Improving Satellite-Retrieved Cloud Base Height with Ground-Based Cloud Radar Measurements

Cloud base height(CBH) is a crucial parameter for cloud radiative effect estimates, climate change simulations, and aviation guidance. However, due to the limited information on cloud vertical structures included in passive satellite radiometer observations, few operational satellite CBH products are currently available. This study presents a new method for retrieving CBH from satellite radiometers. The method first uses the combined measurements of satellite radiometers and ground-based cloud radars to develop a lookup table(LUT) of effective cloud water content(ECWC), representing the vertically varying cloud water content. This LUT allows for the conversion of cloud water path to cloud geometric thickness(CGT), enabling the estimation of CBH as the difference between cloud top height and CGT. Detailed comparative analysis of CBH estimates from the state-of-the-art ECWC LUT are conducted against four ground-based millimeter-wave cloud radar(MMCR) measurements, and results show that the mean bias(correlation coefficient) is0.18±1.79 km(0.73), which is lower(higher) than 0.23±2.11 km(0.67) as derived from the combined measurements of satellite radiometers and satellite radar-lidar(i.e., Cloud Sat and CALIPSO). Furthermore, the percentages of the CBH biases within 250 m increase by 5% to 10%, which varies by location. This indicates that the CBH estimates from our algorithm are more consistent with ground-based MMCR measurements. Therefore, this algorithm shows great potential for further improvement of the CBH retrievals as ground-based MMCR are being increasingly included in global surface meteorological observing networks, and the improved CBH retrievals will contribute to better cloud radiative effect estimates.

An interference suppression algorithm for cognitive bistatic airborne radars

Interference suppression is a challenge for radar researchers, especially when mainlobe and sidelobe interference coexist. We present a comprehensive anti-interference approach based on a cognitive bistatic airborne radar. The risk of interception is reduced by lowering the launch energy of the radar transmitting terminal in the direction of interference;main lobe and sidelobe interferences are suppressed via cooperation between the two radars. The interference received by a single radar is extracted from the overall radar signal using multiple signal classification(MUSIC), and the interference is cross-located using two different azimuthal angles. Neural networks allowing good, non-linear nonparametric approximations are used to predict the location of interference, and this information is then used to preset the transmitting notch antenna to reduce the likelihood of interception. To simultaneously suppress mainlobe and sidelobe interferences, a blocking matrix is used to mask mainlobe interference based on azimuthal information, and an adaptive process is used to suppress sidelobe interference. Mainlobe interference is eliminated using the data received by the two radars. Simulation verifies the performance of the model.

ON CLUTTER DOF FOR PHASED ARRAY AIRBORNE EARLY ARNING RADARS

In recent years,considerable attention has been paid to adaptive clutter suppressionfor airborne early warning(AEW)radars.A necessary condition for efficient clutter suppressionis that the number of adaptive degrees of freedom(DOF)is no less than that of clutter DOF.This paper analyzes the DOF of clutter for phased array AEW radars.The new results obtainedhere are helpful to design an adaptive system for clutter suppression.

A NEW METHOD TO COMPENSATE CLUTTER RANGE DEPENDENCE FOR FORWARD LOOKING AIRBORNE RADARS

The clutter direction-Doppler curves are not aligned on the near range bins for forward looking airborne radar. As a result, the performance of clutter suppression by Space-Time Adaptive Processing (STAP) degrades greatly because of the clutter range dependence. To deal with this problem, a new compensated method is proposed in this paper. The method rebuilds the clutter covariance matrix based on spatial high resolution Minimum Variance Distortionless Response (MVDR) spectrum, and then finds a matrix to transform the covariance matrix of short-range gate to the referred far-range gate. The method can compensate the clutter range dependence well. The simulation results show validity of the method.

Constrained geometry analysis to resolve 3-D deformations from three ground-based radars

When multiple ground-based radars(GB-rads)are utilized together to resolve three-dimensional(3-D)deformations,the resolving accuracy is related with the measurement geometry constructed by these radars.This paper focuses on constrained geometry analysis to resolve 3-D deformations from three GB-rads.The geometric dilution of precision(GDOP)is utilized to evaluate 3-D deformation accuracy of a single target,and its theoretical equation is derived by building a simplified 3-D coordinate system.Then for a 3-D scene,its optimal accuracy problem is converted into determining the minimum value of an objective function with a boundary constraint.The genetic algorithm is utilized to solve this constrained optimization problem.Numerical simulations are made to validate the correctness of the theoretical analysis results.

