Airborne measurements in the longwave infrared using an imaginghyperspectral sensor

摘要

Emerging applications in Defense and Security require sensors with state-of-the-art sensitivity and capabilities. Amongthese sensors, the imaging spectrometer is an instrument yielding a large amount of rich information about the measuredscene. Standoff detection, identification and quantification of chemicals in the gaseous state is one importantapplication. Analysis of the surface emissivity as a means to classify ground properties and usage is another one.Imaging spectrometers have unmatched capabilities to meet the requirements of these applications. Telops has developed the FIRST, a LWIR hyperspectral imager. The FIRST is based on the Fourier Transformtechnology yielding high spectral resolution and enabling high accuracy radiometric calibration. The FIRST, a manportable sensor, provides datacubes of up to 320x256 pixels at 0.35mrd spatial resolution over the 8-12 m spectralrange at spectral resolutions of up to 0.25(-1).The FIRST has been used in several field campaigns, including thedemonstration of standoff chemical agent detection [http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.776863.1]. More recently, an airbornesystem integrating the FIRST has been developed to provide airborne hyperspectral measurement capabilities. Theairborne system and its capabilities are presented in this paper. The FIRST sensor modularity enables operation in various configurations such as tripod-mounted and airborne. In theairborne configuration, the FIRST can be operated in push-broom mode, or in staring mode with image motioncompensation. This paper focuses on the airborne operation of the FIRST sensor.