<title>Performance and application of serial-scan FLIRs</title>

Abstract

Infrared imaging systems have increased in number rapidly since the early 1960's; however, system insertion has been almost entirely in military and paramilitaryapplications. In the future, infraredimaging systems wilifind increasedacceptance in commercial applications provided that system costs are reduced. FLIR Systems, Inc. was founded in response to a recognized world wide need for high quality, affordable infrared systems. In this paper we present the salient features of a serial scan forward looking infrared (FUR) system which has been developed to achieve high sensitivity and resolution in systems which are less complex and are inherently less expensive to manufacture, operate and maintain. Specifically our systems utilize an 8 to 12 micron band HgCdTe detector array consisting of two or more rows of detectors in parallel with four to six detector elements in series summed in Time Delay and Integration (TDI). The serial scan approach greatly reduces the complexity and cost of the amplification and scan conversion when compared to parallel scanned systems while a small amount ofparallel scanning reduces the scan rate to a practical level. Design considerations and manufacturing methods are reviewed with emphasis on high performance and system affordability.