Automatic Target Detection and Recognition Using Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery

Importance of Image Exploitation Defence forces rely upon a variety of sensor information to locate and track oppositional forces; the surveillance problem becomes particularly difficult over large land areas with sparse population centres and over the great expanse of the seas. The modern warfighter is dependent upon several types of image data to aid in the surveillance task including optical data, infrared data, and radar data. The volume of image data would overwhelm the available image analysis capabilities unless the imagery is first pre-screened to detect and/or classify potentially significant military targets. The detection and/or classification problem increases in difficulty when the targets are small (eg, tanks, small watercraft, personnel carriers) and the surveillance area is large. Such an ATD/R system is not fully automated, rather is designed to cue the analyst where possible in order to reduce workload and fatigue, and possibly even reduce the number of analysts required to achieve mission objectives.