Resolution modification for target implantation in real background imagery

Abstract

The diversity and complexity of background materials and clutter features in the infrared makes modeling backgrounds a more difficult effort than modeling target signatures. It may be appropriate to implant modeled target images into measured background images for simulation purposes because the target signatures are more reliably predicted and can be altered to match the measured background environment conditions. The extrapolation of measured target signatures to environmental conditions similar to those of a measured background image was described earlier. The extrapolated synthetic target image can be implanted into a real background image with radiometric consistency. Target implantation introduces the possibility of a number of non-physical artifacts, one of which is a difference in the resolution of the target and background parts of the image. Faceted target models contain highly resolved edges and internal features, while real background images contain blurring due to the measurement system. An approach is presented which blurs the internal detail of the target to match the known resolution properties of the background measuring instrumentation, and then adjusts the target-background boundary without introducing additional blurring to the background zone around the target. The resultant synthetic image is optically and radiometrically consistent with an image of a real target in the same background. Figures show details of target/background interfaces after resolution modification. Other artifacts illustrated include partial target obscuration by background objects and simulated motion of the target within the image.