Edge directional 2D LMS filter for infrared small target detection

In this paper, we introduce an edge directional 2D least mean squares (LMSs) filter for small target detection in infrared (IR) images. Generally, the 2D LMS filter functions as a background prediction to apply to IR small target detection field. In order to accurately predict background objects as well as regions covered by small targets, the proposed 2D LMS filter take full advantage of edge information of prediction pixels corresponding to surrounding blocks around current filter window. And, to adjust adaptively its step size in the background and small target region, the adaptive region-dependent nonlinear step size is calculated by using the variance of the prediction pixels of the surrounding blocks. This prediction structure and adaptive step size of the proposed 2D LMS filter is applied to the background region including objects such as cloud edge and small target region differently. Through this way, the proposed 2D LMS filter predicts the background excluding small targets. Then, by subtracting the predicted background from the original IR image, small targets can be extracted. Experimental results show that the proposed 2D LMS filter has stronger target extraction and better background suppression ability compared to the existing 2D LMS filters.     

Small target detection using bilateral filter and temporal cross product in infrared images

We introduce a spatial and temporal target detection method using spatial bilateral filter (BF) and temporal cross product (TCP) of temporal pixels in infrared (IR) image sequences. At first, the TCP is presented to extract the characteristics of temporal pixels by using temporal profile in respective spatial coordinates of pixels. The TCP represents the cross product values by the gray level distance vector of a current temporal pixel and the adjacent temporal pixel, as well as the horizontal distance vector of the current temporal pixel and a temporal pixel corresponding to potential target center. The summation of TCP values of temporal pixels in spatial coordinates makes the temporal target image (TTI), which represents the temporal target information of temporal pixels in spatial coordinates. And then the proposed BF filter is used to extract the spatial target information. In order to predict background without targets, the proposed BF filter uses standard deviations obtained by an exponential mapping of the TCP value corresponding to the coordinate of a pixel processed spatially. The spatial target image (STI) is made by subtracting the predicted image from the original image. Thus, the spatial and temporal target image (STTI) is achieved by multiplying the STI and the TTI, and then targets finally are detected in STTI. In experimental result, the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves were computed experimentally to compare the objective performance. From the results, the proposed algorithm shows better discrimination of target and clutters and lower false alarm rates than the existing target detection methods.     

INFRARED SMALL TARGET DETECTION ALGORITHM BASED ON SELF-ADAPTIVE BACKGROUND FORECAST

A background forecast filter is presented to detect a small target under an infrared (IR) nature scene. By calculating the correlation of image pixels, the background around the small target could be forecasted. Subtracting the forecast background from original scene, the small targets would become outstanding. Experimental results show that the algorithm proposed has better performance with respect to probability of detection and less computation complexity.     

低对比度小目标检测

对强杂波背景下的远距离目标探测,提出基于序列图像的局部自适应背景预测,获得图像背景的最佳估计。对残差图像采用能量累积及中值滤波消除背景杂波。为提高信噪比,采用带缓冲窗口的双窗滤波法使目标和背景的差别更加显著,有利于低对比度下的目标分割。最后采用改进的高阶相关方法,在不影响检测性能的情况下加快了真实目标识别的运算收敛速度,并最终实现了算法工程化,在图像局部信噪比大于0.3时,采用三阶相关时检测概率达到98%。     

Prediction of the performance of an algorithm for the detection of small targets in infrared images

Detection of small targets in infrared (IR) images is important in IR image processing. For the prediction of performance of a detection algorithm, it is necessary to calculate the probability of detection and probability of false alarm. A method is developed to calculate the probabilities in this paper. The detection is divided into two parts: the first part, which is called pre-detection, is to find out candidates for targets in a single frame of an image; and the second part is to localize the target in multiple frames of the image. Under some assumptions, the pre-detection probability, the false detection probability of single frame, detection probability and false alarm probability are derived. The algorithm for the detection of small target in IR image, which is used for the derivation of the probabilities, is contrast threshold detection based on background prediction, and a pipeline filter is used for multiframe image processing. The results show the relationship of the probabilities to the contrast of target to background, SNR, and contrast threshold.     

