Two CFAR algorithms for interfering targets and nonhomogeneousclutter

The greatest-of-order statistics estimator (GOOSE) constant false alarm rate (CFAR) and the censored greatest-of (CGO) CFAR are described. Both are designed to accommodate interfering targets in the reference window as well as control false alarms in the presence of clutter boundaries. Both succeed in accomplishing these tasks although the CGO-CFAR is preferred as it has a designed graceful degradation as the number of interfering targets exceeds the number of samples censored. The advantage of the GOOSE-CFAR is a theoretical one in that one can derive analytical results for clutter boundary analysis and thus not have to resort to simulations     

Distributed CFAR detection in homogeneous and nonhomogeneousbackgrounds

The performance of distributed constant false alarm rate (CFAR) detection with data fusion both in homogeneous and nonhomogeneous Gaussian backgrounds is analyzed. The ordered statistics (OS) CFAR detectors are employed as local detectors. With a Swerling type I target model, in the homogeneous background, the global probability of detection for a given fixed global probability of false alarm is maximized by optimizing both the threshold multipliers and the order numbers of the local OS-CFAR detectors. In the nonhomogeneous background with multiple targets or clutter edges, the performance of the detection system is analyzed and its performance is compared with the performance of the distributed cell-averaging (CA) CFAR detection system     

Optimal polarimetric detection of radar target in a slowlyfluctuating environment of clutter

It is shown that in a situation where a radar target is distant enough from the radar and is included in a natural or artificial clutter environment in such a manner that the conventional detection methods fail, it is possible to improve the radar detection performance by using appropriate signal processing on two orthogonal polarization states. A CFAR (constant false alarm rate) polarimetric detection system based on the study of the polarization difference between clutter and target is proposed. Since the polarization state of the clutter echoes fluctuates slowly from cell to cell, an autoregressive model can be applied to the components of the polarization vector to predict the detection thresholds needed to follow the polarization state variation. The detection thresholds are determined to maintain a false alarm probability equal to 10^-6. The presence of a target registers as a significant variation of the estimation error of the polarization vector. Results obtained from measurements of simple and canonical targets with artificial clutter are presented, and these results validate the principle of polarimetric detection     

Performance analysis of linearly combined order statistic CFARdetectors

Linearly combined order statistic (LCOS) constant false-alarm rate (CFAR) detectors are examined for efficient and robust threshold estimation applied to exponentially distributed background observations for improved detection. Two optimization philosophies have been employed to determine the weighting coefficients of the order statistics. The first method optimizes the coefficients to obtain efficient estimates of clutter referred to the censored maximum likelihood (CML) and best linear unbiased (BLU) CFAR detectors. The second optimization involves maximizing the probability of detection under Swerling II targets and is referred to as the most powerful linear (MPL) CFAR detector. The BLU-CFAR detector assumes no knowledge of the target distribution in contrast to the MPL-CFAR detector which requires partial knowledge of the target distribution. The design of these CFAR detectors and the probability of detection performance are mathematically analyzed for background observations having homogeneous and heterogeneous distributions wherein the trade-offs between robustness and detection performance are illustrated     

Analysis of CFAR processors in homogeneous background

Five different constant false alarm rate (CFAR) radar processing schemes are considered and their performances analyzed in homogeneous and nonhomogeneous backgrounds, the latter specifically being the multiple target environment and regions of clutter transitions. The average detection threshold for each of the CFAR schemes was computed to measure and compare the detection performance in homogeneous noise background. The exponential noise model was used for clear and clutter backgrounds to get closed-form expressions. The processor types compared are: the cell-averaging CFAR, the `greatest of' CFAR, the `smallest of' CFAR, the ordered-statistics CFAR, and a modified ordered-statistics processor called the trimmed-mean CFAR     

