Selection Justification of Thermal Image System Lens Characteristics for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

The necessity to increase kamikaze drones’ efficiency and to reduce their cost is caused by their significant prevalence. In this sense, it is necessary to equip such unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with inexpensive thermal image cameras. The target detection range and recognition with a given probability are principal consumer evaluations for remote surveillance thermal image systems. Currently, in this case, using microbolometric matrix detectors with inexpensive infrared lenses is the best technical solution. The calculation method is advisable to justify the lens parameters compatible with the selected detector and ensure maximum operational efficiency. The article is devoted to the simplified synthesis method for developing the main parameters of the UAV thermal image system lens for the chosen type of microbolometric matrix detector. The methodology is based on the noise equivalent temperature difference. Based on the proposed method, a calculation example of a lens for an inexpensive on-board thermal imager of a kamikaze drone is given.