Range Calculations For IR Rangefinder And Designators

Walter R Kaminski

doi:10.1117/12.958748

22 August 1980 Range Calculations For IR Rangefinder And Designators

Walter R Kaminski

Proceedings Volume 0227, CO2 Laser Devices and Applications; (1980) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.958748
Event: 1980 Technical Symposium East, 1980, Washington, D.C., United States

Abstract

Before a rangefinder or target designator design can be specified, the relationship between laser transmitter, receiver and range variables must be well understood. This paper presents results of calculations performed for that purpose using a rangefinder/designator systems model. Specifically, laser transmitter parameters such as wavelength (1.06, 3.8 and 10.6 micron), energy and pulsewidth and receiver parameters such as specific detectivity, field-of-view, signal-to-noise ratio and detector physical size were evaluated for numerous atmospheric conditions including rain and battlefield smoke. Target range was used as the primary basis of comparison. Major conclusions from the study were: (1) 10.6 micron wave-length is preferred for rangefinding and target designation when considering all weather, real battlefield operation, (2) for optimum performance, high pulse energy and short pulse width are desirable, (3) pulse energy per root pulse width of 100 to 1000 J-sec-1/2 are recommended, (4) pulse energy per root pulse width varies logarithmically with range, thus pulse energy can be reduced substantially while producing only small variations in range, (5) performance improves when field-of-view and detector size decreases and signal-to-noise ratio and specific detectivity increases, and (6) the most sensitive receiver parameters were found to be detector size and field-of-view.

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Walter R Kaminski "Range Calculations For IR Rangefinder And Designators", Proc. SPIE 0227, CO2 Laser Devices and Applications, (22 August 1980); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.958748

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