Data quantization effects in CFAR signal detection

In this paper, we investigate data quantization effects in constant false alarm rate (CFAR) signal detection. Exponential distribution for the input data and uniform quantization are assumed for the CFAR detector analysis. Such assumptions are valid in the case of radar for a Swerling I target in Gaussian clutter plus noise and a receiver with analog square-law detection followed by analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion. False alarm and detection probabilities of the cell averaging (CA) and order statistic (OS) CFAR detectors operating on quantized observations are analytically determined. In homogeneous backgrounds with 15 dB clutter power fluctuations, we show analytically that a 12-bit uniform quantizer is sufficient to achieve false alarm rate invariance. Detector performance characteristics in nonhomogeneous backgrounds, due to regions of clutter power transitions and multiple interfering targets, are also presented and detailed comparisons are given     

A CFAR Design for a Window Spanning Two Clutter Fields

When the heterogeneous clutter field spanning the spatial sampling sliding window can be modeled as two contiguous homogeneous clutter fields with the statistical parameters of each field unknown and independent from field to field and with the transition point between fields also not known, then the cell-averaging constant false alarm rate (CFAR) performance significantly degrades, yielding target masking effects and loss of false alarm regulation. For the same defined and encountered environment spanning the sliding window, the performance degradation effects are shown to be largely eliminated when a newly developed class of CFAR tests is employed. These tests are designated as heterogeneous clutter estimating CFARs (HCE-CFAR). The test initially involves the combined use of multiple hypothesis testing and maximum likelihood estimation procedures to estimate the statistical parameters of each of the two fields, and the transition point between them, and then makes use of the relevant estimated clutter field parameters to effect the final decision rule. HCE-CFAR designs are presented for both the cases when the contiguous fields have Rayleigh first-order probability distributions, and log-normal probability distribution. However, the focus of the development and the conducted performance evaluation is for the Rayleigh clutter cases.     

Radar detection in clutter

Clutter is defined as any unwanted radar return. The presence of clutter in a range/Doppler cell complicates the detection of a target return signal in that cell. In order to quantify the effect of clutter on the probability of detection, we must first specify sets of models suitable for representing the clutter and target. The simplest and most common model for clutter is based on the gamma density. We include two additional models, the NCG and NCGG clutter models for low grazing angles. They are motivated by physical arguments, the latter of which can accommodate the well-known phenomenon of speckle. Using one of these models for clutter together with one of several models for targets, we determine, in a range/Doppler cell, expressions for probabilities of detection of a target in the presence of clutter. It is important to control the probability of false alarms. The presence of clutter in a cell necessitates an increase in the detection threshold setting in order to control false alarms, thus lowering the probability of detection. If the clutter level is unknown, then we need to take measurements of the clutter and use it to adjust the threshold. The more clutter samples we take, the better the estimate of the clutter level and the less is the resulting detection loss. Using the expressions for the probability of detection in clutter, we can quantify the detection loss for a pair of commonly used constant false-alarm rate (CFAR) techniques and investigate how the loss varies with different parameter values, especially with regard to the number of clutter samples taken to estimate the clutter level.     

HRR Detector for Slow-Moving Targets in Sea Clutter

The radar detection of targets in the presence of sea clutter has historically relied upon the radial velocity of targets with respect to the radar platform either by exploiting the relative target Dopplers (for targets with sufficient radial velocity) or by discerning the paths targets traverse from scan to scan. For targets with little to no radial velocity component, though, it can become quite difficult to differentiate targets from the surrounding sea clutter. This paper addresses the detection of slow-moving targets in sea clutter using a high resolution radar (HRR) such that the target has perceptible extent in range. Under the assumption of completely random sea clutter spikes based on an epsiv-contaminated mixture model with the signal and clutter powers known, optimal detection performance results from using the likelihood ratio test (LRT). However, for realistic sea clutter, the clutter spikes tend to be a localized phenomenon. Based upon observations from real radar data measurements, a heuristic approach exploiting a salient aspect of the idealized LRT is developed which is shown to perform well when applied to real measured sea clutter.     

