Effect of sensor-target-background distance on target tracking using a fly eye sensor

A multi-aperture optical sensor, known as a fly eye sensor, has been developed at the Wyoming Image and Signal Processing Research (WISPR) Laboratory based on the visual system of the common housefly Musca domestical. This biomimetic sensor shows promising edge detection capability, in varying contrast scenarios, with minimal processing overhead. Use of this sensor for fast motion detection, and object tracking is appealing, but optimizing the use of such a sensor requires detailed study. This paper analyzes the effect of placing the background at various distances greater than the target, and provides visualization of these example scenarios. A computer simulationof the sensor using MATLAB demonstrates that the placdementof a target closer to the sensor, and further from the background, affects the sensor response. If not properly considered, this may introduce ambiguities and degrade the performance of a tracking system based ont he flye eye sensor that requires precise location of the target in front of the sensor. This paper shows how a peroperly designed low-pass filter can greatly mitigate this effect with only a small degradation of the relative response magnitude at different distances from the sensor.