Conventional Space-time Adaptive Processing Research Articles

A Novel Fast Sparse Bayesian Learning STAP Algorithm for Conformal Array Radar

Space-time adaptive processing (STAP) is an important method of clutter suppression that requires adequate training samples. For an airborne conformal array radar, conventional STAP methods do not have enough training samples to acquire good performance due to the range dependent clutter caused by geometry and the problem of polarization. Sparse-recovery-based STAP (SR-STAP) methods have garnered significant attention in the past few decades because they only require a small number of training samples. Sparse Bayesian Learning (SBL) methods have seen increasing amounts of development due to its robust, self-regularizing nature and because it is not sensitive to user parameters, but it converges slowly. In this paper, a novel fast SBL (NFSBL) method is put forward to increase the rate of convergence. To minimize the SBL penalty function, the proposed method introduces the conjugate function to construct a surrogate function. Additional solution sparsity will be achieved through iteratively minimizing the surrogate function. Then, from the proposed method, we could obtain a more accurate clutter plus noise covariance matrix. Numerical simulation results express that this method could acquire better performance of STAP and improvement in convergence and computational complexity for a conformal array.

Unsupervised Affinity Propagation Clustering Based Clutter Suppression and Target Detection Algorithm for Non-Side-Looking Airborne Radar

Aimingat non-side-looking airborne radar, we propose a novel unsupervised affinity propagation (AP) clustering radar detection algorithm to suppress clutter and detect targets. The proposed method first uses selected power points as well as space-time adaptive processing (STAP) weight vector, and designs matrix-transformation-based weighted input data, with which the first unsupervised weighted AP clustering is proposed by means of their similarity matrix, responsibility values and availability values. Then, new reconstructed weighted power inputs are designed, and the second weighted AP clustering is proposed. Finally, with their cluster results, a detection-discriminant criterion is designed for the judgment of target detection, and simultaneously, the clutter is suppressed. Compared with the conventional and important STAP, ADC and JDL algorithms, and several SO-based, GO-based and OS-based CFAR algorithms, the proposed unsupervised algorithm achieves much higher probability of detection and provides distinctly superior target-detection performance. With reasonable computation time, it can better conquer the range dependence in characteristic of clutter and better process non-independent identically distributed (non-IID) samples of non-side-looking radar. Sufficient simulations are performed, and they demonstrate that the proposed unsupervised algorithm is preferable and advantageous.

End-to-End Moving Target Indication for Airborne Radar Using Deep Learning

Moving target indication (MTI) based on space–time adaptive processing (STAP) has been widely used in airborne radar due to its ability for clutter suppression performance. However, the existing MTI methods suffer from the problems of insufficient training samples and low detection probability in a non-homogeneous clutter environment. To address these issues, this paper proposes a novel deep learning framework to improve target indication capability. First, combined with the problems of target indication caused by the non-homogeneous clutter, the clutter-plus-target training dataset was modeled by simulation, where various non-ideal factors, such as aircraft crabbing, array errors and internal clutter motion (ICM), were considered. The dataset considers various realistic situations, making the proposed method more robust. Then, a five-layer two-dimensional convolutional neural network (D2CNN) was designed and applied to learn the clutter and target characteristics distribution. The proposed D2CNN can predict the target with a high resolution to implement an end-to-end moving target indication (ETE-MTI) with a higher detection accuracy. In this D2CNN, the input was obtained by the clutter-plus-target angle-Doppler spectrum with a low-resolution estimated only by a few samples. The label was given by the target angle-Doppler spectrum with a high-resolution obtained by the target’s exact angle and Doppler. Thirdly, the proposed method used a few samples to improve the target indication and detection probability, which solved the problem of insufficient samples in the non-homogeneous clutter environments. To elaborate, the proposed method directly implements ETE-MTI without the support of the conventional STAP algorithm to suppress the clutter. The results verify the validity and the robustness of the proposed ETE-MTI with a few samples in the non-homogeneous and low signal-to-clutter ratio (SCR) environments.

Space-Time Adaptive Processing Based on Modified Sparse Learning via Iterative Minimization for Conformal Array Radar.

