A Nonadaptive Processing of Radar Pulse Trains for Clutter Rejection

The problem of detecting coherent pulse trains with uniform amplitude in a clutter-plus-noise environment is considered. A radar processor for detecting targets moving radially with respect to the clutter is proposed. The minimum interpulse spacing of the transmitted signal is assumed long enough that returns are not received simultaneously from different ranges within a region of extended clutter, and the central frequency of the clutter power spectrum is postulated to be known. The processor is singled out as the linear filter, orthogonal to the clutter central frequency component, which yields the maximum ratio of peak signal power to average noise power. The filter can be implemented by slightly modifying the structure of the conventional matched filter. The performance of such a filter is compared with that achievable if full a priori knowledge of the input interference were available and with that of the conventional matched filter. This comparison is made on a signal-to-interference power ratio basis after assuming a transmitted signal consisting of equally spaced pulses and an interference characterized by an exponential covariance matrix.     

A Technique for Improving the Clutter Performance of Coherent Pulse Train Signals

The clutter performance of a radar using coherent pulse train signls depends upon the phase and amplitude weighting used on transmit and receive. This paper describes an iterative technique to determine better weightings. Each iteration improves the signal-to-interference ratio, where the interference is the sum of the mean square noise voltage and the mean square clutter voltage at the time of peak signal. Two examples are presented to illustrate the method and to demonstrate that in many cases the procedure will yield weightings that may be used in a system where the transmitter permits no amplitude weighting.     

Compact AM Signals for Maximum Clutter Rejection

The transmitted signal is assumed to consist of a close succession of rectangular pulses of equal width. A matched filter scheme is employed and a theory is developed for a computer-aided optimization of the envelope of monotone compact signals for maximum rejection of dense clutter of any given distribution in range. Specific results are presented and indeterminate cases are discussed.     

The effect of the clutter-to-noise ratio on Doppler filterperformance

The effect of the clutter-to-noise ratio on the performance of a Doppler filter is considered. Clutter is assumed to have a power level which is unknown and varies in range. The assessment of the performance of a Doppler filter is based on the gain of the filter, which is the normalized output signal-to-interference ratio improvement at a given Doppler. The gain is generally a complex function of the statistics of the clutter. New upper and lower bounds on the gain differential between the expected design point clutter-to-noise ratio and the actual clutter-to-noise ratio are found. These bounds are independent of the clutter covariance matrix and are only a function of the unknown clutter-to-noise ratio. The bounds are valid for both Gaussian and non-Gaussian noise and for arbitrary linear filters. The upper and lower bounds differ by the theoretical coherent integration gain, 10 logN dB, where N is the number of pulses. A tighter lower bound is found for the case when the filters are matched filters. A simple exact expression is found for matched filters assuming a Gaussian Markov clutter model as the clutter spectral width approaches zero. An easily implementable adaptive procedure is given which improves performance due to the unknown clutter-to-noise ratio. This work extends a previous result, valid for the Emerson filter, that shows the effect of clutter-to-noise ratio on performance in terms of an average quantity, the improvement factor     

机载MIMO雷达空时自适应杂波对消器

针对机载多输入多输出(MIMO)雷达杂波分布呈现空时耦合特性,提出一种空时自适应杂波对消器.利用机载MIMO雷达的脉冲回波数据,构造杂波对消器的系数矩阵.通过空时自适应杂波对消器的预处理,可以有效地抑制杂波,并通过与常规空时处理算法的级联,最终可以有效提高动目标的检测性能.实现了由传统地基雷达杂波对消器向机载运动平台的推广.仿真结果表明,这种自适应杂波对消器不仅适用于正侧视雷达,对于非正侧视雷达也同样适用.     

A Quantitative Analysis of Sea Clutter Decorrelation with Frequency Agility

A brief statement of the sea clutter problem in surface-search radar operation illustrates the need for some form of signal-to-clutter enhancement. Post-detection integration used in the simpler radars is limited by the pulse-to-pulse correlation of the clutter. Analysis of the effect of changing frequency from pulse to pulse leads to an expression for the correlation between pulses in the sequence. Knowing this correlation, the reduction in the fluctuating clutter component produced by integration can be determined. This is described by an equivalent number of independent pulses, Nc. For the particular case of sinusoidal modulation of the transmitted frequency, N6 is computed. The critical dependecne of Nc upon the modulating frequency fm is illustrated by spectrum photographs. Choice of an optimum fm is discussed. The results of computations of N4 for optimum fm are presented as a family of normalized curves. These data permit the tradeoff of the radar parameters against their quantitative effect on radar performance.     

