Image processing techniques for laser images

This paper presents the signal processing method of laser images used for detection of small collinear obstacles in helicopter airborne applications. It is very difficult, if not almost impossible, for a regular passive imaging sensor based on CCD detectors to detect such small, remote objects. It was proved in the literature that the fusion of range and intensity data is needed for such a task. The paper presents a new and improved algorithm for real time image processing which enable detection of small tiny objects from sparse data, from a fast moving platform.