Commercial Software
In the design phase, it is often desirable to employ a computer to predict what the infrared signature will be before fabricating an actual object. Many iterations of this prediction process can be performed in a short time at low cost, whereas use of a measurement range is often time-consuming, expensive and error-prone.
A number of software houses have built infrared signature prediction software packages. These generally require a CAD model of interest plus a large set of parameters to describe a specific thermal environment and the internal temperatures of the platform and thermal properties of the construction materials. The software then solves a set of thermal equations across the boundaries and for electromagnetic propagation in a specified infrared waveband. The primary output is a measure of infrared signature, though usually surface temperatures can be given (since this usually has to be calculated to obtain the infrared signature prediction) and also visual representations of how the scene may appear to various imaging infrared detectors.
Infrared signature prediction models are very difficult to validate except for simple cases because of the difficulty in modelling a complex environment. Both sensitivity analysis of this type of software and experimental measurements has shown that small variations in weather can have a significant impact on the results. As such, there are limitations on what can be achieved from modelling the infrared problem, and sometimes experimentation is necessary to achieve accurate knowledge of the nature of an objects physical existence in the infrared wavebands.
An example of a commercial infrared signature prediction tool is the Ship EDF software offered by the Italian company IDS.
Read more about this topic: Infrared Signature
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