Optical Systems

HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGING SPECTROMETER

This optical system was developed under contract with the U.S. Army for detection of chemical and biological warfare materials using surveillance overflights. It uses a 2-D microbolometer to record both spatial and spectral information about an area of land being surveyed by an aircraft. This technique is sometimes called hyperspectral imaging and the data is called a hyperspectral cube. A two-dimensional image of the ground is produced and the spectral information forms the third dimension of the cube.