The most critical element in the 20-year evolution of infrared search and track (IRST) systems has been the development of acceptable signal processing techniques. Acceptable, in this case, refers to both the ability to operate in a wide variety of changing background and target/engagement conditions and the ability to operate reliably with minimum insertion losses under benign conditions. Tactical and strategic military applications for endoatmospheric operations have tended to emphasize scanning IRST designs to meet the wide field of view and rapid update requirements with available detector technology. The need to automatically detect targets at long ranges usually leads to the adaptation of spatial processing techniques to extract point source targets from extended background clutter. Usually a combination of processing techniques are required to provide the performance and reliability necessary to achieve long range detections and low false alarm rates (typically one per hour or less). This paper identifies the generic classes of signal processing concepts that have been applied to endoatmospheric military applications. It reviews the evolution of these concepts and provides examples of currently popular techniques and their relative performance with emphasis on initial target declarations.

Date Published: 20 September 1987
PDF: 13 pages
Proc. SPIE 0750, Infrared Systems and Components, (20 September 1987); doi: 10.1117/12.939862

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 0750:
Infrared Systems and Components
Robert L. Caswell, Editor(s)