Abstract
In the field of infrared search and track system, we find the prior art usually has poor robustness and adapts to a single scene. Inspired by the human visual attention mechanism, an effective small target detection method that can detect both bright and dark targets under multiple interference with low false alarm rate is presented in this paper. First, a saliency histogram map that roughly highlights the salient regions is obtained by frequency residual. Then, a multiscale histogram of oriented gradients difference measure map is constructed to enhance the target signal. Next, this map and the saliency map are multiplied to be a fused feature map. Finally, the targets can be obtained by using the adaptive threshold. Experimental results on four groups of test images demonstrate that our method can double the local signal to background ratio gain. Simultaneously, the receiving operating characteristic curves demonstrate both the effectiveness and robustness of this method.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bai, X., Zhou, F.: Infrared small target enhancement and detection based on modified top-hat transformations. Comput. Electr. Eng. 36, 1193–1201 (2010)
Blostein, S.D., Huang, T.S.: Detecting small, moving objects in image sequences using sequential hypothesis testing. IEEE Trans. Signal Process. 39, 1611–1629 (1991)
Chen, C.L.P., Li, H., Wei, Y.T., Xia, T., Tang, Y.Y.: A local contrast method for small infrared target detection. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 52, 574–581 (2014)
Dalal, N., Triggs, B.: Histograms of oriented gradients for human detection. In: international Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR’05), pp. 886–893. IEEE Computer Society (2005)
Deshpande, S.D., Er, M.H., Venkateswarlu, R., Chan, P.: Max-mean and max-median filters for detection of small targets. In: Signal and Data Processing of Small Targets 1999, pp. 74–84. International Society for Optics and Photonics (1999)
Guo-qiang, Z., Xiang-yong, M., Wei-xian, Q.: Infrared small target detection method based on curvature near the ground. Acta Photon. Sin. 47, 1010001 (2018)
Han, J., Ma, Y., Zhou, B., Fan, F., Liang, K., Fang, Y.: A robust infrared small target detection algorithm based on human visual system. IEEE Geosci. Remote Sens. Lett. 11, 2168–2172 (2014)
Hou, X., Zhang, L.: Saliency detection: a spectral residual approach. In: 2007 IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, pp. 1–8. IEEE (2007)
Hu, Y.S.: Research on infrared dim and small target detection in clutter environment. Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing (2008)
Jia, J., Wang, Y., Chen, J., et al.: Status and application of advanced airborne hyperspectral imaging technology: a review. Infrared Phys. Technol. (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infrared.2019.103115
Lee, E., Gu, E., Park, K.: Effective small target enhancement and detection in infrared images using saliency map and image intensity. Opt. Rev. 22, 659–668 (2015)
Li, Z.Z., Dai, Z., Fu, H.X., Hou, Q., Wang, Z., Yang, L.J., Jin, G., Liu, C.J., Li, R.Z.: Dim moving target detection algorithm based on spatio-temporal classification sparse representation. Infrared Phys. Technol. 67, 273–282 (2014)
Mallat, S.: A Wavelet Tour of Signal Processing. Elsevier, Amsterdam (1999)
Qi, S., Ma, J., Tao, C., Yang, C., Tian, J.: A robust directional saliency-based method for infrared small-target detection under various complex backgrounds. IEEE Geosci. Remote Sens. Lett. 10, 495–499 (2013)
Qi, S., Ming, D., Ma, J., Sun, X., Tian, J.: Robust method for infrared small-target detection based on Boolean map visual theory. Appl. Opt. 53, 3929–3940 (2014)
Reed, I.S., Gagliardi, R.M., Stotts, L.B.: Optical moving target detection with 3-D matched filtering. IEEE Trans. Aerosp. Electron. Syst. 24, 327–336 (1988)
Wan, M.J., Gu, G.H., Cao, E.C., Hu, X.B., Qian, W.X., Ren, K.: In-frame and inter-frame information based infrared moving small target detection under complex cloud backgrounds. Infrared Phys. Technol. 76, 455–467 (2016a)
Wan, M., Gu, G., Qian, W., Ren, K., Chen, Q.: Robust infrared small target detection via non-negativity constraint-based sparse representation. Appl. Opt. 55, 7604–7612 (2016b)
Wang, W.G., Li, C.M., Shi, J.N.: A robust infrared dim target detection method based on template filtering and saliency extraction. Infrared Phys. Technol. 73, 19–28 (2015)
Wang, Y., Xie, F., Wang, J.: Short-wave infrared signature and detection of aicraft in flight based on space-borne hyperspectral imagery. Chin. Opt. Lett. 12, 132–135 (2016)
Wei, Y.T., You, X.G., Li, H.: Multiscale patch-based contrast measure for small infrared target detection. Pattern Recognit. 58, 216–226 (2016)
Wen, M., Wang, Y., Yao, Y., et al.: Design and performance of curved prism-based mid-wave infrared hyperspectral imager. Infrared Phys. Technol. 95, 5–11 (2018)
Zhang, X., Ding, Q., Luo, H., Hui, B., Chang, Z., Zhang, J.: Infrared small target detection based on directional zero-crossing measure. Infrared Phys. Technol. 87, 113–123 (2017)
Zhang, H., Zhang, L., Yuan, D., Chen, H.: Infrared small target detection based on local intensity and gradient properties. Infrared Phys. Technol. 89, 88–96 (2018)
Funding
This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, under Grant No. 61701233; Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province, under Grant No. KYCX18_0398.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Qian, Y., Chen, Q., Zhu, G. et al. Infrared small target detection based on saliency and gradients difference measure. Opt Quant Electron 52, 151 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-020-2197-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-020-2197-x