Airborne Surveillance Research Gets Smart at TSU

Ali Sekmen and Fenghui Yao, professors in the TSU Department of Computer Science, have received two grants from AirForce Research Laboratory to conduct research in smart airborne surveillance.

The first grant, "Multi-Sensor Vision Data Fusion for Smart Airborne Video Surveillance," will address the problem of detection and tracking of moving targets within a multi­source data fusion framework that can elegantly integrate vision data captured by airborne optical and infrared (IR) cameras.

The second grant, "Heterogeneous Vision Data Fusion for Independently Moving Cameras," addresses the problem of fusion of image sequences collected by independently moving heterogeneous cameras for continuous detection and tracking of moving targets.

Sekmen and Yao will investigate and evaluate existing image fusion algorithms, develop new real-time algorithms for Category-II image fusion, and apply these algorithms in moving target detection and tracking.

Sekmen expects the University's research activities to enhance Air Force capabilities that are essential for fighting with insurgency, determining strategies in battlefields, protection of vital infrastructure along with many other homeland security applications.

"This research investigates the current state-of-the-art technologies and improve existing technologies for fusion of images from independently moving vision sensors," he said. "We hope to help the Air Force accomplish its mission and meet its intended goals and objectives in the areas of sensor fusion, data and image processing, signal processing, computer vision, and pattern recognition," added Sekmen.

The total amount granted for the research is $167,000.