Specification of thermal imagers

A Defense Department guide to the preparation of specifications for thermal imaging systems is synopsized which covers all phases of system development and sets forth imaging-system requirements as well as quality-assurance test procedures to check those requirements. The synopsis emphasizes imaging quality requirements with minimum resolvable temperature difference (MRT) as an example in order to illustrate both the limitations and versatility of using the overall guide. The contents of the guide are summarized, the MRT requirement is treated in detail, and the MRT test is described. The test procedure for time-limited MRT is also discussed along with the danger of parameter overspecification.