On improving IED object detection by exploiting scene geometry using stereo processing

Detecting changes in the environment with respect to an earlier data acquisition is important for several applications, such as finding Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). We explore and evaluate the benefit of depth sensing in the context of automatic change detection, where an existing monocular system is extended with a second camera in a fixed stereo setup. We then propose an alternative frame registration that exploits scene geometry, in particular the ground plane. Furthermore, change characterization is applied to localized depth maps to distinguish between 3D physical changes and shadows, which solves one of the main challenges of a monocular system. The proposed system is evaluated on real-world acquisitions, containing geo-tagged test objects of 18 18 9 cm up to a distance of 60 meters. The proposed extensions lead to a significant reduction of the false-alarm rate by a factor of 3, while simultaneously improving the detection score with 5%.