WASP: wideband advanced spectrometer platform

Optical sensing instrumentation has gone through significant advancements and innovations over the last decade with the development of fast and reliable sensors and imagers. Propelled aircraft and missiles have detectable signatures though the whole range of the spectrum spanning from the ultraviolet (UV) up to the near and mid-infrared bands (NIR and MIR, respectively). Advanced electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor suites are critical assets that give tactical and situational advantages for both military and civilian applications. The knowledge of the exact transmission spectrum of an instrument is critical for the analysis of collected data and maximal extraction of information, and it is usually achieved using calibrated spectrometers that can cover the desired wavelength band of instrument operation. RadiaBeam Technologies is developing a Wideband Advanced Spectrometer Platform (WASP) that will constitute a compact measuring and calibration instrument. The instrument is based on the use of bandpass <i>linear variable filters</i> (LVF) to allow fast and reliable spectral analysis that covers the entire 200-14,500 nanometers (UV-MIR) wavelength range. A laboratory prototype of the instrument covering selected sub-bands has been designed, integrated and tested at RadiaBeam. This paper will report on the optomechanical design, integration, and spectral performance of the laboratory WASP prototype, with highlights for a future fully functional instrument.