A simulation model of the ultraviolet (UV) radiance of the aircraft plume was established based on the improved spherical harmonic discrete coordinate method (SHDOM). Based on the thermal radiation of the plume, the modified model took into account the chemiluminescence of gas molecules and multiple scattering source caused by the average optical properties of cluster particles in the plume. On account of the basic radiation transfer equation, the UV radiation of the plume at different observation angles and medium distribution was numerically calculated in the spherical harmonic discrete coordinate system, and the space distribution images simulation of high resolution three-dimensional (3-D) plume radiance was presented. At the same time, the gray-scale co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) algorithm was used to obtain the gray-scale map of the plume radiation distribution. Combined with two-dimensional super resolution rotational invariant subspace algorithm, α-shape method and the rubber band algorithm, the central position and peak contour curve of the plume radiation was calculated, and the accurate extraction of the plume radiance feature was obtained, which provide an important reference and approach for the high resolution radiation image feature recognition of aircraft target and plume.