Indirect target detection method in FLIR image sequences

Due to the complexity of the scene, target detection in forward-looking infrared (FLIR) imagery is a challenging problem, especially for occluded target. The main contribution of this paper is to propose an indirect detection method for improving the recognition probability and effectiveness of target detection method in FLIR image sequences under complex conditions. The proposed method mainly includes four steps: preparation of forward-looking reference image of landmark, extraction of the real-time scene image, template matching and target location, in which some key technologies are proposed, such as perspective transformation used to solve projective problems, position prediction for improving real-time performance, and target location used for identifying the target's position. Experimental results are shown to demonstrate the robustness and efficiency of proposed method in FLIR image sequences. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.