Circular array STAP

Traditionally, space-time adaptive processing (STAP) for airborne early warning (AEW) radar has been applied to uniform linear arrays (ULAs). However, when considering the overall radar system, electronically scanned circular arrays have advantages: a better combination of even and continual angular and temporal coverage, and mechanical simplicity because it does not need to rotate. This paper answers the question “How well does STAP perform when applied to a circular array?” This paper shows that for the AEW mission, circular arrays are indeed STAP compatible. However, when conventional STAP algorithms are used there may be a small loss in performance when compared with a ULA. With some care in the choice and implementation of the STAP algorithm, the majority of the degradation is at close ranges, where the target returns are relatively strong. At long ranges performance is barely affected. A STAP algorithm which compensates for the circular array environment and provides better performance than existing algorithms 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.     

Knowledge-based space-time adaptive processing for airborne earlywarning radar

This paper describes an innovative concept for knowledge-based control of space-time adaptive processing (STAP) for airborne early warning radar. The knowledge-based approach holds potential for significant performance improvements over classical STAP processing in nonhomogeneous environments by taking advantage of a priori knowledge. Under this approach, knowledge-based control is used to direct pre-adaptive filtering, and to carefully select STAP algorithms, parameters, and secondary data cells     

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     

Sensitivity of MIMO STAP Radar with Waveform Diversity

Space-time adaptive processing (STAP) is an effective method adopted in airborne radar to suppress ground clutter. Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar is a new radar concept and has superiority over conventional radars. Recent proposals have been applying STAP in MIMO configuration to the improvement of the performance of conventional radars. As waveforms transmitted by MIMO radar can be correlated or uncorrelated with each other, this article develops a unified signal model incorporating waveforms for STAP in MIMO radar with waveform diversity. Through this framework, STAP performances are expressed as functions of the waveform covariance matrix (WCM). Then, effects of waveforms can be investigated. The sensitivity, i.e., the maximum range detectable, is shown to be proportional to the maximum eigenvalue of WCM. Both theoretical studies and numerical simulation examples illustrate the waveform effects on the sensitivity of MIMO STAP radar, based on which we can make better trade-off between waveforms to achieve optimal system performance.     

基于杂波子空间估计的MIMO雷达降维STAP研究

 多输入多输出(MIMO)雷达是近年来出现的一种新体制雷达,针对MIMO体制的机载雷达开展空时自适应处理（STAP）技术研究是值得进一步努力的方向。本文研究了机载MIMO雷达STAP技术的降维算法,通过对STAP技术杂波抑制原理进行分析,推导并得到一种基于杂波子空间的降维算法。结合扁长椭球波函数（PSWF）的特点,提出了一种基于杂波子空间估计的降维算法,并与若干降维算法的杂波抑制性能进行比较。结果表明,当存在阵元幅相误差时,该算法在保持杂波抑制性能的同时能够有效地降低STAP算法的运算量。     

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).     

NEW METHOD FOR REDUCED RANK STAP—NON CLUTTER CHANNEL METHOD

Space- time adaptive processing(STAP) is aleading technology candidate for improving detec-tion performance of advanced airborne early warn-ing radar.In practical radar systems,the optimumfully adaptive space- time processing[1] cannot al-ways be implemented because of the computationalcomplexity,so the design of suboptimum proces-sors has been one of the key topics in STAP.Sev-eral reduced- rank STAP methods have been pro-posed in recent years.For example,based on thegeneralized sidelobe…     

一种基于协方差矩阵加权的阵元误差补偿STAP处理

机载多通道阵列雷达天线在工程实践中不可避免地存在各类阵元误差,所产生的通道失配问题会对空时二维自适应处理的性能造成大的影响。对存在阵元误差时的阵列信号模型进行了分析,提出了一种基于协方差矩阵加权（CMT）的阵元误差补偿空时自适应处理（STAP）方法,在工程应用中该加权矩阵可通过地面天线定标及校飞过程确定,通过对总干扰协方差矩阵估计的加权预处理,可将实际阵元误差对STAP性能的影响控制在测量误差的影响范围,最后通过仿真验证了算法的有效性。     

