Reconfigurable object detection in FLIR image sequences

Future surveillance operations will require easily deployable "microsensors" that are capable of autonomous detection and identification of objects. These devices will operate under severe limitations on energy consumption, to enable battery-powered operation. They will assess sensor inputs locally, transmitting data only after objects of interest have been detected and extracted from sensor data. This paper describes a prototype system that detects and tracks moving objects in image sequences obtained from an infrared video camera. Computation in the system is distributed across an FPGA and a DSP chip. The current system analyzes input images, in search of objects that meet predefined criteria. If these criteria are met, the system extracts a sub-image (or "chip") that contains an object of interest, and then transmits that to a central site for manual review and further analysis.