USING PYROELECTRIC DEVICES IN THERMAL-VISION SYSTEMS

Based on an analysis of the dependences between the ranges of differen t levels at which objects can be recorded and the effective temperatur e drops on them, possible ways to use LI492 and PEMET pyroelectric dev ices in thermal-vision systems are determined. In particular, the rang e at which an object having a minimum observation size of 3 m can be d istinguished is 0.5 km for a camera with an LI492 pyrovidicon and 1.8 km for a PEMET camera when the effective temperature drop between the object and the background is 3 K. (C) 1997 The Optical Society of Amer ica.