Europlanet RTI Facility – BIRA-IASB B.RCLab
Facility for absolute radiometry and spectral characterisations in the UV-VIS and NIR.
Average Transnational Access (TA) visit: 10 days
Preferred timeframe for TA visits: May/June and September to December
The B.RCLab (Belgian Radiometric Characterization Laboratory) is a radiometric centre of excellence located in Bruxelles, in the laboratories of the Royal Institute for Space Aeronomy of Belgium (BIRA-IASB) on the Uccle Plateau.
The equipment offered for access through the Europlanet TA programme is designed for radiometry.
Secondary National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) calibrated standards of spectral irradiance are available for absolute calibration. Deuterium lamps are available for calibration between 200 nm and 400 nm and QTH 1000 W lamps for calibration between 250 nm and 2400 nm. PTB calibrated photodiodes (in A/W) are available for calibration between 200 nm and 1100 nm (silicon photodiode) and between 700 nm and 1800 nm (germanium photodiode). When combined with an integrating sphere illuminated by a UV-VIS-NIR monochromatic light beam, these detectors can be used for calibration transfer (in A/W) to a device under test, or for measurements of relative spectral response of a system (detector, radiometer, etc).
In addition, a calibrated light source in spectral radiance (integrating sphere source with variable intensity control) is also available for absolute calibration between 380 nm and 2500 nm. Spectral lamps are also available for wavelength scale calibration in the UV, VIS and NIR. All equipment is operational in an ISO-5 environment, suitable for space applications.
Pre-campaigns are generally required before accurate radiometric characterisation (e.g. to optimise the mechanical and optical interfaces, to adjust the SNR and for the automation of the acquisition). The pre-campaigns will concern preliminary discussions, Technical Readiness Review meetings and 1-2 days of tests while using the facility. These test days must be included in the maximum of 10 access days supported by Europlanet.
Contact
You must get in touch with the host facility to discuss the technical feasibility of your proposal before submitting an application. If you do not contact the host, your proposal will not be approved.
David Bolsée, Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB), 3, Avenue Circulaire, 1180 Brussels, Belgium.
Images
Publications
- Meftah, M., Dufour, C., Bolsée, D., Van Laeken, L., Clavier, C., Chandran, A., Chang, L., Sarkission, A., Galopeau, P., Hauchecorne, A., Dahoo, P.-R., Damé, L., Vieau, A.-J., Bertran, E., Gilbert, P., Ferreira, F., Engler, J.-L., Montaron, C., Mangin, A., Hembise Fanton d’Andon, O., Caignard, N., Minet, A., Maso, P., Pereira, N., Brodu, E., Bekki, S., Billard, C., Keckut, P., Adancing CubeSats Capabilities: Ground-Based Calibration of Uvsq-Sat NG Satellite’s NIR Spectrometer and Determination of the Extraterrestrial Solar Spectrum, Remote Sensing, Vol. 16, Issue 19, doi: 10.3390/rs16193655, 2024
- Cisneros-González, M.E., Bolsée, D., Pereira, N., Van Laeken, L., Jacobs, L., Vandaele, A.C., Karatekin, Ö., Lauzin, C., Robert, S., Facility for the radiometric characterization of space-based visible-near infrared detectors, Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, Vol. 9, issue 3, A036001 (2023), doi: 10.1117/1.JATIS.9.3.036001, 2023
- Hülsen, G., Gröbner, J., Bais, A., Blumthaler, M., Diémoz, H., Bolsée, D., Diaz, A., Fountoulakis, I., Naranen, E., Schreder, J., Stefania, F., Vilaplana Guerrero, J.M., Second solar ultraviolet radiometer comparison campaign UVC-II, Metrologia, Vol. 57, issue 3, A035001 (2020), doi: 10.1088/1681-7575/ab74e5, 2020
- Pereira, N., Bolsée, D., Sperfeld, P., Pape, S., Sluse, D., Cessateur, G., Metrology of solar spectral irradiance at the top of the atmosphere in the near infrared measured at Mauna Loa Observatory: the PYR-ILIOS campaign, Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, Vol. 11, issue 12, 6605-6615 (2018), doi: 10.5194/amt-11-6605-2018, 2018
- Bolsée, D., Pereira, N., Gillotay, D., Pandey, P., Cessateur, G., Foujols, T., Bekki, S., Hauchecorne, A., Meftah, M., Damé, L., Hersé, M., Michel, A., Jacobs, C., Sela, A., SOLAR/SOLSPEC mission on ISS: In-flight performance for SSI measurements in the UV, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 600, A21 (2017), doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/201628234, 2017.
