Abstract:

When missile-borne radar observing maritime formation targets, multiple range profiles are likely vicinity even overlapped as a consequence of the existence of multiple targets in the antenna beam. It is difficult to judge the corresponding relation between range profile cluster and target, which lead accurate extraction the single target range profile cannot implement. Based on the need of the range profile recognition and the constraints imposed by the target formation structure, a range profile extraction algorithm is proposed based on the range-azimuth clustering. The probability that multiple targets exist within the same beam and the four relationship between multiple targets range profiles are firstly analyzed and defined. Subsequently, the relationship between range profile cluster and multiple target are judge with clustering the range and azimuth information of the surface targets in the range-azimuth space. The algorithm finally extracts the range profiles of each individual ship target within the beam according to the clustering information. Simulation results demonstrate that the algorithm performs well in distinguishing different targets range profiles under a wide range of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and bandwidth, meaning that it can provide a solid foundation for the subsequent target recognition and tracking applications.