FLIR-to-missile boresight correlation and non-uniformity compensation of the missile seeker
First Claim
1. A method of providing target handover from a missile launch system having an infrared (IR) imager that provides high resolution launch system video to a missile having a missile seeker with an IR imager that provides low resolution missile video, comprising:
- receiving missile video from the missile seeker'"'"'s IR imager;
receiving launch system video from the launch system'"'"'s IR imager;
performing a boresight correlation of the missile video to the launch system video to align the seeker'"'"'s IR imager to the launch system'"'"'s IR imager;
performing non-uniformity compensation (NUC) on the missile video to compute NUC terms for the seeker'"'"'s IR imager, said computed NUC terms not being applied to the missile video used in the performance of the boresight correlation; and
handing over the alignment and NUC terms for the seeker'"'"'s IR imager to the missile seeker.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides for simple and streamlined boresight correlation of FLIR-to-missile video. Boresight correlation is performed with un-NUCed missile video, which allows boresight correlation and NUC 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 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 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.
17 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method of providing target handover from a missile launch system having an infrared (IR) imager that provides high resolution launch system video to a missile having a missile seeker with an IR imager that provides low resolution missile video, comprising:
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receiving missile video from the missile seeker'"'"'s IR imager; receiving launch system video from the launch system'"'"'s IR imager; performing a boresight correlation of the missile video to the launch system video to align the seeker'"'"'s IR imager to the launch system'"'"'s IR imager; performing non-uniformity compensation (NUC) on the missile video to compute NUC terms for the seeker'"'"'s IR imager, said computed NUC terms not being applied to the missile video used in the performance of the boresight correlation; and handing over the alignment and NUC terms for the seeker'"'"'s IR imager to the missile seeker. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method of providing target handover from a missile launch system having an infrared (IR) imager that provides high resolution launch system video to a missile having a missile seeker with an IR imager that provides low resolution missile video, comprising:
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receiving missile video from the missile seeker'"'"'s IR imager; receiving launch system video from the launch system'"'"'s IR imager; performing a boresight correlation of the missile video to the launch system video to align the seeker'"'"'s IR imager to the launch system'"'"'s IR imager; performing non-uniformity compensation (NUC) to compute NUC terms for the seeker'"'"'s IR imager by registering a temporal sequence of input images from the missile video having different fields of view (FOVs) to create an estimate of an input scene, backward mapping the estimated input scene to the different FOVs to create an estimate input image for each input image, and comparing each said estimate input image to its associated input image to estimate pixel-by-pixel response NUC terms, said computed NUC terms not being applied to the missile video used in the performance of the boresight correlation; and handing over the alignment and NUC terms for the seeker'"'"'s IR imager to the missile seeker.
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19. A method of providing target handover from a missile launch system having an infrared (IR) imager that provides high resolution launch system video to a missile having a missile seeker with an IR imager that provides low resolution missile video, comprising:
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receiving missile video from the missile seeker'"'"'s IR imager; receiving launch system video from the launch system'"'"'s IR imager; performing a boresight correlation using temporal motion of the seeker over a plurality of frames of missile video to form a first edge map, measuring scene motion in the missile video, spatially processing images in the launch system video in accordance with the measured scene motion to locate at least some of the same edges to form a second edge map and correlating the first and second edge maps to align the seeker'"'"'s IR imager to the launch system'"'"'s IR imager; performing non-uniformity compensation (NUC) on the missile video to compute NUC terms for the seeker'"'"'s IR imager, said computed NUC terms not being applied to the missile video used in the performance of the boresight correlation; and handing over the alignment and NUC terms for the seeker'"'"'s IR imager to the missile seeker.
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Specification