ABSTRACT
The minimum resolvable temperature difference (MRTD) is the overall performance
parameter of any thermal imaging radiometer (TIR). MRTD combine the sensitivity
and resolution of the TIR. It accurately describes the interrelationship for a particular
TIR. MRTD is used especially tactically oriented (fire control and targeting)
organizations, as the primary performance measure and is used with a target and
atmospheric parameters to give a probability of target discrimination. This paper is
directed toward constructing a software program for the calculation and plotting the
MRTD and a probability of target discrimination. These parameters can be used as a
tutorial or a procedure to determine how well TIR parameters perform in overall
imaging system scenario for particular targets, backgrounds, atmospheric conditions
allowing a quick evaluation of the TIR in different environments.