Space-time clutter model for airborne bistatic radar with non-Gaussian statistics

To validate the potential space-time adaptive processing （STAP） algorithms for airborne bistatic radar clutter suppression under nonstationary and non-Gaussian clutter environments, a statistically non-Gaussian, space-time clutter model in varying bistatic geometrical scenarios is presented. The inclusive effects of the model contain the range dependency of bistatic clutter spectrum and clutter power variation in range-angle cells. To capture them, a new approach to coordinate system conversion is initiated into formulating bistatic geometrical model, and the bistatic non-Gaussian amplitude clutter representation method based on a compound model is introduced. The veracity of the geometrical model is validated by using the bistatic configuration parameters of multi-channel airborne radar measurement （MCARM） experiment. And simulation results manifest that the proposed model can accurately shape the space-time clutter spectrum tied up with specific airborne bistatic radar scenario and can characterize the heterogeneity of clutter amplitude distribution in practical clutter environments.

Measurements of ocean wave spectrum from airborne radar at small incidence angles

This paper proposes the retrieval method of ocean wave spectrum for airborne radar observations at small incidence angles, which is slightly modified from the method developed by Hauser. Firstly, it makes use of integration method to estimate total mean square slope instead of fitting method, which aims to reduce the affects of fluctuations superposed on normalized radar cross-section by integration. Secondly, for eliminating the noise spectrum contained in signal spectrum, the method considers the signal spectrum in certain look direction without any long wave components as the assumed noise spectrum, which would be subtracted from signal spectrum in any look direction for linear wave spectrum retrieval. Estimated v from the integration method are lower than the one from fitting method and have a standard deviation of 0.004 between them approximately. The assumed noise spectrum energy almost has no big variations along with the wave number and is slightly lower to the high wave number part of signal spectrum in any look direction, which follows that the assumption makes sense. The retrieved directional spectra are compared with the buoy records in terms of peak wavelength, peak direction and the significant wave height. Comparisons show that the retrieved peak wavelength and significant wave height are slightly higher than the buoy records but don＇t differs significantly （error less than 10%）. For peak direction, the swell waves in first case basically propagate in the wind direction 6 hours ago and the wind-generated waves in second case also propagate in the wind direction, but the 180° ambiguity remains. Results show that the modified method can carry out the retrieval of directional wave spectrum.

Adaptive coherence estimator based on the Krylov subspace technique for airborne radar

A novel adaptive detector for airborne radar space-time adaptive detection （STAD） in partially homogeneous environments is proposed. The novel detector combines the numerically stable Krylov subspace technique and diagonal loading technique, and it uses the framework of the adaptive coherence estimator （ACE）. It can effectively detect a target with low sample support. Compared with its natural competitors, the novel detector has higher proba- bility of detection （PD）, especially when the number of the training data is low. Moreover, it is shown to be practically constant false alarm rate （CFAR）.

SPACE-TIME ADAPTIVE PROCESSING FOR AIRBORNE RADAR:A CONVENIENT IMPLEMENTATION APPROACH

A convenient implementation approach to space-time adaptive processing for airborne radar has been proposed, which is added by some auxiliary array elements in the area of main-lobe clutter on the basis of 2-D Capon approach . It is of practical use for its small computational load. This approach possesses the ideal performance in the area of main-lobe clutter . In addition, the approach which is added by some auxiliary beams in the area of main-lobe clutter has also been discussed.

METHOD OF MULTI-TARGET TRACKING IN WIDE AREA SURVEILLANCE AIRBORNE RADAR SYSTEM BASING ON CLUSTERING ANALYSIS

This paper proposed a robust method based on the definition of Mahalanobis distance to track ground moving target. The feature and the geometry of airborne ground moving target tracking systems are studied at first. Based on this feature, the assignment relation of time-nearby target is calculated via Mahalanobis distance, and then the corresponding transformation formula is deduced. The simulation results show the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed method.

