Evaluation of the impact of multispectral image fusion on human performance in global scene processing
By: Brice Landreau White
Publisher: Naval Postgraduate School; Available from National Technical Information Service
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Monterey, Calif; Springfield, Va
Language: eng
Number of pages: 51
Description: An observer extracts local and global information from a natural scene to form a visual perception. Neisser and      Treisman demonstrated that a natural scene contains different types of features, i.e., color, edges, luminance,      and orientation to aid visual search. Infrared and visible sensors present nighttime images to an observer to aid      target detection. These sensors present the observer an adequate representation of a nighttime scene, but      sometimes fail to provide quality features for accurate visual perception. The purpose of this thesis is to      investigate whether color features (combining an infrared and visible sensor image) improve visual scene      comprehension compared to single band grayscale features during a signal detection task. Twenty three scenes      were briefly presented in four different sensor formats (infrared, visible, fused monochrome, and fused color) to      measure subjects global visual ability to detect whether a natural scene was right side up or upside down.      Subjects are significantly more accurate at detecting scene orientation for an infrared and fused color scene      compared to a fused monochrome and visible scene. Both the infrared and fused color sensor formats provide      enough essential features to allow an observer to perceptually organize a complex nighttime scene.
Notes: "March 1998."

Thesis advisor(s): William K. Krebs.

DTIC Descriptor(s): Visual Perception, Night Vision, Color Vision, Image Processing, Performance(Human), Theses, Human Factors Engineering, Visibility, Pattern Recognition, Night Vision Devices, Target Detection, Multispectral, Visual Acuity.

Thesis (M.S. in Operations Research) Naval Postgraduate School, March 1998.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 47-49)

Approved for public release; distribution unlimited.

Also available online.

FUNDED BY: ONR#N0001497WR30078 ; ONR#N0001497WR30091

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat reader.

US Navy (USN) author.

dk/dk cc:9116 8/18/98.