Wavelet and fractal analysis of ground-vehicle images

A large number of terrain images were taken at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, some containing ground vehicles. Is it possible to screen the images for possible targets in a short amount of time using the fractal dimension to detect texture variations. The fractal dimension is determined using the wavelet transform for these visual images. The vehicles are positioned within the grass and in different locations. Since it has been established that natural terrain exhibits a statistical l/f self-similarity property and the psychophysical perception of roughness can be quantified by the same self-similarity, fractal dimensions estimates should vary only at texture boundaries and breaks in the tree and grass patterns. Breaks in the patterns are found using contour plots of the dimension estimates and are considered as perceptual texture variations. Variation in the dimension estimate is considered more important than the accuracy of the actual dimensions number. Accurate variation estimates are found even with low resolution images.