Polarization effects on infrared target contrast
By: Marcos Cesar Pontes
Publisher: Naval Postgraduate School; Available from National Technical Information Service
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Monterey, Calif; Springfield, Va
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Number of pages: 176
Description: An analysis has been carried out of a data base of polarized long wave infrared images of the instrumented      Research Vessel POINT SUR recorded over a period of two days during the EOPACE measurements series      in San Diego Bay in 1996. The measurements were made from a land site on Point Loma with an AGA780      sensor with internally mounted polarization filters. The objectives of the analysis were to determine a possible      influence of target aspect angle on the polarization signature, to compare polarization contrast improvement in      San Diego Bay with previous measurements in the North Atlantic, and to validate by measurement the      estimation of unpolarized signature from vertical and horizontal components. 5508 images representing 70      cases with vertical, horizontal and unpolarized sequences were analyzed. Using a horizontal polarizer, target to      background contrast improvement was found with a mean of 1.08 (8%) compared with the 15% found in      previous measurements. Estimated unpolarized signatures from vertical and horizontal components agreed with      unpolarized measurements with a slope coefficient of .85 to .99. Target signature for major ship facets and for      total ship showed no discernable degree of polarization. A total of 37 IDL programs developed for this analysis      can be assembled as a package for future data processing.
Notes: Thesis advisor(s): Alfred W. Cooper, David D. Cleary.

"September 1998."

Thesis (M.S. in Systems Engineering) Naval Postgraduate School, September 1998.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 173-174).

"Approved for public release, distribution unlimited"--Cover.

Also available online.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System Requirements: Adobe Acrobat reader.

Brazilian Air Force author.

dk/dk cc:9116 10/05/98