title: Model-based recognition of 3D articulated target using ladar range data.
abstract: Ladar is suitable for 3D target recognition because ladar range images can provide rich 3D geometric surface information of targets. In this paper, we propose a part-based 3D model matching technique to recognize articulated ground military vehicles in ladar range images. The key of this approach is to solve the decomposition and pose estimation of articulated parts of targets. The articulated components were decomposed into isolate parts based on 3D geometric properties of targets, such as surface point normals, data histogram distribution, and data distance relationships. The corresponding poses of these separate parts were estimated through the linear characteristics of barrels. According to these pose parameters, all parts of the target were roughly aligned to 3D point cloud models in a library and fine matching was finally performed to accomplish 3D articulated target recognition. The recognition performance was evaluated with 1728 ladar range images of eight different articulated military vehicles with various part types and orientations. Experimental results demonstrated that the proposed approach achieved a high recognition rate.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.forename: Jian-Feng
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang