Electro-optical (EO) imaging sensors are employed for object detection, recognition, identification, and tracking. The observation range of EO systems is defined as the maximum distance at which a target of interest can be seen and perceived. The performance of these systems deteriorates under degraded weather conditions, which severely affects the image quality and thus the observation range of EO surveillance systems. An improved image quality results in an enhanced observation range. Image quality can be improved by applying suitable digital image enhancement techniques by considering target/background signature knowledge. Under bad weather conditions, these digital techniques become ineffective due to the presence of scattered background signals. To reduce the effect of scattering, optical methods are also used to mitigate degradation caused by the atmosphere. It is observed that the optical method alone cannot produce the desired result. Observation range enhancement in surveillance system is achieved using the proposed hybrid method, which utilizes the optimal combination of optical and digital techniques in real-time. The proposed method not only improves human visual perception but also reveals more image content for better image analysis. The performance of the proposed range enhancement technique is compared with the predicted observation range model. The processed images using the hybrid method show more than 30% observation range enhancement under bad weather conditions. In addition to the subjective evaluation, qualitative and quantitative evaluations of image quality achieved through the proposed method are also presented. It is observed that the proposed hybrid method significantly improves the observation range and image quality of EO sensors under degraded weather in real time.

中文翻译：

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电光成像系统实时测距的有效方法

光电 (EO) 成像传感器用于物体检测、识别、识别和跟踪。EO 系统的观察范围定义为可以看到和感知感兴趣目标的最大距离。这些系统的性能在恶化的天气条件下会恶化，这会严重影响图像质量，从而影响 EO 监视系统的观测范围。改进的图像质量导致更大的观察范围。通过考虑目标/背景签名知识，应用合适的数字图像增强技术可以提高图像质量。在恶劣的天气条件下，由于存在散射的背景信号，这些数字技术变得无效。为了减少散射的影响，光学方法也用于减轻由大气引起的退化。据观察，单独的光学方法不能产生所需的结果。使用所提出的混合方法实现监视系统中的观测范围增强，该方法实时利用光学和数字技术的最佳组合。所提出的方法不仅改善了人类的视觉感知，而且还揭示了更多的图像内容以进行更好的图像分析。将所提出的距离增强技术的性能与预测的观测距离模型进行比较。使用混合方法处理的图像在恶劣天气条件下显示超过 30% 的观测范围增强。除了主观评价，还介绍了通过所提出的方法实现的图像质量的定性和定量评估。观察到，所提出的混合方法显着提高了实时退化天气下EO传感器的观测范围和图像质量。