Modeling The Interpretability Of Electro-Optical Imagery
David S. Hanson · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1990
The interpretability of imagery is a subjective judgement drawn by experienced analysts. Their use of context and previous experience permits them to draw remarkable conclusions from photographic evidence. Specifications for the ATARS electro-optical (E0) sensors are written to demand performance defined on the Image Interpretability Rating Scale (IIRS). The rating achieved is based on the interpreter's evaluation of the useful information content compared to examples that define the scale. Examples at each level are associated with a typical range of ground resolvable distances. Hardware is designed to deliver an angular resolution corresponding to the desired ground sampled distance at the worst case altitude. This paper addresses the issue of predicting sensor performance by relating the ground sampled distance, which is an objective design parameter, to the ground resolvable distance, which is not.