Stap using knowledge-aided covariance estimation and the fracta algorithm

In the airborne space-time adaptive processing (STAP) setting, a priori information via knowledge-aided covariance estimation (KACE) is employed in order to reduce the required sample support for application to heterogeneous clutter scenarios. The enhanced FRACTA (FRACTA.E) algorithm with KACE as well as Doppler-sensitive adaptive coherence estimation (DS-ACE) is applied to the KASSPER I & II data sets where it is shown via simulation that near-clairvoyant detection performance is maintained with as little as 1/3 of the normally required number of training data samples. The KASSPER I & II data sets are simulated high-fidelity heterogeneous clutter scenarios which possess several groups of dense targets. KACE provides a priori information about the clutter covariance matrix by exploiting approximately known operating parameters about the radar platform such as pulse repetition frequency (PRF), crab angle, and platform velocity. In addition, the DS-ACE detector is presented which provides greater robustness for low sample support by mitigating false alarms from undernulled clutter near the clutter ridge while maintaining sufficient sensitivity away from the clutter ridge to enable effective target detection performance     

Partially Adaptive STAP using the FRACTA Algorithm

A partially adaptive space-time adaptive processor (STAP) utilizing the recently developed FRACTA algorithm is presented which significantly reduces the high computational complexity and large sample support requirements of fully adaptive STAP. Multi-window post-Doppler dimensionality reduction techniques are employed to transform the data prior to application of the FRACTA algorithm. The FRACTA algorithm is a reiterative censoring (RC) and detection algorithm which has been shown to provide excellent detection performance in nonhomogeneous interference environments. Two multi-window post-Doppler dimensionality reduction techniques are considered: PRI-staggered and adjacent-bin. The partially adaptive FRACTA algorithm is applied to the KASSPER I (Knowledge-Aided Sensor Signal Processing & Expert Reasoning) challenge datacube. The pulse repetition interval (PRI)-staggered approach with D=6 filters per Doppler bin is found to provide the best detection performance, outperforming the fully adaptive case while simultaneously reducing the runtime by a factor of ten. Using this implementation, partially adaptive FRACTA detects 197 out of 268 targets with one false alarm. The clairvoyant processor (the covariance matrix for each range cell is known) detects 198 targets with one false alarm. In addition, the partially adaptive FRACTA algorithm is shown to be resilient to jamming, and performs well for reduced sample support situations. When compared with partially adaptive STAP using traditional sliding window processing (SWP), the runtime of partially adaptive FRACTA is 14 times faster, and the detection performance is significantly increased (SWP detects 46 out of 268 targets with one false alarm).     

Space-time autoregressive filtering for matched subspace STAP

Practical space-time adaptive processing (STAP) implementations rely on reduced-dimension processing, using techniques such as principle components or partially adaptive filters. The dimension reduction not only decreases the computational load, it also reduces the sample support required for estimating the interference statistics. This results because the clutter covariance is implicitly assumed to possess a certain (nonparametric) structure. We demonstrate how imposing a parametric structure on the clutter and jamming can lead to a further reduction in both computation and secondary sample support. Our approach, referred to as space-time autoregressive (STAR) filtering, is applied in two steps: first, a structured subspace orthogonal to that in which the clutter and interference reside is found, and second, a detector matched to this subspace is used to determine whether or not a target is present. Using a realistic simulated data set for circular array STAP, we demonstrate that this approach achieves significantly lower signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) loss with a computational load that is less than that required by other popular approaches. The STAR algorithm also yields excellent performance with very small secondary sample support, a feature that is particularly attractive for applications involving nonstationary clutter.     

