A Nonparametric Regression-Based Multi-Scale Gradient Correlation Filtering Method for Infrared Small Target Detection

Abstract

Infrared small target detection, especially under low SCR conditions and complex backgrounds, is still a challenging research task. Considering the scale change caused by small targets rapidly moving, in this paper, a nonparametric regression-based multi-scale gradient correlation filtering (MGCF) detection method is proposed. First, a nonparametric regression method is applied to calculate the gradient of each point. Then, based on the unique gradient characteristics of small targets, a multi-scale gradient correlation (MGC) template is designed to distinguish small targets from clutter. After that, a multi-scale gradient correlation filtering method is proposed to enhance the target intensity and suppress clutter. At last, based on the obtained filtering response, an adaptive threshold segmentation method is adopted to extract real small targets. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can fully improve the signal-to-clutter ratio (SCR) of small targets under different complex backgrounds. Moreover, compared with other baseline methods, the proposed method exhibits excellent detection performance.