The development of uncooled infrared (IR) detectors has made significant progress within the past years. Meanwhile, uncooled high-performance focal plane arrays are widely used for both military and commercial applications. The improved sensitivity and resolution of the detector arrays lead to higher demands on the IR cameras. E.g., increased pixel numbers result in higher data rates and lower sensor NETD values require higher dynamic ranges. The most industrial-processing applications in the field of non-contact temperature measurement require not only high system sensitivities and spatial resolutions but also large measuring ranges. Considering the continuously decreasing NETD values of IR focal plane arrays, a sufficient high dynamic range is therefore an essential condition for a widespread commercial use. In this paper, these demands on the dynamic range of IR cameras will be discussed. Proceeding from state-of-the-art dynamic ranges and NETD values, the realizable temperature measuring ranges are calculated. The results are evaluated experimentally for two prototypes of a new high-performance IR camera system equipped with either a microbolometer or a pyroelectric focal plane array.
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