A high performance approach to detecting small targets in long range low quality infrared videos

TL;DR

This paper introduces a high-performance method for detecting small targets in long-range, low-quality infrared videos, combining resolution enhancement, a specialized detector, and tracking to improve accuracy.

Contribution

It presents a novel integrated approach that combines resolution enhancement, local intensity and gradient detection, and multi-frame tracking for small target detection in infrared videos.

Findings

Effective detection in videos at ranges of 3500-5000 m

Significant improvement over existing methods

Validated on real MWIR datasets

Abstract

Since targets are small in long range infrared (IR) videos, it is challenging to accurately detect targets in those videos. In this paper, we propose a high performance approach to detecting small targets in long range and low quality infrared videos. Our approach consists of a video resolution enhancement module, a proven small target detector based on local intensity and gradient (LIG), a connected component (CC) analysis module, and a track association module to connect detections from multiple frames. Extensive experiments using actual mid-wave infrared (MWIR) videos in ranges between 3500 m and 5000 m from a benchmark dataset clearly demonstrated the efficacy of the proposed approach.