基于决策不确定性的多目标跟踪传感器管理

针对高杂波、电子干扰环境,在量测驱动的多目标滤波框架下提出了一种基于决策不确定性的传感器管理方法。首先,根据部分可观测马尔科夫决策过程的理论,给出了基于Rényi信息增量的传感器管理一般方法。其次,综合考虑决策过程的信息完整性、信息质量、信息的内涵等因素,在量测驱动的自适应滤波框架下,基于目标运动态势评估多目标决策不确定性水平,并选取最大决策不确定性目标。最后,以最大决策不确定性目标的信息增量最大化为准则进行传感器分配方案的求解。仿真实验表明所提方法能够有效抑制电子干扰、杂波对多目标跟踪及传感器分配的影响,与基于威胁的传感器管理方法相比,所提方法的平均最优子模式分配（OSPA）距离及平均计算时长均显著降低,且在高杂波、电子干扰情形下具有较高的可靠性。     

基于3DT的空时自适应单脉冲参数估计算法

空时自适应处理(STAP)是机载预警雷达抑制杂波和干扰的一项关键技术,而多普勒三通道联合自适应处理(3DT)是适合工程实现的降维(RD)STAP方法。STAP目标检测后还需进一步估计目标的角度参数,因此将自适应单脉冲(AM)技术引入3DT,提出了一种高精度联合估计目标速度与方位空间角的空时自适应单脉冲算法。理论分析与仿真实验结果表明,当目标多普勒频率偏离检测多普勒单元中心频率时,该算法能同时减少目标多普勒跨越损失和空时导引矢量失配损失,进而提高输出信杂噪比(SCNR),改善目标测角精度。     

Importance sampling for characterizing STAP detectors

This paper describes the development of adaptive importance sampling (IS) techniques for estimating false alarm probabilities of detectors that use space-time adaptive processing (STAP) algorithms. Fast simulation using IS methods has been notably successful in the study of conventional constant false alarm rate (CFAR) radar detectors, and in several other applications. The principal objectives here are to examine the viability of using these methods for STAP detectors, develop them into powerful analysis and design algorithms and, in the long term, use them for synthesizing novel detection structures. The adaptive matched filter (AMF) detector has been analyzed successfully using fast simulation. Of two biasing methods considered, one is implemented and shown to yield good results. The important problem of detector threshold determination is also addressed, with matching outcome. As an illustration of the power of these methods, two variants of the square-law AMF detector that are thought to be robust under heterogeneous clutter conditions have also been successfully investigated. These are the envelope-law and geometric-mean STAP detectors. Their CFAR property is established and performance evaluated. It turns out the variants have detection performances better than those of the AMF detector for training data contaminated by interferers. In summary, the work reported here paves the way for development of advanced estimation techniques that can facilitate design of powerful and robust detection algorithms     

Outlier resistant adaptive matched filtering

Robust adaptive matched filtering (AMF) whereby outlier data vectors are censored from the covariance matrix estimate is considered in a maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) setting. It is known that outlier data vectors whose steering vector is highly correlated with the desired steering vector, can significantly degrade the performance of AMF algorithms such as sample matrix inversion (SMI) or fast maximum likelihood (FML). Four new algorithms that censor outliers are presented which are derived via approximation to the MLE solution. Two algorithms each are related to using the SMI or the FML to estimate the unknown underlying covariance matrix. Results are presented using computer simulations which demonstrate the relative effectiveness of the four algorithms versus each other and also versus the SMI and FML algorithms in the presence of outliers and no outliers. It is shown that one of the censoring algorithms, called the reiterative censored fast maximum likelihood (CFML) technique is significantly superior to the other three censoring methods in stressful outlier scenarios.     

Radar Target Detection and Map-Matching Algorithm Studies

Results of a study of adaptive threshold target detection and map-matching algorithms are presented. Log threshold processing is shown to be preferred over linear threshold processing when the clutter data surrounding the target cell is contaminated by other targets, decoy corner reflectors, or bright clutter cells. Whereas previous studies have resorted to extensive Monte-Carlo simulations of log threshold algorithms, the results were obtained using a novel analytical approach based upon Parseval's theorem.     

