A laboratory simulator for dynamic infrared scenes was built and used for evaluation of a FLIR tracker.Background and targets were simulated by separate fine mesh patterns. These are made by a special process enabling one to simulate real or synthetic (computer generated) infrared scenes.The set -up can be controlled to simulate target movements against a background in two degrees of freedom.The set -up also simulates independent tracker movements.The problems of superpositioning the target on the background in such a way that the target will not appear semitransparent, was achieved by meticulous set -up design.The simulator was used to measure the dependence of the performance of a FLIR tracker on:clutter, background temperature, target contrast, target movements, target range, and line of sight movement and vibrations.The paper describes set -up design considerations, target and background model fabrication methods and experimental test data.

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