Clutter suppression algorithm based on bidirectional local binary pattern for moving point target detection in infrared image sequences

Abstract

A clutter suppression algorithm called the rectification filter with indications of bidirectional local binary patterns (BDLBP-RF) is proposed as a resolution to the problem of detecting dim targets in infrared (IR) image sequences. First of all, a local binary pattern (LBP) operator with properties of grayscale and rotation invariance is introduced in the application of clutter suppression. Each pixel in the image is estimated by its spatial neighbor pixels and the corresponding LBPs in prior and posterior frames. The approach proposed is based on a spatiotemporal process, in which interframe and intraframe properties of the IR image sequence are both taken into account. The method is evaluated by the comparative experiments, and the LBP operator's optimum values of radius and number of neighbors are discussed. The results of the experiment prove that BDLBP-RF has excellent performance and stability in clutter suppression under various situations. The target point in images processed by our approach received high signal-to-clutter ratio gain, and the detectability of the target is enhanced.