Development of neuromorphic event-based imaging spectroscopy for hypersonic flight observation

• First-ever Pairing of an event-based camera with a diffraction grating to record spectra. • Measurements performed with a range of light sources and conditions. • Shown ability of the designed neuromorphic system to capture both broadband and line spectra. • Both daytime and night-time spectroscopy performed. • These results provide confidence in using neuromorphic spectroscopy to obtain hypersonic flight data. Enhanced capability to collect vital hypersonic flight data is required to better understand the physics of the flow around spacecraft entering Earth’s atmosphere. Daytime recording, while possible, remains particularly challenging and often requires compromises due to saturation and noise in this environment. Using novel, bio-inspired event-based cameras allows spectral measurements to be performed equally well during both day and night, without modifications to instrumentation - overcoming a major current limitation associated with daytime tests. Combining these cameras with high-resolution spectroscopy enables more reliable collection of critical data, such as temperature and species composition in the flow around re-entering spacecraft. Measurements were performed using a novel neuromorphic spectroscopy system and a range of light sources. These tests were conducted in the 400–900 nm spectral region to match the operational range of the event-based camera. The acquired data show that both broadband and discrete line spectra were obtained. Results for dynamic range, daytime performance, and long-range spectroscopy demonstrate improved performance of the event-based system compared to the conventional cameras typically used under similar conditions. This work demonstrates, for the first time, that a spectroscopy system based on neuromorphic technology is capable of successfully recording emission spectra. These results represent a landmark step toward developing advanced spectroscopy diagnostics for hypersonic flight observation, including Earth re-entry missions.