DIMENSIONAL OBJECTS

THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS THE FEASIBILITY ASSESSMENT OF AN INTEGRATED SUPPORT ENVIRONMENT FOR THE COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN, ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION OF IMAGE UNDERSTANDING ALGORITHMS FOR THE RECOGNITION OF MAN-MADE OBJECTS FROM IR OR SIMILAR ELECTROOPTICAL SENSORS. IF SUCCESSFUL, THIS RESEARCH WILL PROVIDE A BASIS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SEMI-AUTOMATED SYSTEM BY WHICH 3-D DESCRIPTIONS OF MAN-MADE TARGETS WILL BE ANALYZED FOR DETERMINATION OF THE MOST EFFICIENT AND RELIABLE MEANS OF RECOGNIZING THE TARGETS IN A FIELD ENVIRONMENT. THE PROPOSED EFFORT WILL FIRST INVESTIGATE 3-D METHODS OF PREDICTING THE INFRARED SIGNATURE OF TARGETS UNDER REPRESENTATIVE VIEWING CONDITIONS. THEN THE PREDICTED SIGNATURES AND ITS VARIABILITY WILL BE STUDIED TO DEVELOP METHODS TO GAUGE THE DISCRIMINABILITY AMONG SEVERAL TARGETS BASED ON THE PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TARGET, INFRARED RADIATION PHENOMENA, THE SENSOR CHARACTERISTICS, AND IMAGING CONDITIONS.