Turbulence estimation and mitigation in horizontal path imaging

Kristofor B. Gibson; Stephen M. Hammel

doi:10.1117/12.2064288

7 October 2014 Turbulence estimation and mitigation in horizontal path imaging

Proceedings Volume 9224, Laser Communication and Propagation through the Atmosphere and Oceans III; 92240V (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2064288
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2014, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Mitigating the effects of turbulence in imaging is an important capability for surveillance systems. For image capture applications, atmospheric turbulence causes global blur in isoplanatic conditions which prevents detection and identification of objects due to loss of important features. Free-space communication applications additionally suffer from these artifacts. The knowledge of the atmospheric characteristics can help improve the process of turbulence mitigation by applying enhancement filters designed according to optics parameters and turbulence characteristics. The additional problem is that estimating turbulence parameters require controlled equipment and known sources such that a transmitter and receiver pair are required. In this paper we investigate a method that addresses both common problems where only a single imaging system (with known parameters) is used for observation in horizontal paths through the atmosphere. We first desire to investigate a method for automating the process of selecting the correct modulation transfer function such that the observed image can be deblurred; thus enhancing the received images. Secondly, we wish to investigate a method for estimating the refractive-index structure parameter. We demonstrate the performance of this method with simulated data such that the camera and atmospheric conditions are known. Experiments were conducted and data collected in Point Loma, San Diego where atmospheric conditions were measured along with captured images of static scenes. We present the results of our approach with the simulated and real-world data. We discuss the issues with this type of approach and suggest plans for improving the method in the future.

Citation Download Citation

Kristofor B. Gibson and Stephen M. Hammel "Turbulence estimation and mitigation in horizontal path imaging", Proc. SPIE 9224, Laser Communication and Propagation through the Atmosphere and Oceans III, 92240V (7 October 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2064288

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