Information Theoretic Investigation of Automatic Object Recognition and Image Fusion

Abstract

This work involves development of an information theoretic viewpoint for the model-based ATR problem, bringing the problems of ATR and pose estimation (PE) into the framework of signal detection/demodulation theory. Specific goals are to predict maximum achievable ATR/PE performance for a given object/scene scenario, and to quantify the tradeoff between performance and system complexity. Progress has been made toward investigating the feasibility of developing useful system performance bounds. Extensions of classical results by Blabut and Fano have shown that tight upper performance bounds can be developed; however, the bounds thus far produced require more information and computation than is practical. Progress has been made toward the long-term goal of designing ATR strategies based directly on information theoretic considerations. A Hilbert Space Decision Tree approach has been developed and tested. This ATR algorithm consists of a series of binary decisions, each of which occurs in the native object image space and maximizes the amount of object discrimination information gained by the decision. In this way, heuristic assumptions regarding the importance of model and image information are avoided. This technique shows great promise for guiding the design of ATR systems.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 24, 1997
Accession Number
ADA332432

Entities

People

  • David Cyganski
  • Richard F. Vaz

Organizations

  • Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • C4I
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Algorithms
  • Automatic
  • Computational Complexity
  • Computations
  • Data Sets
  • Databases
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • False Alarms
  • Identification
  • Image Recognition
  • Information Theory
  • Object Recognition
  • Random Variables
  • Recognition
  • Target Recognition
  • Trees (Data Structures)

Readers

  • Adaptive Control and Estimation with Uncertainty in Dynamic Systems.
  • Computer Vision.
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Space Objects