Detection of infrared small target based on fusion of multi-filters北大核心CSCD

Aiming at solving accuracy problem of infrared small target detection in sky and ocean background scenarios of infrared image sequences, a novel infrared small target detection based on multi-filters algorithm fusion method is presented in this paper. Firstly infrared small target and imaging, time and space characteristics of the corresponding background noise are analyzed. Tophat algorithm with improved Robinson guard filter are then integrated to highlight target and suppress clutter background by using infrared small target imaging features. Adaptive threshold segmentation is used to extract candidate targets, while Unger smoothing filter and multi-objects association filter are used to eliminate random noise and false targets in the candidate targets. Multiple experiments of infrared small target image sequences are implemented, and experimental results show that proposed method can detect infrared small targets at 99% detection rate with high reliability and good real-time performance. © 2017, Editorial Board, Journal of Applied Optics. All right reserved.     

自适应双边滤波红外弱小目标检测方法

针对红外弱小目标检测,提出一种基于自适应双边滤波的背景预测算法.该算法利用空域低通滤波和图像灰度信息的非线性组合,自适应的对背景进行预测,达到提高弱小目标检测性能的目的.仿真和实验表明：与小波滤波的检测算法相比,该算法能够更加有效地从结构化背景中检测目标抑制背景.     

Temporal Profile Based Small Moving Target Detection Algorithm in Infrared Image Sequences

A new algorithm is presented which deals with the problem of detecting small moving targets in infrared image sequences that also contain drifting and evolving clutter. Through development of models of the temporal behavior of the static background, target and cloud edge on a single pixel basis, the new algorithm employing the connecting line of the stagnation points (CLSP) of the temporal profile as the baseline is created and tested. The deviation of the temporal profile and its CLSP is analyzed and it is determined that the distribution of the residual temporal profile obtained by subtracting the baseline from the temporal profile can be modeled by a Gaussian distribution. The occurrences of the targets have intensity values significantly different to the distribution of the residual temporal profile. Unlike the conventional 3-D method, this new algorithm operates on the temporal profile in 1-D space, not in 3-D space, thus having a higher computational efficiency. Experiments with real IR image sequences have proved the validity of the new approach. This work was supported by National Natural Science Fund of China (No. 60277005).     

A novel infrared small target detection method based on BEMD and local inverse entropy

Compared to other targets, it is more difficult to detect infrared small targets due to several aspects such as the low signal to noise ratio, low contrast, small size, the lack of shape and texture information of the targets, especially under complex background. In this paper, a novel infrared small target detection method based on peer group filter (PGF), bi-dimensional empirical mode decomposition (BEMD) and local inverse entropy (LIE) is proposed to overcome these difficulties. The PGF is implemented to remove the noise and improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the initial image. Our proposed BEMD algorithm is able to estimate the background effectively and get the target image by removing the background from the original image and segmenting the Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs) making use of the local inverse entropy. Experimental results demonstrate that the novel method can extract the small targets validly and accurately.     

扫描型红外预警系统中弱小目标的检测算法

提出一种基于面阵探测器的全方位红外预警系统的运动弱小目标检测算法.该算法主要基于灰度形态学滤波和目标概率分布函数匹配两种技术.灰度形态学的高帽变换可以有效地检测出红外图像中的特定目标,但没有考虑目标强度分布特征,检测结果的虚警率较高.本文采用了均值偏移算法常用的概率分布函数匹配技术,对检测出的小目标进行二次确认.试验结果表明,该方法能够有效地抑制背景杂波干扰,降低虚警率.     

