Factors affecting development of a motion imagery quality metric

Abstract

The motion imagery community would benefit from the availability of standard measures for assessing image interpretability. The National Imagery Interpretability Rating Scale (NIIRS) has served as a community standard for still imagery, but no comparable scale exists for motion imagery. Several considerations unique to motion imagery indicate that the standard methodology employed in the past for NIIRS development may not be applicable or, at a minimum, require modifications. Traditional methods for NIIRS development rely on a close linkage between perceived image quality, as captured by specific image interpretation tasks, and the sensor parameters associated with image acquisition. The dynamic nature of motion imagery suggests that this type of linkage may not exist or may be modulated by other factors. An initial study was conducted to understand the effects target motion, camera motion, and scene complexity have on perceived image interpretability for motion imagery. This paper summarizes the findings from this evaluation. In addition, several issues emerged that require further investigation: - The effect of frame rate on the perceived interpretability of motion imagery - Interactions between color and target motion which could affect perceived interpretability - The relationships among resolution, viewing geometry, and image interpretability - The ability of an analyst to satisfy specific image exploitation tasks relative to different types of motion imagery clips Plans are being developed to address each of these issues through direct evaluations. This paper discusses each of these concerns, presents the plans for evaluations, and explores the implications for development of a motion imagery quality metric.