“Although we know that it is not a familiar object, after a while we can say what it resembles”. The core task of an aerial image analyst is to recognize different object types based on certain clearly classified characteristics from aerial or satellite images. An interactive recognition assistance system compares selected features with a fixed set of reference objects (core data set). Therefore it is mainly designed to evaluate durable single objects like a specific type of ship or vehicle. Aerial image analysts on missions realized a changed warfare over the time. The task was not anymore to classify and thereby recognize a single durable object. The problem was that they had to classify strong variable objects and the reference set did not match anymore. In order to approach this new scope we introduce a concept to a further development of the interactive assistance system to be able to handle also short-lived, not clearly classifiable and strong variable objects like for example dhows. Dhows are the type of ships that are often used during pirate attacks at the coast of West Africa. Often these ships were build or extended by the pirates themselves. They follow no particular pattern as the standard construction of a merchant ship. In this work we differ between short-lived and durable objects. The interactive adaptable assistance system is supposed to assist image analysts with the classification of objects, which are new and not listed in the reference set of objects yet. The human interaction and perception is an important factor in order to realize this task and achieve the goal of recognition. Therefore we had to model the possibility to classify short-lived objects with appropriate procedures taking into consideration all aspects of short-lived objects. In this paper we will outline suitable measures and the possibilities to categorize short-lived objects via simple basic shapes as well as a temporary data storage concept for shortlived objects. The interactive adaptable approach offers the possibility to insert the data (objects) into the system directly and on-site. To mitigate the manipulation risk the entry of data (objects) into the main reference (core data) set is granted to a central authorized unit.

Date Published: 15 May 2015
PDF: 14 pages
Proc. SPIE 9499, Next-Generation Analyst III, 949908 (15 May 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2180346

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9499:
Next-Generation Analyst III
Barbara D. Broome; Timothy P. Hanratty; David L. Hall; James Llinas, Editor(s)