Performance analysis of dim moving point target detection algorithms

This paper studies the performance comparison of track-before-detect (TBD) and detect-before-track (DBT) multi-frame detection algorithms for the detection of weak moving point targets in infrared image sequences data collected from a scanning sensor. Presents the models for TBD and DBT. Analysis and compare the measurements such as computational efforts, minimum SNR can be detected, the detection gain, upper bounds for TBD process and the interrelationships and tradeoffs between those measurements. Our results indicate that the performance of TBD is superior to that of DBT in all respects for low SNR. However, while computationally simple, DBT algorithm can have a reasonable performance only for high SNR. Simulations verify the results of the analysis and the conclusions drawn.