Raytheon Company

Marilyn A Sperka

Gerard L Rafanelli

Eric B Jensen

Susan B Mount

Mark J Rehfield

Stephen K Johnson

A spinning strip aperture imaging radiometer sensor system and data processing methods for detecting moving objects derived from a plurality of image frames acquired by a strip aperture imaging sensor. A moving object in any individual image frame results in a motion smear signature in the total synthesized image. The motion smear signature is processed to detect the moving objects. One embodiment of the system comprises a rotating strip aperture telescope, a two dimensional detector array that detects images in the telescope's focal plane, a rotation compensation device that prevents rotational smear during integration time of detectors of the array, a signal processor that records a plurality of image frames of a scene imaged by the telescope as it rotates around its optical axis, and that implements method(s) for detecting the moving objects present in the recorded images. A hierarchy of moving object detection processors and methods,is disclosed that includes spatial, temporal, spatial frequency, and temporal frequency domain detection processors, and is compatible with multi-spectral background rejection techniques. Selection of the appropriate processing procedure and method depends upon the scenario, and the effective signal to noise ratio characteristics of the moving object.

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Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, United States of America

Marilyn A Sperka