Date of Award

3-22-2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

First Advisor

Richard K. Martin, PhD.

Abstract

Laser Detection and Ranging (LADAR) systems produce both a range image and an intensity image by measuring the intensity of light reflected off a surface target. When the transmitted LADAR pulse strikes a sloped surface, the returned pulse is expanded temporally. This characteristic of the reflected laser pulse enables the possibility of estimating the gradient of a surface. This study estimates the gradient of the surface of an object from a modeled LADAR return pulse that includes accurate probabilistic noise models. The range and surface gradient estimations are incorporated into a novel interpolator that facilitates an effective three dimensional (3D) reconstruction of an image given a range of operating conditions. The performance of the novel interpolator is measured by comparing the reconstruction effort against the performance of three common interpolation techniques: linear, spline, and sinc.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-GE-ENG-12-30

DTIC Accession Number

ADA559021

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