Publications

Radar cross section statistics of dismounts at Ku-band

Raynal, Ann M.; Burns, Bryan L.; Verge, Tobias J.; Bickel, Douglas L.; Dunkel, Ralf; Doerry, Armin

Knowing the statistical characteristics of a target's radar cross-section (RCS) is crucial to the success of radar target detection algorithms. A wide range of applications currently exist for dismount (i.e. human body) detection and monitoring using ground-moving target indication (GMTI) radar systems. Dismounts are particularly challenging to detect. Their RCS is orders of magnitude lower than traditional GMTI targets, such as vehicles. Their velocity of about 0 to 1.5 m/s is also much slower than vehicular targets. Studies regarding the statistical nature of the RCS of dismounts focus primarily on simulations or very limited empirical data at specific frequencies. This paper seeks to enhance the existing body of work on dismount RCS statistics at Ku-band, which is currently lacking, and has become an important band for such remote sensing applications. We examine the RCS probability distributions of different sized humans in various stances, across aspect and elevation angle, for horizontal (HH) and vertical (VV) transmit/receive polarizations, and at diverse resolutions, using experimental data collected at Ku-band. We further fit Swerling target models to the RCS distributions and suggest appropriate detection thresholds for dismounts in this band. © 2010 SPIE.