Adaptive Radar Detection in Doubly Nonstationary Autoregressive Doppler Spread Clutter

The problem of adaptive radar detection in clutter which is nonstationary both in slow and fast time is addressed. Nonstationarity within a coherent processing interval (CPI) often precludes target detection because of the masking induced by Doppler spreading of the clutter. Across range bins (i.e., fast time), nonstationarity severely limits the amount of training data available to estimate the noise covariance matrix required for adaptive detection. Such difficult clutter conditions are not uncommon in complex multipath propagation conditions where path lengths can change abruptly in dynamic scenarios. To mitigate nonstationary Doppler spread clutter, an approximation to the generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) detector is presented wherein the CPI from the hypothesized target range is used for both clutter estimation and target detection. To overcome the lack of training data, a modified time-varying autoregressive (TVAR) model is assumed for the clutter return. In particular, maximum likelihood (ML) estimates of the TVAR parameters, computed from a single snapshot of data, are used in a GLRT for detecting stationary targets in possibly abruptly nonstationary clutter. The GLRT is compared with three alternative methods including a conceptually simpler ad hoc approach based on extrapolation of quasi-stationary data segments. Detection performance is assessed using simulated targets in both synthetically-generated and real radar clutter. Results suggest the proposed GLRT with TVAR clutter modeling can provide between 5–8 dB improvement in signal-to-clutter plus noise ratio (SCNR) when compared with the conventional methods.     

密集杂波环境下的数据关联快速算法

基于联合概率数据互联（JPDA）的思想,提出了一种新的数据关联快速算法（Fast Al-gorithm for Data Association,简称FAFDA算法）.该方法不需象在最优JPDA算法中那样生成所有可能的联合互联假设,因而具有计算量小,易于工程实现的特点。仿真结果表明,与最优JPDA算法相比,FAFDA算法的跟踪性能令人满意,并且在密集杂波环境下可实时、有效地跟踪100批次以上的目标。     

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.     

机载相控阵雷达中抑制杂波的线性预测法

从一个多通道自回归过程拟合杂波信号的概念出发 ,提出了用线性预测法实现机载相控阵雷达的时空二维自适应信号处理。研究表明 ,杂波过程可以用一个低阶的多通道自回归过程很好地拟合 ,从而使用一个低阶的线性预测处理器以较低的代价实现准最优的处理。同时 ,这种低阶的线性预测处理器还具备冗余的自由度以对付除杂波外的其他有色噪声和干扰     

STAP for clutter suppression with sum and difference beams

A unique approach for airborne radar clutter rejection is developed and evaluated. This spatial and temporal adaptive approach employs the sum and difference beams of an antenna, which has significant practical advantages because it can be implemented with no/little change to the front-end electronics of airborne systems where sum and difference beams already exist for other reasons. The low sidelobe implementation of many sum and difference beam systems and the low gain of the difference beam in the direction of the target gives this approach the potential in many radars for a more predictable response pattern. The impact of these factors is shown in an airborne clutter rejection demonstration where the performance of this approach is compared with that of the factored approach (FA) using additional spatial channels and that of conventional pulse-Doppler (PD) processing. Reliable detection of an injected target is only achieved by this approach     

一种机载雷达两级降维空时二维自适应处理方法

 提出了一种机载相控阵雷达杂波抑制的两级降维空时自适应处理(STAP)方法,即：先根据杂波分布先验信息进行空时局域化(JDL)降维处理,然后对局域化输出进行多级维纳滤波(MWF),实现二次降维。该方法综合了固定结构和自适应结构降维技术的优点,将JDL处理引入到MWF中,从而有效降低MWF的杂波自由度。计算机仿真和理论分析表明本文方法比JDL自适应处理方法和全空时MWF方法具有更小的运算量,对阵元随机幅相误差具有很好的容差能力,是一种稳健的两级降维自适应处理方法。最后,基于仿真和实测数据的实验验证了算法的有效性。     

Optimal speckle reduction in polarimetric SAR imagery

Speckle is a major cause of degradation in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery. With the availability of fully polarimetric SAR data, it is possible to use the three complex elements (HH, HV, VV) of the polarimetric scattering matrix to reduce speckle. The optimal method for combining the elements of the scattering matrix to minimize image speckle is derived, and the solution is shown to be a polarimetric whitening filter (PWF). A simulation of spatially correlated, K-distributed, fully polarimetric clutter is then used to compare the PWF with other, suboptimal speckle-reduction methods. Target detection performance of the PWF, span, and single-channel |HH|² detectors is compared with that of the optimal polarimetric detector (OPD). A novel, constant-false-alarm-rate (CFAR) detector (the adaptive PWF) is as a simple alternative to the OPD for detecting targets in clutter. This algorithm estimates the polarization covariance of the clutter, uses the covariance to construct the minimum-speckle image, and then tests for the presence of a target. An exact theoretical analysis of the adaptive PWF is presented; the algorithm is shown to have detection performance comparable with that of the OPD     

