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

摘要

In an extensive Target Acquisition (TA) performance study, we recorded static and dynamic imagery of a set of militaryand civilian two-handheld objects at a range of distances and aspect angles with an under-sampled uncooled thermalimager. Next, we applied signal processing techniques including DSR (Dynamic Super Resolution) and LACE (LocalAdaptive Contrast Enhancement) to the imagery. In a perception experiment, we determined identification (ID) andthreat/non-threat discrimination performance as a function of target range for a variety of conditions. The experimentwas performed to validate and extend current TA models. In addition, range predictions were performed with two TAmodels: the TOD model and NVThermIP. The results of the study are: i) target orientation has a strong effect onperformance, ii) the effect of target orientation is well predicted by the two TA models, iii) absolute identification rangeis close the range predicted with the two models using the recommended criteria for two-handheld objects, iv) there wasno positive effect of sensor motion on performance, and this was against the expectations based on earlier studies, v) thebenefit of DSR was smaller than expected on the basis of the model predictions, and vi) performance with LACE wassimilar to performance on an image optimized manually, indicating that LACE can be used to optimize the contrastautomatically. The relatively poor results with motion and DSR are probably due to motion smear induced by a highercamera speed than used in earlier studies. Camera motion magnitude and smear are not yet implemented in TA models.