An Enhanced Image Patch Tensor Decomposition for Infrared Small Target Detection

Abstract

Infrared small-target detection is a key technology for the infrared search and track system (IRST), but some problems still exist, such as false detections in complex backgrounds and clutter. To solve these problems, a novel image patch tensor (IPT) model for infrared small-target detection is proposed. First, to better estimate the background component, we utilize the Laplace operator to approximate the background tensor rank. Secondly, we combined local gradient features and highlighted area indicators to model the local targets prior, which can effectively suppress the complex background clutter. The proposed model was solved by the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM). The experimental results on various scenes show that our model achieves an excellent performance in suppressing strong edge clutter and estimating small targets.