Research on infrared imaging system performance based on night vision integrated performance model

The infrared imaging system represents the culmination of modern science and technology, finding extensive applications in aerospace, weapon electronics, security, industrial testing, and other fields. Target detection probability is a crucial parameter for evaluating the performance of an infrared imaging system and is closely linked to its design. While the Johnson criterion considers minimum resolvable temperature difference (MTRD) to assess the performance of infrared imaging systems, there exists an issue regarding low accuracy when applying infrared focal plane array (FPA) detectors. This paper proposes utilizing the targeting task performance (TTP) metric, that incorporates system sensitivity by considering a partial weighted integral of target background contrast exceeding the system contrast threshold function as a measure of information quantity within the system for simulating target detection performance in an infrared photoelectric system. In this study, we selected an uncooled infrared FPA detector and employed night vision integrated performance model (NV-IPM) software, along with control variable analysis to investigate how changing various system parameters affects the imaging performance of our proposed infrared photoelectric system. The purpose of this study to provide fundamental parameters for infrared imaging system optimizing future designs before research and development.