Research on the Measurement Error of MWIR Average Atmospheric Transmittance

Abstract

The atmospheric transmittance in mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) band reflects the characteristics of atmospheric particles, which is typically used in MWIR imaging system correction and data extraction. MWIR imager is wide spectral band instrument and its measuring output is usually affected by broadband atmospheric transmittance which is usually considered as average influence, therefore it is exactly of great importance to study the measurement of MWIR average atmospheric transmittance, which is valuable for MWIR images correction and application. A measurement error model of MWIR atmospheric transmittance was proposed according to the measuring method of the broadband average atmospheric transmittance. Because the transmittance measurement principle mentioned in this paper is indirect measurement, some direct input data are needed to be acquired through infrared imager, blackbody, etc. Finally, combining the measurement error theory with data of the experiments, the MWIR atmospheric transmittance and its measurement error are extracted. The results show that the MWIR atmospheric transmittance measured value is reasonable according to the empirical value in sunny day. And the measurement error objectively reflects most aspects of the test, exactly proving the validity of the measurement experiment.

Keywords

• MWIR average atmospheric transmittance
• MWIR imaging system
• Measurement error