RESEARCH PAPERS

AUTOMATIC TARGET DETECTION IN GROUND

SURVEILLANCE RADAR

By
ANSHUMAN VIKRAM SINGH * P. M. MENGHAL **
*-** Department of Electronics, Military College of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering, Secunderabad, Telangana, India.

Date Received: 28/04/2020 Date Revised: 01/05/2020 Date Accepted: 14/05/2020

ABSTRACT
In a modern radar system, both recorded data and recorded intelligence information can be used together with data
fusion output information to exactly identify or classify target type. Different techniques and strategies can be used to
combine information from sensor system. In this technique of target classification, the difference in tone of various target
type is utilized as heard by the operator. The different type of target generates a specific audio signal, which is heard by
Ground Surveillance Radar operator via head phone. From audio signal, feature extraction has been carried out as a
first step in order to uniquely identify audio tone of one target type from another, i.e., Heavy Vehicle to Light Vehicle, Group
of men to Crawling men. Subsequently, fuzzy membership function is set to reflect the physical limits stored in the
knowledge database for accurate identification of target audio tone type. The entire process of feature extraction and
fuzzy logic has been done in MATLAB. The main aim of the paper is to study Digital Audio Processing Techniques and its
applications in Ground Surveillance Radar.
Keywords: Time Frequency Analysis, Target Classification, Fuzzy Logic.

INTRODUCTION in Doppler tone (Naseri & Azmoon, 2011). Fuzzy logic is

Over the past several years, with the remarkable innovation
in technology, the digital signal processing industry has
made significant contributions to various areas of human
endeavor, in one way or another. Although conventional
Fourier-based signal processing by large expects
stationary behaviour of the signal during the window of
observation, it is worthwhile to note that, the nature of most
natural and man-made signals are non-stationary and
hence time-frequency methods are more suitable than
conventional signal processing techniques. With the
emergence of various new technology and their
application in radar target classification, namely the neural
network, Bayesian algorithm, Fuzzy Logic and Artificial
Intelligence based cognitive radar, they have
revolutionized the conventional method of target
detection and identification. Signal processing is a
technique that can be used to gather data from the real
world and make sense of it. Different types of target are
identified by Ground Surveillance Radar through difference
used to identify different kind of classification and sub
classification of target types. For this approach difference
in audio doppler tone heard by the operator is used to
identify target type. Subsequently, Fuzzy membership
function is set to reflect the physical limits stored in
knowledge database for accurately identify the target
echo type. The analysis and simulation of fuzzy logic based
target classification will be presented as outcome of the
paper.
1. Automatic Target Detection in Ground Survillence
Radar
The different type of target generates a specific audio
signal, which is heard by radar operator via head phone.
The audio signal for various target type such as Heavy
Vehicle, Light Vehicle, Group of men, Crawling men and
Tank are different in tone. (Greco et al., 2018; Sagayaraj et
al., 2018). To reduce the reaction time and increase
accuracy of operator, automatic target classification in
radar is done using fuzzy logic.

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The entire process of feature extraction and Fuzzy Logic

has been done in MATLAB. Ground Surveillance Radar
generally has two audio output ports, i.e., J6 and J3 for the
operational and training modes respectively. The headset
of the operator is connected to one of these ports
depending on the mode of operation of the radar. To
achieve a visual warning system, the audio signal from the
port J6 is used as an external interface. This input is
processed in a MATLAB software code. The detailed working
of MATLAB code is given in a flow chart of Figure 2. The input
signal is first given to the module in form of training data in a Figure 1. Implementation of Digital Audio Processing
Technique for Visual Warning System
batch of 160 samples (20 samples per target type is given).
Once training is completed, the new signal from radar or 2. Literature Survey
from recorded signal data bank is given to test program. Andric et al. (2012) projected a fuzzy logic method to the
The test code is then compared with the trained data bank automatic classification of moving target as identified by
to find the correlation/nearest signal type. Once the ground surveillance radar in this paper. The real audio
correlation process is done, the classified target is Doppler recording of several targets are examined by
displayed on the monitor as depicted in the Figure 1. The spectrogram. As an outcome of analysis, input and output
MATALB simulation is carried out in this thesis for variables with equivalent membership function are
classification of targets using Fuzzy classifiers, which can be demarcated. The set of fuzzy rules are made. The
explained with the help of the block diagram as shown in defuzzification of the output fuzzy set is done by calculating
Figure 2. The complete work can be divided into the various the "fuzzy centroid". A total of three target classes (walking
blocks, and each block serves an intended task for man, running man and wheeled vehicle) are successfully
achieving the final result. identified.

