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.

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）.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Novel parametric optimum processing method for airborne radar

In radar target detection, an optimum processor needs to automatically adapt its weights to the environment change. Conventionally, the optimum weights are obtained by substantial independently and identically distributed (i.i.d.) interference samplings, which is not always realistic in an inhomogeneous clutter background of airborne radar. The lack of i.i.d. samplings will inevitably lead to performance deterioration for optimum processing. In this paper, a novel parametric adaptive processing method is proposed for airborne radar target detection based on the modified Doppler distributed clutter (DDC) model with contribution of clutter's internal motion. It is different from the conventional methods in that the adaptive weights are determined by two parameters of DDC model, i.e., angular center and spread. A low-complexity nonlinear operators approach is also proposed to estimate these parameters. Simulation and performance analysis are also provided to show that the proposed method can remarkably reduce the dependence of i.i.d. samplings and it is computationally efficient for practical use.

A framework of rank-reduced space-time adaptive processing for airborne radar and its applications

A new equivalent formulation of the joint domain space-time optimum processor for airborne phased array radar application is derived. Then a new framework of space-time adaptive processing (STAP) for airborne radar systems which includes most of suboptimum algorithms in the literature is proposed. The performance of two typical rank-reduced time-space joint-domain processors based on Doppler pre-filtering is analyzed in detail based on the proposed framework.

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.

Quantitative feedback theory and zero phase error tracking control combined robust control for radar truck leveling simulator

Radar leveling system is the key equipment for improving the radar mobility and survival capability. A combined quantitative feedback theory (QFT) controller is designed for the radar truck leveling simulator in this paper, which suffers from strong nonlinearities and system parameter uncertainties. QFT can reduce the plant uncertainties and stabilize the system, but it fails to obtain high-precision tracking. This drawback can be solved by a robust QFT control scheme based on zero phase error tracking control (ZPETC) compensation. The combined controller not only possesses high robustness, but greatly improves the system performance. To verify the effiectiveness and the potential of the proposed controller, a series of experiments have been carried out. Experimental results have demonstrated its robustness against a large range of parameters variation and high tracking precision performance, as well as its capability of restraining the load coupling among channels. The combined QFT controller can drive the radar truck leveling platform accurately, quickly and stably.

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.

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.

Design of a Radar Signal Simulator Based on Virtex-Ⅱ Series FPGA

A simulation method to simulate the pseudorandom code P. M PP radar＇ s echo signal is proposed that makes use of the pre-generated Doppler simulation data, according to the relative movement parameter of the radar and the target. It resolves the problem of the high precision distance simulation and the high speed digital shift phase. At the same time, the radar dynamic digital video frequency target signal simulator is designed. Simulation results of the critical unit and the output waveform are given. The result of the test satisfies the system＇s request.

Stealth performance evaluation of helicopter against airborne early warning radar considering trimming control

Airborne pulse Doppler radar is a key threat to the military helicopter,and assessing the stealth performance of helicopter against airborne early warning radar is helpful to the helicopter’s stealth design and operational planning.In this paper,the Shooting and Bouncing Ray(SBR)and Uniform Theory of Diffraction(UTD)based high-frequency algorithms are used to calculate the Radar Cross Section(RCS)of helicopter,and the radar range equations are used to evaluate the stealth performance.In order to account for the effects of rotor flapping motions during actual flight,the aerodynamics model of whole helicopter is established and the attitudes and controls of helicopter at different flight states are trimmed and input into the RCS calculation module.The effects of helicopter flight speed,flying direction and operational environment on radar stealth performance are studied in focus.It is demonstrated by the results that the trimming control does have a great influence of more than 5 dB on the RCS of helicopter,and the introduction of the trim calculation brings the helicopter’s returns calculation closer to the reality.Variations in flight speed lead to the changes in the stealth performance of helicopter against Early Warning Aircraft(EWA),and the helicopter flight speed can be planned according to the operational requirements to minimize exposure distance or exposure time.Variations in flying direction mainly affect the detection properties of helicopter returns,and flying in the same direction with EWA usually gives the helicopter better low-observability than flying head-on.Variations in operational environment mainly affect the radar detection performance and the sensitivity of the detection performance to external factors;the same amount of change in some external factor causes a different amount of change in the helicopter’s detectability in different environments.