Space-time adaptive processing (STAP) is a well-known technique for slow-moving target detection in the clutter spreading environment. For an airborne conformal array radar, conventional STAP methods are unable to provide good performance in suppressing clutter because of the geometry-induced range-dependent clutter, non-uniform spatial steering vector, and polarization sensitivity. In this paper, a knowledge aided STAP method based on sparse learning via iterative minimization (SLIM) combined with Laplace distribution is proposed to improve the STAP performance for a conformal array. The proposed method can avoid selecting the user parameter. the proposed method constructs a dictionary matrix that is composed of the space-time steering vector by using the prior knowledge of the range cell under test (CUT) distributed in clutter ridge. Then, the estimated sparse parameters and noise power can be used to calculate a relatively accurate clutter plus noise covariance matrix (CNCM). This method could achieve superior performance of clutter suppression for a conformal array. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of this method.

A Space-Time Adaptive Processing Method Based on Sparse Bayesian Learning for Maneuvering Airborne Radar

Space-time adaptive processing (STAP) is an effective technology in clutter suppression and moving target detection for airborne radar. Because airborne radar moves at a constant acceleration, and there is a lack of independent and identically distributed (IID) training samples caused by the heterogeneous environment, using the conventional STAP methods directly cannot ensure a good performance. To eliminate these effects and improve the performance of clutter suppression, a STAP method based on a sparse Bayesian learning (SBL) framework for uniform acceleration radar is proposed here. This paper introduces the signal model of the uniform acceleration radar. To promote the sparsity, a generalized double Pareto (GDP) prior is introduced into our method, and the estimation of hyper parameters via expectation maximization (EM) is given. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by simulations.

Range-Dependent Ambiguous Clutter Suppression for Airborne SSF-STAP Radar

Range-dependent clutter suppression is a challenging problem in nonsidelooking, bistatic, and conformal antenna array airborne radar, especially in the presence of range ambiguity. Superimposed stepped frequency (SSF) radar employs a small frequency increment across the stepped signals in each pulse, which introduces a dimension related to slant range. In this article, an airborne radar framework is established, which takes SSF signal as the transmit waveform. Thus, a two-stage adaptive clutter suppression method is proposed, which utilizes the degrees of freedom in range, space, and time domains provided by airborne SSF radar. In the first stage, the secondary range dependence compensation approach is adopted to distinguish the clutter of each range region in the carrier frequency domain. Then, a target-free covariance matrix is estimated by the compensated data, and the covariance matrix is used for the range-ambiguous clutter separation in the carrier frequency domain. Thus, the space-time snapshot of each range region can be extracted. In the second stage, a clutter segmentation processing method is devised for residual clutter suppression. For the near-range unambiguous clutter, the traditional clutter compensation approach is applied to further align the spectrum distribution of clutter, while the conventional space-time adaptive processing is utilized to suppress far-range clutter directly. Since the proposed method takes full advantage of the range dimension and the two stages of adaptive processing are data-dependent, excellent clutter suppression performance can be obtained. The proposed method can also extract the real range of the target since each range region is processed separately. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

A Novel Dimension-Reduced Space–Time Adaptive Processing Algorithm for Spaceborne Multichannel Surveillance Radar Systems Based on Spatial–Temporal 2-D Sliding Window

When an early warning radar installed in a spaceborne platform works in a down-looking mode to detect a low-altitude flying target, the severely broadened main-lobe clutter cannot be ignored, which will cause the deterioration of the moving target detection capability. To deal with this problem, a space–time adaptive processing (STAP) technique is proposed for effective clutter suppression based on the spatial–temporal 2-D joint filtering. However, the full-dimensional optimal STAP encounters the challenges of high computational complexity and large training sample requirement. Therefore, the dimension-reduced STAP technique becomes necessary. This article proposes a novel dimension-reduced STAP algorithm based on spatial–temporal 2-D sliding window processing. First, several sets of spatial–temporal data are obtained by using spatial–temporal 2-D sliding window. Then, for each set of data, the 2-D discrete Fourier transform is performed to transform the echo data into the angle-Doppler domain. Finally, jointly adaptive processing is performed to realize the clutter suppression. Compared with the conventional STAP algorithms, the improvements of this method over the existing methods are: 1) the proposed method requires fewer training samples due to the 2-D localization processing and 2) the proposed method can obtain the better clutter suppression performance with lower computational complexity. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm are verified by both simulated and real-measured multichannel surveillance radar data.

