Field calibration for multidirectional spectroradiometers

Abstract A mobile calibration system for a multidirectional spectroradiometer (MUDIS) to transfer the absolute radiometric calibration from the laboratory to the location of the outdoor-measurement (field calibrator) has been developed. The main part of the calibration system comprises an aluminium sphere with a diameter of 40 cm, mounting adapters and a ventilation system. The MUDIS device is capable of measuring spectral radiance from 320 to 600 nm in 113 different directions simultaneously within 1 s. When repeating radiance measurements inside the mobile field sphere, the relative standard deviation (RSD) for wavelengths between 320 and 600 nm is less than 1.8% (320 nm) for all directions with minimum RSD of 0.6% at 382 nm. The reproducibility depends not only on the wavelength but also on the individual fibre position on the hemispherical input optics, with maximum of 4.5% RSD, but most directions show a lower deviation. On average, the RSD for the channels is less than 0.9%. The calibrator enables measurements of the spectral radiance with less uncertainty than with the previous indirect calibration method, which uses measurements of a scanning reference array spectroradiometer.