Application of a Passive Polarimetric Infrared Sensor in Improved Detection and Classification of Targets

Automatic detection and recognition of targets by means of passive IR sensors suffer from limitations due to lack of sufficient contrast between the targets and their background, and among the facets of a target.In this paper the results of a suite of polarization-sensitive automatic target detection and recognition algorithms on sets of simulated and real polarimetric IR imagery are presented. A custom designed Polarimetric IR (PIR) imaging sensor is used for collecting real polarimetric target data-three of the four Stokes parameters under a variety of conditions. Then a set of novel algorithms are designed and tested that uses the target and background Stokes parameters for detection, segmentation and classification of targets.The empirical performance results are obtained in terms of the probabilities of detection, false alarm rate, segmentation accuracy, and recognition probabilities as functions of number of pixels on target, aspect and depression angles and under several background conditions (clutter densities) on the polarimetric and non-polarimetrirc data. These results show that a noticeable improvement over the non-polarimetric ATR can be achieved.     

Passive three-dimensional imaging using polarimetric diversity

The results of experiments in developing a method for extracting three-dimensional information from a scene by means of a polarimetric passive imaging sensor are summarized. This sensor provides a full Stokes vector at each sensor pixel location from which degree and angle of linear polarization are computed. The angle of linear polarization provides the azimuth angle of the surface normal vector. The depression angle of this surface normal vector is obtained in terms of the emitting object's index of refraction from the solution of an equation derived from Fresnel equations, Snell's law, and percent of linear polarization. Results of the application of this approach to simulated infrared polarimetric data are provided.     

自动对靶喷雾靶标红外探测研究

农林作物一般非连续种植,喷在农林作物靶标之间的药液造成巨大浪费和严重环境污染,因此探讨利用红外线探测技术实现靶标的自动探测, 对靶精准喷施意义重大。红外线可有效防止可见光的干扰,响应速度快,可实现无接触探测,由此建立的红外光电探测系统可靠性好、成本低。红外发光管发射出红外光照射到被探测物体上,反射的红外线被光电探测器接收,触发控制信号,实现自动对靶施药。系统中不同探测器组采用不同编码的调制脉冲红外信号,可消除组间光路干扰及其他光信号的干扰。实验结果表明所建立的红外靶标自动探测装置可对农林作物靶标进行自动探测,光波波长为850 nm,探测距离为0.1～6 m可调,靶标最小识别间距小于0.3 m。     

Infrared dim target detection based on visual attention

Accurate and fast detection of infrared (IR) dim target has very important meaning for infrared precise guidance, early warning, video surveillance, etc. Based on human visual attention mechanisms, an automatic detection algorithm for infrared dim target is presented. After analyzing the characteristics of infrared dim target images, the method firstly designs Difference of Gaussians (DoG) filters to compute the saliency map. Then the salient regions where the potential targets exist in are extracted by searching through the saliency map with a control mechanism of winner-take-all (WTA) competition and inhibition-of-return (IOR). At last, these regions are identified by the characteristics of the dim IR targets, so the true targets are detected, and the spurious objects are rejected. The experiments are performed for some real-life IR images, and the results prove that the proposed method has satisfying detection effectiveness and robustness. Meanwhile, it has high detection efficiency and can be used for real-time detection.     

Target detection beneath foliage using polarimetric synthetic aperture radar interferometry

Abstract

In this paper, we demonstrate how the new technology of polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry can be used to enhance the detection of targets hidden beneath foliage. The key idea is to note that for random volume scattering, the interferometric coherence is invariant to changes in wave polarization. On the other hand, in the presence of a target the coherence changes with polarization. We show that under general symmetry constraints this change is linear in the complex coherence plane. These observations can be used to devise a filter to suppress the returns from foliage clutter while maintaining the signal from hidden targets. We illustrate the algorithm by applying it to coherent L-band SAR simulations of corner reflectors hidden in a forest. The simulations are performed using a voxel-based vector wave propagation and scattering code coupled to detailed structural models of tree architecture. In this way, the spatial statistics and radar signal fluctuations closely match those observed for natural terrain. We demonstrate significant improvements in the detection of hidden targets, which suggests that this technology has great potential for future foliage penetration (FOPEN) applications.     

Target detection beneath foliage using polarimetric synthetic aperture radar interferometry

In this paper, we demonstrate how the new technology of polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry can be used to enhance the detection of targets hidden beneath foliage. The key idea is to note that for random volume scattering, the interferometric coherence is invariant to changes in wave polarization. On the other hand, in the presence of a target the coherence changes with polarization. We show that under general symmetry constraints this change is linear in the complex coherence plane. These observations can be used to devise a filter to suppress the returns from foliage clutter while maintaining the signal from hidden targets. We illustrate the algorithm by applying it to coherent L-band SAR simulations of corner reflectors hidden in a forest. The simulations are performed using a voxel-based vector wave propagation and scattering code coupled to detailed structural models of tree architecture. In this way, the spatial statistics and radar signal fluctuations closely match those observed for natural terrain. We demonstrate significant improvements in the detection of hidden targets, which suggests that this technology has great potential for future foliage penetration (FOPEN) applications.     