Moving Target Detection Classifier for Airborne Radar Using SqueezeNet

Conventional moving target detection methods for airborne radar always need many training range units. To solve this problem, this paper transforms the target detection problem into a multi-classification problem. Firstly, the training dataset is constructed based on a small amount of training range units. Then, a multi-class classifier based on SqueezeNet is constructed. Finally, the trained classifier is used to extract the characteristics of the received space-time data for target detection and parameter estimation. Simulation results show that the SqueezeNet-based airborne radar moving target detection method proposed in this paper can effectively detect the target and estimate its distance, doppler frequency, and other parameters. Compared with the conventional space time adaptive processing method, the proposed method can significantly reduce the number of needed training range units. Compared with the existing target detection method based on classification, the proposed method can effectively improve the accuracy of target detection and parameter estimation.

STAP method based on atomic norm minimization with array amplitude-phase error calibration

In this paper, a space-time adaptive processing (STAP) method is proposed for the airborne radar with the array amplitude-phase error considered, which is based on atomic norm minimization (ANM). In the conventional ANM-based STAP method, the influence of the array amplitude-phase error is not considered and restrained, which inevitably causes performance deterioration. To solve this problem, the array amplitude-phase error is firstly estimated. Then, by pre-estimating the array amplitude-phase error information, a modified ANM model is built, in which the array amplitude-phase error factor is separated from the clutter response and the clutter covariance matrix (CCM) to improve the estimation accuracy of the CCM. To prove that the atomic norm theory is applicable in the presence of the array amplitude-phase error, the clutter sparsity is analyzed in this paper. Meanwhile, simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method is superior to the state-of-the-art STAP method. Moreover, the measured data is used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.

A novel reduced-dimensional dictionary grid screening strategy for SR-STAP

The traditional space-time adaptive processing (STAP) methods require large training samples to estimate the clutter covariance matrix. Sparse recovery STAP (SR-STAP) can get a highly accurate estimation in the case of insufficient samples and it alleviates the above problem of conventional STAP methods, however, the price of SR-STAP is that it involves a huge computational load in optimization, especially when the input data size is very big. This paper proposed a novel SR-STAP dictionary construction method that can significantly improve computational efficiency. We introduce the noise grids as the supplement of the spectrum-aid methods and design a second grids screening method based on the prior spectrum information. After the process of the proposed method, the dimension of the space-time dictionary has a sharp decrease compared to the over-complete dictionary, moreover, the sparsity of variable can be maintained better than the common spectrum-aid methods. The numerical experiments verify that the proposed method not only can significantly reduce the optimization time to far smaller than the SR-STAP but also more robust than spectrum-aid methods even in the small input size.

Information Geometric Means-Based STAP for Nonhomogeneous Clutter Suppression in High Frequency Hybrid Sky-Surface Wave Radar

The nonhomogeneous clutter is one of the biggest challenge for ocean remote sensing radar system such as high frequency hybrid sky-surface wave radar. Space-time adaptive processing (STAP) is a powerful method to suppress the clutter but the training samples in adjacent range gates are not always independent and identically distributed with the cell under test in the heterogeneous environment. So the estimation of the clutter covariance matrix will be inaccurate and degrade the STAP performance. In this paper, a novel training sample selection method based on information geometric means is proposed to choose the more homogeneous secondary data containing the precise clutter information of cell under test. The simulation results of selection performance is conducted to show the advantages of the Information geometric mean based estimators compared with the existing estimators. Combined with joint domain localized STAP, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by experimental data. The results show the proposed method outperforms conventional STAP method and the nonhomogeneous clutter can be greatly suppressed.

