Rapid search for spherical objects in aerial photographs

Kenneth C. Cox, Gruia-Catalin Roman, William E. Ball, Andrew F. Laine

Abstract: A methodology is presented for designing detectors which locate specific features in an image. The method is applied to the detection and segmentation of spherical features. A vital part of the detection and segmentation is the use of the gradient angle transform. An analysis of the gradient angle for ideal spheres is presented, with a discussion of how this may be used to locate the boundaries of the sphere. The algorithms used by a program which detects and segments spherical features are then presented. The results of applying the program to images with man-made spherical features are given.<