Radar CFAR Thresholding in Clutter and Multiple Target Situations

Radar detection procedures involve the comparison of the received signal amplitude to a threshold. In order to obtain a constant false-alarm rate (CFAR), an adaptive threshold must be applied reflecting the local clutter situation. The cell averaging approach, for example, is an adaptive procedure. A CFAR method is discussed using as the CFAR threshold one single value selected from the so-called ordered statistic (this method is fundamentally different from a rank statistic). This procedure has some advantages over cell averaging CFAR, especially in cases where more than one target is present within the reference window on which estimation of the local clutter situation is based, or where this reference window is crossing clutter edges.     

基于杂波对消-自聚焦的多通道SAR-GMTI

对超高频(UHF)波段多通道合成孔径雷达(SAR)动目标检测技术进行研究,解决了长相干积累时间导致动目标在方位向散焦严重的问题。采用分块自聚焦技术对多通道SAR地面移动目标指示(GMTI)系统自适应杂波抑制后的SAR图像进行处理,改善杂波抑制后的SAR图像中动目标的聚焦情况,增强动目标与周围剩余杂波的对比度,进而提高恒虚警率(CFAR)检测的性能。与传统杂波抑制后直接进行CFAR检测方法相比较,该方法降低了检测虚警概率。实测数据处理结果显示动目标的信杂比明显提高,动目标方位向聚焦成功,证明了该方法的有效性。     

Performance of max-mean level detector with and without censoring

The maximum-mean-level detector (MX-MLD) is a constant false-alarm rate (CFAR) detector designed to eliminate the excessively high false-alarm rate seen with the MLD at the edges of contiguous clutter regions. The concomitant high target suppression effect led M. Weiss (1982) to suggest a censored modification. The authors analyze the detection performance of the maximum-censored-mean-level detector (MX-CMLD). A homogeneous Swerling II target and clutter environment are assumed, and only single-pulse detection is considered. Analytic results apply equally to the MX-MLD and extend previous analysis. Simulation results are presented that demonstrate the qualitative effects of various CFAR detectors in nonhomogeneous clutter environments     

GLRT subspace detection for range and Doppler distributed targets

A generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) is derived for adaptive detection of range and Doppler-distributed targets. The clutter is modeled as a spherically invariant random process (SIRP) and its texture component is range dependent (heterogeneous clutter). We suppose here that the speckle component covariance matrix is known or estimated thanks to a secondary data set. Thus, unknown parameters to be estimated are local texture values, the complex amplitudes and Doppler frequencies of all scattering centers. To do so, we use superresolution methods. The proposed detector assumes a priori knowledge on the spatial distribution of the target and has the precious property of having a constant false alarm rate (CFAR) with the assumption of a known speckle covariance matrix or by the use of frequency agility.     

Target prescreening based on a quadratic gamma discriminator

This work presents the development, analysis and validation of a new target discrimination module for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery based on an extension of gamma functions to 2-D. Using the two parameter constant false-alarm rate (CFAR) stencil as a prototype, a new stencil based on 2-D gamma functions is used to estimate the intensity of the pixel under test and its surroundings. A quadratic discriminant function is created from these estimates, which is optimally adapted with least squares in a training set of representative clutter and target chips. This discriminator is called the quadratic gamma discriminator (QGD). The combination of the CFAR and the QGD was tested in realistic SAR environments and the results show a large improvement of the false alarm rate with respect to the two-parameter CFAR, both with high resolution (1 ft) fully polarimetric SAR and with one polarization, 1 m SAR data     

非高斯杂波下自适应雷达目标检测新方法

在球不变随机向量(SIRV)非高斯杂波背景下,研究了多脉冲相参雷达目标的自适应检测问题。假设杂波具有相同的协方差矩阵结构和可能相关的纹理分量,提出了新的协方差矩阵估计器,并获得了相应的自适应归一化匹配滤波器(ANMF)。理论分析表明,在估计杂波分组大小与实际情况匹配时,所获得的ANMF对杂波功率水平和协方差矩阵结构均具有恒虚警率(CFAR)特性。仿真结果表明:当估计的杂波分组大小失配时,所获得的ANMF具有近似CFAR特性,并进一步分析了不同参数变化对所提检测器性能的影响。与已有的ANMF相比,所获得的ANMF具有更好的检测性能,且迭代次数更小,其相对于已知杂波协方差矩阵的最优归一化匹配滤波器(NMF)的检测损失也更小,具有很好的实际应用前景。     

