A DATA-COMPRESSION TECHNIQUE FOR SCATTERED FIELDS FROM COMPLEX TARGETS

A data compression technique to efficiently compress the scattered fie lds from complex targets is presented. Since at high frequencies the s cattered fields from complex radar targets exhibit a highly localized behavior, the data compression technique is based on extracting and th en sampling the responses associated with individual scattering mechan isms. The compression technique preserves the angle as well as frequen cy variation of individual scattering mechanisms and, thus, leads to s mall reconstruction error. The proposed technique, however, is a lossy process in the sense that a tradeoff exists between the compression r atio and the data reconstruction error. The smaller the data reconstru ction error, the smaller the compression ratio. The effectiveness of t he technique is demonstrated by compressing measured scattered fields of a complex target.