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Atmospheric Transmission

This paper discusses different models for describing atmospheric transmission in the infrared spectrum and compares them to determine the most appropriate model for certain atmospheric conditions. It analyzes universal models and inaccuracies associated with them. The paper finds that while all models differ, the goal is to calculate how much the characteristics of atmospheric transmission vary with distance. It analyzes models from the literature that are used in infrared cameras. Accurately measuring atmospheric transmission allows correct determination of an object's temperature, which is an important problem addressed in the paper.

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23 views

Atmospheric Transmission

This paper discusses different models for describing atmospheric transmission in the infrared spectrum and compares them to determine the most appropriate model for certain atmospheric conditions. It analyzes universal models and inaccuracies associated with them. The paper finds that while all models differ, the goal is to calculate how much the characteristics of atmospheric transmission vary with distance. It analyzes models from the literature that are used in infrared cameras. Accurately measuring atmospheric transmission allows correct determination of an object's temperature, which is an important problem addressed in the paper.

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jide.atolagbe3737
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J. Sens. Sens. Syst.

, 5, 17–23, 2016
www.j-sens-sens-syst.net/5/17/2016/
doi:10.5194/jsss-5-17-2016
© Author(s) 2016. CC Attribution 3.0 License.

Atmospheric transmission coefficient modelling in the


infrared for thermovision measurements
W. Minkina and D. Klecha
The Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Cz˛estochowa University of Technology, Cz˛estochowa, 42–200, Poland
Correspondence to: W. Minkina ([email protected])
Received: 6 August 2015 – Revised: 19 November 2015 – Accepted: 4 January 2016 – Published: 20 January 2016

Abstract. The aim of this paper is to discuss different models that describe atmospheric transmission in the
infrared. They were compared in order to choose the most appropriate one for certain atmospheric conditions.
Universal models and different inaccuracies connected with them were analysed in this paper. It is well known
that all these models are different, but the aim of this paper is calculate how big the differences are between the
characteristics of atmospheric transmission as a function of the distance. There have been models analysed from
the literature, and these are used in infrared cameras. Correctly measured atmospheric transmission allows the
correct temperature of an object to be determined, which is very vast problem that is discussed in paper.

1 Introduction lengths the radiation is attenuated to close to nothing over a


few metres. The attenuation in the atmosphere does not allow
The atmospheric transmission in the infrared (IR) is an im- the total original radiation from the object to reach the cam-
portant parameter in thermovision measurements. This is due era. If no correction for the attenuation is applied, then the
to the fact that, when the temperature of an object is mea- measured apparent temperature will be lower and lower with
sured, the atmosphere which is between the thermal imag- increased distance. The influence of distance on the temper-
ing camera and the object attenuates infrared radiation emit- ature measurement for the short-wave (SW) and long-wave
ted by the object. Additionally, it has been observed, even (LW) camera, without taking into account correction of the
in laboratory conditions, that at distance of 1–10 m, the at- impact of the atmosphere on the measurement, can be clearly
mospheric absorption, caused by water vapour and carbon seen in Fig. 1.
dioxide, is noticeable. The most important role in absorp- The paper compares different methods of calculating the
tion of the infrared radiation for the wavelength λ = 4.3 µm atmospheric transmission coefficient in the infrared which
is played by carbon dioxide, present in the exhaled air can be found in practice and in the literature. When a model
(Rudowski, 1978). It was stated, for example, that after 3 h is chosen, such factors as accuracy and the time needed to
of two persons being in a closed room, about 40 cm3 in vol- do the measurements should be taken into consideration.
ume, the concentration of CO2 was such that, at distance Greater accuracy means a longer time needed for the calcula-
d = 0.8 m, 70 % of radiation of the wavelength λ = 4.3 µm tions. In fact, that subject of research about the atmospheric
was absorbed by the air (Rudowski, 1978). transmission has a wide range, but this paper has some lim-
Correctly measured atmospheric transmission allows the itations. The paper concentrates only on the atmosphere’s
correct temperature of an object to be determined. In the case impact on the measurement. The effect of the IR radiation
of there being no precise model describing the atmospheric emitted by the absorbing atmosphere (Kirchhoff’s law) was
transmission in the thermal imager microcontroller (Minkina skipped in this case and will be considered in the subsequent
and Dudzik, 2006, 2009; Minkina et al., 2010), the obtained paper. Thermal imaging cameras operate in a particular in-
temperature of the object would be wrong, lower or higher. frared range, for which the atmospheric transmission coeffi-
The atmospheric attenuation depends strongly on the wave- cient will be different than for the whole band.
length. For some wavelengths there is very low attenuation
over distance of several kilometres, whereas for other wave-

Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the AMA Association for Sensor Technology.

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