Cyclic training sample selection and cancellation technique for airborne STAP radar under nonhomogeneous environment

When training samples contain interference target signals (i.e., outliers), the performance of space–time adaptive processing (STAP) will be degraded. To solve this problem, a cyclic training sample selection and cancellation (CTSSC) algorithm based on sample matrix inversion (SMI) statistic is proposed. This algorithm consists of three steps. Firstly, a cyclic process is carried out to detect outliers. In each detection cycle, the sample matrix is estimated by all the training samples contained in the training sample set, and the outliers with relatively high jamming-to-noise ratio (JNR) will be detected. Then the corresponding training samples are removed from the training sample set and the sample matrix is updated. This cycle continues until the SMI statistics of all the remaining training samples do not exceed the detection threshold. Secondly, for each outlier detected by the first step, it will be reconstructed by the estimated complex amplitude and steering vector. Then the outlier will be cancelled by the corresponding reconstructed outlier. Finally, conventional STAP will be carried out to suppress clutter. Simulation results validate the effectiveness of the CTSSC algorithm with measured data.

레이다 모션에 따른 STAP 위상 보상

The conventional space-time adaptive processing (STAP) using a short coherent processing interval (CPI) is generally applied to an environment, where the variations in angle and Doppler information caused by stationary clutter patches during the CPI are negligible. The direct application of the conventional STAP to a relatively long CPI environment causes a performance degradation. This study proposes a method of applying the conventional STAP to the data acquired for a medium CPI scenario. In the proposed method, we compensate for the received signal phase by considering the change in the angle and Doppler information during the CPI, which results in the reduction of the phase variation due to the radar motion. Furthermore, we propose a method of improving the angular resolution by forming a virtual aperture when a high PRF radar with a non-negligible motion that satisfies the DPCA condition. Finally, we demonstrate the proposed method’s performance through a simulation.

An improved conjugate gradient parametric detection based on space-time scan

A parametric adaptive matched filter based on space-time scan and an improved conjugate gradient method (SCG-PAMF) is proposed. When the environment is sparse, the data from the secondary range cells is used to uniformly scan and estimate the powers in the normalized space-time 2-D frequency plane. Then, the multichannel autoregressive (AR) covariance matrix and cross-correlation vectors are reconstructed. Next, an improved conjugate gradient method is used to resolve the AR matrix coefficients with conjugate gradient method’s rapid convergence. At last, the validity and the advantages of SCG-PAMF algorithm are verified by numerical results. Compared with other conventional space-time adaptive processing (STAP) methods, SCG-PAMF algorithm has better detection performance and robustness of detection, especially, when training size is small.

Transmitter polarization optimization for space-time adaptive processing with diversely polarized antenna array

This paper considers the performance optimization of space-time adaptive processing (STAP) based on a diversely polarized antenna (DPA) array. A transmitter polarization design to enhance the detection performance is proposed. Accounting for the special structure of the polarization signal, we formulate the problem as a quasi-convex form based on the block majorization-minimization (MM) principle and solve it in an iterative framework. Compared with several existing methods, the proposed method has a quasi-convex form and can achieve better clutter suppression performance. We analyze the performance of conventional STAP and polarization-STAP (PSTAP), which indicates that the polarization diversity can help improve the performance of STAP for targets with low velocities, especially stationary ones. Simulations are conducted for validating the proposed methods and demonstrating their high performance.

Robust space‐time adaptive processing based on covariance matrix reconstruction and steering vector correction

Clutter presents considerable heterogeneity in forward-looking airborne radar (FLAR) applications and conventional space-time adaptive processing (STAP) methods are sensitive to model mismatch. As a result, when a strong target signal contaminates the training samples, despite the use of guard cells, the performance of conventional STAP methods degrades significantly. In this study, a robust method, which involves reconstructing a target-free covariance matrix and correcting the presumed steering vector to prevent target cancellation in FLAR, is proposed. First, the target-free covariance matrix is reconstructed through integrating the spatial–temporal spectrum over a sector separated from the desired frequency and direction of targets. Subsequently, the mismatch between presumed steering vector and actual steering vector is corrected via quadratic optimisation. In addition, the processing scheme is applied to real-measured clutter data, and the experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Robust knowledge‐aided sparse recovery STAP method for non‐homogeneity clutter suppression

