Radio Interference in Helicopter-Borne Pulse Doppler Radars

Radio interference generated in a helicopter-borne pulse Doppler radar system due to rotating blades is analyzed for the case that blades are located in the far field region of the radar antenna. A first-order estimate of the blade interference power spectrum is obtained as a function of antenna depression angle and radar (helicopter) altitude and speed. Numerical calculations show that blade interference is very weak compared with the direct ground clutter. It extends, however, into the clutter-free region which causes false alarms and degrades the radar performance.     

Rotating Blades Radio Interference in a Helicopter-Borne CW Doppler Radar

Radio interference generated in a helicopter-borne continuous wave (CW) Doppler radar system due to the rotating blades is analyzed. This problem has been previously treated for the case of pulse Doppler radar systems with very narrow (near zero) beamwidth. In this case the strong interference component returning directly from the blades (with no ground reflection) need not be considered as it reaches the receiver when it is still blinded. In the case of a CW Doppler radar, however, this interference component must be included. Numerical calculations show that the total blade interference power level, dominated by the direct component, is higher than that of the direct ground clutter in the radar clutter region. It decreases approximately as (f - fo)-4 in the radar clear region. It stays, however, well above the thermal noise level which might cause false alarm and degrade the radar performance.     

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.     

Generalized radar clutter model

A commonly used density model for radar clutter is chi-square for power, or, equivalently, Rayleigh for amplitude. However, for many modern high resolution radar systems, this density underestimates the tails of the measured clutter density. Log normal and Weibull distributions have proved to be better suited for the clutter in these high resolution radars. Generalizing the chi-square density by replacing it with the noncentral chi-square density and allowing the mean power level (the noncentrality parameter) to vary, we can both suitably shape the clutter density to produce larger tails and model the fluctuation of the average clutter power, commonly referred to as speckle. The resulting form, although appearing cumbersome, readily allows for efficient and accurate computations of the probability of detection in clutter     

Adaptive nulling of SAR sidelobe discretes

By using adaptive subarrays for crossrange imaging we have developed a computationally simple method that removes any image degradation caused by strong, discrete clutter located in the crossrange sidelobes of a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image. The procedure is based on the minimization of the mean interference power with the constraint that the image of a desired scatterer is undistorted. The applicability of the approach has been illustrated by simulation     

Analysis of CFAR performance in Weibull clutter

Recent interest has focused on order statistic-based (OS-based) algorithms for calculating radar detection thresholds. Previous analyses of these algorithms are extended, to determine closed-form approximations for the signal-to-clutter ratio required to achieve a particular probability of detection in clutter environments whose amplitude statistics are modeled by the Weibull distribution, and where the clutter dominates receiver noise. Performance is evaluated in both homogeneous and inhomogenous clutter. The analysis shows that the OS-based algorithm is quite robust against both interference and clutter edges. A method is suggested for improving performance at clutter inhomogeneities for short-range targets     

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.     

Adaptive Clutter Suppression in Step Scan Radars

Clutter echoes with unknown power spectra (from weather, sea, chaff disturbances) can be suppressed only adaptively. The use of the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) for clutter suppression in step scan radars is investigated by use of a clutter model that is derived in analogy to measured clutter data of a radar with a rotating antenna.     

Performance bounds for hot and cold clutter mitigation

A new method is presented for describing the theoretical interference space-time covariance matrix that will be observed in an adaptive airborne radar system under specific topographical conditions. Both hot clutter that is induced by interfering sources and cold clutter that results from the radar transmitter are considered. This method incorporates phenomenology observed under site specific conditions as well as system effects such as array geometry, receiver filtering, and system bandwidth. Use of this formulation rather than sample data analyses that are generally employed enables one to infer performance bounds for site-specific, and thus generally, heterogeneous terrain that are tighter and therefore more meaningful than the thermal noise floor limit     

Doppler Processor Rejection of Range Ambiguous Clutter

Doppler processors are used in radar to separate target returns from clutter. When the clutter is at a range farther than the unambiguous range of the radar, the ability to reject the clutter is degraded. In this article the degradation is analyzed for an N-pulse batch processor with Dolph weighting, and the results show how degradation varies with design sidelobe level.     

Angular mean and variance for selected two-source radar-target combinations

Angle tracking of the desired target in the presence of interference is a common radar problem. It can occur when the desired target is competing with a jammer, clutter, or multipath. Angle statistics can vary significantly for a tracking radar depending upon the nature of this interference. The angular mean and variance are presented for three different statistical two-target types for single and multiple measurements. Previously derived values are presented for completeness in conjunction with derivations not found in the open literature. The signal-to-noise ratio is assumed to be large so that the effects of receiver noise may be neglected.     

冲击杂波下的MIMO雷达DOA估计方法

研究了对称α稳定分布(SαS)冲击杂波下的多输入多输出（MIMO）雷达目标波达方向（DOA）估计问题,分别提出基于分数低阶最小方差无畸变响应(FrMVDR)的MIMO雷达DOA估计算法和无穷范数归一化最小方差无畸变响应（Inf-MVDR)算法。FrMVDR算法,首先进行冲击杂波特征指数的估计,然后使MIMO雷达接收阵列的分数低阶输出功率最小,实现MIMO雷达的DOA估计。为了避免FrMVDR算法对杂波特征指数估计,提出Inf-MVDR算法,首先用无穷范数对接收信号进行归一化处理,使归一化后的阵列输出功率有界,继而采用传统MVDR算法进行DOA估计。计算机仿真验证了上述两种算法的有效性;同时仿真结果还表明在冲击杂波下,MIMO雷达的空间分集特性可显著提高DOA估计的精度。     

