Journal of Systems Engineering and Electronics ›› 2011, Vol. 22 ›› Issue (6): 897-904.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1004-4132.2011.06.004

• DEFENCE ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Infrared small target detection using sparse representation

Jiajia Zhao1,*, Zhengyuan Tang1, Jie Yang1, and Erqi Liu2   

  1. 1. Institute of Image Processing and Pattern Recognition, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200240, P. R. China;
    2. China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, Beijing 100074, P. R. China
  • Online:2011-12-21 Published:2010-01-03

Abstract:

Sparse representation has recently been proved to be a powerful tool in image processing and object recognition. This paper proposes a novel small target detection algorithm based on this technique. By modelling a small target as a linear combination of certain target samples and then solving a sparse 0-minimization problem, the proposed apporach successfully improves and optimizes the small target representation with innovation. Furthermore, the sparsity concentration index (SCI) is creatively employed to evaluate the coefficients of each block representation and simpfy target identification. In the detection frame, target samples are firstly generated to constitute an over-complete dictionary matrix using Gaussian intensity model (GIM), and then sparse model solvers are applied to finding sparse representation for each sub-image block. Finally, SCI lexicographical evalution of the entire image incorparates with a simple threshold locate target position. The effectiveness and robustness of the proposed algorithm are demonstrated by the exprimental results.