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.     

Optimum Processing of Unequally Spaced Radar Pulse Trains for Clutter Rejection

A train of radar pulses from one resolution cell can be processed coherently to reject echoes from external clutter and detect targets moving radially with respect to the clutter. Optimum methods of signal processing are defined for systems in which the interpulse spacings are multiply staggered to avoid target blind speeds. Likelihood ratio tests are developed for systems in which the target Doppler frequency is known a priori and for systems employing a bank of filters to cover the target Doppler band. To implement such tests, the N pulses in the train are added with complex weights and the amplitude of the sum compared with a detection threshold. The set of weights which maximizes the average signal-to-clutter ratio is also computed for a single-filter system with unknown target Doppler frequency. When the clutter autocorrelation function is exponential, the clutter covariance matrix can be inverted analytically. This latter result is useful for comparing different interpulse-spacing codes for a particular system application.     

Signal-to-Noise Ratio Calculations in Pulse and Pulse Doppler Radars

In low pulse-repetition frequency (PRF) pulse radars, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is usually calculated on a per pulse basis and this value is then multiplied by the number of pulses integrated to obtain the SNR for a given duration of target illumination. In high PRF pulse Doppler radars, SNR is usually calculated by using the centerline power of the transmitted signal spectrum as the target return power because the centerline is kept in the receiver and returns of the PRF lines are notched out [1]. We show here that both methods of SNR calculations are entirely equivalent for matched transmit-receive radar systems.     

MTI Improvement Factors for Weighted DFTs

The use of the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) to enhance the detection of moving targets in ground clutter is examined. The improvement factor, defined as the signal-to-clutter ratio at the DFT processor output compared with that of the input, is given as a function of normalized clutter spectral width for various weighting functions on the DFT input. The effect of quantization of the weights on the improvement factor is also examined.     

Detection of Known Signals in Nonstationary Noise

The basic design of a nonlinear, time-invariant filter is postulated for detecting signal pulses of known shape imbedded in nonstationary noise. The noise is a sample function of a Gaussian random process whose statistics are approximately constant during the length of a signal pulse. The parameters of the filter are optimized to maximize the output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The resulting nonlinear filter has the interesting property of approximating the performance of an adaptive filter in that it weights each frequency band of each input pulse by a factor that depends on the instantaneous noise power spectrum present at that time. The SNR at the output of the nonlinear filter is compared to that at the output of a matched filter. The relative performance of the nonlinear system is good when the signal pulses have large time-bandwidth products and the instantaneous noise power spectrum is colored in the signal pass band.     

Clutter Performance of Coherent Pulse Trains for Targets with Range Acceleration

The clutter performance of coherent pulse trains is examined when the duration of the pulse train is increased to values for which range acceleration effects must be taken into account. The problem of target detection against a clutter background with differential Doppler is studied in terms of the range acceleration effects on the conventional Doppler response. Specifically considered are the consequences on the sidelobe level and width of the main Doppler lobe. The analysis shows that the sidelobe level remains essentially unchanged when the range acceleration mismatch becomes significant. However, the main Doppler response broadens in proportion to the magnitude of the acceleration mismatch. Thus, an increase of the signal duration for better Doppler resolution is useful only until acceleration effects spread the Doppler spectrum of the clutter and eliminate the differential Doppler between targets and clutter.     

The Effect of Spectral Shape on Clutter Standard Deviation

Many radar systems now employ wideband waveforms and noncoherent averaging techniques to reduce the scintillation of the backscatter from ground clutter. The purpose of this paper is to quantify the effects of the wideband spectral shape on the clutter standard deviation after noncoherent averaging of the received signal. Relationships are developed which quantify the clutter standard deviation for any spectral shape and any ratio of transmitted band-width to processed bandwidth.     

Frequency-Agile Radar Signal Processing

Modern radars may incorporate pulse-to-pulse carrier frequency modulation to increase probability of detection, to reduce Vulnerability to jamming, and to reduce probability of interception. However, if coherent processing is used for clutter rejection, the frequency of N consecutive pulses must be held constant for N-pulse clutter cancellation or Doppler filtering. If M pulses are transmitted during the time the antenna illuminates a target, there are M/N coherently integrated echoes available for noncoherent integration in the computer or the operator's display to further improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In this paper, analytical and simulation methods are employed to determine the balance between coherent and noncoherent integration that yields the greatest SNR improvement. Attention is focused upon a model using peak selection of fast Fourier transform (FFT) Doppler channels and is compared to a reference model involving only a single Doppler channel. Curves of detectable SNR as a function of M and N are presented for both models.     

