IRDIS: an image processing system for hardware-in-the-loop missile testing

The author describes the implementation of the InfraRed Digital Injection System installed at the Seeker Evaluation and Test Simulation Facility at Eglin Air Force Base, FL. This facility will be used to evaluate imaging infrared guided weapon systems by performing various types of laboratory tests. In hardware-in-the-loop simulation, the actual flight of a weapon system is simulated as closely as possible in the laboratory. IRDIS provides scene storage, processing, and output interface to drive a radiometric display device or to inject digital video directly into the weapon system (bypassing the sensor). The author describes how standard and custom image-processing functions have been combined with off-the-shelf mass storage and computing devices to produce a system that provides high sample rates (greater than 90 Hz), a large terrain database, high weapon rates of change, and multiple independent targets. A photo-based approach has been used to maximize terrain and target fidelity, thus providing a rich and complex scene for weapon/tracker evaluation