Figure 2. Design Flow Chart of Target Classification in Ground Surveillance Radar

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Suresh et al. (2014) have carried out the study of Micro- in both layers will be enhanced.
Doppler Radar Signatures of Revolving Targets using Gabor- 3. Signal Analysis
Wigner Transform. Micro-Doppler signatures offer exclusive
A dedicated effort was under taken to collect Doppler tone
information about characteristics of the target. The Micro-
from radar for different target types, i.e., Heavy Vehicle,
Doppler features are used for actual target in real time
Light Vehicle, Group of men, Crawling men and Tank. A
identification. It has military applications and can be used
total of 570 audio Doppler tone is collected to carry out
extensively in surveillance operations. In this paper, authors
analysis and has been utilized for the purpose of training
presented Gabor-Wigner transform for taking out micro
and detection in MATLAB. The recorded audio is analysed
Doppler features from the radar return echos. The efficacy
mathematically and graph of individual signals of
of the Gabor-Wigner transform in obtaining the micro-
particular target type were plotted in MATLAB. The plot of
Doppler features is associated with short-time Fourier
audio signals obtained after the process from different
transform, Wigner Distribution and S-method. The
target type is shown in Figure 3 to Figure 7. After analysing
competency of the Gabor-Wigner transform in micro-
the plot of audio tones, it is clearly evident from the plot that
Doppler feature extraction is confirmed by applying it to
the audio tone from each target type lies in different
different experimental datasets (Andrić et al., 2012; Chen
region. It will be possible to clearly discern between various
et al., 2006; Suresh et al., 2014).
target type based on above analysis.
Some researchers defines the main purpose of ground
A detailed plot of audio tone of all the five target type from
surveillance radars for security and perimeter protection
MATLAB is plotted as shown in Figure 8. It can be perceived
and targets detection. The key area is to provide a
from the plot that there is a clear distinction between all the
balanced and inclusive database to enable replicable
target class. Hence feature extraction is done for the
research results in the area of identification of ground
unique identification of particular target type movement.
moving targets (pattern recognition). In this technical
Due to the overlapping of audio tone in different target
paper, author also obtained the radar echoes data of
class, it present an opportunity to use fuzzy logic in order to
targets moving on ground and equivalent signals in time-
uniquely identify one target type from another.
frequency domain using spectrogram and cepstrum. The
4. Signal Processing
database, known as RadEch Database, encompassing
The above mentioned problem can be resolved by
radar echoes from numerous targets. The aim of the paper
processing the signal in various steps. The step-by-step
is to recognize and authenticate the intrinsic features
technique used for this performance evaluation and
depicting the diverse classes of targets, and then extract
comparison study is given in below.
relevant features for cataloguing the target in particular
type (Thayaparan et al., 2007; 2008). Step-1: Input the signal.

Naseri and Azmoon (2011) thought about the functioning Step-2: De-noising the signal. De-noising is the process of
of radars network, in which they basically centred the paper
on data fusion algorithms. In this study, a set of three custom
data fusion algorithms, Averaging, Bayesian and
Dempster-Shafer are simulated. The outcomes are
equated by simulating radar input data and assessed by
convergence and influence of variations, running time and
complication in implementing it. Dempster-Shafer
algorithm is augmented for two-cell network. In four-cell
network, if radars outputs are a type of mass functions
Figure 3. Amplitude vs Frequency Graph
directly, ordered topology with Dempster-Shafer algorithm for Crawling Men @ 100m

