Comparing thermal and polarization sensing modes in a LWIR imaging polarimeter

J. Larry Pezzaniti; David B. Chenault; Frank Pantuso; Igor Semyonov

doi:10.1117/12.2623263

3 June 2022 Comparing thermal and polarization sensing modes in a LWIR imaging polarimeter

J. Larry Pezzaniti, David B. Chenault, Frank Pantuso, Igor Semyonov

Proceedings Volume 12112, Polarization: Measurement, Analysis, and Remote Sensing XV; 121120B (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2623263
Event: SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing, 2022, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

It is well known that thermal cameras augmented with polarization sensing are often better at helping a user find man-made objects in clutter than thermal only cameras. Thermal imaging polarimetry is an emerging technology and sensors are now commercially available. As this technology becomes more widely used, early adopters often want to compare performance of their thermal/polarization cameras operating in thermal and thermal/polarimetric mode. As such, metrics are needed to make a fair and rigorous comparison. In this paper, we introduce three visibility metrics that compare the average intensity, internal contrast, and spatial frequencies of the target to that of local background. The visibility of several targets is compared in various backgrounds to illustrate the utility of the metrics. To help validate the metrics, target visibility scoring using the metrics is compared to human visibility scoring. Finally, the visibility metrics are used for clutter analysis where the target visibility is ranked according to its similarity to scene clutter objects.

Citation Download Citation

J. Larry Pezzaniti, David B. Chenault, Frank Pantuso, and Igor Semyonov "Comparing thermal and polarization sensing modes in a LWIR imaging polarimeter", Proc. SPIE 12112, Polarization: Measurement, Analysis, and Remote Sensing XV, 121120B (3 June 2022); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2623263

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