Study of Atmospheric Attenuation of IR Signature of airborne vehicle

Abstract

Infrared (IR) radiations from airborne vehicles are captured to detect and track the target. Infrared radiometry technology is an important method for characterizing the IR signature of any flight vehicle. It characterizes the distribution of the radiation's power in space. Various atmospheric models are available that describe infrared transmission in atmosphere. Detailed comparison study of actual signature obtained from IR Camera versus the simulated signature generated by JRM Software is done using physical laws and various atmospheric conditions. Thermal signatures of various airborne vehicle have been analyzed using computer vision techniques. A new parameter sigma is introduced which helps to estimate the extinction coefficient. It is combination of two features i.e. intensity and size of detected objects which gives signature. Extinction coefficient is being estimated by fitting an exponential curve to the signature vs. range graph of a test data because signature is exponentially related to range through this extinction coefficient. Finally, it is computed using standard atmospheric conditions prevailing at Chandipur at different time.