Highlights

The authors

Peter Dennis, Tim J. Phillips and Dave Huckridge are all based at QinetiQ, Malvern Technology Park, Malvern, Worcester, UK.

Keywords

Thermal imaging, Infrared

Abstract

The ability to see in the dark is a key differentiator in many military scenarios and the development of thermal imaging (TI) systems has provided the military with a battle winning capability. One of the current key thrusts is to be able to detect and identify targets at significantly longer ranges. The research programme in QinetiQ has been providing solutions to satisfy these requirements for many years. In addition, one of the major benefits from this research, has been the opportunity to provide TI sensors into the civil market for application including fire fighting. In this review many of the new concepts currently being developed are described and illustrated.

Electronic access

The research register for this journal is available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0260-2288.htm

Background

Infrared (IR) thermal imaging (TI) has a relatively long history, with the first demonstration of the existence of IR radiation in 1800 by William Herschel. Since that time the use of IR radiation for imaging has been most strongly connected with the military market and its need for night vision. From the first demonstration of...