ENHANCED DETECTION AND AUTOMATIC SIGNATURE EXTRACTION OF RADAR RESONANCE REFLECTIONS IN ABOVE AND BELOW-GROUND MAN-MADE OBJECTS
First Claim
1. A method for identifying a target of interest, the method comprising:
- receiving one or more digitized radar returns;
forming a processed resonance map from the one or more digitized radar returns, the processed resonance map comprising a plurality of pixels, each pixel having a value;
forming a signature discriminant array, each element of the signature discriminant array corresponding to a pixel of the plurality of pixels, each element of the signature discriminant array being;
the fourth power of the ratio of;
the power within an inner rectangle, tothe difference between the power within an outer rectangle and the power within the inner rectanglewhen the power within the inner rectangle exceeds the power within the outer rectangle, andzero otherwise;
the power within the inner rectangle being the sum of the squares of the pixel values in a rectangle of a first height and a first width centered on the corresponding pixel of the plurality of pixels,the power within the outer rectangle being the sum of the squares of the pixel values in a rectangle of a second height and a second width centered on the corresponding pixel of the plurality of pixels,the second height and width being greater than the first height and width, respectively, the first height and width and the second height and width being selected to match a target of interest.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for processing radar returns to identify returns from man-made objects. In one embodiment, a plurality of radar returns is used to form a corresponding plurality of resonance maps, which are combined using an ordered statistic to form a processed resonance map. A discriminant is calculated as (a) the fourth power of the ratio of (i) the power in a first rectangle about each pixel to (ii) the power in a region outside the first rectangle and inside a second, larger rectangle, or (b) zero if the ratio is less than 1. Other processing operations including thresholding operations to suppress noise and clutter are used to improve the signal to noise ratio for detecting man-made objects.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method for identifying a target of interest, the method comprising:
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receiving one or more digitized radar returns; forming a processed resonance map from the one or more digitized radar returns, the processed resonance map comprising a plurality of pixels, each pixel having a value; forming a signature discriminant array, each element of the signature discriminant array corresponding to a pixel of the plurality of pixels, each element of the signature discriminant array being; the fourth power of the ratio of; the power within an inner rectangle, to the difference between the power within an outer rectangle and the power within the inner rectangle when the power within the inner rectangle exceeds the power within the outer rectangle, and zero otherwise; the power within the inner rectangle being the sum of the squares of the pixel values in a rectangle of a first height and a first width centered on the corresponding pixel of the plurality of pixels, the power within the outer rectangle being the sum of the squares of the pixel values in a rectangle of a second height and a second width centered on the corresponding pixel of the plurality of pixels, the second height and width being greater than the first height and width, respectively, the first height and width and the second height and width being selected to match a target of interest. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A radar system, comprising:
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a radar transmitter; a radar receiver; and a processing unit configured to; receive a plurality of digitized radar returns; form a processed resonance map comprising a plurality of pixels from the plurality of digitized radar returns, each pixel having a value; form a signature discriminant array, each element of the signature discriminant array corresponding to a pixel of the plurality of pixels, each element of the signature discriminant array being; the fourth power of the ratio of; the power within an inner rectangle, to the difference between the power within an outer rectangle and the power within the inner rectangle when the power within the inner rectangle exceeds the power within the outer rectangle, and zero otherwise; the power within the inner rectangle being the sum of the squares of the pixel values in a rectangle of a first height and a first width centered on the corresponding pixel of the plurality of pixels, the power within the outer rectangle being the sum of the squares of the pixel values in a rectangle of a second height and a second width centered on the corresponding pixel of the plurality of pixels, the second height and width being greater than the first height and width, respectively, and the first height and width and the second height and width being selected to match a target of interest. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for identifying a target of interest, the method comprising:
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receiving a first radar return from a known sample target; forming a first processed resonance map from the first radar return, the first processed resonance map comprising a plurality of pixels, each pixel having a value; forming a plurality of first signature discriminant arrays from the first processed resonance map, for a plurality of sets of inner rectangle dimensions and a plurality of sets of outer rectangle dimensions; taking the maximum of each of the plurality of first signature discriminant arrays, to form a plurality of discriminant maximums; selecting a first set of inner rectangle dimensions and a first set of outer rectangle dimensions, the first set of inner rectangle dimensions and the first set of outer rectangle dimensions corresponding to the largest-valued discriminant maximum; receiving a second radar return from a scene; forming a second processed resonance map from the second radar return, the second processed resonance map comprising a plurality of pixels, each pixel having a value; and forming a second signature discriminant array from the second processed resonance map, for the first set of inner rectangle dimensions and the first set of outer rectangle dimensions. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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Specification