Low altitude target detection based on radar and infrared information fusion

When a threat is at low altitude and near the horizon, propagation losses are severe because of the influence of earth curvature, reducing the signal to noise of reflected return; in addition, the target is embedded in ground clutter, the detected range of radar deceases badly. So low altitude / super low altitude is the weakest airspace of modern air defense firepower the characteristic of modern air attack behaves as the air shock of low altitude and super low altitude. An information fusion method of radar and infrared sensor has been put forward in this paper, utilize the advantage of infrared sensor of detecting low altitude target and mutual supplement of multi-resource, it makes up the limitation of radar detection in some degree, improves the ability of anti low altitude threat. The characteristic of infrared sensor and the significance is expound, the structure of radar and infrared sensor fusion system are designed, several critical questions that need to solve are brought forward, and the development trend of radar and the infrared sensor integration is stated briefly.