Infrared Thermography

Infrared (IR) thermography is a well established technique for remotely measuring the temperature of a surface where it is impractical or impossible to do so by a contact means. The term thermography denotes an imaging capability, but the concepts are the same for non-imaging sensors. IR thermography exploits the correlation between the temperature of a surface and the IR energy emitted by the surface. This relationship is described by Stefans Law:

R (T ) = T 4

(1)

where is the Stephan-Boltzman constant (= 5.6710-8 W/(m2K4)) and T is the temperature of the surface. The spectrum of the IR light is described by Plancks blackbody function.

N ( , T ) d =

8hc 1 hc kT d 5 e 1

(2)

IR thermographic measurements are typically done in one of two spectral bands which exhibit relatively low absorption of light by water vapor and carbon dioxide (CO2); these are the 3 to 5 m band and the 8 to 12 m band and are sometimes called atmospheric windows. For this particular measurement where we are interested in measuring human skin temperature over a range of 35 to 55C, it makes radiometric sense to work in the 8 to 12 m band, as this is where the radiation is concentrated according to equation 2. In general, this measurement works well as long as all of the radiation from the surface makes it to the detector. However, as we step outside and attempt to make this measurement over a large standoff between surface and sensor, the atmosphere has a strong detrimental impact on the accuracy. The key to making an accurate and absolute IR thermographic temperature measurement is being able to correct for the effects of absorption due to water vapor and CO2 as well as scattering and absorption due to fog, rain, and snow. Thermographers which simply correlate emitted radiance with surface temperature will report significant temperature errors in the presence of high humidity, rain, and fog, as a large percent of the light is attenuated before it reaches the sensor as shown in figure 1. Figure 2 illustrates the associated temperature error of the integrated radiance approach over a 100 m path with humidity, CO2, and fog.
Figure 1: Atmospheric Transmission
1.0 1.4E-03 1.2E-03 0.8 1.0E-03 transmission 0.6 8.0E-04 6.0E-04 4.0E-04 0.2 2.0E-04 0.0 7.4 9.4 11.4 13.4
wavelength (microns) H2O CO2 Fog Rain Planck

0.4

0.0E+00

Figure 1 shows the transmission spectra of water vapor, CO2, radiation fog, and rain for high humidity, moderate radiation fog, and light rain over a pathlength of 100 m. We impose the transmission spectra over the Planck blackbody profile associated with a 40C surface (given by equation 2 and read off the right y-axis). The attenuation by these atmospheric constituents results in substantially less energy arriving at the sensor relative to what left the surface. The effect is a significant perceived temperature error. Molecular absorption spectra was obtained through Hitran PC; fog and rain attenuation spectra was obtained using Modtran PC.

Infrared Thermography

radiance (W/cm2ster um)

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Figure 2 shows the projected error of the integrated radiance measurement over a pathlength of 100 m. Once the sensor is calibrated in the laboratory, there is no easy way for it to compensate for atmospheric absorbance and scattering in the path of the measurement when it is taken outside. The result, as shown on the right axis, is a significant temperature error. This error is particularly problematic in the DE application because the target is always reported colder than it really is; the microwave source operator may continue to heat the target to a desired (but erroneously read) temperature level, resulting in potentially significant injury.

Figure 2: Projected Temperature Error for Integrated Radiance Measurement over 100 m
6.E-03 22.0

5.E-03 instrument response (RU)

21.5 temperature error (K)

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target temperature (K)

unattenuated response attenuated response error

In response to this opportunity, OPTRA has demonstrated the feasibility of a novel approach to IR thermography. We have taken advantage of the quasi-symmetric structure of water vapor absorption and radiation fog attenuation (figure 1) by spectrally splitting the IR image onto two miniature uncooled microbolometer cameras using interference filters. The two spectral channels approximately balance out the effects as shown in figure 3. In addition, we filter out the absorption due to CO2 by positioning the cutoff of the longwave filter just short of the 13.4 m resonance band. By algebraically combining the images on a per-pixel basis and normalizing the result, we are able to project a surface temperature measurement in high humidity, fog, and rain with minimal error (figure 4).

Figure 3: OPTRA's Approach

1.0

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0.0 7.4 9.4 11.4 13.4

wavelength (microns) H2O CO2 Fog Rain F1 F2

Figure 3 shows the two effective spectral filters imposed on the atmospheric constituent transmission. By carefully selecting the edges of the filters, we balance out the attenuation in the two channels, regardless of the pathlength or humidity or fog level. Normalizing the algebraically combined images corrects for spectrally flat attenuation such as that caused by rain, snow, and advection fog as well as other sources of bulk attenuation.

transmission

Infrared Thermography

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Figure 4 shows the projected temperature error for OPTRAs thermographer measuring skin temperature over standoffs of 100, 400, and 700 m. This figure illustrates that by spectrally balancing the attenuation, we are able to report the absolute temperature of a surface with minimal error at a standoff of up to 700m.

Figure 4: Projected Temperature Error for OPTRA Measurement (Three Standoffs)

5 4 3 temperature error (K) 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 305

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target temperature (K) 100 m error 400 m error 700 m error

Infrared Thermography

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