EXPERIMENTAL COMPARISON OF 3 TARGET ACQUISITION MODELS

The role of the atmosphere in target acquisition modeling is investiga ted experimentally. Three models are compared to experimental results measured on the Golan Heights, Israel. Concepts considered are atmosph eric attenuation versus atmospheric blur, and contrast-limited (blur-l imited) versus noise-limited imaging. Results indicate that the role o f the atmosphere in target acquisition is blur rather than attenuation and that for ranges of the order of a few kilometers, modern sensors are limited by atmospheric blur rather than by noise. A significant po rtion of the atmospheric blur derives from small angle forward scatter ing by aerosols, which actually increases measured temperature differe nces for ranges up to a few kilometers. (C) 1998 society of Photo-Opti cal Instrumentation Engineers.