DUAL BAND INFRARED RADIOMETER FOR PRECISE BATTLEFIELD SKIN TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS

"Voxtel Inc. proposes in this Phase I effort to develop and optimize for the battlefield environment, a miniature, robust, and reliable multi-band infrared radiometer that will remotely monitor vital physiological parameters and provide accurate measures ofmillimeter wave induced hyperthermia. Thermography is a well-established discipline, but in real world situations, the parameters governing heat transfer are variable and uncontrollable; variations in ambient conditions such as temperature, wind, rain,fog, background noise, etc., as well as the physiological state of the human subject, all reduce the accuracy of conventional thermography methods. To solve these problems, Voxtel will develop and integrate precise models of the temporal and spatial heattransfer mechanisms of the human body with and without EM induced hyperthermia, emissivity models of various obscurants, environmental and atmospheric models, and sensor and signal processing models. The result of this effort will be an optimize design ofa precision, multi-band, infrared, imaging (BMI2R) radiometric instrument capable of high accuracy at a 200-meter or longer battlefield range. Our trade studies will include: 1) a baseline handheld, dual band, QWIP camera design contrasted with theperformance of: 2) single and dual band HgCdTe and 3) a split window, uncooled LWIR microbolometer. A novel infrared face detection and tracking will augment the system. In addition to the mat