UWB and UW Seal
   
Clark F. Olson
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Visual Ordnance Recognition for Clearing Test Ranges
Clark F. Olson and Larry H. Matthies
In Detection and Remediation Technologies for Mines and Mine-Like Targets III, Proceedings of the SPIE, Vol. 3392, pages 122-133, 1998.
We describe a method for recognizing surface-lying ordnance in test ranges using stereo range information and image edge maps. This method is to be used by an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) surveying the test range for autonomous clearing of ordnance. We concentrate on a particular type of cylindrical ordnance (BLU-97) in current usage in U.S. military test ranges. In order to locate instances of the ordnance, we employ a stereo pair of cameras to be mounted on top of a UGV. Parallel segments corresponding to the occluding contours of the ordnance are detected in the imagery using robust and efficient model extraction techniques. The stereo range data is used to adaptively select the local scale for edge detection and to place constraints on the search space for the parallel segment extraction. Initial tests indicate that robust recognition is possible in near real-time with a low rate of false positives.