Active 10.6μm Image Processing

A variety of image enhancement techniques for use on active (10.6μm) infrared images are presented. The image phenomena known as speckle and glint, which severely degrade image quality, are also discussed. Of primary importance is the identification of those algorithms which can provide a visually recognizable image to a human observer under real-time conditions. Beyond this goal is an extension to automatic recognition of objects of interest. Examples of each processing technique, generated by applying the algorithms on experimental data recorded digitally in real-time by an infrared radar testbed system, are included.