Ground Target Recognition in a Query-Based Multi-Sensor Information System

We present a system covering the complete process for automatic ground target recognition, from sensor data to the user interface, i.e., from low level image processing to high level situation analysis. The system is based on a query language and a query processor, and includes target detection, target recognition, data fusion, presentation and situation analysis. This paper focuses on target recognition and its interaction with the query processor. The target recognitionis executed in sensor nodes, each containing a sensor and the corresponding signal/image processing algorithms. New sensors and algorithms are easily added to the system. The processing of sensor data is performed in two steps; attribute estimation and matching. First, several attributes, like orientation and dimensions, are estimated from the (unknown but detected) targets. These estimates are used to select the models of interest in a matching step, where the targetis matched with a number of target models. Several methods and sensor data types are used in both steps, and data is fused after each step. Experiments have been performed using sensor data from laser radar, thermal and visual cameras. Promising results are reported, demonstrating the capabilities of the target recognition algorithms, the advantages of the two-level data fusion and the query-based system