Robust high-order matched filter for hyperspectral target detection

Abstract

A robust high-order matched filter (RHMF) for automatic target detection in hyperspectral images is proposed. The classical detection methods mainly focus on second-order statistics and do not take intrinsic uncertainty or variability of target spectral signatures into account. For automatic target detection in a hyperspectral image, most interesting targets usually occur with low probabilities and small population and they generally cannot be described by second-order statistics. Also, one difficult point in target detection is the inherent variability in target spectral signatures. Under such circumstances, the RHMF algorithm uses high-order statistics, and takes variability into consideration, and has been shown by presented experiments to be more effective than classical detection methods.