Infrared Target Detection: Signal and Noise Sensitivity Analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to determine the effect of the statistical properties of the signal and the noise on an infrared system's detection performance. Noise sources identified and characterized include Johnson noise, shot noise, generation-recombination noise, and photon noise. The signal was characterized as either constant or fluctuating. A computer model was used to evaluate system detection performance for various combinations of signal type and noise distribution. Results were presented in terms of probability of detection versus signal to noise ratio. Analysis of the results suggest that an IR system's detection performance cannot be measured in terms of signal to noise ratio alone. The system designer needs to take into account the statistical properties of the signal and the noise to accurately predict system performance with an IR detection model. Keywords: Atmosphere detection models. (kr)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1989
Accession Number
ADA215707

Entities

People

  • Christopher W. Keefer

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Charge Carriers
  • Computer Programs
  • Computer Simulations
  • Computers
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Diffraction
  • Energy Bands
  • Gaussian Distributions
  • Laser Radar
  • Mathematical Models
  • Probability
  • Radiation
  • Shot Noise
  • Target Detection
  • Warning Systems

Fields of Study

  • Engineering

Readers

  • Acoustics.
  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Image Processing and Computer Vision.