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Figure 4. Amplitude vs Frequency Graph for
Group of Men @ 100m and 150m
Figure 5. Amplitude vs Frequency Graph for Light Vehicle @ 100m
Figure 6. Amplitude vs Frequency Graph for
Heavy Vehicle @ 150m
Figure 7. Amplitude vs Frequency Graph for Tank @ 500m
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Figure 8. Comparison Graph between Five Target Classifications
removing noise from the signal.
Step-3: Spectrogram
A spectrogram is a visual way of representing the signal
strength or loudness, of a signal over time at various
frequencies present in a particular waveform. These are
basically two-dimensional graphs, with three-dimension
represented by colors. The time/frequency analysis of the
sampled signals is performed by spectrogram, which is
calculated using n x m matrix.
n = NFFT/2 + 1 (1)
To calculate the Fourier transforms,
m = fix (Nx – NOVERLAP/ LWIN - NOVERLAP) (2)
where, Nx is the input sequence length, NOVERLAP is the
number of samples in which each segment of input
sequence overlaps, LWIN is the length of window function,
fix is the function used as integer value. The original signal
with respect to de-noised signal is shown in Figure 9.
Step-4: Feature Extraction
Feature extraction is the process of transforming the audio
doppler tone from a signal into a meaningful information,
which can be easily used in other techniques such as Fuzzy
Logic, Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning. In simple
terms, it is the process to retrieve the most important data
from the raw data. Feature extraction is vital step (Figure 10)
in the creation of any pattern extraction algorithm, which
aims at taking out the relevant information that represent
each target class. In this process, related features are
extracted from Doppler Audio Tone to form feature vectors.
In order to calculate the feature extraction, following
methods are used.
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Step-5: Input and De-noising the signal
The first step is to input the Doppler signal. Then de-noise the
signal by using noise suppression method. Noise
Suppression (NS) is a method of eliminating the effects of
undesirable electrical disturbances, as frequency
modulation whenever the signal carrier level is greater than
the noise level. Based on the spectral analysis of audio
Doppler signal by spectrogram, central Doppler frequency
and the width of the band are used as input variables. The
Figure 9. Original Signal w.r.t. De-noised Signal
Figure 10. Various Stages of Feature Extraction
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audio signals produced by signal-noise spectrogram, are
shown in Figure 11 and Figure 12 respectively.
Step-6: MFCC
In audio processing, the Mel-Frequency Cepstrum (MFC) is
a depiction of the short-term power spectrum of a
audio/sound, founded on a linear cosine transform of a log
power spectrum on a nonlinear mel scale of frequency.
Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs) are
coefficients that conjointly form up an MFC. It is derived
from a form of cepstral illustration of an audio clip. The
variance amid the cepstrum and mel-frequency cepstrum
is that in the MFC, the frequency bands are similarly or
equally spaced at the mel scale, and they approximate
the response of human auditory system more meticulously
than the linearly-spaced frequency bands generally used
in the normal cepstrum. As we know frequency warping
allows for improved illustration of sound, i.e., as used in
audio compression. MFCCs are normally derived as given
below:
·First take a Fourier transform of (a windowed excerpt of)
a signal.
·Plot the powers of spectrum got from the above onto
the mel scale, using triangular overlapping windows.
·Then we take the logs of the powers at each of the mel
frequencies.
·Then we have to take the Discrete Cosine Transform
(DCT) of the list of mel log powers, as if it were a signal.
·The MFCCs are the amplitudes of the resulting
spectrum.
Step 7: Hamming Window
The hamming window is a match/tapper formed by using a
raised cosine with non- zero endpoints, optimized to
minimize the nearest side lobe (Figure 13). The hamming
window was defined as:
w(n) = 0.54-0.46 cos(2π/M-1) {0≤ n ≤M-1} (3)
The word “Hamming” is derived from R. W. Hamming, an
associate of J. W. Tukey and is defined in Blackman and
Tukey. It is used for levelling the abridged autocovariance
function in the time domain. The above process is also
called as apodization (which in literal sense means
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Figure 11. Signal + Noise Spectrogram
Figure 12. Signal Spectrogram
Figure 13. Hamming Window
“removing the foot”), i.e., smoothing discontinuities at the
beginning and end of the sampled signal or tapering
function.
Step 8: Fast Fourier Transform
The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is a mathematical method
for transforming a function of time into a function of
frequency. It is very useful for analysis of time-dependent
phenomena. It transforms the structure of the cycle of a
waveform into sine components. A simple conversion
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graph for Fast Fourier Transform is shown in Figure 14.
Step 9: Filter Bank
Filter banks are a good way of doing joint time frequency
analysis. The signal is separately passed through various
filter and then the filtered signals are plotted.
Step 10: Discrete Cosine Transform
A Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) is an algorithm to
calculate it using FFT. We know that DCT are used in the field
of digital processing for the purposes of pattern
identification and Wiener filtering. DCT helps us to break the
signals into parts (or spectral sub-bands) of differing
importance (as we see it in terms of signal quality). DCT is
just like the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT). DFT converts
the signal or image from spatial domain to frequency
domain. DCT represents an signal as a sum of sinusoids of
varying magnitudes and frequencies. The general
equation for DCT is defines by the following formula:
1
-
2 2 N-1 .u
F(u)= - S( )
N i=0
L
p
(i).cos [-(2i+1)]f(I)
2.N (4)
Step 11: Vector Quantization (VQ)
Vector Quantization (VQ) using LBG algorithm (Figure 15)
was designed Linde, Buzo and Gray (LBG) in 1980. The
basic idea in this algorithm is to divide a group of vector,
find a most representative vector from one group and then
gather the vectors to form a codebook. VQ is a proper tool
for data compression. It maps/identify a set of real numbers
into a individual/single integer. VQ technique is proficiently
Figure 14. A Simple Conversion Graph for Fast Fourier Transform
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membership function described with three attributes as