Adaptive imaging for forward-looking ground penetrating radar

Most of the current forward-looking ground-penetrating radar (FLGPR) systems use conventional delay-and-sum (DAS) based methods to form radar images for detection of the target (such as a landmine). However, DAS is a data-independent approach which is known to suffer from low resolution and poor interference and clutter rejection capability. We present a data-adaptive imaging approach for FLGPR image formation based on APES (amplitude and phase estimation) and rank-deficient RCB (robust Capon beamforming). Due to the data-adaptive nature of both APES and RCB, our approach has better resolution and much better interference and clutter rejection capability than the standard DAS-based imaging methods. The excellent performance of the proposed method is demonstrated using experimental data collected via two FLGPR systems recently developed by PSI (Planning Systems, Inc.) and SRI (Stanford Research Institute).     

Multipath and ground clutter analysis for a UWB noise radar

An ultrawideband (UWB) random-noise radar operating in the 1-2 GHz frequency band has been developed and field-tested up to a 200 m range at the Environmental Remote Sensing Laboratory (ERSL) of the University of Nebraska. A unique heterodyne correlation technique based on a delayed transmitted waveform using a photonic delay line has been used to inject coherence within this system. The performance of this radar in the presence of ground reflections is investigated analytically and experimentally, and the mitigating effects of UWB waveform on multipath-induced interference are analyzed. In addition, the ground clutter statistics, in a look-down mode, are theoretically established and experimentally verified. The performance of this radar in detecting clutter embedded targets with small radar cross section (RCS) is also experimentally examined.     

扫描模式航管监视雷达风电场杂波检测与抑制

近年来,全球风力发电装机容量呈指数增长。研究表明,风轮机对其附近的航管(ATC)监视雷达会产生严重影响。风轮机杂波的有效检测及抑制,对于保证空中交通安全具有重要意义。首先提出了基于回波谱宽特征的航管监视雷达的风轮机杂波检测方法。针对扫描模式下航管监视雷达频谱分辨率较低的问题,将基于自回归(AR)模型的超分辨率方法和质量中心的概念应用于雷达回波的快速谱宽和谱中心估计算法中,提高谱宽估计的精度。其次针对扫描模式下的风轮机回波数据不是一个完整周期数据的问题,基于缺省数据幅度和相位估计(GAPES)算法实现了扫描模式下风轮机雷达回波缺省数据的估计,而后利用风轮机杂波的周期性抑制风轮机杂波。该算法实现了风轮机杂波的有效检测和抑制,并且其不受限于风轮机与飞机目标在同一个距离单元的情况。仿真结果验证了所提方法的有效性。     

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.     

毫米波无人直升机避障雷达系统研究

由电力线所引起的无人直升机事故频频发生,因而确保无人机飞行安全一个很重要的方面就是对电力线的检测。文章采用毫米波宽带线性调频技术实现了对高压线小目标的探测分辨,研制了毫米波无人直升机避障雷达系统,解决了无人机低空巡线飞行的安全问题。通过实际挂飞试验说明,该系统可靠有效,满足装备要求。     

High Power Radar Implementation of Coherent Waveforms

The radar use of coherent burst waveforms to obtain clutter suppression is summarized and problems arising from the high power implementation of such waveforms are discussed. These problems arise from the nonlinear nature of the typical high power radar transmitter and result in loss of subpulse-to-subpulse amplitude and phase accuracies, causing clutter suppression degradation. adaptive control loop used to measure transmission errors and provide continuous updating to minimize such errors is proposed. Residual transmission errors resulting via use of the control loop are calculated and shown to have an insignificant effect upon the clutter suppression properties of the coherent waveform. Experimental verification of control loop performance is presented.     

Threshold Control for Automatic Detection in Radar Systems

In automatic detection in radar systems an estimate of background clutter power is used to set the detection threshold. Usually detection cells surrounding the cell under test for the presence of a target are used to estimate the clutter power. In the research reported herein, the target location is taken to be uncertain and thus returns from a target could corrupt this clutter power estimate. It is shown how the threshold should be varied to compensate for the resulting degradation in detection performance. The threshold control procedure is based on a priori information about target location that could be supplied by the radar's tracking system. In addition, a simple procedure for calculating detection and false alarm probabilities for Swerling II target models is presented.     

Airborne/spacebased radar STAP using a structured covariance matrix

It is shown that partial information about the airborne/spacebased (A/S) clutter covariance matrix (CCM) can be used effectively to significantly enhance the convergence performance of a block-processed space/time adaptive processor (STAP) in a clutter and jamming environment. The partial knowledge of the CCM is based upon the simplified general clutter model (GCM) which has been developed by the airborne radar community. A priori knowledge of parameters which should be readily measurable (but not necessarily accurate) by the radar platform associated with this model is assumed. The GCM generates an assumed CCM. The assumed CCM along with exact knowledge of the thermal noise covariance matrix is used to form a maximum likelihood estimate (MLE) of the unknown interference covariance matrix which is used by the STAP. The new algorithm that employs the a priori clutter and thermal noise covariance information is evaluated using two clutter models: 1) a mismatched GCM, and 2) the high-fidelity Research Laboratory STAP clutter model. For both clutter models, the new algorithm performed significantly better (i.e., converged faster) than the sample matrix inversion (SMI) and fast maximum likelihood (FML) STAP algorithms, the latter of which uses only information about the thermal noise covariance matrix.