Vision enhancement for maritime search and rescue operations at night and bad weather conditions

During search and rescue operations (SAR) at night and bad weather conditions, the detection of persons in water represents a major challenge. When conventional searchlights are used, the backscattering from rain and fog decreases the detection range. For these conditions, the transportable range- gated viewing system (TRAGVIS) was developed, aiming to reduce the effect of backscatter, in particular from close ranges (up to several hundred meters). After data acquisition, image post processing techniques were applied. The objective of the study presented here is to enchance the vision of the image for better object recognition by the operator. In addition automatic object detection methods were tested.