The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) has offered a $50,000 prize pool for novel approaches that employ artificial intelligence to detect circular-shaped elements in satellite images.
NGA said Monday that it is seeking automated approaches that can trace, delineate and describe circles in satellite imagery as part of the Circle Finder challenge. The agency cited fuel storage tanks, agricultural irrigation areas, traffic circles and fountains as examples of circular features.
"This particular challenge is difficult because many circular features are not going to be perfectly circular nor similar in size," said Jack Brandy, geospatial intelligence capabilities integration officer at NGA.
"The difficulty lies in an algorithm’s ability to property identify any size circular object while rejecting obfuscating elements that could prevent proper detection," added Brandy.