IMPROVED DOPPLER WARPING METHOD FOR AIRBORNE RADAR WITH NON-SIDELOOKING ARRAY

Traditional range-dependency compensation space time adaptive processing(STAP)methods usually involve aligning the clutter spectrums in a certain point to reduce the clutter non-homogeneity.A novel compensation STAP method is proposed as an improved Doppler warping(DW)method for airborne radar with non-sidelooking radar.This method facilitates DW method to bring clutter spectrum of different range gates together in the mainlobe and subsequently compensation to accomplish space angle of different range gates alignment at multiple Doppler bins.Simulation results show that the proposed method can further reduce the clutter non-homogeneity of non-sidelooking array and significantly outperform traditional algorithms with only a little increase of the computation load.

Study on Clutter Model and Characteristics of Airborne Radar with Parabolic Conformal Phased Array

The studies on clutter modeling and suppression of airborne radar with a parabolic conformal array are uncommon due to the complexity of this type of antenna array configuration.The correct understanding of clutter characteristics for airborne radar with a parabolic conformal antenna array is the prerequisite and foundation of optimal suppression of this type of clutter.This paper establishes the model of clutter echo of airborne parabolic conformal phased array radar and analyzes the structure characteristics and the distribution features of this type of clutter.The simulation results show that this type of clutter has the following characteristics：1） The main lobe on the azimuth is seriously broadened,2） the power spectrum presents strong heterogeneity,and 3） the freedom degrees are high.Based on the existing related clutter suppression methods,we verified the correctness of the constructed clutter model.This work has an important guidance to further study on clutter suppression methods in airborne parabolic conformal array radar.

An anti-main-lobe jamming algorithm for airborne early warning radar based on APC-SVRGD joint optimization

Main lobe jamming seriously affects the detection performance of airborne early warning radar.The joint processing of polarization-space has become an effective way to suppress the main lobe jamming.To avoid the main beam distortion and wave crest migration caused by the main lobe jamming in adaptive beamforming,a joint optimization algorithm based on adaptive polarization canceller(APC)and stochastic variance reduction gradient descent(SVRGD)is proposed.First,the polarization plane array structure and receiving signal model based on primary and auxiliary array cancellation are established,and an APC iterative algorithm model is constructed to calculate the optimal weight vector of the auxiliary channel.Second,based on the stochastic gradient descent principle,the variance reduction method is introduced to modify the gradient through internal and external iteration to reduce the variance of the stochastic gradient estimation,the airspace optimal weight vector is calculated and the equivalent weight vector is introduced to measure the beamforming effect.Third,by setting up a planar polarization array simulation scene,the performance of the algorithm against the interference of the main lobe and the side lobe is analyzed,and the effectiveness of the algorithm is verified under the condition of short snapshot number and certain signal to interference plus noise ratio.

Short-range clutter suppression method combining oblique projection and interpolation in airborne CFA radar

The airborne conformal array(CFA)radar's clutter ridges are range-modulated,which result in a bias in the estimation of the clutter covariance matrix(CCM)of the cell under test(CUT),further,reducing the clutter suppression performance of the airborne CFA radar.The clutter ridges can be effectively compensated by the space-time separation interpolation(STSINT)method,which costs less computation than the space-time interpolation(STINT)method,but the performance of interpolation algorithms is seriously affected by the short-range clutter,especially near the platform height.Location distributions of CFA are free,which yields serious impact that range spaces of steering vector matrices are non-orthogonal complement and even no longer disjoint.Further,a new method is proposed that the shortrange clutter is pre-processed by oblique projection with the intersected range spaces(OPIRS),and then clutter data after being pre-processed are compensated to the desired range bin through the STSINT method.The OPIRS also has good compatibility and can be used in combination with many existing methods.At the same time,oblique projectors of OPIRS can be obtained in advance,so the proposed method has almost the same computational load as the traditional compensation method.In addition,the proposed method can perform well when the channel error exists.Computer simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.

AIR GROUND RANGING OF AIRBORNE RADAR USING WAVELET TRANSFORM

A new method of air ground ranging of airborne radar based on wavelet transform was proposed. The wavelet domain noise excision was applied as a post processing tool to reduce the white Gaussian noise appearing in the radar echo. The wavelet approach overcomes the drawbacks of the traditional ranging method, thus considerably improving the accuracy and speed of air ground ranging. The whole algorithm was performed in frequency domain. It can take full advantage of the radar’s former hardware resource, such as FFT high speed processor. The simulation results demonstrate the validity of our new approach.

