Automatic target recognition in missing data cases

Abstract

Automatic target recognition (ATR) is the process where computer algorithms are used to detect and classify objects or regions of interest in sensor data [1]. ATR algorithms have been developed for a broad range of sensors, including electro-optic (EO), infrared (IR), and microwave sensors (radar). A key advantage of microwave radar is its utility for all weather and time of day compared with other types of sensors. One limitation of many radar systems' ATR performance is the poor spatial resolution in the range and cross-range dimensions. While the range resolution of the microwave radar system can be straightforwardly improved by increasing the system's radio frequency bandwidth, superior cross-range (or azimuth) resolution requires an increase in antenna size. In order to achieve resolution similar to EO or IR systems, an enormous antenna must be used for transmission and reception, hindering microwave radar system's general applicability to ATR problems. However, by operating a synthetic aperture radar (SAR), the large antenna requirement can be overcome, and very fine cross-range resolution can be obtained with a modest real aperture antenna. Indeed, SAR has been used to generate high-resolution 2-D or 3-D object images at a variety of different microwave frequencies. In particular, wideangle SAR images can contain important features of an object from a diverse set of observation angles collected by a radar system orbiting around a target or scene. These feature-rich wide-angle SAR images are useful for ATR due to their high resolution and comprehensive coverage of the target. Interference, jamming, or data dropouts, however, are commonplace in practical SAR environments, and result in an incomplete data set. These missing and corrupted data cause substantial degradation in the generated SAR imagery, hampering their utility for subsequent ATR processing especially when data-independent image formation algorithms are used. A prime example of these difficulties is operating a SAR system in the very high frequency (VHF) or ultrahigh frequency (UHF) bands, where the spectrum is frequently crowded [2].