Detection of jet engines via sparse decomposition of ISAR images for target classification purposes

The number and position of jet engines is a useful feature for the classification of air targets. To perform an extraction of these features, a sparse decomposition framework for ISAR images is presented. With this framework different components of the targets can be detected, if signal models for these parts are available. To use this framework for the detection of jet engines, a review of a signal model for air intakes, which was developed by Borden, is given. With this model a decomposition of a real ISAR image, measured with the TIRA system of Fraunhofer FHR, into point-like scattering centers and jet engines is presented.