SENSOR SIGNAL AND DATA PROCESSING - IMAGE ENHANCEMENT

IMAGE PROCESSING ALGORITHMS FOR MODERN OPTICAL (AND RADAR) SENSORS ARE INTRODUCED FOR (1) TEST FOR OUTLIERS, (2) LOS ESTIMATES, (3) EDGE DETERMINATIONS, (4) SHAPE DEFINITIONS, (5) AIMPOINTS AND, (6) DISTANCE ESTIMATES. UNIQUE IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF REAL-TIME EFFICIENT PROCESSING SCHEMES BASED UPON PAIR-WISE MANIPULATION OF DATA POINTS. DEPENDING ON THE QUALITY OF IMAGES, NEAR INSTANTANOUS ASSESSMENTS OF TARGET PARAMETERS ON A STATISTICAL BASIS ARE OBTAINED. WHEN OBSERVED OVER A PERIOD OF TIME, IMPROVED PROBABILITIES OF DEFINITION ARE OBTAINED EVEN WHEN IMAGE PROPERTIES CHANGE DRAMATICALLY. THE OUTLIER TESTS WHERE IMAGES ARE SEPARATED FROM EXTRANEOUS OBSERVABLES RELATE TO PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH MULTIPLE TARGET PROCESSING, AND STRUCTURAL BACKGROUND REMOVAL AS WELL AS THE DETAILS OF OBJECT DEPENDANT PROCESSING. PHASE I WORK FOCUSES ON DEVELOPMENT OF PAIR-WIE PROCEDURES AND DEMONSTRATIONS. A PLAN IS ALSO DEVELOPED FOR PHASE II CONTINUATION WHERE A NUMBER OF PROCESSING ALGORITHMS WILL BE DEVELOPED.