Variation analysis of 24 hour winter infrared images for small target detection

This paper reports the results of variation analysis of infrared images acquired using a long wave infrared camera over a 24 hour period. The analysis was conducted in terms of the small infrared target detection parameters, such as the average background intensity, contrast between the target signal and average background intensity, standard deviation of the background, and the signal-to-clutter ratio for various backgrounds, such as remote mountains, buildings, near field and sky. The detection parameters were compared according to the recording time, temperature and humidity. Through variation analysis, the optimal target detection conditions could be obtained or the detection threshold could be controlled to maximize the detection performance.