AEROSPACE INSTRUMENTS

Transcription

1 AEROSPACE INSTRUMENTS The Right Solution for Every Mission Services Commercial Aerospace Instruments

2 Sigma Space Corporation Excellence in Aerospace Technology Established in 1998, Sigma Space Corporation provides its customers with pioneering aerospace technology solutions. We produce next-generation lidar, laser ranging, attitude determination, spectroscopy, and radiometry instrumentation for remote sensing and defense applications. Sigma Space also offers advanced science and engineering services to private and government clients, including NASA and DOD. Supporting these efforts is our world-class staff of engineers, technicians, and scientists. We provide technical services at customer locations and at Sigma Space. Our facilities feature state-of-the-art CAD tools, optical and electronic laboratories, a computer-controlled machine shop, class 10,000 clean rooms, and fiber splicing and assembly areas to offer our customers exceptional on-demand design and manufacturing services. Our efficient corporate structure ensures fast delivery of highquality services and products at a lower cost. As a result, we are growing rapidly and received the NASA GSFC Contractor of the Year Award. We enjoy an outstanding reputation among our customers, and are dedicated to providing innovative, cost-effective results. THE COMPANY Sigma Space Corporation s Services Commercial Aerospace Instruments Sigma Space is an ISO 9001:2008 certified provider of professional support services. Our expert scientists and engineers are team players, collaborating with clients to meet their goals quickly, efficiently, and affordably. We have the expertise to work with clients at any stage in the science or engineering life cycle to make each project a success. Sigma Space sells sophisticated lidar and electronics products, supplying scientific, defense, and federal and local government markets. Our products are developed internally and can be customized to meet client needs. Among our most popular instruments is our efficient Micro Pulse Lidar (MPL) laser remote sensing system, which provides continuous, unattended monitoring of atmospheric cloud and aerosol profiles. Aerospace hardware personnel develop custom instrumentation for aerospace and terrestrial applications. They have expertise in designing, analyzing, fabricating, assembling, and testing aerospace instrument systems. Sigma Space has proven success on multiple programs, including the patented Single Photon Lidar, which generates foliage-penetrating, 3-D aerial maps of terrain and infrastructure at industry-leading speeds.

3 A LEADER IN AEROSPACE INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT Sigma Space creates custom, cutting-edge aerospace instrument systems for a wide variety of applications. Whether the task at hand is monitoring climate change or protecting national security, we collaborate with clients to design and build mission-critical instruments. Fast, Flexible, Affordable At Sigma Space, we work in small, interdisciplinary teams to translate customer requirements into advanced instrument solutions. Our small-team method enhances communication and enables our engineers and technicians to produce leading-edge technologies quickly and affordably. End-to-End Solutions From conceptualization to operations, our expert personnel support the full instrument development life cycle including design, analysis, fabrication, assembly, test, and mission support. From lidar and altimeter instruments to attitude determination systems, custom electronics, and beyond, we have successfully created and deployed a variety of different types of instrument systems. Testing Assembling Development Process Designing Analyzing Fabricating COMPREHENSIVE CAPABILITIES Expertise Across Platforms Sigma Space designs and builds sophisticated instruments for terrestrial, airborne, and space-based platforms. Our spaceflight expertise includes high-resolution optics, advanced electronics such as synchronous FPGA designs and SpaceWire and 1553B communication protocols, and space-certified quality control procedures. We also design instruments for a variety of aircraft, from the P-3 Orion and ER-2 to the Viking 300 UAV and Global Hawk, as well as for ground-based applications. Superior Performance in Demanding Environments Rugged and reliable, our instruments are designed to resist environmental extremes. Whatever the platform, thermal resilience, shock and vibration accommodation, and autonomous alignment and adjustment are built into our instruments from the outset. We also rigorously test at every step along the way to ensure unparalleled performance when it matters most. Ensuring Excellence With advanced in-house fabrication facilities such as a spaceflight-certified CNC machining center with fundamental metrology capability, thermal vacuum chambers, class 10,000 clean rooms, ESD-certified laboratories, and a suite of tools including collimators, interferometers, and electrical analysis equipment, Sigma Space ensures tight quality control throughout the instrument development process. And with colocated engineering and fabrication, we can rapidly respond to emerging issues and evolving customer requirements. Fully Integrated Instrument Systems Sigma Space provides comprehensive integration, test, and payload support services, as well as application-specific, user-friendly software for seamless data collection, analysis, and visualization. Finally, after instrument deployment, we offer operations and field campaign support as part of our end-to-end development services.

