Testing times for the infrared

Through its calibration, the RAD-900 provides traceability to national standards and to the International Temperature Scale. Most thermal Target Generators are factory calibrated to provide precise physical temperature differences between their foreground and background. However the reflective or refractive collimators with which they are typically paired can attenuate the radiation from these target generators, making the thermal contrast of the target appear smaller than the physical difference. The RAD-900 provides an accurate means of performing a radiometric calibration for a thermal target generation system by accurately measuring the radiometric temperature difference of the target as a function of the physical temperature difference. In this role, it is an essential component of a complete thermal imager testing laboratory.

With a NIST traceable radiometric calibration the RAD-900 has an absolute accuracy of less than 0.1ºC and serves as a cavity blackbody transfer standard for calibrating infrared sources. The minimum resolvable temperature difference (MRTD) of 0.002ºC and angular resolution (Instantaneous Field of View) of 1 mRad / 0.05ºC make the RAD-900 applicable to a wide range of measurement requirement.

According to Ian Johnstone, Sales & Marketing Director of Armstrong Optical: “......for anyone involved with the design and testing of infrared optical systems the RAD-900 is an invaluable tool for ensuring optimum operation and the achievement of design specifications.......”