- Author
-
Rowe, J. L.
- Title
- Impact of Thermal Imaging Camera Display Quality on Fire Fighter Task Performance.
- Coporate
- Maryland Univ., College Park
- Sponsor
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Report
-
NIST GCR 09-926,
June 2009,
153 p.
- Keywords
-
thermal imaging
|
cameras
|
fire fighters
|
fire fighting equipment
|
first responders
|
fire departments
|
infrared optics
|
NFPA 1801
|
test methods
|
scenarios
|
fire hazard
|
Fourier Transform
|
human beings
|
experiments
|
noise (sound)
|
validation
|
histograms
- Identifiers
- impage processing; human perception experimental design; modeling human perception; image quality characteristics; image processing technique; Night Vision Laboratory (NVL); image production; defining the scenario criteria; defining the image set; logistic regression model; model deviance and partial deviance; fit test
- Abstract
- Thermal imaging cameras (TIC) have become a vital fire fighting tool for the first responder community but there are currently no standardized quality control regulations. The purpose of the study was to understand the impact of TIC display image quality on a fire fighter's ability to perform a hazard recognition task. Test subjects were asked to identify a fire hazard by observing infrared images. The image matrix considered the interactions of several image characteristics including contrast, brightness, spatial resolution, and noise. The results were used to create a model function to predict the effect of image quality on user performance. This model was recommended to be incorporated in image quality test methods in development at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. These recommendations will also be provided to the National Fire Protection Association for use in an upcoming standard on fire fighting TIC.