An Automatic and Forward Method to Establish 3-D Parametric Scattering Center Models of Complex Targets for Target Recognition

Abstract

In this article, an automatic and forward method is realized to establish attributed scattering center models directly from the computer-aided design (CAD) model of the complex target. The main steps include the preprocessing of the CAD model, the separation of scattering sources, the selection of strong scattering sources, and the automatic determination of model parameters. With the proposed method, the scattering sources, scattering mechanisms, and model parameters of the scattering centers can be identified and derived, such that the complicated manual intervention is completely avoided. Moreover, the method establishes the distributed scattering center models formed by curved surfaces with large curvature radii. Therefore, the formation mechanism of the distributed scattering center is extended from typical scattering structures to a general case. Thus, the model of the attributed scattering center is extended and can be applied to describe the scattering from the real structures of the complex target. The geometric shape of the scattering source is distinguished based on the principal curvature radii, which are calculated by differential geometry theory. Thus, the frequency dependence parameter is obtained according to its corresponding relationship with the geometric shape. In addition, based on the automatic method, a technology is studied to diagnose and correct the scattering center models of a target whose CAD model is unknown or partially known. Finally, parametric models of several targets in the Moving and Stationary Target Acquisition Recognition (MSTAR) program are established, and then compared with the measured data. The results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.