Noise measurement on thermal systems with narrow band

Thermal systems with a narrow spectral bandpass and mid-wave thermal imagers are useful for a variety of imaging applications. Additionally, the sensitivity for these classes of systems is increasing along with an increase in performance requirements when evaluated in a lab. Unfortunately, the uncertainty in the blackbody temperature along with the temporal instability of the blackbody could lead to uncontrolled laboratory environmental effects which could increase the measured noise. If the temporal uncertainty and accuracy of a particular blackbody is known, then confidence intervals could be adjusted for source accuracy and instability. Additionally, because thermal currents may be a large source of temporal noise in narrow band systems, a means to mitigate them is presented and results are discussed.