Detection analysis of a Mid-Wave InfraRed camera for small satellite missions

Abstract

The Mid-Wave Infrared is a region in the infrared spectrum, which has not been deeply in use in satellite development, in part because the Long-Wave Infrared offers at first appearance a wider range of applications and performance. Therefore, the extense of LWIR leaves a big gap in which an MWIR detector can be useful and gather information the other infrared spectrums can not.Furthermore, high spatial resolution applications in spacecraft missions in the thermal infrared have not been exploited too much, especially in nanosatellites. What this means is as already stated that there are a lot of situations that an MWIR can cover, just as, for example, high-temperature applications such as volcanos or wildfires. Additionally, it offers a better performance in thermal resolution. The purpose of this thesis is to discuss and trade-off in which situations and for which characteristics, it is a feasible nanosatellite mission in the MWIR. It will be studied also which detector in the market is more suitable depending on the requirements for each mission scenario, computing key values such as the temperature resolution, size, and signal-to-noise ratio.