  Infrared small target detection in an infrared search and track (IRST) system
is a challenging task. This situation becomes more complicated when high
gray-intensity structural backgrounds appear in the field of view (FoV) of the
infrared seeker. While the majority of the infrared small target detection
algorithms neglect directional information, in this paper, a directional
approach is presented to suppress structural backgrounds and develop a more
effective detection algorithm. To this end, a similar concept to the average
absolute gray difference (AAGD) is utilized to construct a novel directional
small target detection algorithm called absolute directional mean difference
(ADMD). Also, an efficient implementation procedure is presented for the
proposed algorithm. The proposed algorithm effectively enhances the target area
and eliminates background clutter. Simulation results on real infrared images
prove the significant effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
