Test equipment for defense

multispectral off-axis
mirror collimator
of IR seeker Test equipment


Infrared projector for the test of
Missile Warning Detectorp

Sodern has developed numerous automated equipment for characterising infrared sensors for defence equipment such as missile seekers, missile warning, large focal plane arrays or attitude sensors. Such equipment or benches are used for radiometric and dynamic calibration of detectors, the MTF measurements of lenses and cameras, the geometrical mapping of sensors and the verification of optical interfaces with respect to physical references. Certain devices are adapted to work in a vacuum or clean room, or on the contrary to work outdoor, withstanding environmental conditions. Products include:

• Test equipment for missile seekers : the equipment achieves fully automated verification in the MWIR band with an adjustable and controlled spectral profile. The design uses an infrared emitter LIRA, a multispectral off-axis mirror collimator, remote and controlled mechanisms ; the equipment is self-calibrated by an infrared blackbody.
• Emitter of calibrated infrared pulses for testing the airborne Missile Warning Detector under flight conditions : the equipment is pointed to the direction of the airplane and shoots a calibrated signal to this airplane, representative of the spectral signature over time of the plume of a short range missile (MANPADS)

Both devices are based on LIRA lamps manufactured by SODERN : LIRA lamps are comprised of an infrared emitter (Pyrolitic carbon ribbon) heated up to 2000°C and equivalent to a 1600°C grey body , due to carbon emissivity (e > 0.6) ; this emission extends from visible to 4.8 µm for the highest temperature (or from visible to 12 µm for moderate temperatures). These lamps offer a wide geometrical extension (emitting area 0.5 cm2 or 1 cm2 , emission cone F/1)

Infrared lamp LIRA

More information

Lira brochure EN LIRA Infrared emitter