Recognition of High-Range-Resolution (HRR) Profile Signatures of Moving Ground Targets for Combat Identification (CID)

The objective of this proposal is to extend and build on our Phase 1 research to create a hierarchical Aided Target Recognition (AiTR) capability utilizing High Range Resolution (HRR) RADAR profiles. We will continue to refine our utilization of Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) as the basis of the hierarchical AiTR software, but will devote a portion of the program resources to explore alternative models, features and algorithms that may provide superior performance. The strategic vision is to develop a principled and conservative capability that is fully understood, methodically refined and can be depended on for a good level of performance, while pursuing promising but more speculative approaches that could yield significantly superior performance. The HMM-based system is the benchmark against which any alternative methodology will be compared. At all times, alternative methods will be compared against this benchmark and will only be adopted if significantly greater performance is demonstrated while taking into consideration any differences in complexity or required computational power.