How are elemental IR detectors characterized?

Elemental infrared (IR) detectors are characterized by the way they process the infrared radiation they receive. In particular, one key feature of these detectors is their ability to average the signal from the entire scene into one. This means that instead of creating separate images based on individual points of infrared radiation, the detector synthesizes a broader overview of the temperature variations across the entire field of view.

This characteristic is crucial for applications in thermal imaging and surveillance, where understanding the overall heat distribution in an area can provide vital information. By averaging the signal from the entire scene, these detectors can quickly identify hot spots or significant temperature differences, making them effective for monitoring and detection tasks.

In contrast, other statements regarding elemental IR detectors would not accurately describe their functions, such as the suggestion that they only detect heat, which doesn't encompass their full capability in analyzing IR signals from a scene. Therefore, the statement about averaging signals accurately encapsulates a fundamental aspect of how elemental IR detectors operate in practice.