Laser Gated Imaging is a unique camera technology. It provides long-range night vision in complete darkness as well as in degraded weather conditions, such as rain, fog and haze. Burst illumination laser (BIL) imaging combines an active laser illumination with time gating (or range gating) camera. For these reasons, BIL imaging has become increasingly important in Defense and security applications. In an associated paper [01], we present a model (PIAF) developed to evaluate the relevant physical phenomena (scintillation, speckle…) impacting on the BIL imaging. This paper presents preliminary experimental results and comparisons with PIAF simulations.

Onera, The French Aerospace Lab, has developed an active burst illumination imaging system with a short time gating. This imaging device is used to obtain a passive or an active image of a small volume of the illuminated scene. To better understand and evaluate the relevant physical phenomena (scintillation, speckle…) impacting on the performance on burst illumination imaging system, Onera has implemented a code (PIAF). The aim of this paper is to describe the model and to present some results. Efforts have done on 3D target geometries and surface properties. We analyze each contribution like the incoherent solar field or the incident laser field. We adapt classical and physical models for light reflection. Speckle contributions are also treated using data bases generated by an Onera tool.

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