Ophir Corporation (United States)

Conventional immersion aircraft thermometers suffer significant performance limitations, particularly for high- speed aircraft and at high angles-of-attack and side-slip. Moreover, immersion thermometers cannot perform through hot thick aircraft boundary layers and greatly increase the radar cross section of low observable aircraft. OPHIR Corporation has developed passive, remote-sensing thermometers which overcome these significant limitations. In addition, we have developed range-resolved radiometers to provide temperature profiles. Range resolved temperature profiles may enable Clear Air Turbulence, air density fluctuations and other flight hazards to be detected well ahead of the aircraft. A review of OPHIR's radiometer technology is presented. The fundamentals of radiant gas thermometry are introduced. Single wavelength 4.255 micrometer and 15 micrometer radiometers and range- resolved 15 micrometer radiometers are discussed as are data collected from numerous fight test programs. Finally, a laboratory demonstration of the multi-range capabilities of radiometers is discussed.© (1999) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.