Compressive Sensing Imaging Spectrometer for UV-Vis Stellar Spectroscopy: Instrumental Concept and Performance...

Area of Science:

• Optical Instrumentation
• Spectroscopy
• Space Science

Background:

• Compressive sensing (CS) offers a novel approach for optical instrumentation by merging signal acquisition and compression.
• CS leverages signal sparsity for compact data acquisition using fewer detector elements.
• Limited studies exist on CS applications in space, particularly for stellar spectroscopy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present the concept, optical design, and performance of a CS imaging spectrometer for UV-Vis stellar spectroscopy.
• To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of CS for space-based spectral measurements.
• To analyze the advantages and disadvantages of CS compared to traditional systems in this context.

Main Methods:

• Development of an instrumental concept and optical design for a CS imaging spectrometer.
• Operation in the 300 nm-650 nm spectral range with varying spectral sampling.
• Data reconstruction and performance evaluation using CCSDS-recommended quality metrics.

Main Results:

• The CS imaging spectrometer demonstrated good performance in data reconstruction quality.
• The instrument achieved compression ratios of 20 or higher with minimal information loss.
• Spectral sampling ranged from 2.2 nm to 22 nm across the UV-Vis spectrum.

Conclusions:

• CS is a viable and disruptive approach for developing compact stellar spectroscopy instruments for space applications.
• The designed instrument offers high compression ratios suitable for space missions with data transmission constraints.
• The study highlights the potential of CS to advance space-based optical instrumentation.