Application of unified evidence accrual methods to robust SAR ATR

During the last two decades I.R. Goodman, H.T. Nguyen and others have shown that several basic aspects of expert- systems theory-fuzzy logic, Dempster-Shafer evidence theory, and rule-based inference-can be subsumed within a completely probabilistic framework based on random set theory. In addition, it has been shown that this body of research can be rigorously integrated with multisensor, multitarget filtering and estimation using a special case of random set theory called `Finite-Set Statistics' (FISST). In particular, FISST allows the basis for standard tracking and I.D. algorithms--nonlinear filtering theory and estimation theory--to be extended to the case when evidence can be highly `ambiguous' (imprecise, vague, contingent, etc.). This paper summarizes preliminary results in applying the FISST filtering approach to the problem of identifying ground targets from Synthetic Aperture Radar data that is `ambiguous' because of Extended Operating Conditions, e.g. when images are corrupted by effects such as dents, mud, etc.