Enhanced Detection Using Target Polarization Signatures in Through-the-Wall Radar Imaging

• Published in: IEEE transactions on geoscience and remote sensing Vol. 50; no. 5; pp. 1968 - 1979
• Main Authors: Debes, C., Zoubir, A. M., Amin, M. G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.05.2012; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Subjects: Applied geophysics; Detection; Detectors; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; Humans; Imaging; Internal geophysics; Noise; Object detection; polarimetric imaging; Radar imaging; through-the-wall; polarimetric imaging; detection; extension; joints; metals; electromagnetic waves; through-the-wall; radar imaging; polarization; radar methods; performances; Pixel; statistics
• ISSN: 0196-2892; 1558-0644
• DOI: 10.1109/TGRS.2011.2170077

We consider the problem of through-the-wall radar imaging (TWRI), in which polarimetric imaging is used for automatic target detection. Two generalized statistical detectors are proposed which perform joint detection and fusion of a set of multipolarization radar images. The first detector is an extension of a previously proposed iterative target detector for multiview TWRI. This extension allows the detector to automatically adapt to statistics that may vary, depending on target locations and electromagnetic-wave polarizations. The second detector is based on Bayes' test and is of interest when target pixel occupancies are known from, e.g., secondary data. Properties of the proposed detectors are delineated and demonstrated by real data measurements using wideband sum-and-delay beamforming, acquired in a semicontrolled lab environment. We examine the performance of the proposed detectors when imaging both metal objects and humans.