Automatic target recognition using polarization-sensitive thermal imaging

Cornell S. L. Chun; Firooz A. Sadjadi; David D. Ferris Jr.

doi:10.1117/12.213102

5 July 1995 Automatic target recognition using polarization-sensitive thermal imaging

Cornell S. L. Chun, Firooz A. Sadjadi, David D. Ferris Jr.

Proceedings Volume 2485, Automatic Object Recognition V; (1995) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.213102
Event: SPIE's 1995 Symposium on OE/Aerospace Sensing and Dual Use Photonics, 1995, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

The performance of automatic target recognition (ATR) systems using thermal infrared images is limited by the low contrast in intensity for terrestrial scenes. We are developing a thermal imaging technique where, in each image pixel, a combination of intensity and polarization data is captured simultaneously. In this paper, we demonstrate, using synthetic polarization images, that a combination of intensity and polarization data will significantly improve the performance of detection and classification functions in an ATR system. The images were generated using a ray tracing computer program, modified to calculate the polarization characteristics of thermal radiation emitted from surfaces. We developed novel polarization- sensitive target edge detection, segmentation, and recognition algorithms. A set of performance metrics for the evaluation showed that, for large ranges of viewing elevation and aspect angles, using a combination of polarization and intensity data significantly improves the performance of the algorithms over using only the intensity data.

Citation Download Citation

Cornell S. L. Chun, Firooz A. Sadjadi, and David D. Ferris Jr. "Automatic target recognition using polarization-sensitive thermal imaging", Proc. SPIE 2485, Automatic Object Recognition V, (5 July 1995); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.213102

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