Alexander V. Totsky, Anatoly V. Popov , Igor V. Kurbatov, Vladimir V. Lukin, Jaakko Т. Astola, and Karen O. Egiazarian

The problem of range profile (RP) estimation for naval objects is considered. Based on the analysis of the received polarimetric signal at detector output, it is shown that it contains several components characterized by temporal and spatial non-stationarity. Two range profile estimation techniques are considered and compared. The former consists in conventional averaging received signal envelopes, while the second is based on bispectrum reconstruction of the received signal envelopes. X-band radar characteristics and the conditions of experimental measurement carrying out are presented. The analysis of the experimental results obtained for real radar data is performed for different polarization combinations and environment conditions (wind speed and sea state). The plots of RP estimations are represented and compared. They demonstrate the superiority of the bispectrum-based technique for RP estimation in the sense of better reconstruction of object shape and more efficient clutter suppression.