Target classification using Gaussian mixture model for ground surveillance Doppler radar

An automatic target recognition (ATR) algorithm, based on greedy learning of Gaussian mixture model (GMM) is developed in this work. The GMMs were obtained for a wide range of ground surveillance radar targets such as: walking person(s), tracked or wheeled vehicles, animals and clutter. Maximum-likelihood (ML) and "majority voting" decision schemes were applied to these models for target classification. The corresponding classifiers were trained and tested using distinct databases of target echoes, recorded by ground surveillance radar. ML and "majority voting" classifiers obtained classification rates of 88% and 96%, correspondingly. Both classifiers outperform trained human operators.