Nonlinear clutter cancellation and detection using a memory-basedpredictor

In this paper, a nonlinear prediction (NLP) method is proposed as an alternative to the conventional linear prediction (LP) method for clutter cancellation. Because of the nonlinearity and non-Gaussianity of a clutter process, a nonlinear predictor is therefore needed to suppress clutter optimally. A memory-based predictor which uses a table look-up strategy to perform NLP is used in this work. The advantages of the memory-based approach are fast learning, algorithmic simplicity, robustness and suitability for parallel implementation. The memory-based predictor is then used as an adaptive detector for small surface target detection embedded in clutter. The effectiveness of the new method is demonstrated using real sea clutter data, and the results show improvement when compared with the conventional LP techniques     

空域数据重排的后多普勒自适应处理方法

传统的后多普勒自适应处理方法,如因子法(FA)和扩展因子法(EFA)虽然能大大降低自适应处理时的运算量和独立同分布样本的需求量,但由于实际中均匀训练样本数目的限制,当天线阵元数进一步增大时,FA和EFA抑制杂波和检测动目标的能力会显著恶化。针对这一问题,提出了一种空域数据重排的后多普勒自适应处理方法。该方法将多普勒滤波后的空域数据重排为一行列数相近的矩阵,空域滤波器权系数也表示成可分离的形式,从而得到一双二次代价函数,利用循环迭代的思想求解权系数。实验表明该方法具有快速收敛,所需训练样本少的优点,尤其在大阵列、小样本条件下该方法抑制杂波的性能明显优于FA和EFA。     

Filtering of moving targets using SBIR sequential frames

In this paper three-dimensional (3-D) finite-impulse response (FIR) filters are proposed for moving target detection and tracking from multiframe space-based infrared (SBIR) data. An optimal, in the l_p sense, 3-D FIR filter design technique is proposed which is suitable for the above application. This technique is the first 3-D FIR design of its kind presented in the open literature. Directional, matched, and adaptive 3-D filtering techniques are proposed. Prior to the filtering, clutter mean estimation and mean subtraction are required. Real time implementation of directional and/or matched filters for processing maneuvering targets is discussed and filter design methods are proposed. Finally, performance comparisons of the proposed and other available 3-D FIR and infinite-impulse response (IIR) filters, on real SBIR data, are presented in which the advantages of the proposed 3-D filters are shown     

Sum-difference Reduced-dimensional Processing in SAR Image Domain and Statistical Analysis for Ground Moving Target Indication

In this article, a new reduced-dimensional adaptive processing algorithm based on joint pixels sum-difference data for clutter rejection is proposed. The sum-difference data are obtained by orthogonal projection of the joint pixels data of different synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images generated by a multi-satellite radar system. In the sense of statistical expectation, the sum-differ- ence data contain the common and different information of the SAR images. Therefore, the objective of clutter cancellation can be achieved by adaptive processing. Moreover, based on the residual image after clutter rejection, statistical analysis of constant false-alarm rate (CFAR) detection of moving targets is also presented. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed algorithm even with heterogeneous clutter and image co-registration error.     

Automatic target classification of slow moving ground targets in clutter

A new approach is proposed which will allow air-to-ground target classification of slow moving vehicles in clutter. A wideband space-time adaptive (STAP) filter architecture, based on subbanding, is developed and coupled with a one dimensional template-based minimum mean squared error (MMSE) classifier. The performance of this STAP/ATC (automatic target classification) algorithm is quantified using an extensive simulation. The level of residual clutter afforded by various filter configurations and the associated incremental improvement in ATC performance is quantified, revealing the potential for realizable hardware and software implementations to achieve acceptable ATC performance.