<title>Integrated image processing and tracker performance prediction workstation</title>

Abstract

Extensive research has shown that including target aspect angle measurements from an optical sensor can significantly improve the performance of radar tracking systems. Integrating sequences of target imagery with the kinematic information involves sets of image processing and sensor data fusion algorithms. A workstation has been developed to expedite the analysis of the algorithms and to integrate the image processing with selectable extended-state tracker modules. This workstation can access analog video imagery from a video optical disk controlled by a PC, segment the target in the image, and perform target identification and aspect angle estimation using a database of target models which span the range of possible aspects. The angle information is then `fused' with kinematic data to augment the tracker state estimator. The workstation is implemented with a powerful visual user interface in a UNIX/X- Windows environment, and includes a wide array of image and signal processing algorithms. Interactive modifications of processing sequences and `what if' analyses are easily conducted. The workstation provides a consistent user interface across a variety of applications. This system has also been used to implement phase retrieval and related image recovery algorithms.