ABSTRACT

This section describes the techniques that can be used to measure the performance parameters of complete thermal imagers as described and defined in Chapter 5. As already indicated in the first chapter of this book, the relevance of each of these performance parameters will to some extent depend on the application intended for the imager, and in particular whether it is to be used for surveillance or temperature measurement. The techniques described in this chapter can be used by both the manufacturer of an imager in order to characterize his or her product and by the user who wishes to check that the performance of his or her imager has not deteriorated, and that it is still suitable for the intended application. Invariably, individual users may find that they need to modify the techniques that are described here, either to make use of facilities that already exist or because the actual imagers they are testing dictate the use of a modified arrangement.