Chaff Discrimination Using Convolutional Neural
Networks and Range Profile Data
Utku Kaydok
Roketsan Inc.
Ankara, Turkey
Email: ukaydok@roketsan.com.tr
Abstract—In this paper a method for chaff and ship
discrimination is discussed. The method uses one dimensional
range profile data for the input of the convolutional neural
network (CNN). The classification results for the CNN running
on MATLAB and using Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm are
presented for a database composed of 3 types of ship and one
type of chaff. This input database is corrupted with different
levels of sea clutter in order to conclude on the performance of
the CNN in different SCR conditions. The same CNN is also built
using Python with Tensorflow backend. The CNN is tested for
the database corrupted with sea clutter having a Gaussian
spectral function on Python. Classification rates starting from
%87 for low SCR (5 dB) up to %99 for high SCR (20 dB) are
obtained for the ship and chaff database which are corrupted
with sea clutter.
Keywords—chaff, ship, convolutional neural networks, CNN,
chaff discrimination, target-chaff classification, K-distribution, sea
clutter
I. INTRODUCTION
Chaff is first used in World War II as a countermeasure for
creating false targets to confuse radar operators. Today chaff is
mostly used for distracting radar and IR guided missiles and
dispensed by aircrafts or ships as a radar and EO
countermeasure. Chaff used against radar and radar guided
missiles consists of small strips of metal sheets (generally
aluminum) covered with glass whose wavelength is
proportional to a particular threat RF emitter. Chaff by having
low production cost and easy operational use, is still a very
valuable countermeasure against radars and radar guided
missiles.
Convolutional Neural Networks are a type of deep feed-
forward artificial neural networks, composed primarily of
convolutional, subsampling (pooling) and fully connected
layers. The CNNs are successfully used on images for
recognition of objects or classification of different classes
objects with very high performance. In this paper, the CNN is
used on one dimensional range data, to classify between chaff
and ship.
Database composed of range profiles of one chaff type on
different blooming stages (early and late chaff), and three
different ship types measured in different aspect angles is put
together. This database is used to train the proposed CNN
network. The database furthermore corrupted with different
levels of sea clutter and the performance of the network is
tested on various levels of sea clutter.
978-1-7281-6813-5/20/$31.00 ©2020 IEEE
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The network both tested on MATLAB using Levenberg-
Marquardt algorithm and Python using Stochastic Gradient
algorithm. Runtime of the network is also investigated on GPU
and CPU
II. THE NETWORK, TEST AND TRAINING DATA
A. CNN Layers
The convolutional neural network class for MATLAB used
in this paper is created by Mihail Sirotenko [1]. This class
includes three main types of layers: subsampling,
convolutional and fully connected layers. The general layout
of the network and flowchart is shown in Fig. 1. After the input
preprocessing, the network always starts with a subsampling
layer followed by a convolutional layer. The number of
subsampling and convolutional layers can be adjusted by user.
After subsampling and convolutional layers the network passes
outputs to a fully connected layer which outputs the
classification result of the network. The number of fully
connected layers can also be set by the user.
The CNN is trained using Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm
[2], [3]. The first version of Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm is
proposed by Levenberg as:
= −( + ) ∇ ( ) 
where ∇ is the gradient of function to minimise, is the th
element of vector , is hessian matrix evaluated at ,
identity matrix and is the scale parameter.
In (1) if the value of is very large, the contribution of the
hessian matrix is dramatically decreases. In order to avoid this,
Marquardt proposed a different approach, replacing the identity
matrix with the diagonal of the Hessian matrix which resulted
the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm:
= −( + ( )) ∇ ( ) (2)
Equation (2) ensures larger steps in the direction with low
curvature and small steps in the direction with high curvature
since Hessian is proportional to the curvature of .
Fig. 1. Building blocks and flowchart of CNN on MATLAB.
373
 Fig. 2. Proposed network and its layers.