4 SINGLE PHOTON LIDAR STATE OF THE ART The centerpiece of Sigma Space s aerospace instrument innovation is our Single Photon Lidar (SPL) the most efficient approach to high-resolution 3-D aerial imaging available. Requiring only one detected photon per ranging measurement, as opposed to the hundreds or thousands needed by conventional lidars, SPL represents a breakthrough in photon-counting lidar technology, rapidly generating 3-D topographic maps day or night. POWERFUL BENEFITS Unrivaled Speed and Efficiency Orders of magnitude more efficient than conventional lidars, SPL delivers superior swath, spatial resolution, and density of range returns. Further, SPL can quickly collect massive amounts of data up to 3.6 million pixels per second for our 100-beam system operating at 36 kilohertz. So while many competing instruments have to fly over an area repeatedly to create a detailed image, SPL saves time and money by generating high-resolution 3-D maps in a single pass. Stunning Resolution See fine details like individual power lines and forest canopy structure from altitudes of 25,000 feet, with range and spatial resolution accurate to centimeters thanks to subnanosecond pulse, multikilohertz transmitters and advanced photon-counting technology. PIONEERING Altitude-Scalable Design No longer does high-altitude operation mean low-quality maps. SPL delivers detailed 3-D images from altitudes of over 50,000 feet, with the potential for spaceflight applications. Foliage and Fog Penetration, Day or Night Operation High-bandwidth, low-deadtime detectors and multistop timing electronics enable SPL to operate in daylight as well as penetrate semiporous targets such as tree canopies, ground fog, dust, and optically thin clouds. Bathymetry Capability Where most commercial lidars operate with near-infrared light, SPL uses green (532-nanometer) light, which can penetrate water to significant depths. Compact Package With modest telescope diameters and low-power transmitters, our SPLs are small, light, and power efficient, making them suitable for use on unmanned aircraft. SPL DELIVERS ACROSS APPLICATIONS Terrain and vegetation mapping Biomass estimation Cryosphere and ice sheet elevation mapping High-altitude, wide-area surveillance and reconnaissance Shallow-water bathymetry Submersible and mine detection Built-In Flexibility Available dual-wedge scanners allow users to choose between a wide field of view with moderate resolution and a narrower field of view with high resolution to meet varying mission requirements. Operators can even choose from a wide range of scan patterns, including linear, conical, spiral, etc. Rapid Data Processing With SPL s novel parallel processing system, data that used to require days of processing time can now be made available in hours, a capability developed exclusively at Sigma Space. Multilevel Data The data collected by SPL can be completed with ground images taken by the integrated high-definition camera.

5 SPL SUCCESS STORIES Whether designing complete systems or lending our expertise and technology to projects already underway, Sigma Space can tailor SPL for a variety of platforms and customer applications. Leafcutter Low-altitude flight, high-resolution maps Developed and built entirely by Sigma Space for the U.S. Air Force, Leafcutter is a scanning, low-altitude SPL that sees beneath tree canopies and vegetation, as well as underwater to provide precise military reconnaissance. Lightweight and compact, Leafcutter has a spatial resolution of 15 centimeters at altitudes of 1 kilometer and can collect 2.2 million range measurements per second, creating detailed 3-D maps in a single overflight. Given Leafcutter s performance, NASA funded test flights to make biomass measurements of forested areas in the U.S. and take cryospheric measurements in Greenland and Antarctica. Even in extreme environments, Leafcutter delivered outstanding data. Based on these results, the University of Texas at Austin purchased a copy of the instrument, dubbed Icemapper, for its Antarctic summer campaigns. CUSTOMIZED Mini-ATM MABEL (Miniature Airborne Topographic Mapper) Impressive power, small footprint After Leafcutter test flights, NASA requested an SPL instrument to monitor Greenland s ice sheets. Intended as a complement to NASA s existing Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM), the new instrument, Mini-ATM, had to be small and light, yet quickly generate high-resolution ice maps. (Multiple Altimeter Beam Experimental Lidar) While Sigma Space develops instruments from start to finish, we also provide expert support at crucial junctions in the life cycle of projects. Such was the case with MABEL, a NASA airborne, photon-counting, precision-altimetry lidar designed as a precursor to the spaceborne ATLAS lidar. Outstanding high-altitude performance Given exacting requirements, Sigma Space delivered a revolutionary new instrument. With better spatial resolution and wider swaths than ATM, Mini-ATM rapidly generates detailed 3-D ice sheet maps even peers to the bottom of melt ponds up to 15 meters deep. Yet it measures in at only 1 cubic foot and 28 pounds. As a result, Mini-ATM can fly in a variety of manned and unmanned aircraft, supplying key climate change data. Incorporating an SPL data acquisition system into an existing NASA design, Sigma Space provided optomechanical and electrical engineering, including design and fabrication of MABEL s thermal system and timing electronics, and deployed personnel on MABEL field campaigns. After only a 10-month design and development cycle, the system performed flawlessly from a NASA ER-2 nose cone at 65,000 feet.

