FLIR-to-missile boresight correlation and non-uniformity compensation of the missile seeker

摘要

The present invention provides for simple and streamlined boresight correlation of FLIR-to-missile video. Boresight correlation (42) is performed with un-NUCed missile video (40), which allows boresight correlation and NUC (46) to be performed simultaneously thereby reducing the time required to acquire a target and fire the missile. The current approach uses the motion of the missile seeker for NUCing to produce spatial gradient filtering in the missile image by differencing images as the seeker moves. This compensates DC non-uniformities in the image. A FLIR image (44) is processed with a matching displace and subtract spatial filter constructed based on the tracked scene motion. The FLIR image is resampled to match the missile image resolution, and the two images are preprocessed and correlated using conventional methods. Improved NUC (46) is provided by cross-referencing multiple measurements of each area of the scene as viewed by different pixels in the imager. This approach is based on the simple yet novel premise that every pixel in the array that looks at the same thing should see the same thing. As a result, the NUC terms adapt to non-uniformities in the imager and not the scene.