红外序列图像多运动目标检测

针对背景不动情况下提取红外图像运动目标,提出了一种基于连续四帧序列图像精确检测多运动目标的算法,并用软件仿真了该算法处理图像的效果并与其他方法进行了对比。经试验证明该方法算法简单,实时性好。对单目标、多目标、室内、室外、简单和复杂背景的红外序列都可以得到较好的检测效果。能够有效地去除背景和噪声,精确地确定运动目标位置,有利于后续的目标跟踪,算法适于实时应用。     

New polarimetric signal subspace detectors for SAR processors

Our studies aim at detecting targets embedded in a complex environment for radar applications. This article deals with new polarimetric SAR (synthetic aperture radar) processors based on subspace detectors. These algorithms use models of targets including physical and polarimetric properties of their scattering on the contrary to the isotropic point model that is commonly used. These processors are implemented by computing the corresponding subspaces that contain the relevant responses of the target. We choose for application the detection of targets under forest foliage. The obtained results both on simulated data of realistic targets and real data show the interest of these new processors.     

多波段红外图像的海面舰船目标检测

现有的基于单个红外宽波段的海面舰船目标探测系统在面对复杂海天背景、岛岸背景、恶劣天气、亮带干扰或诱饵弹干扰等情况时,系统的探测率、虚警率、探测距离等性能指标均会受到严重的影响;为此,开展了基于多波段红外图像的海面舰船目标检测方法的研究。通过中波红外多波段数据采集系统实际采集107组五个中波红外波段的图像;波段1-5分别为3.7～4.8,3.7～4.1,4.4～4.8,3.7～3.9和4.65～4.75 μm;对多波段图像进行手动标注构建样本数据集,其中,正样本舰船目标298个,负样本非舰船目标353个。对于多波段红外图像,首先进行PCA降维并采用选择性搜索算法生成初始目标候选区域;针对候选区域中存在大量明显的非舰船目标区域的问题,利用积分图像计算候选区域的局部对比度,依据红外舰船目标的几何和灰度特征从初始目标候选区域中筛选出舰船目标可能性大的区域作为舰船目标候选区域。然后对舰船目标候选区域进行拓展以融入局部上下文信息,对于候选区域对应的5波段红外图像,分别提取每个波段图像的稠密SIFT特征,并将128维SIFT特征向量降为64维,融入SIFT特征的空间和波段位置分布信息得到新的特征向量,基于高斯混合模型对候选区域的特征向量集合进行编码融合得到舰船目标候选区域的费舍尔向量表示,最后利用线性SVM分类器识别出舰船目标。对多波段图像进行舰船目标候选区域生成实验,所提出的基于红外舰船目标的几何和灰度特征的约束方法可以有效地克服选择性搜索算法的不足,从初始目标候选区域中快速定位出舰船目标候选区域,对25组多波段图像进行实验,舰船目标候选区域生成的整体耗时为0.353 s,定位舰船目标区域耗时0.005 s。对100个正负样本进行目标识别测试,所提出的目标识别算法融合了目标的多波段图像特征信息,通过引入费舍尔向量挖掘了多波段图像梯度统计特征的深层次信息,算法的识别率达到了0.97,显著高于单波段红外图像的目标识别率。对25组多波段图像进行舰船目标检测实验,所提出的舰船目标检测方法能够在海天背景、岛岸背景以及亮带干扰等不同场景下完成海面舰船目标的检测工作,舰船目标定位准确,舰船目标召回率达到了0.95,每组多波段图像的平均检测耗时为1.33 s。研究结果表明,充分考虑海面舰船目标在红外图像中与局部海洋背景的辐射差异以及有效地融合舰船目标在多个红外波段图像中的辐射特征,可以增强舰船目标的可分性,提高舰船目标的识别率以及检测率,为基于多波段红外图像的海面舰船目标检测提供了新的技术支持。     

