Electro-Optical Test System Development: Technical Challenges & Novel Design Solution for Laser Ranger Testing

As the performance of military electro-optical systems continues to improve, the measurement capabilities of automated test equipment (ATE) must continue to evolve in parallel. The need to deploy electro-optical test systems quickly and remotely has created the need for a new class of portable ATE for electro-optical testing and calibration. A prototype man-portable electro-optic test system (MPETS) has been built and tested to address this need, with development of an optimized engineering development model (EDM) now underway. MPETS prototype and EDM development involved numerous technical challenges, which necessitated a variety of novel design solutions to address the system's stringent performance requirements, flexible operating modes, broad unit under test (UUT) compatibility, and high degree of portability. This paper will discuss MPETS' technical challenges, relative to Laser Receiver and Ranger testing. MPETS provides the ability to conduct UUT measurements under a wide range of ambient temperature, vibration, and structural support conditions. To address the broad laser UUT performance envelope, the EDM architecture incorporates a novel design solution combining the prototype laser energy module and laser boresight module functions with a newly developed laser receiver range source. This approach meets a combination of requirements driven by emerging systems which have increased output power and improved sensitivity. Approaches previously used on other systems either did not support the performance, reliability, weight, or temperature requirements. MPETS supports the test and evaluation of weapon replaceable assemblies, line replaceable units, shop replaceable assemblies, and shop replaceable units for forward looking infraRed (FLIR) sensors, visible cameras, laser range finders/designators, laser trackers, modulated source trackers, and direct view optics.