Software for Generating Synthetic Passive Fourier Transform Infrared Interferograms and Single-beam Spectra.

Software routines for generating synthetic Fourier transform infrared FT-IR spectra and interferograms are documented. Infrared radiative transfer models for passive FT-IR spectroscopy are furnished, providing a basis for simulating realistic spectral data. Laboratory passive FT-IR spectra and interferograms are shown to validate the software performance. Due to variability in reported absorption coefficients, it is found that simulated data are not a replacement for either laboratory or field quantitative measurements. However, the synthetic data capability provides a versatile resource for examining experimental results and a flexible tool for chemometric research into various signal processing strategies for passive FT-IR spectroscopy. The software routines in the FTIRToolbox are written in MATLAB. Complete program source code listings are provided in the appendix.