Temporal noise suppression for small target detection in infrared image sequences

Target detection algorithms based on temporal profiles have been showing excellent performance in detecting moving small targets in infrared image sequences. However, the temporal noise presented in infrared image sequences may change the form of temporal profiles, causing a degradation of detection performance of target detection algorithms that are performed on temporal profiles. To address the issue, a temporal noise suppression approach is proposed. First, we will show the effect of temporal noise on target detection algorithms based on temporal profiles. Then, a temporal noise suppression approach is proposed and its impact on temporal profiles is analyzed. Next, the execution procedure of the proposed approach is given. Finally, the proposed approach is evaluated and compared with several conventional target detection algorithms based on temporal profiles. The results show that our approach can significantly improve the detection performance of target detection algorithms based on temporal profiles.