Abstract: Focal plane array (FPA) families for a new generation of Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) systems are currently being developed under the direction of the U.S. Army. The new FPA will have an impact on the performance of Automatic Target Recognizers (ATRs) which perform target detection and identification. Described in this paper are the results of an experiment designed to study the effects of various infrared FPA parameters on the image quality of a FLIR. The research was conducted using a computer simulation of a FLIR imaging sensor without the use of specific ATR algorithms. The study determined the amount of image degradation and information loss caused by specific FPA parameters. Among the parameters studied were detector size, detector geometry, noise, detector response nonuniformity, and array sampling effects, most of which were investigated at three different ranges. !9
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