Modified top-hat transformation based on contour structuring element to detect infrared small target

Top-hat transformation has been widely used for infrared small target detection, but it is sensitive to the clutter and may destroy the details of the image, which make it an ineffective way for small target detection. To detect the infrared small target simply and efficiently, a new Top-hat transformation based on contour structuring element is proposed and then modified according to the property of the target region to enhance and detect the infrared small target in this paper. Experimental results indicated that the proposed method was efficient under the conditions of heavy clutter and dim target intensity.