基于PD处理技术的雷达弱信号检测方法

针对脉冲跟踪测量雷达普遍存在的远距离弱信号检测能力不足的问题,基于PD（PulseDoppler,脉冲多普勒）雷达的杂波抑制与信号处理技术,提出脉冲雷达中的弱信号检测方法;详细分析了在脉冲跟踪测量雷达中应用PD处理技术的可行性,得出在一定约束条件下,可将PD处理技术运用于脉冲跟踪测量雷达,并提出了具体实现方法;最后,通过数据仿真和脉冲雷达实际测量数据进行验证,结果表明该方法能有效提高信噪比。     

Missing radar pulse clutter processing

The degradation of conventional clutter processing filters due to missing pulses resulting from RF interference blanking, ambiguous range returns when no filter pulses are used, or eclipsing is described. The effects of a missing pulse on uncompensated and optimum clutter filters are investigated. The maximum improvement factor method and other methods are compared to the optimum filtering. New methods and results using a minimax log energy search method are described and are shown to provide performance and/or implementation complexity advantages     

Space-time adaptive radar performance in heterogeneous clutter

Traditional analysis of space-time adaptive radar generally assumes the ideal condition of statistically independent and identically distributed (IID) secondary data. To the contrary, measured data suggests realistic clutter environments appear heterogeneous and so the secondary data is no longer IID. Heterogeneity leads to mismatch between actual and estimated covariance matrices, thereby magnifying the loss between the adaptive implementation and optimum condition. Concerns regarding the impact of clutter heterogeneity on space-time adaptive processing (STAP) warrant further study. To this end, we propose space-time models of amplitude and spectral clutter heterogeneity, with operational airborne radar in mind, and then characterize expected STAP performance loss under such heterogeneous scenarios. Simulation results reveal loss in signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) ranging between a few tenths of a decibel to greater than 16 dB for specific cases     

Interference Effects of Pseudo-Random Frequency-Hopping Signals

When a pseudo-random frequency-hopping signal is intercepted by a conventional receiver operating within the same frequency band, the interfering signal has the form of a pulse-amplitude modulated signal. Each pulse amplitude is dependent upon the hopping frequency and the selectivity characteristic of the victim receiver. The probability density function for the interfering pulse amplitude prior to demodulation is determined when the probability density function for the hopping frequency is uniform and the victim-receiver characteristic is 1) ideal flat bandpass, 2) single tuned, and 3) Gaussian shaped. It is shown that the average interfering pulse amplitude and interference power decrease as the frequency-hopping bandwidth increases with respect to the victim-receiver bandwidth. Fast Fourier transform computer techniques are used to obtain the probability density function of the interference amplitude in a Gaussian receiver when several (from 2 to 10) pseudo-random frequency-hopping systems are simultaneously using the same frequency band. The probability that the interference exceeds a prescribed threshold value is computed from the derived probability density functions. This probability may be used in signal-to-interference ratio calculations, to describe the capture effect, or to compute the expected number of clicks produced in an FM discriminator.     

Further results on adaptive filtering with embedded CFAR

Among the few known adaptive filtering algorithms which have an embedded (integrated) constant false alarm rate (CFAR) performance feature, the generalized likelihood ratio (GLR) test algorithm has been found to be robust in non-Gaussian clutter. This paper examines the detection performance of the GLR algorithm in nonhomogeneous/nonstationary clutter environments which lead to nonidentical distribution of secondary (training) data. For two common types of nonhomogeneity, i.e., the so-called “signal contamination” and “clutter edge”, the asymptotic detection performance is derived and compared with simulations. These asymptotic results are relatively simple to use and they predict the GLR performance in nonhomogeneous environments quite well. The GLR performance loss due to the nonhomogeneity is also evaluated. It is found that the “generalized angle” between the desired and contaminating signal plays an important role in the study of the effects of signal contamination. It is also found that the performance degradation due to the clutter edge depends largely on the width of the clutter spectrum and target-clutter Doppler separation