## 4 Simulation of the Meteosat Third Generation Imager Fire Channel Potential  
The third generation of European geostationary meteorological satellites is currently being prepared by the ESA, EUMETSAT and their industrial partners, aiming at a launch date in 2022. The Flexible Combined Imager (FCI) of the Meteosat Third Generation Imager (MTG-I)--also capable of fire-related applications--will provide mid and thermal IR data with a 1 km or 2 km GSD at its SSP with a repetition period of 10 min. The FCI instrument will continue the successful mission of the SEVIRI instrument on the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG). The FCI has additional channels and improved spatial, temporal and radiometric performance, compared to the current SEVIRI. The requirements for the FCI are driven by regional and global numerical weather prediction (NWP) and nowcasting. The FCI design allows a Full-Disk Scan Service (FDSS), with a basic repeat cycle of 10 min, and an alternative fixed European regional Rapid-Scan Service (RSS), which covers one-quarter of the full disk with a repeat cycle of 2.5 min. It is planned to provide this dual capability once two MTG-I satellites have been successfully deployed, with one satellite dedicated to FDSS and one to RSS. Figure 7 provides a summary of the growth of imaging capabilities from the Meteosat First Generation (MFG) through the Second to the Third Generation. It shows how the spectral capabilities have increased while retaining the capabilities of the previous generation. The inserted squares depict the improved spatial resolution at the sub-satellite point in a comparative manner. The corresponding temporal repeat cycles for full-disk imaging for the three Meteosat generations are 30, 15 and 10 min, respectively [14]. Figure 6: An image fragment of the AHI-band 7, acquired near Sydney on 10 November 2019 at 10:10 h local time. The green crosses mark fires detected in this AHI band. The red fire clusters were derived from BIROS IR data recorded over the same region only minutes later. MTG-1 is foreseen to be launched at the end of 2022. Table 7 shows the characteristics of the MTG-I/FCI fire application channels, reprinted with permission from [14]. In this paper, it is reasonable to present the simulation results of the MTG-I/FCI fire application MIR and TIR channels, including their expected fire detection and analysis capability, using image sets obtained by the Bi-spectral IR Detectio \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|} \hline \multirow{3}{*}{**Channels**} & \multicolumn{3}{c|}{**Centrum Wavelength (\(\mu\)m)**} & \multirow{3}{*}{**Band-Width (\(\mu\)m)**} & \multirow{3}{*}{**GSD at SSP (km)**} & \multirow{3}{*}{**Minimum Signal (K)**} & \multirow{3}{*}{**Maximum Signal (K)**} & \multirow{3}{*}{**NEDT (K)**} \\  & & & & & & & & & \\ \hline FD-IR 3.8 [11, 62] & 3.8 & 0.40 & 2 or 1 [11] & 200 & 350 & 0.1–0.2 [11] & 1 [12] \\ \hline FD-IR 8.7 [11, 62] & 8.7 & 0.30 & 2 or 1 [11] & 165 & 330 & 0.1 & \\  & & & & 330 [12] & 400 [12] & 0.5 [11] & \\ \hline \end{tabular} \({}^{\#1}\) Figures for the FCI channels to be delivered in both the High Resolution and Fast Imagery (HRFI) mode and Full Disk High Spectral Resolution Imagery (FDHSI) mode (together with the NEDT figures applicable for the HRFI mode). [12] These figures represent the fire application channels with extended dynamic ranges, the reference temperature and relaxed noise requirements applicable for this application. The NEDT figures are applicable to the complete extended radiometric dynamic range.  
\end{table} 
Table 7: Characteristics of the MTG-I/FCI fire application channels [14]. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|} \hline \multirow{3}{*}{ \begin{tabular}{c} **Channels** \\ **Channels** \\ \end{tabular}  } & \multicolumn{3}{c|}{**Meteosat 1\({}^{\text{st}}\) Generation**} & \multicolumn{3}{c|}{**Meteosat 2\({}^{\text{nd}}\) Generation**} & \multicolumn{3}{c|}{**Meteosat 3\({}^{\text{rd}}\) Generation**} \\ \cline{2-11}  & & & & & & & & & & \\ \hline