Field applications of a multi-spectral, thermal imaging radiometer

Field trials have produced the first applications of a new thermal imaging radiometer, a unique four-channel, thermal-infrared imaging system designed by Space Instruments, Inc. The thermal imaging radiometer employs a microbolometer detector array in an azimuth-scanning, tower-based system. The microbolometer requires no cryogenic cooling, as do conventional mercury-cadmium-telluride detectors, and thus offers potential for less complex and expensive imaging systems. It is internally calibrated to high temperatures, offers user-selected channels based on removable spectral filters, and features real-time image viewing and enhancement. The system has been developed for precision measurement and scientific applications in fire management, ecosystem analysis, and climatology. In a research joint venture with the USDA Forest Service, the TIR has successfully demonstrated remote detection of a small spot fire; landscape temperature mapping; and quantitative, unsaturated measurements of flame radiance during large-scale open burning