The network proposed for this classification is composed of 2

subsampling, 3 convolutional and 2 fully connected layers
(Fig. 2). Convolutional kernels are selected as 17x1, 12x1 and
5x1 vectors, subsampling ratios are 4 and 2, the first fully
connected layer consists of 16 neurons and final fully
connected layer outputs the classification result with 2 neurons.
B. Test and Training Data
The test and training data are extracted from measurements
of 3 types of ships and 1 chaff type. The ship types are fishing
vessel (20 meters length, 5 meters breadth, 1.5 meters draft),
frigate (130 meters length, 13 meters breadth, 8 meters draft)
and patrol boat (62 meters length, 8 meters breadth, 2.5 meters
draft). The ship data are collected from poop and larboard of
the ships. The chaff data is related to one type of chaff in
different blooming stages of chaff. The blooming stages of
chaff included in chaff database are labeled as early and late
chaff. Early chaff data includes the chaff profile data collected
between 0th and 30th second of chaff bloom (Fig. 3) while late
chaff data includes chaff profile data from 30th second and later
(Fig. 4). The measurements for the chaff are done in way that
the data contains no ship component.
Fig. 3. Chaff profile for ”early chaff”.
Fig. 4. Chaff profile for ”late chaff”.
The data collection is done by a system operated in Ku
band with horizontal polarization. The measurement system is
placed on a platform that is 15 meters above sea surface. The
background was calm sea (0.1-0.5 meters waves, moderate
wind) with sea state around 2 in Douglas Sea State scale.
The data is preprocessed to have zero mean and unity
variance before it is fed to the network. Also the chaff and ship
data are randomly shuffled and two separate dataset of equal
size is formed for the testing and training of the network
C. Classification Results
5000 test and 5000 training data are fed into the
convolutional neural network. The network ran for 30 epochs.
The misclassification rate (MCR) for two class classifications
(chaff and ship) during training is around %1 (Fig. 5).The error
function aimed to be minimized is mean squared error.
The network, furthermore, tested with a dataset built up
with a separate data that is not used in training or testing of the
network. This time only forward pass of the dataset on the
CNN network is performed. Classification rate of %99.8 is
achieved with a random test dataset of 40000 samples of chaff
and 40000 samples of ship. The speed of the network is also
investigated.

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 K-distributed random variable defined with (3) for = 1 and
= 1 is shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7.

Fig. 5. RMSE (root mean squared error) and MCR (misclassification rate
plots of the Network.

For every forward pass, the elapsed time is stored and an

Fig. 6. K-distributed random variable with = and = .
average run time of the network is calculated over 40000
samples. The average run time of the network is found to be
4.574 ms. for Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 4810MQ CPU at 2.8 GHz
on MATLAB.
III. PERFORMANCE OF THE NETWORK ON DIFFERENT SIGNAL
TO CLUTTER LEVELS
Although the collected data has clutter components, since
the sea state was very low during measurements, it was far
from creating corruptive effect on the collected signal.
Therefore measured data is artificially corrupted with sea
clutter and the performance of the network on different sea
clutter conditions is investigated.
A. Sea Clutter Generation
Determining the amplitude characteristics of sea clutter Fig. 7. Histogram of K-distributed random variable with = and = .
plays an important role defining a realistic clutter model. There Furthermore spectral distribution of the clutter is modelled.
are different models to define the amplitude characteristic of There are different alternatives for modelling the Doppler
sea clutter. Some popular distribution models include Rayleigh, spectrum of the clutter [10], [11], [12], [13]. The models either
Log-Normal and K-distribution. Previous works on these assumes a Gaussian or non-Gaussian line shapes for the basis
distribution showed that K-distribution is more reliable for use function of the Doppler spectrum. In this paper a Gaussian
in low grazing angle situations where the transmitted and shaped Doppler spectrum is applied to create sea clutter as
received in horizontal polarization. It is also shown that K- discussed in [11], [12] and [13]. The Gaussian base function to
distribution produce reasonable fits to measured sea clutter shape the Doppler spectrum is defined as following:
statistics [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9].
The probability density function of the K-distribution used
to produce clutter data is defined as: ( )= , (5)
√

( )= ( ) (2 ) (3) where stands for Doppler bandwidth and stands for

( )
Doppler shift. Time domain and frequency domain
where Γ( ) is gamma function, is a shape parameter, c is a visualization of clutter data with two different shape functions
scale parameter, is th order modified Bessel function of for the spectral distribution is shown in Fig. 8 and Fig. 9. Fig.
second kind. When (3) used, the mean clutter power is defined 8 shows a sea clutter data with flat spectral distribution and
as: Fig. 9 shows a sea clutter data with Gaussian spectral
distribution having spectral bandwidth =0.5 and no Doppler
= (4) shift ( = 0).

