Joint extraction of space target micro-motion parameters at low SNR based on consistency variational autoencoder and cascaded transformer

Micro-Doppler technology has significant applications in the recognition of space non-cooperative targets. However, in practical radar detection, background noise caused by low signal-to-noise ratios and the nonlinear coupling among various micro-motion parameters limit the feature extraction accuracy and engineering application of existing deep learning methods. To address the computational burden caused by high-dimensional noisy time-frequency representations and the physical multi-solution problem, this paper proposes a joint extraction architecture for space target micro-motion parameters (including target type, precession frequency, attitude angle, and spin frequency) based on a consistency-constrained Variational Autoencoder and a cascaded Transformer. First, a front-end network based on consistency constraints is designed to achieve label-free blind denoising via self-supervised latent-space consistency alignment and feature dimensionality reduction. Second, a temporal frame slicing cross-domain bridging mechanism is proposed to preserve the physical topological integrity while reducing the computational cost. Finally, a cascaded guidance network based on category context injection is constructed to narrow the solution space of micro-parameters, resolving the ambiguity in parameter estimation. Experiments show that at a low signal-to-noise ratio of 10 dB, the proposed method achieves a target classification accuracy of 100% and reduces the mean squared error of parameter regression to 0.0067. Furthermore, the extraction accuracy for precession and spin frequencies remains above 90% across the full spatial observation angle ( 0 ∘ ∼ 90 ∘ ). Compared with mainstream architectures, this method achieves an effective balance among noise robustness, parameter estimation accuracy, and lightweight deployment for spaceborne edge computing.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Optics & Laser Technology
Published
2026-10-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optlastec.2026.116706
Primary Topic
Advanced SAR Imaging Techniques
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Joint extraction of space target micro-motion parameters at low SNR based on consistency variational autoencoder and cascaded transformer

Min Xiao, Xiangxu Zeng, Yong Zhang, Zhengjia Wang
Optics & Laser Technology
Advanced SAR Imaging Techniques
article

Joint extraction of space target micro-motion parameters at low SNR based on consistency variational autoencoder and cascaded transformer

Min Xiao, Xiangxu Zeng, Yong Zhang, Zhengjia Wang
article en

Abstract

Micro-Doppler technology has significant applications in the recognition of space non-cooperative targets. However, in practical radar detection, background noise caused by low signal-to-noise ratios and the nonlinear coupling among various micro-motion parameters limit the feature extraction accuracy and engineering application of existing deep learning methods. To address the computational burden caused by high-dimensional noisy time-frequency representations and the physical multi-solution problem, this paper proposes a joint extraction architecture for space target micro-motion parameters (including target type, precession frequency, attitude angle, and spin frequency) based on a consistency-constrained Variational Autoencoder and a cascaded Transformer. First, a front-end network based on consistency constraints is designed to achieve label-free blind denoising via self-supervised latent-space consistency alignment and feature dimensionality reduction. Second, a temporal frame slicing cross-domain bridging mechanism is proposed to preserve the physical topological integrity while reducing the computational cost. Finally, a cascaded guidance network based on category context injection is constructed to narrow the solution space of micro-parameters, resolving the ambiguity in parameter estimation. Experiments show that at a low signal-to-noise ratio of 10 dB, the proposed method achieves a target classification accuracy of 100% and reduces the mean squared error of parameter regression to 0.0067. Furthermore, the extraction accuracy for precession and spin frequencies remains above 90% across the full spatial observation angle ( 0 ∘ ∼ 90 ∘ ). Compared with mainstream architectures, this method achieves an effective balance among noise robustness, parameter estimation accuracy, and lightweight deployment for spaceborne edge computing.

Optics & Laser TechnologyVol. 204
Heilongjiang Institute of Technology (CN)
Openalex Percentile: Top 18%
Advanced SAR Imaging Techniques
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.