MRTD-Based Effective Range Analysis of Airborne Infrared Imaging Systems for Ship Detection: Optimization of the Calculation for Operational Range Through an Improved MRTD Model

When the airborne infrared imaging system detects ships, significant variations in environmental temperature are often observed. In the existing calculation models for the operating range, the factor of environmental temperature has not been taken into account. However, when the environmental temperature changes, it will affect the variation of the minimum resolvable temperature difference (MRTD) of the system, resulting in a relatively large deviation in the prediction of the operating range of the airborne infrared imaging system. To address this crucial technical challenge, this study systematically established the relationship formula of the MRTD under different temperatures. By integrating with the improved theoretical model of MRTD, a calculation method for the operating range that takes environmental temperature into consideration was developed to accurately determine the operating range of the airborne infrared imaging system. Comparative experimental studies focusing on ships show that, compared with traditional methods, the prediction deviation of the proposed method is significantly reduced, with an average reduction of 10.1%.