Radar Signature Analysis Using a Joint Time-Frequency Distribution Based on Compressed Sensing

A previously proposed time-frequency distribution based on compressed sensing (CS) is applied to radar backscattered signals for signature analysis. The CS joint time-frequency (CSJTF) distribution is based on the Wigner-Ville distribution, but employs CS to remove undesirable cross terms. To adapt the algorithm for radar signals, we develop a search procedure to find the optimal region in the ambiguity plane for achieving the best CSJTF distribution. The algorithm is then applied to backscattering data from several structures of interest, including a pipe, rotating turbine blades, and a moving human. The performance of the CSJTF is compared to that of the short-time Fourier transform and the reassigned spectrogram, and its limitations in time-frequency localization and resolution are discussed.