We report on the development of a passive millimeter-wave (MMW) imager for remote sensing, and the comparison of the experimentally acquired images with the theoretical images from our MMW scene simulator. The imager has an aperture diameter of 0.6m, and the detector and the imaging optics are mechanically raster-scanned over the scene to form an image. The angular resolution was experimentally found to be 0.4 degrees, which is close to the theoretical diffraction limit of 0.37 degrees, and the imager NEDT was measured to be 0.9 K. Qualitatively, simulated MMW imagery showed good agreement with an experimental MMW image.

Passive millimeter wave (pmmW) imagers are quickly becoming practical sensor candidates for military and nonmilitary tasks. Our focus was to adapt the Night Vision [U.S. Army Research Development and Engineering Command, Communications and Electronics Research Development and Engineering Center, Night Vision and Electronics Sensors Directorate (NVESD)] passive thermal infrared imager performance models and apply them to pmmW imaging systems for prediction of field performance for the task of small watercraft and boat identification. The Night Vision Lab's infrared sensor model has been evolving since the 1950s, with the most current model being NVThermIP [Night Vision Thermal and Image Processing (NVThermIP) Model Users Manual, Rev. 9 (U.S. Army RDECON, CERDEC, NVESD, 2006)]. It has wide recognition as an engineering tool for sensor evaluation. This effort included collecting pmmW signatures for a representative set of targets, conducting an observer perception experiment, and deriving the task difficulty criteria that can be used in NVThermIP for identification of boats. The task difficulty criteria are used by designers and managers to create systems capable of meeting specific performance criteria in the field.

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