Classification of aircraft using micro-Doppler bicoherence-based features

In the work presented here we propose a novel bicoherence-based method for the classification of aerial radar targets in automatic target recognition (ATR) systems. The possibility of classifying aerial targets using the micro-Doppler contributions caused by a jet engine or the rotor of a helicopter is studied. The method is based on classification features computed in the form of bicoherence estimates, as well as cepstral coefficients extracted from the micro-Doppler contribution contained in radar returns. The performance of the classification method developed is compared with the performance of common methods using high-resolution radar range profiles (HRRPs). Correct classification probability rates are computed for three different types of aerial targets. The benefits achieved by using bicoherence-based classification features are demonstrated and discussed.