Reduced-rank STAP performance analysis

The space-time radar problem is well suited to the application of techniques that take advantage of the low-rank property of the space-time covariance matrix. It is shown that reduced-rank (RR) methods outperform full-rank space-time adaptive processing (STAP) when the space-time covariance matrix is estimated from a data set with limited support. The utility of RR methods is demonstrated by theoretical analysis, simulations and analysis of real data. It is shown that RR processing has two opposite effects on the performance: increased statistical stability which tends to improve performance, and introduction of a bias which lowers the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). A method for evaluating the theoretical conditioned SNR for fixed RR transforms is also presented. It Is shown that while best performance is obtained using data-dependent transforms, the loss incurred by the application of fixed transforms (such as the discrete cosine transform) may be relatively small. The main advantage of fixed transforms is the availability of efficient computational procedures for their implementation. These findings suggest that RR methods could facilitate the development of practical, real-time STAP technology     

Optimal and adaptive reduced-rank STAP

This paper is concerned with issues and techniques associated with the development of both optimal and adaptive (data dependent) reduced-rank signal processing architectures. Adaptive algorithms for 1D beamforming, 2D space-time adaptive processing (STAP), and 3D STAP for joint hot and cold clutter mitigation are surveyed. The following concepts are then introduced for the first time (other than workshop and conference records) and evaluated in a signal-dependent versus signal independent context: (1) the adaptive processing “region-of-convergence” as a function of sample support and rank, (2) a new variant of the cross-spectral metric (CSM) that retains dominant mode estimation in the direct-form processor (DFP) structure, and (3) the robustness of the proposed methods to the subspace “leakage” problem arising in many real-world applications. A comprehensive performance comparison is conducted both analytically and via Monte Carlo simulation which clearly demonstrates the superior theoretical compression performance of signal-dependent rank-reduction, its broader region-of-convergence, and its inherent robustness to subspace leakage     

Design, implementation and evaluation of parallel pipelined STAP onparallel computers

Performance results are presented for the design and implementation of parallel pipelined space-time adaptive processing (STAP) algorithms on parallel computers. In particular, the issues involved in parallelization, our approach to parallelization, and performance results on an Intel Paragon are described. The process of developing software for such an application on parallel computers when latency and throughput are both considered together is discussed and tradeoffs considered with respect to inter and intratask communication and data redistribution are presented. The results show that not only scalable performance was achieved for individual component tasks of STAP but linear speedups were obtained for the integrated task performance, both for latency as well as throughput. Results are presented for up to 236 compute nodes (limited by the machine size available to us). Another interesting observation made from the implementation results is that performance improvement due to the assignment of additional processors to one task can improve the performance of other tasks without any increase in the number of processors assigned to them. Normally, this cannot be predicted by theoretical analysis     

Framework and Taxonomy for Radar Space-Time Adaptive Processing (STAP) Methods

The goal of radar space-time adaptive processing (STAP) is to detect slow moving targets from a moving platform, typically airborne or spaceborne. STAP generally requires the estimation and the inversion of an interference-plus-noise (I+N) covariance matrix. To reduce both the number of samples involved in the estimation and the computational cost inherent to the matrix inversion, many suboptimum STAP methods have been proposed. We propose a new canonical framework that encompasses all suboptimum STAP methods we are aware of. The framework allows for both covariance-matrix (CM) estimation and range-dependence compensation (RDC); it also applies to monostatic and bistatic configurations. Finally, we discuss a taxonomy for classifying the methods described by the framework.     

Reduced-rank STAP for high PRF radar

Due to the range ambiguity of high pulse-repetition frequency (HPRF) radars, echoes from far-range fold over near-range returns. This effect may cause low Doppler targets to compete with near-range strong clutter. Another consequence of the range ambiguity is that the sample support for estimating the array covariance matrix is reduced, leading to degraded performance. It is shown that space-time adaptive processing (STAP) techniques are required to reject the clutter in HPRF radar. Four STAP methods are studied in the context of the HPRF radar problem: low rank approximation sample matrix inversion (SMI), diagonally loaded SMI, eigencanceler, and element-space post-Doppler. These three methods are evaluated in typical HPRF radar scenarios and for various training conditions, including when the target is present in the training data     

STAP with medium PRF mode for non-side-looking airborne radar

Space-time adaptive processing (STAP) has been widely discussed for airborne radar systems to improve the system performance of detecting targets. This is especially true for airborne early warning (AEW) radar, which should find long-range and small radar cross section (RCS) targets such as the stealth aircraft and missiles. However, in existing airborne radar literature, STAP is mainly considered for clutter and jamming rejection in side-looking airborne radar (SLAR) applications. There have been fewer discussions on airborne radar with non-side-ways looking array radar (non-SLAR). The STAP of non-SLAR such as forward looking array radar is also very important and can not be avoided for airborne radar to detect targets in all directions. The STAP of the non-SLAR is studied here. A scheme has been proposed, which is processed by the way of STAP combined with multiple staggered medium pulse repetition frequencies (PRFs). We further study the selection of PRFs in order to make the scheme more available for non-SLAR radar. We analyze two typical non-SLAR cases, i.e., inclined-sideways looking array and forward looking array. We examine this scheme by comparing the performances of three processing systems under the criteria of range-velocity blind zone minimization. Computer simulation results show the multiple-PRFs STAP scheme is feasible for non-SLAR and can be applied to phased-array AEW radar systems     

