Prototype focal plane assembly for multispectral remote sensing

Abstract

Sandia National Laboratories and several subsystem contractors are developing technologies applicable to multispectral remote sensing. A prototype multispectral sensor system is under development. The three major subsystems making up the prototype sensor are the focal plane assembly (FPA), the cryocooler, and the telescope. This paper covers the focal plane assembly, which is the basis of the sensor system. The focal plane assembly includes sensor chip assemblies, optical filters, and a vacuum enclosure with cold shielding The optical filters define 15 spectral bands in a range from 0.45 {mu}m to 10.7 {mu}m. All the linear arrays are mounted on a single motherboard and are designed to operate at 75 K. The four spectral bands covering the visible to near infrared have roughly 2400 pixels each, and the remaining 11 spectral bands have roughly 600 pixels each. The average total rate of multispectral data from the FPA is approximately 16.4 megapixels per second. The diverse requirements for the focal plane assembly make this a challenging, sensor to design and build.