Image processing in a maritime environment

The performance of mast mounted imaging sensors operating near the near marine boundary layer can be severely impacted by environmental issues. Haze, atmospheric turbulence, and rough seas can all impact imaging system performance. Examples of these impacts are provided in this paper. In addition, sensor artifacts such as deinterlace artifacts can also impact imaging performance. Deinterlace artifacts caused by a rotating mast are often too severe to be useful by an operator for detection of contacts. An artifact edge minimization approach is presented that eliminates these global motion-based deinterlace artifacts.