Time-Frequency Analysis of Millimeter-Wave Radar Micro-Doppler Data from Small UAVs

Micro-Doppler feature analysis of small UAVs (sUAVs) is of great importance for identifying such targets. This paper discusses methods that can be used for analyzing various Doppler features present in the radar signal return from sUAVs. A 94 GHz radar is used in both CW and FMCW modes for data collection, and produces high fidelity micro-Doppler returns. Wavelet decomposition method is then used to extract the high frequency components of the signal that correspond to the characteristic fast moving parts of the sUAVs. Finally, time-frequency analysis is performed to visualize and interpret the features.