Optical tests on submarine and land vehicle periscopes in parallel with environmental tests

摘要

Modern periscopes for submarines and armoured vehicles include components like daylight cameras, thermal cameras and laser range finders, often in addition to an optical channel for direct sight. Like any complex component which has been conceived for use in land and water vehicles, all periscopes must be subjected to tests under severe mechanical, thermal and climatic loading conditions. It is fundamentally important and safety relevant that the optical performance is maintained during such extreme conditions. The special feature is that beyond these numerous environmental tests, several optical tests must be carried out additionally and simultaneously, which is quite challenging. For example, measuring the parallelism of multiple optical axes at different wavelengths is a difficult task, especially when measurements are achieved outside of test chambers and while the tests are running. Usually, hurdles like fog, condensation and the vibrations of the tested object must be overcome. Although it is a difficult task, only if optical measurements are carried out in parallel with environmental simulation tests the long-term reliability and the performance of optical systems and periscopes can be guaranteed, despite environmental influences.