Bat-inspired ultrasound tomography in air

Classification of targets is of great interest to the radar and sonar community. The development of modern systems has resulted in a drive to improve automatic target recognition in order to be able to identify targets under all weather and clutter conditions. Echolocating mammals, such as bats, have an imperative to identify the targets they depend on for their survival and have evolved an excellent ability to detect, select, and attack prey even in the most challenging environments. They acquire multi perspective information as to construct an image of the target in the way a typical tomographic image is developed. In this paper ultrasound high range resolution profiles of a real scaled target are processed to exploit tomographic images at ultrasound frequencies in air. Results are discussed and related to the radar case.