Weighted contrast metric for imaging system performance

There have been significant improvements in the image quality metrics used in the NVESD model suite in recent years. The introduction of the Targeting Task Performance (TTP) metric to replace the Johnson criteria yielded significantly more accurate predictions for under-sampled imaging systems in particular. However, there are certain cases which cause the TTP metric to predict optimistic performance. In this paper a new metric for predicting performance of imaging systems is described. This new weighted contrast metric is characterized as a hybrid of the TTP metric and Johnson criteria. Results from a number of historical perception studies are presented to compare the performance of the TTP metric and Johnson criteria to the newly proposed metric.