable over multiple decades. Based upon SUT (System Under Test) calibrated response, desired pixel intensity maps to the required LED drive-current input controlling radiance output. When properly positioned in the SUT imaging space, the multi-band IR LED emitter remains angularly unresolved, directly driving single pixel-index response count. The emitter array implementation concept will enable real-time dynamic-scene generation within a small-format localized pixel region in the SUT imager array, thereby providing a controlled and repeatable mechanism for optical background simulation in the MWIR augmenting existing HITL capability.

Keywords

Optics

Comments

OCLC No. 1591829398

Rights Statement

Copyright 2026, author.

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