SAR image dataset of military ground targets with multiple poses for ATR

Carole Belloni; Alessio Balleri; Nabil Aouf; Thomas Merlet; Jean-Marc Le Caillec

doi:10.1117/12.2277914

5 October 2017 SAR image dataset of military ground targets with multiple poses for ATR

Carole Belloni, Alessio Balleri, Nabil Aouf, Thomas Merlet, Jean-Marc Le Caillec

Proceedings Volume 10432, Target and Background Signatures III; 104320N (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2277914
Event: SPIE Security + Defence, 2017, Warsaw, Poland

Abstract

Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) is the task of automatically detecting and classifying targets. Recognition using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images is interesting because SAR images can be acquired at night and under any weather conditions, whereas optical sensors operating in the visible band do not have this capability. Existing SAR ATR algorithms have mostly been evaluated using the MSTAR dataset.¹ The problem with the MSTAR is that some of the proposed ATR methods have shown good classification performance even when targets were hidden,² suggesting the presence of a bias in the dataset. Evaluations of SAR ATR techniques are currently challenging due to the lack of publicly available data in the SAR domain. In this paper, we present a high resolution SAR dataset consisting of images of a set of ground military target models taken at various aspect angles, The dataset can be used for a fair evaluation and comparison of SAR ATR algorithms. We applied the Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) technique to echoes from targets rotating on a turntable and illuminated with a stepped frequency waveform. The targets in the database consist of four variants of two 1.7m-long models of T-64 and T-72 tanks. The gun, the turret position and the depression angle are varied to form 26 different sequences of images. The emitted signal spanned the frequency range from 13 GHz to 18 GHz to achieve a bandwidth of 5 GHz sampled with 4001 frequency points. The resolution obtained with respect to the size of the model targets is comparable to typical values obtained using SAR airborne systems. Single polarized images (Horizontal-Horizontal) are generated using the backprojection algorithm.³ A total of 1480 images are produced using a 20° integration angle. The images in the dataset are organized in a suggested training and testing set to facilitate a standard evaluation of SAR ATR algorithms.

Citation Download Citation

Carole Belloni, Alessio Balleri, Nabil Aouf, Thomas Merlet, and Jean-Marc Le Caillec "SAR image dataset of military ground targets with multiple poses for ATR", Proc. SPIE 10432, Target and Background Signatures III, 104320N (5 October 2017); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2277914

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available