Time-varying baseline error correction method for ground-based micro-deformation monitoring radar

In recent years, ground-based micro-deformation monitoring radar has attracted much attention due to its excellent monitoring capability. By controlling the repeated campaigns of the radar antenna on a fixed track, ground-based micro-deformation monitoring radar can accomplish repeat-pass interferometry without a space baseline and thus obtain highprecision deformation data of a large scene at one time. However, it is difficult to guarantee absolute stable installation position in every campaign. If the installation position is unstable, the stability of the radar track will be affected randomly, resulting in time-varying baseline error. In this study, a correction method for this error is developed by analyzing the error distribution law while the spatial baseline is unknown. In practice, the error data are first identified by frequency components, then the data of each one-dimensional array(in azimuth direction or range direction) are grouped based on numerical distribution period, and finally the error is corrected by the nonlinear model established with each group.This method is verified with measured data from a slope in southern China, and the results show that the method can effectively correct the time-varying baseline error caused by rail instability and effectively improve the monitoring data accuracy of groundbased micro-deformation radar in short term and long term.

AN APPROACH TO SUPPRESS SHORT-RANGE CLUTTER FOR NON-SIDE LOOKING AIRBORNE RADAR

When the Airborne Early Warning(AEW) radar transmits medial or high Pulse Repetitive Frequency(PRF) signal,the range ambiguity occurs.The clutter of short-range clutter has serious range dependence problem for non-Side Looking Airborne Radar(non-SLAR).As a result,the clutter plus noise covariance matrix can not be estimated correctly,and the performance of clutter suppression obtained by Space-Time Adaptive Processing(STAP) degrades greatly.The uniform linear array has not elevation degrees;therefore,the short-range clutter can not be suppressed directly.A short-range clutter suppression method is proposed.The method first estimate the elevation angles of the ambiguous short-range gate,then eliminates short-range clutter by space time interpolation and adds moving target protection in the procedure.This method can suppress the short-range clutter well.Simulation results show the validity of the method.

METHOD FOR ALONG-TRACK DUAL-ANTENNA AIRBORNE RADAR'S GMTI WHEN THE ATENNA ERROR CHANGES PULSE TO PULSE

This paper presents a joint method of Doppler Beam Sharpen (DBS) imaging and Signal Subspace Processing (SSP) to achieve Ground Moving Target Indication(GMTI) for along- track dual-antenna airborne radar. When the error of the two antennas (also refers to channels) changes pulse to pulse, the method SSP is used to precisely calibrate the two antennas’ DBS images, then to detect the ground moving targets in the difference image of the two calibrated images. The method DBS-SSP is proved to offer performance improvement on the actually measured data and simulated data.

An approach to wide-field imaging of linear rail ground-based SAR in high squint multi-angle mode

Ground-based synthetic aperture radar(GB-SAR) has been successfully applied to the ground deformation monitoring.However, due to the short length of the GB-SAR platform, the scope of observation is largely limited. The practical applications drive us to make improvements on the conventional linear rail GB-SAR system in order to achieve larger field imaging. First, a turntable is utilized to support the rotational movement of the radar.Next, a series of high-squint scanning is performed with multiple squint angles. Further, the high squint modulation phase of the echo data is eliminated. Then, a new multi-angle imaging method is performed in the wave number domain to expand the field of view. Simulation and real experiments verify the effectiveness of this method.

Assessment Model of Atmosphere Transmitting Influence on High-resolution Airborne SAR Stereo Positioning

The influence derived from atmosphere transmitting of radar wave, in the application of high-resolution airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) stereo positioning, may produce some phase errors, and eventually be introduced into positioning model. This paper described the principle of airborne SAR stereo positioning and the error sources of stereo positioning accuracy that arose from atmosphere transmitting, established a corresponding assess- ment model of atmosphere transmitting influence, and testified the model and the assessment principle taking the 1-m resolution airborne SAR images of Zigong City, Sichuan Province in China, as the test dataset. The test result has proved that the assessment model is reliable and reasonable. And, it has shown that the phase error arisen from time delay is the main error source during the atmosphere transmitting, which has much more influences on cross-track di- rection and introduces a stereo positioning error of about eight meters, but less on the along-track direction.