System Noise

doi:10.1117/3.2588946.ch7

System Noise

Book: Testing and Evaluation of Infrared Imaging Systems, Third Edition

Author(s): Gerald C. Holst

Published: 2008

https://doi.org/10.1117/3.2588946.ch7

Author Affiliations +

Abstract

Noise is defined in the broadest sense as any unwanted signal components. Noise may appear in a variety of ways, such as random noise, fixed pattern noise, line-to-line nonuniformity, 1/f noise, rain, moving bands, and flashing channels; any one of which may be the dominant noise source. Some of these effects may be difficult to quantify due to their transitory nature. Others may be easy to perceive but difficult to measure. For example, the eye is very sensitive to frame-to-frame intensity variations (flicker), which may not be obvious on a single analog video line trace or in a single frame of data.