Detection of dim point targets in cluttered maritime backgrounds through multisensor image fusion

Detection of dim point targets in cluttered maritime backgrounds through multisensor image fusion

Toet, A.
TNO Technische Menskunde

Watkins, W.R. (editor)
Clement, D. (editor)
Reynolds, W.R. (editor)

2002

Multispectral IR imaging techniques are frequently deployed in maritime operations, for instance to detect floating mines or to find small dinghies and swimmers during search and rescue operations. However, maritime backgrounds usually contain a large amount of clutter that severely hampers the detection of dim point targets. Here we present a simple algorithm that deploys the correlation between target signatures in two different (3-5 and 8-12 mum) IR frequency bands to reduce the amount of clutter. First, both individual IR bands are filtered with a morphological opening top-hat transform to extract small details. Second, the resulting detail images are thresholded to produce binary detail images, representing potential target areas. Third, a fused detail image is obtained by taking the intersection (logical AND) of both binary IR detail images. Details that appear in both IR bands remain in this fused detail image, whereas a large fraction of uncorrelated noise details is filtered out. Remaining noise details can be removed by taking into account the temporal characteristics of the target signatures and by using a priori knowledge of structure of the scene and the size of potential targets. The method is tested on two image sequences showing a maritime scene with three kayaks approaching from far away. The scenario was registered in the 3-5 mum and 8-12 mum IR frequency bands, and in the visual range. The results show that the proposed multispectral processing technique has the potential to improve the detection of dim point targets in cluttered maritime backgrounds.

Vision
Multisensory perception
Infrared imaging
Target detection
Detection
Image fusion
Infrared
Mathematical morphology
Algorithms
Correlation methods
Mathematical morphology
Oceanography
Sensor data fusion
Dinghies
Floating mines
Maritime operations
Rescue operations
Search operations
Swimmers
Infrared imaging

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:d77482eb-f230-4405-9b7d-b4180d3672d6

12927

The International Society for Optical Engineering, Bellingham, WA

Targets and Backgrounds: Characterization and Representation VIII, 4718, 118-129

conference paper