Joint detection and tracking of size-varying infrared targets based on block-wise sparse decomposition

The high variability of target size makes small target detection in Infrared Search and Track (IRST) a challenging task. A joint detection and tracking method based on block-wise sparse decomposition is proposed to address this problem. For detection, the infrared image is divided into overlapped blocks, and each block is weighted on the local image complexity and target existence probabilities. Target-background decomposition is solved by block-wise inexact augmented Lagrange multipliers. For tracking, label multi-Bernoulli (LMB) tracker tracks multiple targets taking the result of single-frame detection as input, and provides corresponding target existence probabilities for detection. Unlike fixed-size methods, the proposed method can accommodate size-varying targets, due to no special assumption for the size and shape of small targets. Because of exact decomposition, classical target measurements are extended and additional direction information is provided to improve tracking performance. The experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively suppress background clutters, detect and track size-varying targets in infrared images.     

Small Target Detection Algorithm Based on Average Absolute Difference Maximum and Background Forecast

Detecting small targets in clutter scene and low SNR (Signal Noise Ratio) is an important and challenging problem in infrared (IR) images. In order to solve this problem, we should do works from two sides: enhancing targets and suppressing background. Firstly, in this paper, the system utilizes the average absolute difference maximum (AADM) as the dissimilarity measurement between targets and background region to enhance targets. Secondly, it uses a predictor to suppress the background clutter. Finally, our approach extracts the interested small target with segment threshold. Experimental results show that the algorithm proposed has better performance with respect to probability of detection and less computation complexity. It is an effective small infrared target detection algorithm against complex background.     

Small target detection using main directional suppression high pass filter

Small target detection in deep space background with a complex background is one of the most important tasks in space technology. Undulant background and stars have a great influence on the target detection for low signal to noise ratio targets of imagery. In this paper, a main directional suppression high pass filter is proposed for background suppression, furthermore applied in small target detection. First, target and background models are created. Second, the problems and the necessity of the deep space background suppression are proposed. Then, the main directional suppression high pass filter is presented for background suppression. Experimental results prove that the presented algorithm is efficient and adaptable to small and dim target detection under undulant background with star lines.     

一种新的空谱联合探测高光谱影像目标探测算法

高光谱遥感影像不但具有高分辨率的空间信息还包含连续的光谱信息,因此在目标探测领域具有独特的应用优势。传统的高光谱遥感影像目标探测侧重于光谱信息的应用,形成了确定性算法和统计学算法。确定性算法通过计算目标光谱与待检测光谱之间的距离来查找目标,不能检测亚像素目标,而且容易受到噪声的影响;统计学目标检测计算背景统计特性,通过探测异常点来检测目标,可以检测亚像素目标和小目标,但容易受到目标尺寸的影响,不能很好的检测大目标。随着高光谱遥感影像的空间分辨率的增加,探测目标已有亚像素目标逐步转换为单像素及多像素目标,此时,在高光谱图像中,相同类别的地物在空间分布上呈现聚类特性, 因此,在利用高光谱遥感影像进行目标探测时,需要将其空间信息融入算法中。将空间特征引入传统目标探测算法。提出了一种新的空谱结合的高光谱目标探测算法,将传统的基于统计的目标探测算子与空域邻域聚类算法相结合,首先利用目标探测算子将影像划分为潜在目标区域与背景区域;通过计算潜在目标区域的质心,以质心为中心进行邻域聚类,剔除潜在目标区域中的背景区域,通过迭代计算获取最终目标探测结果。传统的基于统计的目标探测算子,将整个探测区域定义为背景区域,实现对背景区域的统计特征提取,而该方法将背景区域与潜在目标区域分离,剔除了目标区域对背景区域的统计干扰。将本算子与传统的约束能量最小化算子和自适应余弦探测算子进行分析比较可知,该算子的大目标探测性能优于传统的统计算子。     

