High-dynamic range DMD-based infrared scene projector

David J. Mansur; Robert Vaillancourt; Ryan Benedict-Gill; Scott P. Newbry; Julia Rentz Dupuis

doi:10.1117/12.2014390

25 July 2013 High-dynamic range DMD-based infrared scene projector

David J. Mansur, Robert Vaillancourt, Ryan Benedict-Gill, Scott P. Newbry, Julia Rentz Dupuis

Proceedings Volume 8707, Technologies for Synthetic Environments: Hardware-in-the-Loop XVIII; 870707 (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2014390
Event: SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing, 2013, Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Abstract

OPTRA is developing a next-generation digital micromirror device (DMD) based two-band infrared scene projector (IRSP) with infinite bit-depth independent of frame rate and an order of magnitude improvement in contrast over the state of the art. Traditionally DMD-based IRSPs have offered larger format and superior uniformity and pixel operability relative to resistive and diode arrays, however, they have been limited in contrast and also by the inherent bitdepth / frame rate tradeoff imposed by pulse width modulation (PWM). OPTRA’s high dynamic range IRSP (HIDRA SP) has broken this dependency with a dynamic structured illumination solution. The HIDRA SP uses a source conditioning DMD to impose the structured illumination on two projector DMDs – one for each spectral band. The source conditioning DMD is operated in binary mode, and the relay optics which form the structured illumination act as a low pass spatial filter. The structured illumination is therefore spatially grayscaled and more importantly is analog with no PWM. In addition, the structured illumination concentrates energy where bright object will be projected and extinguishes energy in dark regions; the result is a significant improvement in contrast. The projector DMDs are operated with 8-bit PWM, however the total projected image is analog with no bit-depth / frame rate dependency. In this paper we describe our progress towards the development, build, and test of a prototype HIDRA SP.

Citation Download Citation

David J. Mansur, Robert Vaillancourt, Ryan Benedict-Gill, Scott P. Newbry, and Julia Rentz Dupuis "High-dynamic range DMD-based infrared scene projector", Proc. SPIE 8707, Technologies for Synthetic Environments: Hardware-in-the-Loop XVIII, 870707 (25 July 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2014390

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