Real-time synthetic image generator for quantifying the performance of infrared imagers

Nicholas Joseph Arnold; Glen Wade

doi:10.1117/12.221376

29 September 1995 Real-time synthetic image generator for quantifying the performance of infrared imagers

Nicholas Joseph Arnold, Glen Wade

Proceedings Volume 2553, Infrared Spaceborne Remote Sensing III; (1995) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.221376
Event: SPIE's 1995 International Symposium on Optical Science, Engineering, and Instrumentation, 1995, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

Evaluation of real-time IR imagers is usually based solely on quantitative factors such as SNR, MTF, nonlinearity, dynamic range, and detector nonuniformity. These imagers may come up to specifications for each parameter individually, but still be unacceptable to human observers because of cumulative effects. We have devised a method to evaluate and compare the overall performance of real-time imaging systems for which humans are the ultimate receivers of the images. We designed and built a real-time synthetic image generator (RTSIG) for simulating real-time thermal imagers, and for use in visual psychophysical testing of human observers. RTSIG is highly useful in determining the effects on humans of various combinations and levels of image degradation mechanisms. Primary considerations involve MTF, detector array configurations, detector noise, detector nonuniformity, and electronics transfer functions. We have discovered surprising differences in the performances of single-detector imagers and linear array imagers. For single-detector imagers with fixed total noise power, an imager with a higher knee frequency has a lower threshold of detectability than one with a lower knee frequency. For linear array imagers, varying the knee frequency within limits does not affect the threshold of detectability.

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Nicholas Joseph Arnold and Glen Wade "Real-time synthetic image generator for quantifying the performance of infrared imagers", Proc. SPIE 2553, Infrared Spaceborne Remote Sensing III, (29 September 1995); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.221376

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KEYWORDS

Imaging systems

Sensors

Signal to noise ratio

Imaging arrays

Thermography

Computer simulations

Image sensors

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