Automatic target recognition of radar HRRP based on high order central moments features

The paper addresses the problem of target recognition using High-resolution Radar Range Profiles (HRRP). A novel approach of feature extraction and dimension reduction based on extended high order central moments is proposed in order to reduce the dimension of range profiles. Features extracted from radar HRRPs are normalized and smoothed, and then comparative analysis of the similar approaches is done. The range profiles are obtained by step frequency technique using the two-dimensional backscatters distribution data of four different aircraft models. The template matching method by nearest neighbor rules, which is based on the theory of kernel methods for pattern analysis, is used to classify and identify the range profiles from four different aircrafts. Numerical simulation results show that the proposed approach can achieve good performance of stability, shift independence and higher recognition rate. It is helpful for real-time identification and the engineering implements of automatic target recognition using HRRP. The number of required templates could be reduced considerably while maintaining an equivalent recognition rate.