Abstract: A new algorithm based on the Power-Law detector is developed to detect a small moving target under heavy infrared background. Because the fluctuation of the gray-scale value of a pixel in an image occurs when a target passes by, this fluctuation can be viewed as a weak transient signal which can be detected by the Power-Law processor due to its advanced performance on transient signal detection. Experimental results show that the algorithm can reliably detect small targets with SCR larger than 1.

Key words: small targets, transient signal detection, Power-Law detector, infrared image, target detection