Article Abstracts | September 2005
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Hyperspectral Imagers See Chemical Clouds
The combination of spectrometry and imagery yields higher-dimensional data that enable standoff chemical detection.
by Jeff Legault, Telops USA Inc., and Dr. Martin Chamberland and
Dr. André Villemaire, Telops Inc.
Interest in the detection, identification and quantification of chemicals in the gaseous state from a safe distance has increased in the context of domestic defense applications. One promising method to achieve such standoff detection and quantification involves imaging spectroradiometry in the thermal infrared region.
This passive method of chemical analysis relies on the imbalance of emission and absorption of chemical species in the field of view of the instrument. If the gas is warmer than the temperature of the background, the spectral bands of the molecules in the gas appear in the emission data, and the same bands are seen in the absorption data when the gas is colder...
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