Target classification in synthetic aperture radar images using quantized wavelet scattering networks

The need to classify targets and features in high‐resolution imagery is of interest in applications such as detection of landmines in ground penetrating radar and tumors in medical ultrasound images. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) trained using extensive datasets are being investigated recently. However, large CNNs and wavelet scattering networks (WSNs), which share similar properties, have extensive memory requirements and are not readily extendable to other datasets and architectures—and especially in the context of adaptive and online learning. In this paper, we quantitatively study several quantization schemes on WSNs designed for target classification using X‐band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data and investigate their robustness to low signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) levels. A detailed study was conducted on the tradeoffs involved between the various quantization schemes and the means of maximizing classification performance for each case. Thus, the WSN‐based quantization studies performed in this investigation provide a good benchmark and important guidance for the design of quantized neural networks architectures for target classification.