Infrared Maritime Small-Target Detection Based on Fusion Gray Gradient Clutter Suppression
The long-distance ship target turns into a small spot in an infrared image, which has the characteristics of small size, weak intensity, limited texture information, and is easily affected by noise. Moreover, the presence of heavy sea clutter, including sun glints that exhibit local contrast similar...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-04-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/16/7/1255 |
| _version_ | 1797212000404635648 |
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| author | Wei Wang Zhengzhou Li Abubakar Siddique |
| author_facet | Wei Wang Zhengzhou Li Abubakar Siddique |
| author_sort | Wei Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The long-distance ship target turns into a small spot in an infrared image, which has the characteristics of small size, weak intensity, limited texture information, and is easily affected by noise. Moreover, the presence of heavy sea clutter, including sun glints that exhibit local contrast similar to small targets, negatively impacts the performance of small-target detection methods. To address these challenges, we propose an effective detection scheme called fusion gray gradient clutter suppression (FGGCS), which leverages the disparities in grayscale and gradient between the target and its surrounding background. Firstly, we designed a harmonic contrast map (HCM) by using the two-dimensional difference of Gaussian (2D-DoG) filter and eigenvalue harmonic mean of the structure tensor to highlight high-contrast regions of interest. Secondly, a local gradient difference measure (LGDM) is designed to distinguish isotropic small targets from background edges with local gradients in a specific direction. Subsequently, by integrating the HCM and LGDM, we designed a fusion gray gradient clutter suppression map (FGGCSM) to effectively enhance the target and suppress clutter from the sea background. Finally, an adaptive constant false alarm threshold is adopted to extract the targets. Extensive experiments on five real infrared maritime image sequences full of sea glints, including a small target and sea–sky background, show that FGGCS effectively increases the signal-to-clutter ratio gain (SCRG) and the background suppression factor (BSF) by more than 22% and 82%, respectively. Furthermore, its receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve has an obviously more rapid convergence rate than those of other typical detection algorithms and improves the accuracy of small-target detection in complex maritime backgrounds. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T10:35:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-39f2868e39cb4fc394cff186d09d739e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T10:35:25Z |
| publishDate | 2024-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-39f2868e39cb4fc394cff186d09d739e2024-04-12T13:25:46ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922024-04-01167125510.3390/rs16071255Infrared Maritime Small-Target Detection Based on Fusion Gray Gradient Clutter SuppressionWei Wang0Zhengzhou Li1Abubakar Siddique2School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Chongqing University of Technology, Chongqing 400054, ChinaSchool of Microelectronics and Communication Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, ChinaSchool of Microelectronics and Communication Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, ChinaThe long-distance ship target turns into a small spot in an infrared image, which has the characteristics of small size, weak intensity, limited texture information, and is easily affected by noise. Moreover, the presence of heavy sea clutter, including sun glints that exhibit local contrast similar to small targets, negatively impacts the performance of small-target detection methods. To address these challenges, we propose an effective detection scheme called fusion gray gradient clutter suppression (FGGCS), which leverages the disparities in grayscale and gradient between the target and its surrounding background. Firstly, we designed a harmonic contrast map (HCM) by using the two-dimensional difference of Gaussian (2D-DoG) filter and eigenvalue harmonic mean of the structure tensor to highlight high-contrast regions of interest. Secondly, a local gradient difference measure (LGDM) is designed to distinguish isotropic small targets from background edges with local gradients in a specific direction. Subsequently, by integrating the HCM and LGDM, we designed a fusion gray gradient clutter suppression map (FGGCSM) to effectively enhance the target and suppress clutter from the sea background. Finally, an adaptive constant false alarm threshold is adopted to extract the targets. Extensive experiments on five real infrared maritime image sequences full of sea glints, including a small target and sea–sky background, show that FGGCS effectively increases the signal-to-clutter ratio gain (SCRG) and the background suppression factor (BSF) by more than 22% and 82%, respectively. Furthermore, its receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve has an obviously more rapid convergence rate than those of other typical detection algorithms and improves the accuracy of small-target detection in complex maritime backgrounds.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/16/7/1255maritime backgroundinfrared small-target detectionsea clutterharmonic contrast map (HCM)local gradient difference measure (LGDM) |
| spellingShingle | Wei Wang Zhengzhou Li Abubakar Siddique Infrared Maritime Small-Target Detection Based on Fusion Gray Gradient Clutter Suppression Remote Sensing maritime background infrared small-target detection sea clutter harmonic contrast map (HCM) local gradient difference measure (LGDM) |
| title | Infrared Maritime Small-Target Detection Based on Fusion Gray Gradient Clutter Suppression |
| title_full | Infrared Maritime Small-Target Detection Based on Fusion Gray Gradient Clutter Suppression |
| title_fullStr | Infrared Maritime Small-Target Detection Based on Fusion Gray Gradient Clutter Suppression |
| title_full_unstemmed | Infrared Maritime Small-Target Detection Based on Fusion Gray Gradient Clutter Suppression |
| title_short | Infrared Maritime Small-Target Detection Based on Fusion Gray Gradient Clutter Suppression |
| title_sort | infrared maritime small target detection based on fusion gray gradient clutter suppression |
| topic | maritime background infrared small-target detection sea clutter harmonic contrast map (HCM) local gradient difference measure (LGDM) |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/16/7/1255 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT weiwang infraredmaritimesmalltargetdetectionbasedonfusiongraygradientcluttersuppression AT zhengzhouli infraredmaritimesmalltargetdetectionbasedonfusiongraygradientcluttersuppression AT abubakarsiddique infraredmaritimesmalltargetdetectionbasedonfusiongraygradientcluttersuppression |