Midwave infrared and visible sensor performance modeling: small craft identification discrimination criteria for maritime security

Abstract

The new emphasis on Anti-Terrorism and Force Protection (AT/FP), for both shore and sea platform protection, has resulted in a need for infrared imager design and evaluation tools that demonstrate field performance against U.S. Navy AT/FP requirements. In the design of infrared imaging systems for target acquisition, a discrimination criterion is required for successful sensor realization. It characterizes the difficulty of the task being performed by the observer and varies for different target sets. This criterion is used in both assessment of existing infrared sensor and in the design of new conceptual sensors. We collected 12 small craft signatures (military and civilian) in the visible band during the day and the long-wave and midwave infrared spectra in both the day and the night environments. These signatures were processed to determine the targets' characteristic dimension and contrast. They were also processed to band limit the signature's spatial information content (simulating longer range), and a perception experiment was performed to determine the task difficulty (N50 and V50). The results are presented and can be used for Navy and Coast Guard imaging infrared sensor design and evaluation.

Target acquisition performance: effects of target aspect angle, dynamic imaging, and signal processing

“…For instance, a large effort of the US research laboratory is directed towards extension of the current models for different target sets such as small arms 17,18 , clothing 19 , paramilitary and civilian vehicles 20 , small boats 21 , or even faces 22 in different spectral regions. A recent overview of the results is given by Driggers et al 23 .…”

Analysis of Factors Affecting the Efficiency of Electro-Optical Systems

“…При проектуванні ОЕС також варто враховувати параметр відношення сигнал/шум (SNR). В літературі [9], [11], [12] цей фактор розглядають разом з розмиттям зображення, так як він аналогічним чином впливає на його розпізнавання. На сьогоднішній день навіть сучасні ОЕС схильні до втрати різкості зображення.…”

History and Evolution of the Johnson Criteria.

“…This is because they showed experimentally that a blurred image contained fewer resolvable cycles than its unblurred counterpart. [46] In 2008, a study on the cycle criteria required to resolve thalassic vessels used blur to simulate a decrease in resolvable cycles on target. The MTF of the blur was able to be mathematically modeled, and thusly incorperated into the system MTF.…”