机载C波段全极化SAR海面风矢量反演理论研究及实验验证

机载全极化SAR海面风矢量反演研究对于近海岸复杂气象条件下风矢量探测具有重要意义. 本文从极化散射理论出发,通过分析全极化SAR探测数据与海面风矢量的关系, 设计了全极化SAR海面风矢量反演方案.依据机载SAR高机动性和全极化两个探测特点, 针对VV极化探测数据,提出了基于最大似然估计的海面风矢量反演方法,并设计了飞行实验方案; 针对VH极化探测数据,提出了通过带约束最优拟合的VH极化海面散射模型反演风速, 再利用CMOD5地球物理模型函数计算风向的海面风矢量反演方法. 利用机载全极化SAR探测的台风'海葵'边缘数据,开展了海面风矢量反演实验研究. 研究结果表明,两种风矢量反演方法均可不借助辅助信息,反演复杂气象条件下的海面风矢量. 前者反演风向、风速的均方根误差分别为18.0°, 1.8 m/s, 后者反演风向、风速的均方根误差分别为9.3°, 1.2 m/s,后者的反演精度优于前者. 这是因为VH极化归一化雷达截面与风向和雷达入射角无关,仅与风速密切相关, 更适合复杂气象条件下的海面风矢量反演. 关键词： 机载全极化SAR 海面风矢量 理论研究 实验验证     

Tensor Fukunaga-Koontz transform for small target detection in infrared images

Infrared small targets detection plays a crucial role in warning and tracking systems. Some novel methods based on pattern recognition technology catch much attention from researchers. However, those classic methods must reshape images into vectors with the high dimensionality. Moreover, vectorizing breaks the natural structure and correlations in the image data. Image representation based on tensor treats images as matrices and can hold the natural structure and correlation information. So tensor algorithms have better classification performance than vector algorithms. Fukunaga-Koontz transform is one of classification algorithms and it is a vector version method with the disadvantage of all vector algorithms. In this paper, we first extended the Fukunaga-Koontz transform into its tensor version, tensor Fukunaga-Koontz transform. Then we designed a method based on tensor Fukunaga-Koontz transform for detecting targets and used it to detect small targets in infrared images. The experimental results, comparison through signal-to-clutter, signal-to-clutter gain and background suppression factor, have validated the advantage of the target detection based on the tensor Fukunaga-Koontz transform over that based on the Fukunaga-Koontz transform.     

基于光流直方图的云背景下低帧频小目标探测方法

对低帧频、云层背景下,低信噪比的弱点目标探测率降低的问题.提出了光流直方图(OFH)的定义.并且给出了OFH的性质.分析了低帧频下红外图像探测弱点目标时探测率降低的原凶,提出了一种基于OFH背景补偿的红外点目标探测算法.利用OFH得到背景的运动欠量.进行运动背景补偿;然后利用目标与云层运动差异性,得到帧间比较结果,并对比较结果通过Robinson滤波器进一步滤除残留的边缘,达到降低虚警的目的.实验结果表明,该算法中以显著提高往复杂背景下红外点目标检测概率,并凡能够探测出信噪比为1的目标.     

Automatic optical activity measurement system

The present note proposes a simple, fast and accurate experimental technique to measure the specific optical activity coefficients in fibre-like crystals. The system is based on the automatic electronic phase shift detection by a lock-in amplifier in a dynamic polarimetric system.     

Hybrid multi-resolution detection of moving targets in infrared imagery

A hybrid moving target detection approach in multi-resolution framework for thermal infrared imagery is presented. Background subtraction and optical flow methods are widely used to detect moving targets. However, each method has some pros and cons which limits the performance. Conventional background subtraction is affected by dynamic noise and partial extraction of targets. Fast independent component analysis based background subtraction is efficient for target detection in infrared image sequences; however the noise increases for small targets. Well known motion detection method is optical flow. Still the method produces partial detection for low textured images and also computationally expensive due to gradient calculation for each pixel location. The synergistic approach of conventional background subtraction, fast independent component analysis and optical flow methods at different resolutions provide promising detection of targets with reduced time complexity. The dynamic background noise is compensated by the background update. The methodology is validated with benchmark infrared image datasets as well as experimentally generated infrared image sequences of moving targets in the field under various conditions of varying illumination, ambience temperature and the distance of the target from the sensor location. The significant value of F-measure validates the efficiency of the proposed methodology with high confidence of detection and low false alarms.     

Detection and tracking of targets in infrared images using Bayesian techniques

Simple yet robust techniques for detecting targets in infrared (IR) images are an important component of automatic target recognition (ATR) systems. In our previous works, we have developed IR target detection and tracking algorithms based on image correlation and intensity. In this paper, we discuss these algorithms, their performances and problems associated with them and then propose novel algorithms to alleviate these problems. Our proposed target detection and tracking algorithms are based on frequency domain correlation and Bayesian probabilistic techniques, respectively. The proposed algorithms are found to be suitable for real-time detection and tracking of static or moving targets, while accommodating for detrimental affects posed by the clutter and background noise. Finally, limitations of all these algorithms are discussed.     

