METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CLASSIFYING OBJECTS IN SONAR IMAGES

A method and apparatus for classifying objects in images utilize means for selecting portions of those images which contain objects and means for classifying those objects based upon parameters of the selected portions, which parameters are useful for classifying the objects. The selecting means preferably is a shadow and highlight detector, a statistical window detector and a neural network window detector whose output is combined in a combined cuer. The parameters are determined from the greylevels and positions of pixels using one or more modules which perform certain mathematical operations on this data. Such parameters include edge parameters, smoothness, clutter, presence and characteristics of highlights and shadows, and texture. The invention is particularly useful for classifying objects in sonar images as natural or man-made.