层次卷积滤波红外弱小目标检测方法

针对单帧复杂背景红外图像点目标检测算法存在复杂背景下处理效果不理想、处理时间长的问题,提出了一种层次卷积滤波检测算法。主要分为两个部分：第一,根据红外小目标特性,设计一种层次卷积滤波的算子,对图像进行滤波处理,实现图像中小目标的增效和背景抑制的效果;第二,采用基于最大值的自适应阈值方法,对图像进行二值化操作,过滤背景杂波,最终提取到待检测的目标。在大量不同背景红外图像中进行实验,论文算法在背景抑制因子和信噪比增益的性能量化结果上优于现有5种典型红外弱小目标检测算法的性能结果,且平均处理时间仅为高斯拉普拉斯（Laplacian of Gaussian,LoG）滤波算法的30.42%。通过实验对比,表明该层次卷积滤波算法可以有效解决在不同复杂背景下的红外图像中对小目标检测的问题。     

基于运动方向估计的管道滤波算法

管道滤波算法提出了从时域角度解决弱小目标检测问题的思路,对于红外强起伏天空背景中弱点目标的检测问题,管道内强噪音的干扰以及低信噪比的条件会导致检测概率降低的情况出现.本文提出了一种运动方向估计的管道滤波算法,分析了红外弱点目标的运动特性,依据弱点目标在相邻帧间位置具有连贯性的特征,建立了弱点目标的运动方向估计模型.在模型中利用弱点目标逐帧检测的先验位置信息,估计弱点目标的运动方向和轨迹,根据估计结果去除管道内噪音对弱点目标的干扰.仿真结果表明,该方法能够很好地抑制管道内噪音的影响,提高弱点目标的检测概率,增强弱点目标抗管道内噪音干扰的能力.     

An infrared small target detection algorithm based on high-speed local contrast method

Small-target detection in infrared imagery with a complex background is always an important task in remote sensing fields. It is important to improve the detection capabilities such as detection rate, false alarm rate, and speed. However, current algorithms usually improve one or two of the detection capabilities while sacrificing the other. In this letter, an Infrared (IR) small target detection algorithm with two layers inspired by Human Visual System (HVS) is proposed to balance those detection capabilities. The first layer uses high speed simplified local contrast method to select significant information. And the second layer uses machine learning classifier to separate targets from background clutters. Experimental results show the proposed algorithm pursue good performance in detection rate, false alarm rate and speed simultaneously.     

Infrared small target enhancement via phase spectrum of Quaternion Fourier Transform

Small target enhancement is one of the crucial stages in infrared small target detection. In this paper, we propose a new method using phase spectrum of Quaternion Fourier Transform to enhance small targets while suppressing backgrounds for infrared images. This is inspired by the property that regularly Gaussian-like shape small targets could be considered as attractively salient signal in infrared images and the location information of such signal is implicitly contained in the phase spectrum from frequency domain. Formally, in the proposed method, we adopt the phase spectrum of Quaternion Fourier Transform instead of using traditional Fourier Transform to enhance the targets since the quaternion provides at most four data channels than only one for the latter, which could be helpful to broad types of background clutters by adding more information. For the construction of the quaternion, we present a second-order directional derivative filter via facet model to compute four second order directional derivative maps from four directions respectively as the four data channels. This filter is used to suppress noises and distinguish the targets and backgrounds into separably different textures so that it would boost the robustness of small target enhancement. In experiments, some typical infrared images with various scenes are tested to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results demonstrate that our method actually has good performance and outperforms several state-of-the-art methods, which can be further used for infrared small target detection and tracking.     

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.     

一种基于特征提取的相关跟踪算法

介绍了一种能稳定快速跟踪复杂背景下目标的算法,该算法在传统相关跟踪算法的基础上进行改进.当目标进入红外(电视)摄像机视场时,视频信号中包含有目标信息和背景信息,信号处理器先将此信号进行数字化处理,形成具有一定灰度等级的数字化图像阵列,然后采用边缘检测、阈值分割等算法对包含有目标信息的图像进行边缘处理,提取出具有特征的目...