Distortion-invariant filters for foliage-penetration (FOPEN) synthetic aperture radar

New distortion-invariant filters are considered for object detection and clutter rejection in ultra-wideband synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery. Because of the foliage penetration (FOPEN) ability of this SAR sensor, the data is attractive for automatic target recognition. We detail the first use of 2D distortion-invariant filters for object detection in FOPEN data. Since FOPEN imagery of a particular target is dependent upon the foliage obscuring the object, we use filters designed using targets in an open area and test them on objects in foliage. Initial results indicate attractive distortion-invariant detection and low false alarm rates.