The shape parameter defines the spikeness of the sea

clutter. When the value of shape parameter is small, sea clutter
becomes spikier, when value of parameter is big, sea clutter
becomes less spiky. The histogram and amplitude values for a

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 dataset with Gaussian spectral function. Classification rate
increases to %87.71 for the input dataset of 5dB SCR level
with Gaussian spectral function. For 7 dB SCR, classification
rate increases to %97.89 and for 10 dB SCR, classification rate
increases to %98.64.
Classification rates for the dataset with constant spectral
function are around %99, they only drop down to %98 when
the SCR level is 5 dB.
C. Performance of CNN on Python
Fig. 8. Time and frequency domain plots of flat spectrum sea clutter data. MATLAB CNN class which is used in previous sections only
allows us using the CPU so it is decided to use Python which
allows us utilizing GPU. Since Python allows us utilizing GPU,
the run time performance of the CNN could be compared for
both CPU and GPU. The same CNN is formed in Python using
Keras and Tensorflow as the backend.
TABLE I. CLASSIFICATION RATES FOR D ATASET CLUTTERED WITH FLAT
SPECTRAL FUNCTION (TRAINING DATASET: UNCLUTTERED).
Clutter Parameters Classification
Rate
SCR Spectral Func.
20 dB 1 Constant %99.13
Fig. 9. Time and frequency domain plots of sea clutter with Gaussian
spectrum function. 10 dB 1 Constant %98.03
B. Performance of MATLAB CNN for Different SCR 7 dB 1 Constant %94.02
Chaff and target data obtained with measurements are 5 dB 1 Constant %82.16
corrupted with sea clutter with different clutter power to test
different signal to clutter ratio levels. Sea clutter amplitude is TABLE II. CLASSIFICATION RATES FOR DATASET CLUTTERED WITH GAUSSIAN
formed as K-distribution and the power of the sea clutter is SPECTRAL FUNCTION. (TRAINING DATASET: UNCLUTTERED).
controlled with (4). Spectral properties of sea clutter are Clutter Parameters Classification
defined by (5). Rate
SCR Spectral w
Dataset having 20dB, 10 dB, 7 dB and 5 dB SCR levels are Func.
produced and tested on the CNN. Cluttered dataset is formed
from corrupting the original dataset with K-distributed sea 20 dB 1 Gaussian 0.5 0 %99.09
clutter having constant spectral function. A dataset of 5000
10 dB 1 Gaussian 0.5 0 %91.62
samples of chaff and 5000 samples of ships for each of four
different SCR levels are produced for the test. These test 7 dB 1 Gaussian 0.5 0 %63.96
samples are applied on the CNN trained with uncluttered data.
TABLE I shows the clutter parameters and classification rates. 5 dB 1 Gaussian 0.5 0 %12.62
Classification rate of %99.13 is achieved for 20 dB SCR.
Classification rate drops down to %82.16 for 5 dB SCR. TABLE III. CLASSIFICATION RATES FOR THE CNN TRAINED WITH CLUTTERED
DATA WITH GAUSSIAN SPECTRAL FUNCTION
Same SCR levels are also tested with a dataset corrupted Clutter Parameters Classification
with clutter having a Gaussian spectral function. Again, the Rate
CNN trained with uncluttered data is used for testing on these SCR Spectral w
test samples The classification rate is almost same for 20 dB Distr.
SCR but the rate drops to %91.62 for 10 dB SCR and %63.96 20 dB 1 Gaussian 0.5 0 %99.51
for 7 dB SCR. The classification rate for 5 dB SCR
dramatically drops down to %12.62 (TABLE II). 10 dB 1 Gaussian 0.5 0 %98.64
The CNN trained with uncluttered data performs well on 7 dB 1 Gaussian 0.5 0 %97.89
low clutter environments but its performance falls short on
5 dB 1 Gaussian 0.5 0 %87.71
high clutter environment. Training is repeated with the dataset
having Gaussian spectral function and 5 dB SCR level. This 20 dB 1 Constant - - %99.57
trained network is then applied on the dataset with Gaussian
and flat spectral function having 5 dB, 7 dB, 10 dB and 20 dB 10 dB 1 Constant - - %99.25
SCR levels. The classification results are shown in TABLE III. 7 dB 1 Constant - - %98.42
Low SCR classification performance of the network 5 dB 1 Constant - - %98.01
dramatically increases for the network trained on the cluttered

