Some Matched Filter Configurations for Infrared Systems

An analysis of the output of three alternative matched filter configurations in an infrared scanning system model is presented. The sensor is corrupted by thermal noise, generation-recombination noise, photon noise, and modulation noise, the latter providing an extreme discoloration in the signal passband. Expressions for the signal voltage density spectrum, signal pulse shape, noise power spectrum, and average noise power at the matched filter output are derived where the integral evaluations attendant to these derivations do not appear elsewhere in the literature. The paper also provides graphical displays of the signal-to-noise power ratio at the filter output versus various system parameters, noise power spectrum out of the matched filter versus ω, and the signal pulse shape out of the filter versus time. Also included are discussions of practically realizable approximations to the matched filters and curve fitting techniques for the signal pulse shape function.