Mosiac imaging Fourier transform spectrometer applications

A high-speed passive FTIR imaging spectrometer has been developed and tested in airborne flight tests on both fixed wing and helicopter platforms. This sensor was developed and flown from 2000 to 2005 in conjunction with various organizations, and is known as the Turbo FT. The Turbo FT is a laser-less rotary high speed Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) spectrometer capable of very high speed, spectral resolution to 1 cm, and operation in rugged environments. For these tests, the sensor was run at 8 cm(-1) resolution and 50-100 scans per second with either a single element or a 2x8 element LWIR detector. An on-board auto-calibrating blackbody accessory was developed and automated chemical detection software was developed. These features allow in-flight calibration, facilitated detection of target gas clouds, and reported detections to an on-board targeting computer. This paper will discuss the system specifications, sensor performance, and field results from various experiments. Current work on development of an 8x8 pixel Turbo FT system will also be presented.