Overcoming Pose Limitations of a Skin-Cued Histograms of Oriented Gradients Dismount Detector through Contextual Use of Skin Islands and Multiple Support Vector Machines

This thesis provides a novel visualization method to analyze the impact that articulations in dismount pose and camera aspect angle have on histograms of oriented gradients (HOG) features and eventual detections. Insights from these relationships are used to identify limitations in a state of the art skin cued HOG dismount detector\u27s ability to detect poses not in a standard upright stances. Improvements to detector performance are made by further leveraging available skin information, reducing false detections by an additional order of magnitude. In addition, a method is outlined for training supplemental support vector machines (SVMs) from computer generated data, for detecting a wider range of poses and camera configurations. The multi-SVM structure yields a 7-fold increase detection probability when applied to challenging crouching poses. These dramatic improvements clearly demonstrate the viability of such an approach, which can be extended to include other pose configurations

Using QR Factorization for Real-Time Anomaly Detection of Hyperspectral Images

Anomaly detection has been used successfully on hyperspectral images for over a decade. However, there is an ever increasing need for real-time anomaly detectors. Historically, anomaly detection methods have focused on analysis after the entire image has been collected. As useful as post-collection anomaly detection is, there is a great advantage to detecting an anomaly as it is being collected. This research is focused on speeding up the process of detection for a pre-existing method, Linear RX, which is a variation on the traditional Reed-Xiaoli detector. By speeding up the process of detection, it is possible to create a real-time anomaly detector. The window covariance matrix is our main area focus for speed improvement. Several methods were investigated, including QR factorization and tracking the change in the window covariance matrix as it moves through the image. Finally, performance comparisons are made to the original Linear RX detector

Airborne Infrared Search and Track Systems

Infrared search and track (IRST) systems are required for fighter aircraft to enable them to passively search, detect, track, classify, and prioritise multiple airborne targets under all aspects, look-up, look-down, and co-altitude conditions and engage them at as long ranges as possible. While the IRST systems have been proven in performance for ground-based and naval-based platforms, it is still facing some technical problems for airborne applications. These problems arise from uncertainty in target signature, atmospheric effects, background clutter (especially dense and varying clouds), signal and data processing algorithms to detect potential targets at long ranges and some hardware limitations such as large memory requirement to store and process wide field of view data. In this paper, an overview of airborne IRST as a system has been presented with detailed comparative simulation results of different detectionitracking algorithms and the present status of airborne IRST

Improved Multispectral Skin Detection and its Application to Search Space Reduction for Dismount Detection Based on Histograms of Oriented Gradients

Due to the general shift from conventional warfare to terrorism and urban warfare by enemies of the United States in the late 20th Century, locating and tracking individuals of interest have become critically important. Dismount detection and tracking are vital to provide security and intelligence in both combat and homeland defense scenarios including base defense, combat search and rescue (CSAR), and border patrol. This thesis focuses on exploiting recent advances in skin detection research to reliably detect dismounts in a scene. To this end, a signal-plus-noise model is developed to map modeled skin spectra to the imaging response of an arbitrary sensor, enabling an in-depth exploration of multispectral features as they are encountered in the real world for improved skin detection. Knowledge of skin locations within an image is exploited to cue a robust dismount detection algorithm, significantly improving dismount detection performance and efficiency. This research explores multiple spectral features and detection algorithms to find the best features and algorithms for detecting skin in multispectral visible and short wave infrared (SWIR) imagery. This study concludes that using SWIR imagery for skin detection and color information for false alarm suppression results in 95% probability of skin detection at a false alarm rate of only 0.4%. Skin detections are utilized to cue a dismount detector based on histograms of oriented gradients. This technique reduces the search space by nearly 3 orders of magnitude compared to searching an entire image, while reducing the average number of false positives per image by nearly 2 orders of magnitude at 95% probability of dismount detection. The skin-detection-cued dismount detector developed in this thesis has the potential to make significant contribution to the United States Air Force human measurement and signature intelligence and CSAR missions

Inference in supervised spectral classifiers for on-board hyperspectral imaging: An overview

Machine learning techniques are widely used for pixel-wise classification of hyperspectral images. These methods can achieve high accuracy, but most of them are computationally intensive models. This poses a problem for their implementation in low-power and embedded systems intended for on-board processing, in which energy consumption and model size are as important as accuracy. With a focus on embedded anci on-board systems (in which only the inference step is performed after an off-line training process), in this paper we provide a comprehensive overview of the inference properties of the most relevant techniques for hyperspectral image classification. For this purpose, we compare the size of the trained models and the operations required during the inference step (which are directly related to the hardware and energy requirements). Our goal is to search for appropriate trade-offs between on-board implementation (such as model size anci energy consumption) anci classification accuracy

