In this paper, one active polarization imaging technique is introduced to enhance the contrast between the target and the sky to overcome the environmental interference such as cloud and fog in the long-range detection of air vehicles. At first, the theory of the whole system, the selection of detection system and the wavelength of laser, and the brief design of the optical system are described. Secondly the selection of the laser power is derived based on the elements such as atmosphere attenuation, and the sensitivity, image contrast and signal-to-noise ratio in the detector. Then the polarization imaging mechanism of the full aperture polarization measurement platform is analyzed. Finally a nonlinear differentiator is proposed to improve the speed stability in the tracking to ensure high imaging quality. The purpose of this paper is to lay a theoretical foundation for active polarization imaging technology and to promote its engineering application in shooting range and other fields. (C) 2017 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.