Estimation Techniques and Other Work on Image Correlation.

Abstract : Image correlation, or 'map matching,' has important implications for autonomous target acquisition and terminal guidance for various missiles, as well as for other pattern recognition applications. This report makes the following contributions to image correlation: (1) Analysis of block-substitution effects (snow, shadows, clouds, and the like) on the probability of correlation, Pc, (2) Development of a closed-form approximation for computing Pc, (3) New techniques for calculating the inherent scene characteristics (numbers of independent elements in the scene and the scene correlation length), (4) A completely new procedure for estimating the value of Pc from the correlation data themselves, and (5) A new technique for selecting and locating the significant features in a scene. (Author)