Biparametric linear estimation for CFAR against Weibull clutter

The authors deal with constant false alarm rate (CFAR) procedures against nonstationary clutter, modeled as a Weibull distributed process whose scale parameter α and shape parameter β are both variable. It is shown that conventional CFAR procedures, which compensate only for α, degrade intolerably as β deviates from β=2, namely, as the Rayleigh distributional assumption is violated. A biparametric CFAR procedure is shown to be suited to such situations. The authors introduce a logarithmic transformation to reduce the Weibull probability density function (pdf) to a Gumbel pdf, i.e., to the location-scale type, and then exploit the best linear unbiased estimation (BLUE) of location-scale parameters to adjust the detection threshold. True CFAR is thus achieved when the clutter is locally homogeneous. Resilience against local inhomogeneities can also be conferred since BLUE lends itself to censoring. Through a performance analysis, the influence of various system and distributional parameters is elicited     

Detection loss due to interfering targets in ordered statisticsCFAR

The ordered-statistics (OS) constant false-alarm rate (CFAR) is relatively immune to the presence of interfering targets among the reference cells used to determine the average background. OS CFAR performance in a multitarget environment was previously studied by simulation. The author obtains analytic expressions for the added detection loss, assuming strong interfering targets. The real target is assumed to be a Rayleigh fluctuating target. Numerical examples are included     

三种两样本非参量CFAR检测算法分析

介绍了3种两样本非参量CFAR检测算法的基本工作原理,利用实测未知统计概率分布海杂波数据对它们的检测性能进行了研究,并与参量CA-CFAR检测器进行了对比.研究表明:在强海杂波条件下,GS-CFAR检测器的检测性能最优;在弱海杂波条件下,Savage-CFAR检测器的检测性能最优;相比于CA-CFAR检测器,3种两样本...     

Fractal interpolation of radar signatures for detecting stationarytargets in ground clutter

The fundamentals of fractal geometry are reviewed, and its application to the millimeter-wave radar detection of stationary targets in a clutter background is described. First, high-range-resolution (HRR) profiles are used to determine the fractal interpolation functions needed to create fractal signatures. The fractal dimension is then determined for these signatures. On the basis of the value of the fractal dimension, the signature is declared to represent either a target of interest or clutter. The results of a CFAR (constant false alarm rate) simulation are presented to illustrate the performance of the method. They indicate that the fractal dimension feature used seems to be independent of amplitude. Thus, the fractal dimension information combined with traditional amplitude processing techniques will improve probabilities of detection     

A novel target detection approach based on adaptive radar waveform design

To resolve problems of complicated clutter, fast-varying scenes, and low signal-clutterratio (SCR) in application of target detection on sea for space-based radar (SBR), a target detection approach based on adaptive waveform design is proposed in this paper. Firstly, complicated sea clutter is modeled as compound Gaussian process, and a target is modeled as some scatterers with Gaussian reflectivity. Secondly, every dwell duration of radar is divided into several sub-dwells. Regular linear frequency modulated pulses are transmitted at Sub-dwell 1, and the received signal at this sub-dwell is used to estimate clutter covariance matrices and pre-detection. Estimated matrices are updated at every following sub-dwell by multiple particle filtering to cope with fast-varying clutter scenes of SBR. Furthermore, waveform of every following sub-dwell is designed adaptively according to mean square optimization technique. Finally, principal component analysis and generalized likelihood ratio test is used for mitigation of colored interference and property of constant false alarm rate, respectively. Simulation results show that, considering configuration of SBR and condition of complicated clutter, 9 dB is reduced for SCR which reliable detection requires by this target detection approach. Therefore, the work in this paper can markedly improve radar detection performance for weak targets.