Drone detection performance in the reflective bands: visible, near infrared, short wave infrared, and extended short wave infrared

Abstract

. Target detection and identification are well-studied problems in the visible and near infrared (IR) bands, with recent work focusing on the short wave IR (SWIR) band. The extended SWIR (eSWIR) band (2 to 2.5 μm) offers an advantage over SWIR due to increased atmospheric transmission, while keeping greater diffraction-limited angular resolution than the midwave IR and longwave IR. eSWIR should additionally improve object-sky contrast due to having lower background sky path radiance than the SWIR. An analysis of the signal-to-noise ratio and contrast for drone imaging in the reflective bands is presented and compared with a Night Vision Integrated Performance Model of drone detection performance using equivalent reflectivities. We find that imaging performance across all four bands is strongly dependent on pixel pitch and contrast.

Target acquisition performance comparison of active continuous-wave and range-gated imaging systems at 1.6 and 2.1 μm

“…The SWIR’s relatively high atmospheric transmission relative to the visible (0.4 to 0.7 μm) and near infrared (0.7 to 1 μm) bands, as well as higher diffraction-limited resolution than the midwave and longwave infrared (LWIR), have been significant driving factors for its adoption. Even more recently, there has been growing interest in the extended SWIR (eSWIR) band (2 to 2.5 μm) 2 – 5 for similar applications. The eSWIR provides similar benefits to the SWIR band, but should in general have a higher transmission than the SWIR due to its longer wavelength.…”

Hold surrounding’s key-you only look once version 7: a real-time pedestrian and vehicle detection algorithm in the low-signal-to-noise ratio infrared image

“…The imaging effect of infrared optical imaging technology is less affected by illumination and weather conditions, so it has a wide range of applications in industrial production, military and national defense, medical research, and other fields. Compared with traditional visible light imaging technology, infrared imaging technology has a good imaging effect even in the case of insufficient visible light intensity at night 3 , 4 . With the development of the economy and society, the number of motor vehicles has increased dramatically, and accidents caused by insufficient illumination are frequent.…”

“…Compared with traditional visible light imaging technology, infrared imaging technology has a good imaging effect even in the case of insufficient visible light intensity at night. 3,4 With the development of the economy and society, the number of motor vehicles has increased dramatically, and accidents caused by insufficient illumination are frequent. Infrared optical imaging technology can effectively solve this problem.…”