Time Characteristics of the Imaging Quality Degradation Caused by Aero-Optical Effects Under Hypersonic Conditions

In this study, the time characteristics of the image quality degradation caused by aero-optical effects in time-varying hypersonic conditions have been investigated to ensure the precision of the guidance capability. The time-accurate imaging scheme based on time discretization has been used to predict the imaging quality of the infrared detection system caused by aero-optical effects. Using wave aberration, point spread function, and peak signal-to-noise ratio as imaging evaluation indicators, the time characteristics of the image quality degradation caused by aero-optical effects under hypersonic conditions have been obtained. During the working process, the image quality degradation caused by the aero-optical transmission effect is not obvious, and limited influence mainly comes from the aero-optical transmission effect of the flow field. With time marching, the aero-thermal radiation effect will rapidly degrade the image quality. The influence of the aero-thermal radiation predominantly determines the image deterioration.