DENSITY DISCRIMINATION FOR PRINTER UTILIZATION STUDY

This report presents a summary of the work performed to study and investigate the capability of the Semi-Automatic Target Recognition Device (SATRD) for the determination of cloud cover on RADC supplied aerial reconnaissance film. Of 6 parameters used in this study, three were proved effective. Using only these 3 parameters, the percentage cloud cover was machine measured on 70% of the processed frames to an accuracy of 15%. In the remaining aerial photographs, dense (in the negative) water areas and distant terrain, as viewed through haze in oblique photography, were often misclassifaed as cloud area. Study of the results indicated that improvement would result from the installation of a logarithmic video amplifier and of a scanner tube with improved uniformity of light output and improved resolution. Preliminary results indicate that these two modifications to the SATRD would permit all 6 parameters to perform effectively with the result that cloud screening would take another significant step forward. Recommendations are presented to the effect that a cloud screening device may be built with the existing state-ofthe-art techniques used in this study program. (Author)