Abstract: The Defence Research Agency and Pilkington Thorn Optronics are jointly developing a generic next generation high performance thermal imaging system, known as STAIRS C. The relationship of this program to other thermal imaging programs in the UK and the evolution from first to second generation systems at Pilkington Thorn Optronics is discussed. A detailed review of the technology selection process and the key aspects which enable the STAIRS C system to satisfy the requirements for significantly enhanced target recognition and identification ranges is presented including the detector technology, optical constraints, manageable data rates, image processing and display techniques. The paper concludes with a summary of the functionality and design flexibility of the imager. !1
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