Infrared small target detection method based on decomposition of polarization information

Abstract. A method of feature extraction and small target detection, based on infrared polarization, which uses the technical superiority of infrared polarization imaging in artificial target detection to solve the clutter interference problem in infrared target detection, is proposed. First, using the differences in the polarization characteristics of the artificial target and the natural background, the infrared polarization information models for the target and background are established. The compositions of intensity information, polarization information, and target polarization information are extracted, and enhancement measures are analyzed. Then, the variable polarization theories are combined to extract the target polarization characteristics and suppress the background clutter. Finally, the infrared small target is detected, and comparisons with existing methods demonstrate the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed method.