Comparative Analysis of Selected Calibration Methods for a Thermal Imaging Camera with a Cooled Detector Operating in the MWIR Range

Abstract

For accurate remote temperature measurement with a thermal imaging camera, it is necessary to perform radiometric calibration. This allows the radiative parameters of an object, and therefore its temperature, to be related to the response of the infrared detector observing it. The article presents the basic concepts related to radiometric calibration and various factors influencing its effectiveness. The most common calibration methods were also reviewed, and then two of them were implemented and compared on a specially constructed laboratory station, using proprietary software and equipped with a cooled infrared camera, operating in the MWIR range. The camera was calibrated in the temperature range from 20 °C to 50 ° C. The comparison of methods was carried out on the basis of a series of temperature measurements, analysis of absolute and relative errors, as well as analysis of the dispersion of the measured temperature values.