Structure selection in synthetic aperture radar scattering models

High-frequency models for radar backscatter can include components with different structures that correspond to different physical scattering mechanisms on an object. We consider the problem of structure selection for an attributed scattering center model that includes both localized and distributed scattering terms. We propose three structure classification algorithms, and compare their performance. We show that a threshold test on the estimated length parameter performs as well as a GLRT test, but is computationally more efficient. A computationally fast image-based test is shown to perform as well as the GLRT and length-based tests for scattering center lengths greater than twice the crossrange resolution of the measurements