Sensitivity analysis of ResNet-based automatic target recognition performance using MuSES-generated EO/IR synthetic imagery

Abstract

Machine learning algorithms have demonstrated state-of-the-art automated target recognition performance but require a large training set. In the case of electro-optical infrared (EO/IR) remote sensing, acquiring sufficient measured imagery can be difficult, but EO/IR scene simulation is a possible alternative. CoTherm, a co-simulation tool which operates MuSES in an automated fashion, is used to manipulate relevant target, background and sensor inputs to generate a library of radiance images. Various options affecting simulation run-time and output fidelity are considered and the trade-off between accuracy and compute time requirements is quantified using a measured imagery benchmark and ResNets for classification.