#: locale=en
## Tour
### Description
### Title
tour.name = MAFIOT
## Skin
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Button_7DB33382_7065_343F_41B1_0B0F019C1828_mobile.label = Welcome to MAFIOT
Button_7DBC8382_7065_343F_4183_17B44518DB40.label = • Telescope
Button_7DBC8382_7065_343F_4183_17B44518DB40_mobile.label = • Telescope
Button_7DBCA382_7065_343F_41DB_48D975E3D9EC.label = • Control Room
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Button_99583990_B9B0_5156_41D8_45532B57372F.label = • Assembly | Integration Lab
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Button_9D316F19_BE50_5156_41C7_BADC0D2A4EC7.label = • Fabrication Lab
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Button_E5064696_EA86_4586_41E4_955EFF2C1736.label = • Entrance
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Button_F3E0EB9B_D894_995F_41E5_FC4D6B547307.label = www.aerospace.org
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### Multiline Text
HTMLText_7DB2E382_7065_343F_41C2_951F708170F1.html = The Aerospace Corporation
www.aero.org
John Binkley
SYSTEMS DIRECTOR
The Aerospace Corporation
www.aero.org
John Binkley
SYSTEMS DIRECTOR
The Mt. Wilson Aerospace Facility for Integrated Optical Tests (MAFIOT) is a flexible testbed system for evaluating techniques and hardware for optical technologies such as long-range tracking, optical communications, and atmospheric measurements.
The system combines a passive sensor system consisting of cameras in 4 wavelength bands and an active laser ranging or lidar system. The sensors are hosted on a 0.8 m telescope and sited at the historic Mt. Wilson Observatory in the mountains above the Los Angeles Basin.
MAFIOT’s goals are twofold – to provide a platform to evaluate individual components of sensor systems, and to develop systems engineering expertise for constructing and operating integrated optical sensor systems.
The MAFIOT system is operated from this control room, where individual PCs control each of the individual cameras and the lidar sensor, plus a “flight PC” that pilots the telescope.
Two operators work as a team to run the full system and acquire data simultaneously from the passive and active sensors.
This 0.8 m telescope hosts a passive sensor system consisting of cameras in 4 wavelength bands and an active laser ranging or lidar system.
It's used to evaluate techniques and hardware for optical technologies such as long-range tracking, optical communications, and atmospheric measurements.
An integrated system requires precision timing information to turn raw data into tracking information. These field-programmable gate array (FPGA) boards mounted underneath the telescope embed a GPS timestamp with microsecond accuracy into each image collected by MAFIOT’s passive cameras.
MAFIOT's 0.8 m telescope, located inside this dome, is used for both day and night operations.
Our location on Mt. Wilson offers a clear line-of-sight to several surrounding mountains, including a 135 km clear shot to Mt. San Jacinto across the San Gabriel valley. Retroreflectors placed on the surrounding mountains allow us to easily spot the laser beam and align the cameras and lidar sensor.
The MAFIOT system is sited at the Mt. Wilson Observatory, also home to many historic astronomical experiments and several presently operating high-performance telescopes.
The high elevation mountain-top terrain reduces the amount of atmospheric turbulence that light must pass through between the ground and space, allowing the system to spot objects and detect lidar returns more easily.
An optical tree mounted to the back of the telescope uses beamsplitters to direct the light in each wavelength band to its respective camera. There are four broad wavelength bands in the passive system ranging from the visible to long-wave infrared ranges and one narrow split that directs the laser wavelength to the lidar sensor.
The light source for the lidar system is a custom-built fiber laser and amplifier system. The final amplification stages are housed in a box connected to the transmit telescope separate from the main receiver telescope, and this transmitter unit rides on top of the main receiver telescope.
The Mt. Wilson Aerospace Facility for Integrated Optical Tests (MAFIOT) is a flexible testbed system for evaluating techniques and hardware for optical technologies such as long-range tracking, optical communications, and atmospheric measurements.
The system combines a passive sensor system consisting of cameras in 4 wavelength bands and an active laser ranging or lidar system. The sensors are hosted on a 0.8 m telescope and sited at the historic Mt. Wilson Observatory in the mountains above the Los Angeles Basin.
MAFIOT’s goals are twofold – to provide a platform to evaluate individual components of sensor systems, and to develop systems engineering expertise for constructing and operating integrated optical sensor systems.