Hazardous cloud imaging: a new way of using passive infrared

A modeling and simulation study of the limits of remote detection by passive IR has led to a new concept for the remote detection of hazardous clouds. A passive IR signature model was developed with the Edgewood Research, Development, and Engineering Center IR spectral data bases used as input for chemicals and biologicals and with the atmospheric transmittance model used for MODTRAN. The cloud travel and dispersion model, VLSTRACK, was used to simulate chemical and biological clouds. An easily applied spectral discrimination technique was developed with a standard Mathematica version of linear programming. All these were melded with Mathematica to produce images of three threat clouds: Sarin, mustard, and an unnamed biological. The hazardous cloud imager is a spatially scanning Fourier transform IR on the same level of complexity as conventional remote detectors, but is capable of greater sensitivity and moving operation.