Simulation of target detection in ultraviolet and infrared bands

Abstract

The infrared (IR) seeker, mounted on the thermal tracking missile, identifies a position of the target by detecting and processing the thermal energy radiated from the target. By using the positioning information, the missile is able to track and destroy the target. To cope with the attack of the missile, the target deploys a countermeasure (CM), such as flares. Therefore, the IR seeker must have a counter-countermeasure (CCM) to eliminate the effects of the flares. We analyze the radiant features of the target and the flare in the IR and ultraviolet (UV) bands, determine the spectral response ranges to distinguish the target from the flares, and present a new two-color CCM using the reference level. We simulate the IR seeker using the rosette scanning pattern to evaluate the discriminating performance of our CCM. The simulation results demonstrate that our two-color CCM can achieve an effective cancellation of the flare signal with a relatively high intensity. (C) 2001 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.