Method and apparatus for improved visual display of a target viewed by an imaging sensor device
First Claim
1. A method of visually displaying a target viewed by an imaging sensor means, the imaging sensor means including pulsed light source means and gated camera means and wherein the imaging sensor means is positioned on an airborne platform and images targets under water and wherein said gated camera means includes a focal plane and an entrance aperture, including the steps of:
- a) calculating the hypothetical distributions of the number of photons impinging on the gated camera means using a hypothetical physical and optical model;
b) obtaining actual target data from targets imaged underwater by the imaging sensor means;
c) processing said actual target data;
d) delivering said actual target data to an automatic target detection system;
e) employing said calculated hypothetical distributions in said automatic target detection system by a comparison of said calculated hypothetical distributions with said processed actual target data to thereby improve in the detection of a target viewed by the imaging sensor means; and
f) visually displaying a target viewed by the imaging sensor means based on the improvement in target detection obtained from step (e).
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Abstract
A novel data processing technique is provided for employing a physical model as an element in a process for automatic target detection of a target viewed by an imaging lidar system. The present invention obtains estimates for the mean and variance of the probability distributions for random video levels which are output from a camera. These estimates are obtained under various assumptions about the state of the target.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. A method of visually displaying a target viewed by an imaging sensor means, the imaging sensor means including pulsed light source means and gated camera means and wherein the imaging sensor means is positioned on an airborne platform and images targets under water and wherein said gated camera means includes a focal plane and an entrance aperture, including the steps of:
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a) calculating the hypothetical distributions of the number of photons impinging on the gated camera means using a hypothetical physical and optical model; b) obtaining actual target data from targets imaged underwater by the imaging sensor means; c) processing said actual target data; d) delivering said actual target data to an automatic target detection system; e) employing said calculated hypothetical distributions in said automatic target detection system by a comparison of said calculated hypothetical distributions with said processed actual target data to thereby improve in the detection of a target viewed by the imaging sensor means; and f) visually displaying a target viewed by the imaging sensor means based on the improvement in target detection obtained from step (e). - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13)
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11. In an automatic target detection system for use in an imaging lidar system having pulsed light source transmitter means and gated camera receiver means, the improvement comprising:
parallel processing computational units for processing hypothetical distributions of photons impinging on the gated camera means using a hypothetical physical and optical model.
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12. An apparatus for visually displaying a target viewed by an imaging sensor means, the imaging sensor means including pulsed light source means and gated camera means and wherein the imaging sensor means is positioned on an airborne platform and images targets under water including:
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a) means for calculating the hypothetical distributions of the number of photons impinging on the gated camera means using a hypothetical physical and optical model; b) means for obtaining actual target data from targets imaged underwater by the imaging sensor means; c) means for processing said actual target data; d) means for delivering said actual target data to an automatic target detection system; e) comparator means for employing said calculated hypothetical distributions in said automatic target detection system by a comparison of said calculated hypothetical distributions with said processed actual target data to thereby improve in the detection of a target viewed by the imaging sensor means; and f) visual display means for visually displaying a target viewed by the imaging sensor means based on the improvement in target detection obtained from said comparator means.
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Specification