SPIE - Education Atmospheric Codes for Sensor Development and Evaluation SC1137

Passive and active sensors are developed for target acquisition and spectroscopic analysis ranging from the ultraviolet through the microwave region. Accurate atmospheric absorption and emission (path radiance) values are essential for sensor development. This data is obtained using MODTRAN, often used in conjunction with NVThermIP, and other sensor software. HITRAN and FASCODE are used for laser applications. Emphasis will be placed on solving real world problems. Four typical scenarios will be presented: ground-to-ground, ground-to-air, air-to- air and ground-to-space scenarios. The importance of transmission and radiance for each scenario will be discussed. The students are encouraged to bring their specific scenarios to the course to be setup and run. A computer will be available and we will run these scenarios and discuss the results. The attendees will be able to take home model input files to be used at their facilities. We will discuss their cases along with the expected transmission and atmospheric radiance values.