Enhancement of dim small target through modified top-hat transformation under the condition of heavy clutter

A new algorithm to enhance dim small target through modified top-hat transformation is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the property of top-hat transformation is analyzed following the property of small target regions. Secondly, a judging value is calculated following the properties of target region and top-hat transformation. Finally, the judging value is imported into the top-hat transformation to form the modified top-hat transformation. Because of the judging value in modified top-hat transformation, dim target can be significantly enhanced and heavy clutter can be effectively suppressed. Experimental results verified that the modified top-hat transformation for target enhancement under the conditions of heavy clutter and dim target intensity was effective and robust.