Feasibility of Detecting Chemical Agents Using a Chemical Imaging Interferometerfrom Low and High Altitude Platforms

摘要

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of using a high scanspeed Chemical Imaging FTIR System to passively detect chemical agent vapors from high speed airborne platforms. This evaluation was based strictly on radiometric calculations, and no attempt was made to factor in the degradation in signal to noise associated with detection/discrimination algorithms and preprocessing. Several agents were evaluated including GA, GB, GC, and HD at concentration-path length ranges from 0 to 25,000 mg/sq m. System performance was evaluated in terms of signal to noise as a function of altitude (300 km, 30 km, and 3 km) and spectral bandwidth (4 /cm, 6 /cm, 8 /cm, and 16 /cm). Performance was also evaluated for all of the primary absorption bands associated with each agent. Results indicate that acceptable performance (i.e., minimum detection levels as defined by military requirements) is obtained at altitudes of up to 300 km with reasonable aperture sizes (0.5 m or less).