Assessing the performance of a covert automatic target recognition algorithm

Lisa M. Ehrman; Aaron D. Lanterman

doi:10.1117/12.607440

19 May 2005 Assessing the performance of a covert automatic target recognition algorithm

Lisa M. Ehrman, Aaron D. Lanterman

Proceedings Volume 5807, Automatic Target Recognition XV; (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.607440
Event: Defense and Security, 2005, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

Passive radar systems exploit illuminators of opportunity, such as TV and FM radio, to illuminate potential targets. Doing so allows them to operate covertly and inexpensively. Our research seeks to enhance passive radar systems by adding automatic target recognition (ATR) capabilities. In previous papers we proposed conducting ATR by comparing the radar cross section (RCS) of aircraft detected by a passive radar system to the precomputed RCS of aircraft in the target class. To effectively model the low-frequency setting, the comparison is made via a Rician likelihood model. Monte Carlo simulations indicate that the approach is viable. This paper builds on that work by developing a method for quickly assessing the potential performance of the ATR algorithm without using exhaustive Monte Carlo trials. This method exploits the relation between the probability of error in a binary hypothesis test under the Bayesian framework to the Chernoff information. Since the data are well-modeled as Rician, we begin by deriving a closed-form approximation for the Chernoff information between two Rician densities. This leads to an approximation for the probability of error in the classification algorithm that is a function of the number of available measurements. We conclude with an application that would be particularly cumbersome to accomplish via Monte Carlo trials, but that can be quickly addressed using the Chernoff information approach. This application evaluates the length of time that an aircraft must be tracked before the probability of error in the ATR algorithm drops below a desired threshold.

Citation Download Citation

Lisa M. Ehrman and Aaron D. Lanterman "Assessing the performance of a covert automatic target recognition algorithm", Proc. SPIE 5807, Automatic Target Recognition XV, (19 May 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.607440

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