Optimized Hyperspectral Imagery Anomaly Detection Through Robust Parameter Design

Anomaly detection algorithms for hyperspectral imagery (HSI) are an important first step in the analysis chain which can reduce the overall amount of data to be processed. The actual amount of data reduced depends greatly on the accuracy of the anomaly detection algorithm implemented. Most, if not all, anomaly detection algorithms require a user to identify some initial parameters. These parameters (or controls) affect overall algorithm performance. Regardless of the anomaly detector being utilized, algorithm performance is often negatively impacted by uncontrollable noise factors which introduce additional variance into the process. In the case of HSI, the noise variables are embedded in the image under consideration. Robust parameter design (RPD) offers a method to model the controls as well as the noise variables and identify robust parameters. This research identifies image noise characteristics necessary to perform RPD on HSI. Additionally, a small sample training and test algorithm is presented. Finally, the standard RPD model is extended to consider higher order noise coefficients. Mean and variance RPD models are optimized in a dual response function suggested by Lin and Tu. Results are presented from simulations and two anomaly detection algorithms, the Reed-Xiaoli anomaly detector and the autonomous global anomaly detector

An Augmentative Gaze Directing Framework for Multi-Spectral Imagery

Modern digital imaging techniques have made the task of imaging more prolic than ever and the volume of images and data available through multi-spectral imaging methods for exploitation is exceeding that which can be solely processed by human beings. The researchers proposed and developed a novel eye movement contingent framework and display system through adaption of the demonstrated technique of subtle gaze direction by presenting modulations within the displayed image. The system sought to augment visual search task performance of aerial imagery by incorporating multi-spectral image processing algorithms to determine potential regions of interest within an image. The exploratory work conducted was to study the feasibility of visual gaze direction with the specic intent of extending this application to geospatial image analysis without need for overt cueing to areas of potential interest and thereby maintaining the benefits of an undirected and unbiased search by an observer

Identifying the Vulnerability of Earthen Levees to Slump Slides using Geotechnical and Geomorphological Parameters

The main goal of this research is to investigate vulnerability of levees to future slump slides. In the first part, polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) imagery is used as input in an automated classification system for characterizing areas on the levee having anomalies. In addition, a set of in-situ soil data is collected to provide detailed soil properties over the study area. In-situ soil properties of different classes characterized by the classifier are analyzed to determine how similarities between different areas. The second part, a database including of 34 slump slides that occurred in the lower Mississippi River levee system over a period of two years is used. The impacts of rainfall as well as several spatial geometrical and geomorphological variables (including channel width, river sinuosity index, riverbank erosion, channel shape condition and distance to river) are analyzed and tested for significance and used for developing a logistic regression model

Compressive Sensing and Imaging Applications

Compressive sensing (CS) is a new sampling theory which allows reconstructing signals using sub-Nyquist measurements. It states that a signal can be recovered exactly from randomly undersampled data points if the signal exhibits sparsity in some transform domain (wavelet, Fourier, etc). Instead of measuring it uniformly in a local scheme, signal is correlated with a series of sensing waveforms. These waveforms are so called sensing matrix or measurement matrix. Every measurement is a linear combination of randomly picked signal components. By applying a nonlinear convex optimization algorithm, the original can be recovered. Therefore, signal acquisition and compression are realized simultaneously and the amount of information to be processed is considerably reduced. Due to its unique sensing and reconstruction mechanism, CS creates a new situation in signal acquisition hardware design as well as software development, to handle the increasing pressure on imaging sensors for sensing modalities beyond visible (ultraviolet, infrared, terahertz etc.) and algorithms to accommodate demands for higher-dimensional datasets (hyperspectral or video data cubes). The combination of CS with traditional optical imaging extends the capabilities and also improves the performance of existing equipments and systems. Our research work is focused on the direct application of compressive sensing for imaging in both 2D and 3D cases, such as infrared imaging, hyperspectral imaging and sum frequency generation microscopy. Data acquisition and compression are combined into one step. The computational complexity is passed to the receiving end, which always contains sufficient computer processing power. The sensing stage requirement is pushed to the simplest and cheapest level. In short, simple optical engine structure, robust measuring method and high speed acquisition make compressive sensing-based imaging system a strong competitor to the traditional one. These applications have and will benefit our lives in a deeper and wider way