星载极化相关型全极化微波辐射计天线交叉极化校正技术(I): 天线温度方程推导

星载极化相关型全极化微波辐射计是一种新型空间被动微波遥感仪器, 为海面风场等海洋大气环境参数的遥感探测提供了重要技术途径. 天线交叉极化校正是其数据预处理算法的重要环节. 本文针对星载极化相关型全极化微波辐射计天线交叉极化校正需求, 以极化相干检测理论为基础, 结合Stokes参数的定义, 自主推导了其适用的全极化天线温度方程. 该方程针对四个Stokes参数天线温度, 引入了Stokes参数之间交叉极化的振幅和相位, 并考虑了极化旋转角对天线方向图计算的影响. 最后, 建立了天线扫描波束与地球场景的几何对应关系, 对天线温度方程中各参数的确定方法进行了探讨. 全极化天线温度方程的建立为进一步开展星载极化相关型全极化微波辐射计天线交叉极化校正奠定了基础. 关键词： 全极化微波辐射计 天线交叉极化 天线温度方程 相干检测     

偏振光谱图像去雾技术研究

空气污染严重影响了成像质量,雾霾天气下成像的对比度和分辨率下降。利用不同波段偏振光谱数据的图像去雾研究国内外尚未见报道;运用偏振光谱去雾技术对光谱数据立方体研究具有重要意义。在中重度雾霾天气下,利用光谱仪,获取了380～1 000 nm的可见近红外偏振光谱数据,研究了450,550,650,750和850 nm五个波长下偏振图像和去雾结果。结果表明,波长对图像目标与背景的灰度差值影响显著,去雾后图像的灰度动态范围和平滑度都有显著提升;去雾后图像远景对比度平均提升了5倍,其中450 nm图像对比度最低,但对比度提升量最大,提高了7.13倍;850 nm图像对比度最高,但对比度提升量最小,提高了3.86倍;去雾后不同波长图像的灰度动态范围均有明显展宽,展宽范围为13.5%～28.6%,而图像近景动态范围展宽为33.3%～44.0%。分析了图像复原过程中可能出现的估计误差,根据其产生机理提出了对大气散射光的偏振度和无穷远处的大气散射光强度的校正方法,并总结出了最佳校正系数的选取规律,对未知条件下的图像去雾提出指导。通过斯托克斯参数从原始数据中提取偏振信息,基于大气散射光与景物透射光偏振特性差异对图像去雾,偏振光谱图像去雾技术为光谱图像去雾研究提供一种新手段,也为图像去雾技术的发展提供一种新思路。     

A robust infrared dim target detection method based on template filtering and saliency extraction

Dim target detection in infrared image with complex background and low signal-clutter ratio (SCR) is a significant and difficult task in the infrared target tracking system. A robust infrared dim target detection method based on template filtering and saliency extraction is proposed in this paper. The weighted gray map is obtained from the infrared image to highlight the target which is brighter than its neighbors and has weak correlation with its background. The target saliency map is then calculated by phase spectrum of Fourier Transform, so that the dim target detection could be converted to salient region extraction. The potential targets are finally extracted by combining the two maps. Moreover, position discrimination between targets in the two maps is used to exclude the false alarms and extract the targets. Experimental results on measured images indicate that our method is feasible, adaptable and robust in different backgrounds. The ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) curves obtained from the simulated images demonstrate the proposed method outperforms some existing typical methods in both detection rate and false alarm rate, for target detection with low SCR.     

基于多特征的快速红外弱小目标检测算法

为了从全向红外搜索和跟踪系统采集的海量大视场高分辨率红外图像中快速准确地检测出红外弱小目标,本文提出了一种基于由粗到细的分阶段检测策略和时空域特征融合的红外弱小目标检测算法.首先,通过引入基于频域的快速显著性检测算法预先检测出目标可能存在的候选区域;其次,对候选区域进行角点检测以判定是否存在候选目标;最后,通过结合帧间时空域特征对候选目标进行进一步判定,以提取真实目标、删除虚假目标.多种实际场景的实验结果表明,该目标检测算法不仅运算量小而且探测概率高、虚警率低,是一种工程实用性能很好的红外弱小目标检测算法.     

Track infrared point targets based on projection coefficient templates and non-linear correlation combined with Kalman prediction

For a long time, tracking IR point targets is a great challenge task. We propose a tracking framework based on template matching combined with Kalman prediction. Firstly, a novel template matching method for detecting infrared point targets is presented. Different from the classic template matching, the projection coefficients obtained from principal component analysis are used as templates and the non-linear correlation coefficient is used to measure the matching degree. The non-linear correlation can capture the higher-order statistics. So the detection performance is improved greatly. Secondly, a framework of tracking point targets, based on the proposed detection method and Kalman prediction, is developed. Kalman prediction reduces the searching region for the detection method and, in turn, the detection method provides the more precise measurement for Kalman prediction. They bring out the best in each other. Results of experiments show that this framework is competent to track infrared point targets.