What Is an IR Tracker?

Infrared tracking technology refers to detecting the infrared radiation of a target, measuring its two-dimensional space angular coordinates, forming an error signal, and using a tracking loop to make the optical axis real-time and automatically aim the radiation source or give the position coordinates of the source in the field of view Processes, installations and technologies.

Infrared tracking technology refers to the detection of infrared

Infrared tracking technology is divided into point source non-imaging tracking and imaging tracking. The process of capturing the target is divided into manual and automatic. The latter needs to include a search device and complex object recognition processing functions. Infrared trackers usually work in passive mode, and the practical working bands are 2 ~ 3 m, 3 ~ 5 m and 8 ~ 14 m.

The infrared tracker usually consists of a target optical marker (or infrared imaging system), an angular error signal generation and processing circuit, a tracking loop and a follower mechanism. The infrared tracker installed on the moving carrier needs a stable platform or system in order to capture the target in a narrow field of view. It can also be guided by the radar or television system to provide the spatial position coordinates of the target ^[1]

The upper limit of the accuracy of infrared tracking is determined by the optical diffraction limit. Because the wavelength of light waves is far less than that of radio waves, infrared tracking can achieve high accuracy unmatched by tracking radars. The large-caliber infrared tracker has an accuracy of the order of 10 arc seconds. Infrared trackers often improve their detection sensitivity by programming a small instantaneous field of view. The generation and processing of the angular error is the key technology of the infrared follower. The infrared imaging tracker uses a sub-pixel processing algorithm to make the tracking accuracy reach one tenth of a pixel angular size.

Therefore, in high-precision applications, infrared imaging trackers have completely replaced non-imaging trackers. Infrared tracking technology is the basis for the design of infrared seekers, and is widely used in the outer trajectory measurement of missile ranges and astronomical observations in outer space ^[1] .