Convolutional Neural Networks’ Applications in Automatic Target Recognition for Synthetic Aperture Images

Abstract

Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) is an important research area in the field of radar information processing. Because the deep Convolution Neural Network (CNN) does not need to carry out feature engineering and the performance of image classification is superior, it attracts more and more attention in the field of radar automatic target recognition. The application of CNN to radar image processing is reviewed in this paper. Firstly, the related knowledges including the characteristics of the radar image is introduced, and the limitations of traditional radar automatic target recognition methods are pointed out. The principle, composition and development of CNN the field of computer vision are introduced. Then, the research status of CNN in radar automatic target recognition is provided. The detection and recognition method of SAR image are presented in detail. Then, the challenge of radar automatic target recognition is analyzed. Finally, the new theory and model of convolution neural network, the new imaging technology of radar and the application to complex environments in the future are prospected.