Accession Number:

ADA495821

Title:

P-35: Characterizing Laser Speckle and Its Effect on Target Detection

Descriptive Note:

Journal article

Corporate Author:

AIR FORCE RESEARCH LAB MESA AZ

Personal Author(s):

• Gaska, James P.
• Tai, Chi-Feng
• Geri, George A.

Report Date:

2007-05-01

Pagination or Media Count:

5.0

Abstract:

In this study we examine a power spectral density metric for characterizing laser speckle and predicting its effect on target detection. To evaluate the metric, we measured contrast energy thresholds on both a laser speckle background and backgrounds consisting of randomly modulated pixel luminance i.e., pixel noise. We found that, at the same power spectral density levels, energy thresholds obtained for gratings superimposed on pixel noise were slightly higher than analogous thresholds obtained with laser-speckle noise. In the discussion section, we outline necessary improvements to the laser speckle power spectral density metric.

Descriptors:

• *TARGET DETECTION
• DIGITAL SYSTEMS
• DENSITY
• LASERS
• IMAGE PROJECTORS
• SPECTRAL ENERGY DISTRIBUTION
• PIXELS
• LUMINANCE
• POWER LEVELS
• NOISE

Subject Categories:

• Lasers and Masers
• Target Direction, Range and Position Finding

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE