A conceptual midwave infrared remoting sensor based on an uncooled focal plane array

The 3-5 mu m wave length region has been recognized as an effective mid infrared spectral range for the detection of high temperature events on Earth surface with remote sensing camera. Most of current mid infrared remote sensors relied on cooled detectors. Although they have high radiometric sensitivity, they inevitably are large size and weight, high power consumption, short life-time, and high cost. With the advent of uncooled thermal detectors, the miniaturization of mid infrared imagers suitable for microsatellite is being investigated widely. Based on uncooled focal plane array, a conceptual compact midwave infrared sensor has been put forward. It is designed for hot spot detection. First, working environments and requirements of the sensor for hot spot detection is introduced. Then the characteristic of its main constituent parts including selected uncooled focal plane array and the designed optical system is presented. Because uncooled focal plane array has lower radiometric sensitivity than the cooled, we are more concerned about the thermal resolution of the system. And its performance including sub-pixel hot spot detection capabilities and spatial resolution is evaluated. It shows that the suggested compact sensor with uncooeld focal plane array can not meet the requirement.