Interferometric ISAR Imaging of Maritime Targets for Improved Classification

STR will develop a novel approach to 3D imaging and classification of maritime targets using interferometric inverse synthetic aperture radar (InISAR) in order to improve timeliness, accuracy, and sustainability of target recognition in congested littoral environments. In contrast to 2D ISAR imaging or other published InISAR work, our approach provides true 3D metric measurements and true cross-range scale, independently of the knowledge of the motion profile of the target. This enables a host of novel features to be extracted from InISAR imagery and used to improve target classification performance and eliminate the template explosion issue of conventional multi-view radar ATR. In Phase I we will (1) demonstrate feasibility of InISAR using realistic simulated data, flight trajectories, and maritime target motions and show the accuracy with which true 3D target measurements and pose can be determined, (2) quantify improvement in ATR performance due to inclusion of 3D target measurements, and (3) develop the CONOPS for this new imaging modality in the operational context. In Phase II we will implement the algorithms in a real-time processor and demonstrate operation in a field test. We have identified Raytheon SAS as a transition partner and are including their letter of support.