Applications of a Gated Imaging System in Evaluation of Laser Designator Performance,

摘要

In the early 1970's the Army Materiel Test and Evaluation Directorate, White Sands Missile Range, undertook a multi-year test methodology development program to perfect techniques and develop hardware required to evaluate an anticipated family of Army Laser Designators. Standard laboratory test instruments and procedures were readily available; however, the more complex problems of energy distribution within the laser beam were not resolved. A concurrent development, at this point, was a shift toward acquiring data, wherever possible, in an image format, and subsequently processing the data on a large-scale digital computer. These two ideas led to the development and subsequent procurement of a data acquisition system known as the Laser Spot Scanning System or LS3. The LS3 is a gated, image-intensified silicon vidicon camera with a standard S-1 response. The camera is equipped with a 1.06 micrometer spike filter mounted on a 15 mm to 150 mm zoom lens. Mounted on top of the camera's environmental container is a YAG 444 series photo-diode with associated optics. The photo-diode controls the gating function of the camera. Control of the camera is remoted, and the output recorded on a standard video tape recorder and/or displayed on a standard closed circuit television monitor.