Combination of ELM and BEMD for Target Recognition of SAR Images

Abstract

For the problem of target recognition of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images, a method based on the combination of bidimensional empirical mode decomposition (BEMD) and extreme learning machine (ELM) is proposed. BEMD performs feature extraction for SAR images, producing multi-layer bidimensional intrinsic mode functions (BIMF). These BIMFs covey the discrimination of the original target while effectively eliminating the noises. ELM conducts the classification of each BIMF with high efficiency and robustness. Finally, the decisions from different BIMFs are fused using a linear weighting strategy to reach a reliable decision on the target label. The proposed method compensates the relatively low adaptivity of ELM to noise corruption by BEMD feature extraction. Moreover, the multi-layer BIMFs provide more discriminative information for correct decision. Hence, the overall recognition performance can be improved. As an efficient recognition algorithm, the proposed method can be used in an embedded system for wide applications. Experiments are designed and implemented on the moving and stationary target acquisition and recognition (MSTAR) dataset. The proposed method is tested under both the standard operating condition (SOC) and extended operating conditions (EOCs). The results reflect its effectiveness and robustness via quantitative comparisons.