Machine vision for detection of the rescue target in the marine casualty

In marine rescue, the detection of the target such as life rafts depends on the visual search by man as yet. However, human eyes are sometimes inadequate owing to a long flight and wide views. In order to carry out the prompt rescue of human life, development of the searching system in place of the human eyes is surely required. This paper deals with a new search method for detection of the rescue target using image processing techniques. To detect the small target in the wide views over the sea, we have proposed a new method including the image processing techniques based on the color information and the composite image sensor which increases about the measurement accuracy and the image processing speed at actual field. At the first step of the study, we attempt to extract the image data of the rescue target with the orange color in an experimental sea