Imaging Tasks
By IEC Infrared SystemsWhen someone asks about an imaging system, one of the first questions usually asked is “How far can it see?” While this seems like an easy question, the answer is a little more involved than one might think.
To start with, the question itself must be broken down into manageable pieces that can be defined and measured. Commonly, this is broken into Detection, Recognition, and Identification. Once those tasks are defined, maximum ranges (for a given target) can be determined. However, the meaning of some of these tasks is not as obvious as it may seem. Furthermore, how do you quantify how well you can accomplish these tasks?
To begin, the categories themselves must be defined. The definitions given here are not scientific definitions, but are more practical, and are meant to be easily understood. Defining these terms is the purpose of this white paper. Other topics, such as how to quantify how well the measurement can be made, and many other factors to consider, will be the topic of other papers.