Multiple moving targets positioning via local trajectory consistency using stereo geostationary infrared image sequences

Multiple moving targets positioning under observation by stereo infrared geostationary satellites is a challenging task. Due to the poor texture information of infrared (IR) images, as well as the difficulties of synchronous control and the continuous movement of the targets, the traditional photogrammetric stereo positioning methods are no longer effective. This paper introduces a new approach which considers the local trajectory consistency in solving the positioning problem of moving targets that follow a certain dynamic principle under the continuous observation by stereo IR geostationary satellites. The new method first detects the point targets from the IR image sequences by a widely used method based on a modified partial differential equation. Then, the constraints of the epipolar lines and the imaging times of the corresponding points are combined to match the corresponding trajectories. Finally, the image coordinates of the targets are obtained from the parametric function and their three dimensional coordinates are easily computed by forward intersection. Experimental results confirmed that the proposed method can achieve better positioning accuracy compared to the direct forward intersection method even when the stereo image sequences are synchronously observed. At the same time, the proposed method was found to be capable of effectively coping with the asynchronous situation.