6 INNOVATIVE INSTRUMENT SOLUTIONS PROVEN PERFORMANCE Beyond SPL, Sigma Space has the expertise and facilities to deliver a variety of technology-driven instruments quickly and affordably, as demonstrated by our success on the following programs. TWiLiTE (Tropospheric Wind Lidar Technology Experiment) Built for NASA, TWiLiTE is the first clear-air Doppler wind speed measurement system to fly on a high-altitude aircraft. The system uses a double-edge detection technique to determine wind speed and direction over altitude for atmospheric monitoring and enhanced weather models. Sigma Space has supported TWiLiTE throughout its life cycle, including designing and fabricating the data acquisition system, performing final instrument assembly and alignment, handling the data collected by the system, and supporting ER-2 field campaigns. Life cycle support, cutting-edge facilities More recently, Sigma Space configured one of its labs for TWILITE, developing custom ground support equipment to facilitate in-lab sky-view testing. Utilizing this advanced workspace, we successfully upgraded and reconfigured the TWiLiTE instrument for the Global Hawk aircraft. EFFICIENT CATS PACS (Cloud-Aerosol Transport System) (Passive Aerosol and Cloud Suite) Smart solutions under pressure A high-altitude, fringe-imaging Doppler lidar with built-in high spectral resolution capabilities, CATS gathers data on both wind motion and the properties of clouds and aerosols. Presented with an instrument concept from NASA, Sigma Space designed and fabricated CATS from the ground up in addition to providing integration, test, and field support. Adaptable design, advanced fabrication PACS is a multiwavelength, hyperangular imaging polarimeter designed to provide wide-swath cloud and aerosol measurements. Called upon by NASA to provide optomechanical design and fabrication, Sigma Space designed each of the instrument s three wavelength channels with a full 80 percent of parts in common. We then used an advanced titanium rapid prototyping technique to build complex yet lightweight optomechanical structures improving function, cutting costs, and speeding delivery. Since CATS needed to fly in the wing pod of an ER-2, the instrument had to be small, light, and resistant to significant pressure changes. So we developed innovative hardware including a unique carbon fiber pressure vessel to protect sensitive electronics and an inflatable pressure vessel coupled with a composite housing for the telescope. Rugged and lightweight, the resulting instrument successfully collected data during numerous flights. Further, we provided the instrument s packaging, thermal system, and mounting on the ER-2 aircraft. PACS has since flown successfully, and with a modular design and high-technical-readiness parts, can readily be adapted for additional aircraft and spaceflight platforms.

7 CPL (Cloud Physics Lidar) Expedited delivery, unbeatable reliability CPL provides data on cloud height and on the structure of aerosols and smoke plumes needed to better understand the interaction of Earth s land and atmosphere. Originally flown on the ER-2, CPL is the first NASA active remote sensing instrument to fly on the Global Hawk. Sigma Space s work on CPL highlights the breadth of our instrument development capabilities. Working with a NASA instrument concept, we designed, fabricated, assembled, and integrated the instrument s complete optomechanical, electrical, data, software, and communication systems on a tight 8-month timetable. The resulting ER-2-based instrument has since demonstrated excellent performance. So when a second CPL configured for flight in the Global Hawk was needed, NASA again turned to Sigma Space. We not only developed the same systems as for the first instrument, but ensured full compatibility with the aircraft s electrical and software systems in addition to designing and building the needed fairing. Further, by enhancing the instrument s software and developing custom electronics to connect CPL to the Global Hawk communication system, we enabled ground personnel to view CPL science data in real time. The resulting CPLs have proven to be high value and low maintenance truly plug-and-play instruments that reliably return outstanding data. STANDING THE TEST OF TIME CPL instruments have flown in support of over 20 missions and counting, including Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) Global Hawk Pacific Mission (GloPac) Tropical Composition Cloud and Climate Coupling (TC4) Cirrus Regional Study of Tropical Anvils and Cirrus Layers - Florida Area Cirrus Experiment (CRYSTAL-FACE) RELIABLE ATLAS LRS (ATLAS Laser Reference System) ATLAS, the lidar altimeter designed to fly on ICESat-2, will map Earth s ice and land surface topography over time. However, detailed mapping from a 500+ kilometer orbit requires extraordinarily accurate lidar footprint positioning from moment to moment a capability supplied by LRS. Sigma Space s concept of the ATLAS LRS began in Pre-Phase A while investigating improvements to its predecessor, ICESat's GLAS Stellar Reference System (SRS). Working jointly with NASA GSFC personnel, our engineers developed an instrument capable of maintaining lidar angular positioning relative to the star field with arc-second accuracy. Exceptional engineering for arc-second accuracy Since LRS was designed to maintain precise ATLAS positioning under extreme environmental conditions, though, an even greater challenge arose: designing a testing apparatus sensitive enough to validate LRS. Drawing on the ingenuity of our world-renowned optomechanical personnel, we built a star-simulating thermal vacuum chamber on-site at Sigma Space calibrated to sub-arc-second accuracy and thus capable of assessing LRS performance. Beyond LRS, NASA selected Sigma Space to supply ATLAS with additional components. These include a precision, FPGAbased multichannel timing receiver for range measurements and in-flight algorithms for editing out noise in near-real time, underscoring Sigma Space s robust spaceflight design and development capabilities.

8 Expertise at Every Stage Mission requirements analysis Requirement flowdown and tradeoff analysis Instrument technology and subsystem development Complete integrated instrument payload development Payload integration system engineering and system-level integration and testing Environmental testing Payload validation and verification Campaign support involving aircraft, balloons, ships and ground-based instruments Mission operations support throughout the mission lifetime Scan here to learn more Sigma Space Corporation 4600 Forbes Boulevard Lanham, MD 20706, USA Tel Fax