SIMVEX 2001 trial - radiant intensity contrast

FFI project 801 “IR-missiles” participated in the SIMVEX (Ship Infrared Model Validation EXperiment) trial organized by NATO RTO/SET/TG16 “Infrared measurements and modeling for ship self defense” in September 2001 in Halifax, Canada. The aim of the trial was to evaluate the ship signature model ShipIR/NTCS and to evaluate and improve the methodology used by the participating countries. A complete ShipIR/NTCS model of the unclassified target ship, CFAV Quest, was distributed to all participating countries. The main FFI instrumentation included a spectroradiometer, two IR cameras, blackbodies, two weather stations, and a GPS system transmitting the ship position to the shore station. This report contains results on apparent radiant intensity contrast obtained during the SIMVEX trial using an MW and an LW infrared camera, and also presents parts of the weather data. Apparent radiant intensity contrast results are compared with predictions from the ShipIR/NTCS model for selected runs. In addition, ShipIR/NTCS temperature predictions are compared with on-board temperature sensor readings for these runs. The quality of the weather data obtained during the trial is believed to be good, while the image data is of more varying quality. The comparison with the model results indicates that the model overpredicts the apparent radiant intensity contrast and temperatures for the day runs and underpredicts for the night runs.