The Infrared Airborne Radar Sensor Suite
Abstract:
This report presents a tutorial description of MIT Lincoln Laboratory's Infrared
Airborne Radar (IRAR) sensor suite. IRAR, which was flown aboard a Gulfstream G-1 aircraft,
was used to collect multispectral ground-images using the following sensors: active (laser
radar) subsystems operating at long-wave infrared and near-visible infrared wavelengths;
passive optical subsystems operating in the long-wave infrared band, and a millimeter-wave
radar. The principles of operation for the sensor subsystems as well as their hardware
implementations are described. Theoretical statistical models, with relevant parameter
values, are presented for each of the IRAR sensors. The overall objective is to provide
sufficient information to guide the development of image-processing algorithms applicable to
IRAR data. Preparation of this report was sponsored by: U.S. Army Research
Office through the Center for Imaging Science under Grant DAAH04-95-1-0494.
Full paper as PDF
(700K).