Influence of Inhomogeneous Optical Radiation Propagation Media on the Accuracy of Space Depth Mapping by Multizone Active-Pulse Television Measuring Systems

Abstract

The range of detecting objects in inhomogeneous optical radiation propagation media by television measuring systems decreases under the effect of backscattering interference (BI). Active-pulse television measuring systems (AP TMS) enables suppressing a significant part of BI. However, the residual effect on the range measurement accuracy requires estimation. The paper estimates the BI effect on the forms of range measuring functions of AP TMS. Methods for retrieving the form of the AP TMS range measuring function in turbid media have been developed. To minimize the BI effect, a method of calculating and subtracting coefficients and a method of removing the constant component of a spectrum are suggested. The proposed methods were tested with 30 experimental video records obtained in a Large Aerosol Chamber (LAC) of V.E. Zuev Institute of Atmospheric Optics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, for two multiarea range measurement methods and five meteorological media. The best result was achieved when applying the method of calculating and subtracting coefficients to video records when AP TMS operated in the multiarea range measuring mode: the SD was reduced by 4.5 times on average.