New comparative experiments in range migration mitigation methods using polarimetric inverse synthetic aperture radar signatures of small boats

Adveserial small boats are a growing threat for naval operations in littoral environments. The first step in discerning the intention of any small boat is to classify and fingerprint it so it can be observed over an extended period of time. Currently, inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) techniques are used for large ship classification. Large ships tend to have a rich set of discernible features making classification relatively straightforward. However, small boats rarely have a rich set of discernible features, and are more vulnerable to motion-based range migration that leads to severe signature blurring, thus making classification more challenging.