Novel Approach for Ballistic Targets Classification from HRRP Frame

Nowadays the challenge of the identification of Ballistic Missile (BM) warheads in a cloud of decoys and debris is essential for the defence system in order to optimize the use of ammunition resources avoiding to run out of all the available interceptors in vain. In this paper a novel approach for the classification of ballistic threats from the High Resolution Range Profile (HRRP) frame is presented. The algorithm is based on the computation of the inverse Radon Transform (IRT) of the HRRP frame as target signature, and on the evaluation of pseudo-Zernike moments, as final feature vector. Firstly, the algorithm is presented emphasizing the characteristics of the HRRP frame due to target micro-motions. Then, the classification results on simulated data are shown for various operational conditions.