Scattering Characteristic Extraction Method for Manmade Target Based on Target Null Theory

Abstract

Scattering characteristic extraction is an essential part of manmade target recognition. However, if two scattering points are in adjacent pixels, scattering characteristic extraction may fail to acquire accurate polarimetric scattering matrices (PSMs) of the weak scattering points due to the contamination caused by the strong scattering points. Target null theory provides a way to solve this problem. By selecting the transmitting and receiving polarization states of radar antennas simultaneously, the echo power of a strong scattering point becomes zero and the contamination effect is avoided. In this paper, a method based on target null theory for scattering characteristic extraction is proposed. First, we optimize the transmitting and receiving polarization states of the radar antenna to suppress the intensities of the strong scattering points to highlight the positions of the weak scattering points in certain polarimetric channels. Second, to suppress the contamination effects of strong scattering points in other polarimetric channels, we establish perturbation correction equations to erase the error generated by the point spread function (PSF) among adjacent scattering points in the radar image. Finally, the solved polarimetric scattering matrices of corresponding positions are implemented for target retrieval. The electromagnetic simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Keywords

• polarimetric radar
• manmade target
• target null theory
• polarimetric scattering matrix
• adjacent scattering points
• point spread function