Feature analysis for indoor radar target classification

This paper analyzes the spectral features from human beings and indoor clutter for building and tuning Support Vector Machines (SVMs) classifiers for the purpose of classifying stationary human targets. The spectral characteristics were obtained through simulations using Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) techniques where the radar cross section (RCS) of humans and indoor clutter objects were captured over a wide range of frequencies, polarizations, aspect angles, and materials. Additionally, experimental data was obtained using a vector network analyzer. Two different feature sets for class discrimination are used from the acquired target and clutter RCS spectral data sets. The first feature vectors consist of the raw spectral characteristics, while the second set of feature vectors are statistical features extracted over a set frequency interval. Utilizing variables of frequency and polarization, a SVM classifier can be trained to classify unknown targets as a human or clutter. Classification accuracy over 80% can be effectively achieved given appropriate features.