A Novel Method for PolISAR Interpretation of Space Target Structure Based on Component Decomposition and Coherent Feature Extraction

Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) serves as a valuable instrument for surveillance of space targets. There has been a great deal of research on space target identification using ISAR. However, the polarization characteristics of space target components are rarely studied. Polarimetric Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (PolISAR) comprises two information dimensions, namely, polarization and image, enabling a more comprehensive understanding of target structures. This paper proposes a space target structure polarization interpretation method based on component decomposition and PolISAR feature extraction. The proposed method divides the target into components at the stage of modeling. Subsequently, electromagnetic calculations are performed for each component. The names of these components are used to label the dataset. Multiple polarization decomposition techniques are applied and many polarization features are obtained. The mapping correlations between the interpreted results and authentic target structures are improved through preferential selection of polarization features. Ultimately, the method is validated through analysis of simulation and anechoic chamber measurement data. The results show that the proposed method exhibits a more intuitive correlation with the authentic target structures compared to traditional polarized interpretation methods based on Cameron decomposition.