Narrow, Medium, Wide (Figure 16). It is the output Fuzzy
variable with membership function described by five
attributes or the type of target Ground Surveillance Radar
identified as, Crawling Man, Group of Man, Light Vehicle,
Heavy Vehicle, Tank (Figure 17). The following nine Fuzzy
rules can easily defines the fuzzy rule set :
If (MTV is fast) then (Target Class is Heavy Vehicle)
If (MSDCDF is narrow) then (Target Class is Heavy Vehicle) If
Figure 15. Vector Quantization (MTV is slow) and (MSDCDF is medium) then (Target Class is
utilised in various areas of biometric identification Crawling men)
technology like finger print, pattern recognition, face
If (MTV is fast) and (MSDCDF is wide) then (Target Class is
recognition by generating code books of desired size.
Group of men)
Linde-Buzo-Gray is an efficient algorithm which is designed
If (MTV is slow) and (MSDCDF is wide) then (Target Class is
for VQ based on a well known probabilistic model or else on
Crawling men)
a long training sequence of data. The algorithm is built on
the approach of Lloyd, which is not a variational technique,
and it does not involve differentiation, hence the function
properly works even when the distribution has discrete
components. It is somewhat similar to the k-means method
in clustering.
5. Fuzzy Logic Controller
Fuzzy logic is a technique were rule-based decision making
is implemented for process control and exclusive experts
systems. Fuzzy logic generally uses words/linguistic
variables in the place of numerical variables. The method
of translating a numerical variable (real number or crisp
variable) into a word/linguistic variable (fuzzy number) is Figure 16. Images Obtained with MATALB Program:
Membership Function for Input Variable MSDCDF
known as fuzzification. Based on the spectral analysis of
audio doppler signal and by spectrogram analysis, it can
be ascertained that central Doppler Frequency and the
spectral band around it are two fuzzy variables (Suresh et
al., 2014). Spectrogram can divided into several segment
along the time axis and the central Doppler frequency for
each segment is determined. The parameter Mean Target
Velocity (MTV) is calculated as a mean value of central
Doppler Frequencies of the segments taken earlier. MTV is
the first input Fuzzy Variable with membership function
describe with three attributes as Slow, Fast, Very Fast. In
each section of spectrogram, samples of spectral lines are
Figure 17. Images Obtained with MATALB Program:
in range which is around the central Doppler Frequency are Five Target Class
taken. MSDCDF is the second input Fuzzy variable with

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If (MTV is fast) and (MSDCDF is medium) then (Target Class is

Group of men)
If (MTV is very fast) and (MSDCDF is wide) then (Target Class is
Tank)
If (MTV is Very fast) and (MSDCDF is narrow) then (Target Class
is Light vehicle)
If (MTV is Very fast) and (MSDCDF is medium) then (Target
Class is light vehicle)
If (MTV is Very fast) and (MSDCDF is medium) then (Target
Figure 18. Reference Code for Crawling Men
Class is light vehicle) at 100m Assessed By MATLAB Program

6. Simulation Results and Discussion

The performance of the fuzzy classifier is tested in MATLAB
by using Doppler sequences as represented. The results of
various target classification methods are represented. The
audio signals of the classifiers were calculated in order to
evaluate the performance by using fuzzy logic. The
defuzzification of the output fuzzy set is performed by
computing the fuzzy centroid. The reference code for
Crawling Men at 100m assessed by MATLAB program is
shown in Figure 18. Target class is the output fuzzy variable
Figure 19. Display on Detection of Crawling Men @100m
with the membership function. The audio Doppler signal
recorded from Ground Surveillance Radar is used to
evaluate the actual performance of the simulated system.
A total of 297 types of independent audio Doppler samples
is used to ascertain the performance of the system. Figure
19 shows the detection of Crawling Men at 100m and
Figure 20 shows the reference code for Group Men at
100m.
The result attained are tabulated in the form of confusion
matrix in Table 1.
Figure 20. Reference Code for Group of Men at 100m
The overall accuracy of classification is about 97.63 %. The

Classifier
Crawling Men Group of Men Light Vehichle Heavy Vehichle Tank
Output
Input
Sequence

