IMPROVED BACKGROUND DISCRIMINATION

Abstract

Research is concerned with infrared systems of extreme sensitivity by the development of a new and novel technique for effective discrimination between a target and its background. Unlike conventional systems which depend on some properties of an ever-changing background for effective space filtering, the new infrared system concentrates on the finite properties of a target. A system was constructed which utilizes the point target properties of (a) invariance under magnification and (b) invariance under rotation to reject the variations in system output signal which are introduced solely by the background. A model of this discrimination system was tested in the spectral region of 2 to 3 microns. System focal length is 100 mm with an effective f-number of approximately 1.5. The use of variable magnification and variable rotation resulted in improvements in system S/N of at least one order of magnitude. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 1962
Accession Number
AD0331366

Entities

People

  • Burton D. Figler
  • Frits Zernike
  • Thomas J. Morgan

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Discrimination
  • Filtration
  • Invariance
  • Magnification
  • Rotation
  • Sensitivity

Readers

  • Adaptive Control and Estimation with Uncertainty in Dynamic Systems.
  • Seismology
  • Spectroscopy.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Space Objects