Identification of Three-Dimensional Objects Using Fourier Descriptors of the Boundary Curve

The feasibility of a method for the identification of a three-dimensional object from information contained in the boundary of its silhouettes is demonstrated. A silhouette is characterized by parametric representation of its boundary curve in the complex plane. After normalization and transformation, a set of Fourier descriptors is derived for every silhouette. A minimum distance classifier uses the descriptors to identify the three-dimensional object and to estimate its position and attitude with respect to a known reference coordinate system. The method was tested for identification of four aircraft representing complex and nonconvex objects. Simulation results, quantitative and statistical, are presented.