The development and testing of a backscatter absorption gas imaging (BAGI) system designed to image at a range of 300 m
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
- Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC (United States). Office of Salvage and Diving
The backscatter absorption gas imaging (BAGI) technique is a laser remote sensing method that fuses the chemical detection attributes of chemical lidar with the visualization capability of imaging laser radar (ladar) to allow real-time television images of invisible gas plumes to be made. The BAGI technique is carried out by actively imaging a scene with radiation having a wavelength absorbed by the gas to be visualized. Gas plumes present in the scene become visible in the image when they attenuate a portion of the backscattered radiation. Currently, all BAGI instruments that have been developed operate in the infrared (IR) and image gases via their fundamental vibrational transitions. The laser sources that have been used are the CO{sub 2} and the IR helium neon. The target range at which the current BAGI instruments are capable of operating varies between about 6 and 110 m. The imaging device used in those systems is an active raster-scanner that scans the beam of a continuous wave (C-W) laser and the instantaneous field-of-view (IFOV) of an infrared detector. In this paper, we summarize the design and preliminary performance evaluation of a new raster-scanning BAGI imager that is intended for long-range operation, at a target range of 300 m. A system capable of imaging at this range is desired to make airborne gas imaging from a low-flying airplane or helicopter possible. The system uses a 20 W CO{sub 2} laser and a redesigned scanner that employs telescopic transmission and receiving optics. Model predictions of the performance of the new system and some recent field testing results are presented. Issues relating to gas imaging at long ranges will also be discussed.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 10119714
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-JC-115032; CONF-930445-28; ON: DE94006192
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) OE/aerospace science and sensing meeting,Orlando, FL (United States),11-16 Apr 1993; Other Information: PBD: Apr 1993
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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