EOSTAR: an electro-optical sensor performance model for predicting atmospheric refraction, turbulence, and transmission in the marine surface layer

A first version of the integrated model EOSTAR ( E lectro- O ptical S ignal T ransmission and R anging) to predict the performance of electro-optical (EO) sensor systems in the marine atmospheric surface layer has been developed. The model allows the user to define camera systems, atmospheric conditions and target characteristics, and it uses standard (shipboard) meteorological data to calculate atmospheric effects such as refraction, turbulence, spectrally resolved transmission, path- and background radiation. Alternatively, the user may specify vertical profiles of meteorological parameters and/or profiles of atmospheric refraction, either interactively or in data files with a flexible format. Atmospheric effects can be presented both numerically and graphically as distorted images of synthetically generated targets with spatially distributed emission properties. EOSTAR is a completely mouse-driven PC Windows program with a user-friendly interface and extended help files. Most calculations are performed in real-time, although spectral transmission and background radiation calculations take up to a few seconds for each new meteorological condition. The program can be used in a wide range of applications, e.g., for operational planning and instruction.