Detection and tracking of threats in aerial infrared images by a minimal path approach

The goal of this paper is to develop an algorithm for extracting point features from sequences of aerial infrared images. We propose an efficient method for the detection of threats in a sequence of infrared images by looking for a trajectory which optimizes a regularized criterion. The regularity is introduced by a new concept of total curvature which eliminates too oscillating trajectories while allowing those with ponctual changes of direction. In practice the research of an optimal trajectory is performed with an algorithm of dynamical programming type. Experimental results are also presented.