Thermal Imaging: Reconnaissance & Surveillance Applications

Abstract

Thermal Imaging is the most advanced technique for reconnaissance & surveillance applications. Thermal Imaging is done with the help of highly sensitive and fast infra-red detectors combined with specially designed scanning optics. This gives two dimensional coverage of the scene at very high speed and can give a display like Television in real time. It gives high resolution pictures with good contrast and so this technique is widely used in multi-disciplinary fields of medical, defence, surveillance, meteorology, metrology etc. This paper is limited to reconnaissance and surveillance applications. Two advanced systems based on Infrared line scanning (IRLS) and forward looking infra-red (FLIR) techniques are described in detail in this paper. A new design based on Carbon Dioxide Laser with most sensitive infra-red detector to work in best atmospheric window of 8–14 Microns is considered for high resolution thermal imaging which may probably become the finest technique in thermal imaging especially in reconnaissance & surveillance applications in the near future. Various thermal imaging systems are reviewed in this paper to highlight the importance of thermal imaging.