Raytheon Company

Hughes Electronics Corporation

Stephen K Johnson

Gerard L Rafanelli

Susan B Mount

Eric B Jensen

Bobby R Hunt

Mark J Rehfield

Albert M Bisbee

Marilyn A Sperka

James F Montgomery

Philip J Sementilli

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.

Moving object and transient event detection using rotation strip aperture image measurements

A spinning strip aperture imaging radiometer sensor system and data processing method for synthesizing a super-resolved scene estimate (super-resolved scene) from a plurality of image frames acquired by the strip aperture imaging sensor system. One embodiment of the imaging system comprises a rotating strip aperture wide field of view telescope, a two dimensional detector array for detecting images in the focal plane of the telescope, rotation compensation apparatus for preventing rotational smear during the integration time of the detectors, a signal processor for recording a plurality of image frames of a scene that is imaged by the telescope as it rotates around its optical axis, and an estimation processor employing the present method for synthesizing the super-resolved scene estimate from the recorded images. The super-resolved image synthesis method uses a plurality of rotating strip aperture measurements within the strip aperture passband and within the passband of an equivalent bandlimited synthesized full circular aperture to estimate the spatial frequency information outside the total measurement passband, and/or outside the passband of the equivalent bandlimited synthesized full circular aperture, as well as within the equivalent bandlimited passband. Knowledge of the spatial response function of the strip aperture, the spatial response function of the detector array, noise statistics, and the temporal registrations of each of the recorded strip aperture images permits synthesis of the super-resolved full aperture image by the sensor system and image synthesis method. The super-resolved image synthesis method may be employed in the spatial domain, the spatial frequency domain, or both.

Super-resolved full aperture scene synthesis using rotating strip

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Herndon, VA, United States of America

Stephen K Johnson