System and method for portable multi-band black body simulator

1. An apparatus for simulating a black body spectrum, comprising:

a broadband light source;

a light guide configured to receive white light generated by the broadband light source and generating first and second optical signals;

a first signal processing subsystem for enabling independent adjustments of both a signal spectrum and an intensity of the first optical signal;

a second signal processing subsystem for enabling independent adjustments of both a signal spectrum and an intensity of the second optical signal; and

a beam cube configured to combine the first and second optical signals to produce a final light output signal having a desired signal spectrum and a desired intensity.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the broadband light source comprises a broadband white light source.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the broadband light source comprises a quartz tungsten halogen lamp.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first and second signal processing subsystems each comprise an iris for focusing the first and second light outputs.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first and second signal processing subsystems each comprise a filter for independently adjusting a spectrum of each of the first and optical signals.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein each said filter comprises a wheel filter.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the first and second signal processing subsystem comprises an adjustable optical signal attenuator.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein each said adjustable optical signal attenuator comprises a neutral density filter.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein an apparent temperature of the final light output signal is controlled by changing a ratio in intensities between the first and second optical signals in accordance with an equation:

⁢

R

⁢

(

T

)

=

∫

λ

1

λ

2

⁢

2

⁢

⁢

hc

2

λ

5

⁢

⁢

⁢

(

⁢

hc

e

λ

⁢

⁢

k

⁢

B

T

-

1

)

-

1

⁢

d

⁢

⁢

λ

∫

λ

2

λ

1

⁢

2

⁢

⁢

hc

2

λ

5

⁢

⁢

⁢

(

⁢

hc

e

λ

⁢

⁢

k

⁢

B

T

-

1

)

-

1

⁢

d

⁢

⁢

λ

where “R” is the ratio of intensities between the spectral bands of the first and second optical signals, “T” is temperature, “h” is the Planck constant, “c” is the speed of light, “k B ” is a Boltzmann's constant, and “λ” represents wavelength, with two spectral regions of interest defined by first and second bandpass filters in the first and second signal processing subsystems, respectively, which produce frequency spectra λ 1 -λ 2 and λ 3 -λ 4 , respectively.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an electronic processor for controlling at least one component of each of the first and second signal processing subsystems.

11. A multi-band black body simulating apparatus, the apparatus comprising:

a broadband light source;

a light guide configured to receive light generated by the broadband light source and generating first and second optical signals;

a first signal processing subsystem for enabling separate, independent adjustments of both a signal spectrum and an intensity of the first optical signal, the first signal processing subsystem including:

a first bandpass filter; and

a first adjustable optical attenuator;

a second signal processing subsystem for enabling separate, independent adjustments of both a signal spectrum and an intensity of the second optical signal, the second signal processing subsystem including:

a second bandpass filter; and

a second adjustable optical attenuator;

a beam cube configured to combine the first and second optical signals received from the first and second signal processing subsystems to produce a final light output signal.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein each of the first and second bandpass filters comprises a filter wheel.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein

the first bandpass filter is centered at least at one of:

800 nm (40 Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM));

825 nm (25 FWHM); and

850 nm (40 FHWM);

and wherein the second bandpass filter is centered at least at one of:

850 nm (40 FWHM);

850 nm (25 FWHM); and

880 nm (40 FWHM).

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the first and second adjustable optical attenuators comprise first and second adjustable neutral density filters.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising a controller configured to monitor and control the adjustable optical attenuators.

16. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising a controller configured to monitor and control the bandpass filters.

17. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising a controller configured to monitor and control the bandpass filters and the adjustable optical attenuators.

18. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the light source comprises a quartz tungsten halogen lamp.

19. A method for simulating a black body, the method comprising:

using a broadband light source to generate broadband light;

using a light guide to receive the broadband light and to generate first and second optical signals;

using a first signal processing subsystem to receive the first optical signal and to enable independent user adjustments of both a signal spectrum and an intensity of the first optical signal;

using a second signal processing subsystem to receive the second optical signal and to enable independent user adjustments of both a signal spectrum and an intensity of the second optical signal; and

using a beam cube configured to combine the first and second optical signals to produce a final light output signal having a desired signal spectrum and a desired intensity.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein:

using a first signal processing subsystem comprises using a first user adjustable bandpass filter and a first adjustable optical attenuator; and

using a second signal processing subsystem comprises using a second user adjustable bandpass filter wheel and a second adjustable optical attenuator.

21. The method of claim 19 , further comprising using an electronic processor to control the first and second signal processing subsystems.