Autoregressive modeling of radar data with application to target identification

Abstract

The classification and identification of radar targets from frequency domain data is studied. The approach taken is to form an autoregressive (AR) model of the downrange and Doppler profiles of the target from a set of coherent stepped-frequency radar measurements. Simple, effective methods for motion compensation of the data and for averaging of the profile estimates are derived. This composite algorithm is applied to X-band radar measurements of aircraft in flight to illustrate the effectiveness of the modeling procedure. The results indicate that the AR model can be used for scattering center identification, and for discrimination between two targets.<>