The paper introduces the analysis carried out by Selex ES (SE) for the development of a third generation IRST system based on large format MWIR sensors, separable in blue and red bands. In the feasibility study, physical constraints have been evaluated relying on different optics and scanning options. The goal is a system based on distributed heads to cover 360 with a resolution better than 0.3 mrad and high frame rate that allow to take advantage of the typical atmospheric phenomena of the maritime environment as scintillation and super and sub refraction. Two critical aspects were investigated: (i) the setting of an adequate scanning mechanism to assure a high frame rate and (ii) the stitching of the collected images while maintaining the bit-depth so as to avoid abrupt changes of SNR at the seams between two subsequent images
An output image obtained by the input image interaction with the system chain is supplied too.
2.IRST SYSTEM CONCEPTSFrom the analysis of current IRST systems the START consortium proposed three conceptsl which give greater performance in terms of sensitivity, angular resolution, Field Of Regard (FOR) coverage and shorter update cycles.The first concept, named "The Cupola" in the basic configuration consists of a dual band total staring concept with a Vertical Field Of View (VFOV) of 0o+20o and an Horizontal FOV (IIFOV) of 180' (figure 1). This FOV will be covered by 9 Focal Plane Arrays (FPA) for the 3+5 ¡rm band and 9 FPAs for the 8+I2 þm band. So, each FPA will have a FOV of 20' x 20', using single band optics. In the 3+5 ¡.lm band (1024 x IO24 detector arays) this results in an Instantaneous FOV (IFOV) of 0.34 mrad. The 8+I2 ttm band (consisting of 5I2 x 512 detector arrays) has
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