New user interface and features of the SR 5000: revival of infrared CVF-based spectroradiometry

The SR 5000 Infrared spectroradiometer, developed in the mid '80's, is a robust research tool for the electro-optics system development laboratory. It has been the top-of-the-line IR spectroradiometer since then, with high sensitivity and useful software packages for data analysis, but its user interface became outdated, because of the enormous advances that personal computers underwent in the 90's. Recently, after being on the verge of disappearance, CVF based spectroradiometry has been revived. Here we present some important new features of the system: 1. Synchronized imaging. A CCD camera is boresighted with the line of sight of the SR 5000, to digitally record the image of the measured object and its background, in synchronization with the spectral measurement. This feature is useful in the field to avoid mishaps, and sometimes for later analysis of the results. 2. Windows Operating System. The new system control, storage and analysis software package has been developed to take advantage of modern PC's, generally accepted user interface modalities, and a powerful database for file management.