CFAR detection and estimation for STAP radar

The algorithm presented here provides both a constant false-alarm rate (CFAR) detection and a maximum likelihood (ML) Doppler-bearing estimator of a target in a background of unknown Gaussian noise. A target is detected, and its parameters estimated within each range gate by evaluating a statistical test for each Doppler-angle cell and by selecting the cell with maximum output and finally comparing it with a threshold. Its CFAR performance is analyzed by the use of the sample matrix inversion (SMI) method and is evaluated in the cases of a fully adaptive space-time adaptive processing (STAP) and two partially adaptive STAPs. The performances of these criteria show that the probability of detection is a function only of the sample size K used to estimate the covariance matrix and a generalized signal-to-noise ratio. The choice of the number K is a tradeoff between performance and computational complexity. The performance curves demonstrate that the finer the resolution is, the poorer the detection capability. That means that one can trade off the accuracy of ML estimation with the performance of the CFAR detection criterion     

Multistage partially adaptive STAP CFAR detection algorithm

A new method of partially adaptive constant false-alarm rate (CFAR) detection is introduced. The processor implements a novel sequence of orthogonal subspace projections to decompose the Wiener solution in terms of the cross-correlation observed at each stage. The performance is evaluated using the general framework of space-time adaptive processing (STAP) for the cases of both known and unknown covariance. It is demonstrated that this new approach to partially adaptive STAP outperforms the more complex eigen-analysis approaches using both simulated DARPA Mountain Top data and true pulse-Doppler radar data collected by the MCARM radar     

Robust space-time adaptive processing for airborne radar in nonhomogeneous clutter environments

Space-time adaptive processing (STAP) holds tremendous potential for the new generation airborne surveillance radar, in which the phased array antennas and pulse Doppler processing mode are adopted. A new STAP approach using the multiple-beam and multiple Doppler channels is presented here for airborne phased array radar. The approach with space-time multiple-beam (STMB) architecture is robust to array errors and has very low system degrees of freedom (DOFs). Hence, it has low sample support requirement and it is very suitable for the practical planar phased array radar under nonhomogeneous clutter environments. Meanwhile, a new nonhomogeneous detector (NHD) based on the correlation dimension (CD) is also proposed here, which is used as an effective method to screen tracing data prior to detection processing. It can further improve the performance of the STAP approach in the severely nonhomogeneous clutter environments. Therefore, a scheme that incorporates the correlation dimension nonhomogeneity detector (CD-NHD) with the STMB is recommended, which we term CD-NHD-STMB. The experimental simulation results indicate that: 1) the STMB processor is robust to array element error and has high performance under nonhomogeneous clutter environments; 2) the CD-NHD is also effective on the nonhomogeneous clutter. As a result, the CD-NHD-STMB scheme is robust to array element error and nonhomogeneous clutter, and therefore available for airborne phased array radar applications.     

Spectral-domain covariance estimation with a priori knowledge

A knowledge-aided spectral-domain approach to estimating the interference covariance matrix used in space-time adaptive processing (STAP) is proposed. Prior knowledge of the range-Doppler clutter scene is used to identify geographic regions with homogeneous scattering statistics. Then, minimum-variance spectral estimation is used to arrive at a spectral-domain clutter estimate. Finally, space-time steering vectors are used to transform the spectral-domain estimate into a data-domain estimate of the clutter covariance matrix. The proposed technique is compared with ideal performance and to the fast maximum likelihood technique using simulated results. An investigation of the performance degradation that can occur due to various inaccurate knowledge assumptions is also presented     

Real-Time STAP demonstration on an embedded high performancecomputer

Real-time signal processing for a 16-channel phased array radar, including space-time adaptive processing (STAP) algorithms, has been implemented using a 29-node ruggedized version of an Intel Paragon. Techniques employed to efficiently implement each step of the signal processing are discussed. An overall throughput of 3.15 GFLOPS and processing efficiency of 48% has been achieved, indicating that embedded high performance computers can deliver a significant percentage of their advertised peak throughput under real system constraints