Conventional space–time adaptive processing (STAP) methods would suffer severely performance loss in the complex clutter environment of an airborne-phased array radar, especially when the estimated clutter covariance matrix (CCM) is corrupted by the interference targets (outliers). In order to improve the clutter suppression in a practical complex clutter, a robust knowledge-aided sparse recovery STAP method for non-homogeneity clutter suppression is proposed. In the proposed method, the spectral profiles of the clutter and outliers are firstly estimated by sparse recovery processing. Then based on the system prior parameters, the clutter mask is constructed to select the space–time steering vectors corresponding to the clutter components. Afterwards the clutter suppression is achieved based on the clutter subspace obtained from the selected space–time steering vectors. Since the clutter and outlier profiles are effectively estimated and distinguished by the knowledge-aided sparse recovery processing, robust clutter subspace estimation can be achieved for clutter suppression. Through the simulated and actual airborne-phased array radar data, it is verified that the proposed method can effectively improve the STAP performance in a non-homogeneous environment.

Grating-Lobe Clutter Suppression in Uniform Subarray for Airborne Radar STAP

This paper aims to address grating-lobe clutter suppression in a uniform subarray (US) for the airborne radar system. Due to the sparsity at the subarray level and different scanning angles between the inner subarray and the subarray, grating lobes are produced. The grating-lobe clutter then enters the main lobe, defined as main grating-lobe clutter (MGLC). When the target falls into the MGLC with the same Doppler frequency, the clutter cannot be effectively suppressed by the conventional space-time adaptive processing (STAP) algorithm. Hence, we design a transmit beamforming (TB)-STAP algorithm based on a modified phased array (MPA) radar system, where TB suppresses the MGLC, while STAP suppresses the main-lobe and sidelobe clutter; the goal is to maximize the output signal-to-clutter-plus-noise ratio (SCNR). The optimal solution of TB-STAP can be obtained through several iterations, and in each iterative algorithm, the TB is a quadratically constrained quadratic problem (QCQP) solved via the semidefinite relaxation (SDR) technique, and the STAP can obtain a closed solution by the minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) algorithm. The simulation results show that compared with traditional STAP in PA and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radars, the proposed algorithm in MPA radar greatly improves the output SCNR.

Three‐dimensional sparse recovery space‐time adaptive processing for airborne radar

Conventional 3-dimensional (3D) space-time adaptive processing (STAP) has achieved good performance for non-stationary clutter suppression. However, the performance of 3D STAP rapidly degrades when applied to heterogeneous clutter environment due to the requirement of a large number of independent and identically distributed training samples to estimate the clutter covariance matrix. This study applies an efficient sparse recovery algorithm, i.e. multiple sparse Bayesian learning (MSBL), with tuning, to solve the limited sample problem of 3D STAP in airborne radar. Differing with the conventional 2D sparsity-based STAP, the proposed method utilises the sparsity of clutter in elevation-azimuth-Doppler domain and recovers the 3D clutter spectrum. Whereas in its’ large computational load, a fast algorithm extending the relevance vector machine is also considered.

Polarisation‐space‐time adaptive processing for heterogeneous clutter suppression of airborne‐phased array radar

Conventional space-time adaptive processing (STAP) achieves clutter suppression by combining spatial signals and the temporal pulses. However, extreme slow-moving target cannot be effectively detected by space-time joint filtering in ambiguous and non-broadside clutter environment for airborne-phased array radar. By increasing the polarisation information in clutter suppression, improved moving target detection performance can be obtained by the polarisation-space-time adaptive processing (P-STAP). In this study, the performance of P-STAP for airborne-phased array radar is analysed. The polarised signal model of airborne-phased array radar is firstly established and then clutter suppression principle of P-STAP is derived in detailed. Afterwards, the performance of P-STAP is investigated and compared with conventional STAP in ambiguous clutter environment. It is verified that the P-STAP can outperform the conventional STAP for slow moving target detection by three-domain joint processing, especially for ambiguous and non-broadside clutter environment for airborne-phased array radar.