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 TABLE IV. CLASSIFICATION RATES FOR THE CNN TRAINED WITH
CLUTTERED DATASET (PYTHON)
Clutter Parameters Classification
Rate
SCR Spectral w
Func.
20 dB 1 Gaussian 0.5 0 %97.23
10 dB 1 Gaussian 0.5 0 %97.22
7 dB 1 Gaussian 0.5 0 %97.14
5 dB 1 Gaussian 0.5 0 %93.56
The CNN built on Python is composed of 2 subsampling, 3
convolutional and 2 fully connected layers as the case in
MATLAB (Fig. 2). It uses mean squared error as the loss
function and Stochastic Gradient Descent algorithm for the
training of the network.
The CNN is trained with cluttered dataset having Gaussian
spectral function. The classification rate results are shown in
TABLE IV. The results for the 5 dB SCR level (%93.56) is
better compared to MATLAB CNN (%87.71), 7 dB and 10 dB
results (%97.14 and %97.22 respectively) are slightly worse
than MATLAB results (%97.89 and %98.64 respectively). The
20 dB SCR results (%97.23) are worse compared to MATLAB
results (%99.51).
Furthermore, some runtime tests are applied on the CNN.
The average runtime of the CNN on GPU is tested over
140000 samples. The runtime of the network is found to be 88
μs on Nvidia Quadro K1100M GPU. This is around 50 times
better than the runtime of the network with MATLAB on CPU.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper a CNN model which uses range profile data is
proposed for discrimination of naval chaff from ships. The
CNN model is trained with a database consists of chaff and
ship data. The database used in this work includes range
profiles of one chaff type in different chaff evolution stages
and three different ship types with several aspect angles to the
radar. Classification rate of %99 is achieved for the CNN using
MATLAB on this database. This database which has more than
20 dB SCR is corrupted with different levels of sea clutter. The
classification rates of the CNN for the database corrupted with
sea clutter having Gaussian function ranges from %87 to %99
on MATLAB (TABLE III.). The mean runtime of the network
on CPU with MATLAB is around 4.5 ms. The classification
rates of the CNN for the database corrupted with sea clutter
having Gaussian function ranges from %93 to %97 on Python
which uses Gradient Descent algorithm. The classification rate
for the CNN on Python (%93) for the low SCR (5dB) is better
compared to MATLAB (%87). But the classification rate of
CNN on Python (%95) is lower in high SCR (20 dB) compared
to CNN on MATLAB (%99). This suggests that further tweaks
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have to be made for Python training algorithm to increase the
classification rate on higher SCR levels. Training of the
network with a broader database consisting of different levels
of SCR could also be beneficial for increasing the high SCR
classification rates.
The runtime of the CNN is a crucial measure since these
algorithms aimed to be run without intervening the runtime of
the overall system algorithm in time critical missions. The
runtime of the CNN is around 4.5 ms on MATLAB using
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 4810MQ CPU at 2.8 GHz. The runtime
of the network on GPU is far better as expected. The runtime
of the network on Python using CUDA enabled Nvidia Quadro
K1100M GPU which has a compute capability level of 3 is 88
μs. The complexity of the network directly impacts the runtime
of the network. The detailed work on optimizing the number of
layers or size of convolutional kernels has yet not been
performed. It is believed that further improvements can be
done on runtime of the network considering the tradeoffs
between classification rate and network complexity.
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