SAR ATR Performance Using a Conditionally Gaussian Model

A family of conditionally Gaussian signal models for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery is presented, extending a related class of models developed for high resolution radar range profiles. This signal model is robust with respect to the variations of the complex-valued radar signals due to the coherent combination of returns from scatterers as those scatterers move through relative distances on the order of a wavelength of the transmitted signal (target speckle). The target type and the relative orientations of the sensor, target, and ground plane parameterize the conditionally Gaussian model. Based upon this model, algorithms to jointly estimate both the target type and pose are developed. Performance results for both target pose estimation and target recognition are presented for publicly released data from the MSTAR program.