Comparison of the binary-phase-only filter design by DBS algorithm with the classical SDF filter

Abstract

The joint transform correlator (JTC) is one of two main optical image processing architectures which provide us with a highly effective way of comparing images in a wide range of applications. Traditionally an optical correlator is used to compare an unknown input scene with a pre-captured reference image library, to detect if the reference occurs within the input. There is a new class of application for the JTC where they are used as image comparators, not having a known reference image, rather frames from a video sequence form both the input and reference. The JTC input plane is formed by combining the current frame with the previous frame in a video sequence and if the frames match, then there will be a correlation peak. If the objects move then the peaks will move (tracking) and if something has changed dramatically in the scene, then the correlation between the two frames is lost. This forms the basis of a very powerful application for the JTC in Defense and Security. Any change in the scene can be recorded and with the inherent shift invariance property of the correlator, any movement of the objects in the scene can also be detected. A major limitation of the JTC is its intolerance to rotation and scale changes in images. The strength of the correlation signal decreases as the input object rotates or varies in scale relative to the reference object. We have designed a binary phase only filter using the direct binary search algorithm for rotation invariant pattern recognition to be implemented on a JTC and compared to a classical synthetic discriminant function (SDF) filter. Results show that the performance of the DBS filter is better than the SDF filter.