Enhancement of dim small target through modified top-hat transformation under the condition of heavy clutter

• Published in: Signal processing Vol. 90; no. 5; pp. 1643 - 1654
• Main Authors: Bai, Xiangzhi, Zhou, Fugen, Jin, Ting
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.05.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Algorithms; Applied sciences; Clutter; Detection, estimation, filtering, equalization, prediction; Dim small target; Exact sciences and technology; False alarm reduction; Heavy clutter; Information, signal and communications theory; Mathematical analysis; Signal and communications theory; Signal processing; Signal, noise; Target detection; Target enhancement; Telecommunications and information theory; Top-hat transformation; Transformations; Dim small target; Heavy clutter; False alarm reduction; Top-hat transformation; Target enhancement; Target detection; Algorithm; Clutter; False alarm rate
• ISSN: 0165-1684; 1872-7557
• DOI: 10.1016/j.sigpro.2009.11.014

A new algorithm to enhance dim small target through modified top-hat transformation is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the property of top-hat transformation is analyzed following the property of small target regions. Secondly, a judging value is calculated following the properties of target region and top-hat transformation. Finally, the judging value is imported into the top-hat transformation to form the modified top-hat transformation. Because of the judging value in modified top-hat transformation, dim target can be significantly enhanced and heavy clutter can be effectively suppressed. Experimental results verified that the modified top-hat transformation for target enhancement under the conditions of heavy clutter and dim target intensity was effective and robust.