UGS video target detection and discrimination

G. Marlon Roberts; James Fitzgerald; Michael McCormack; Robert Steadman; Joseph D. Vitale

doi:10.1117/12.736101

11 May 2007 UGS video target detection and discrimination

G. Marlon Roberts, James Fitzgerald, Michael McCormack, Robert Steadman, Joseph D. Vitale

Proceedings Volume 6562, Unattended Ground, Sea, and Air Sensor Technologies and Applications IX; 65620J (2007) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.736101
Event: Defense and Security Symposium, 2007, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

This project focuses on developing electro-optic algorithms which rank images by their likelihood of containing vehicles and people. These algorithms have been applied to images obtained from Textron's Terrain Commander 2 (TC2) Unattended Ground Sensor system. The TC2 is a multi-sensor surveillance system used in military applications. It combines infrared, acoustic, seismic, magnetic, and electro-optic sensors to detect nearby targets. When targets are detected by the seismic and acoustic sensors, the system is triggered and images are taken in the visible and infrared spectrum. The original Terrain Commander system occasionally captured and transmitted an excessive number of images, sometimes triggered by undesirable targets such as swaying trees. This wasted communications bandwidth, increased power consumption, and resulted in a large amount of end-user time being spent evaluating unimportant images. The algorithms discussed here help alleviate these problems. These algorithms are currently optimized for infra-red images, which give the best visibility in a wide range of environments, but could be adapted to visible imagery as well. It is important that the algorithms be robust, with minimal dependency on user input. They should be effective when tracking varying numbers of targets of different sizes and orientations, despite the low resolutions of the images used. Most importantly, the algorithms must be appropriate for implementation on a low-power processor in real time. This would enable us to maintain frame rates of 2 Hz for effective surveillance operations. Throughout our project we have implemented several algorithms, and used an appropriate methodology to quantitatively compare their performance. They are discussed in this paper.

Citation Download Citation

G. Marlon Roberts, James Fitzgerald, Michael McCormack, Robert Steadman, and Joseph D. Vitale "UGS video target detection and discrimination", Proc. SPIE 6562, Unattended Ground, Sea, and Air Sensor Technologies and Applications IX, 65620J (11 May 2007); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.736101

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