Crawling Men 29 01 00 00 00

Group of Men 02 95 02 01 00

Light Vehichle 01 01 56 02 00

Heavy Vehichle 00 01 02 75 02

Tank 00 00 01 03 23

Table 1. Confusion Matrix

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Figure 21. Plot of True Positive, True Negative,
False positive & False negative
plot for True Positive, True Negative, False positive and False
negative is given in Figure 21.
Conclusion
The fuzzy logic approach to the automatic classification of
moving target detected by ground surveillance radar is
depicted in this paper. The real audio Doppler signatures of
various targets are analyzed by spectrogram. The
defuzzification of the output fuzzy set and the set of fuzzy
rules is successfully fixed. Various target classes are also
classified like light vehicle at 100m, crawling men at 100m,
group of men at 100m, group of men at 150m, heavy
vehicle at 150m and tank at 500m. The overall accuracy of
the proposed work is around 97%.In future research work,
additional fuzzy logic targets can be classified using
Doppler signature.
Modern battle has transformed into network centric with
unified battlefields spread across multi theatres of
operation. With the advent of microelectronics, radio
frequency management and unprecedented growth in
processing power and computation, radar has transformed
into a complex, advanced and intelligent sensor. The key to
successful development of radar systems for many of the
applications lies in harnessing the basic technologies
involved in the modern radar system design. The DSP has
been proved as a powerful tool for decision self-propelled
system for the operating commander to provide a clear
operating picture. The application of correct DSP
technique in the audio Doppler frequency record as an
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input from the BFSR can be utilised for accurate and
effective target identification and classification, which at
present heavily depends on the operator skills and
experience.
Reference
[1]. Andrić, M., Bondžulić, B., Zrnić, B., Kari, A., & Dikić, G.
(2012). Acoustic experimental data analysis of moving
targets echoes observed by Doppler radars. Strojniški
vestnik-Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 58(6), 386-
393. https://doi.org/10.5545/sv-jme.2011.278
[2]. Chen, V. C., Li, F., Ho, S. S., & Wechsler, H. (2006). Micro-
Doppler effect in radar: phenomenon, model, and
simulation study. IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and
electronic systems, 42(1), 2-21. https://doi.org/10.1109/
TAES.2006.1603402
[3]. Greco, M. S., Gini, F., Stinco, P., & Bell, K. (2018).
Cognitive radars: On the road to reality: Progress thus far
and possibilities for the future. IEEE Signal Processing
Magazine, 35(4), 112-125. https://doi.org/10.1109/MSP.
2018.2822847
[4]. Naseri, A., & Azmoon, O. (2011). Evaluation of data
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[5]. Sagayaraj, M. J., Singh, J. B., Roshani, D., & Srinivasa,
K. G. (2018). A hybrid approach to cognition in radars.
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(2014). Analysis of micro-Doppler radar signatures of
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Anshuman Vikram Singh is currently working as a Government Employee and a Research Scholar in Faculty of Electronics and
Mechanical Engineering, Secunderabad, India. He received B. Tech degree in Electronics Engineering from Dr. Ram Manohar
Lohiya Awadh University, Faizabad, in the year 1998 and has done Advance Radar Engineering in Faculty of Electronics, in year
2019. He completed his M.Tech degree in Radar Engineering from Faculty of Electronics in the year 2020.

Dr. P. M. Menghal is currently working as a Professor in the Department of Radar and Control System at Faculty of Electronics and
Mechanical Engineering, Secunderabad, India. He received B.E. degree in Electronics and Power Engineering from Nagpur
University, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India, in 1998, Master Degree in Control Systems from Government College of Engineering,
Pune, University of Pune, India, in 2000 and completed Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Anantapur, Andhra
Pradesh, India, in 2017. He is a Senior Member of IEEE, Fellow Institute of Engineers (FIE), Kolkata India and Member of Indian
Society of Technical Education(MISTE), IETE, Indian Science Congress and System Society of India (SSI). He has 23 papers to his
credit which includes Intech Chapter, International and National journals. He has 40 International and National papers published
in various Conferences held at India and Abroad. He is an editorial board member of i-manger journal of Instrumentation and
Control Engineering and reviewed papers of Elsevier, IEEE and Springer journals and transactions. He was a recipient of “Best
Oral/Poster Award in Power & Energy Track” in 11th IEEE India Conference INDICON 2014, held at Pune and “Best paper Award in
Electrical Machines & Drives Track” in IEEE ICNTE 2019 held at Mumbai. His current research interests are in the areas of Real Time
Control system of Electrical Machines, Robotics and Mathematical Modeling and Simulation.

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