LABORATORY AND FIELD PERFORMANCE OF A MEGAPIXEL QWIP FOCAL PLANE ARRAY

The results of laboratory and field testing of a new large format infrared focal plane array based on quantum well infrared photodetector technology are presented. The array used had 1024 × 1024 pixels and is available commercially. from QWIP Technologies, Inc. The laboratory test results show that this array had high system-level performance. Imagery of military targets at ranges from 500 m to 5 km was acquired in the field with a sensor using this array. The results of the performance in the field are compared to that predicted by computer models and the performance of the large format QWIP FPA was evaluated in terms of the capabilities of a notional 3rd generation FLIR system.