Space-time Adaptive Processing Performance Research Articles

Gridless sparse recovery STAP algorithm with array amplitude-phase errors for non-uniform linear array

In the continuous angle-Doppler profile, the gridless sparse recovery (SR) space-time adaptive processing (STAP) prevents the off-grid issue of conventional SR-STAP. However, the applicability of the technique is limited to uniform linear array (ULA), whose performance deteriorates significantly owing to the array amplitude-phase errors (AAPEs). To this end, this study proposes a novel gridless SR-STAP algorithm applicable to a non-ULA with AAPEs. First, considering the properties of clutter covariance matrix (CCM), the atomic norm minimization (ANM)-STAP model with AAPEs is established for non-ULA. Second, the ANM-STAP is derived as a joint optimization problem for the clutter subspace and AAPEs, which are iteratively updated using the alternating direction method of multipliers. Finally, CCM is reconstructed to design the STAP filter weight vector. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm is advantageous for non-ULAs and improves the STAP performance in the presence of AAPEs.

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.

Airborne Flexible-Array Radar Clutter Characteristics and STAP Performance Analysis

Airborne flexible array radar has increasingly attracted attention due to its promising application potential. As space-time adaptive processing (STAP) plays an important role in moving target indicator (MTI) applications, this paper studies an airborne flexible-array radar framework and its clutter characteristics and STAP performance. Taking deformable structure of the wing flexible-array radar as an example, the corresponding spatial-temporal signal model is formulated with deformation parameters. Next, the spatial-temporal clutter properties of flexible-array radar are analyzed mathematically by exploiting the clutter covariance matrix and Doppler characteristics. Furthermore, one clutter suppression method is proposed by jointly utilizing the compensation algorithm, temporal-dimension reduction filtering, and spatial adaptive processing. Finally, STAP performance analysis for the airborne flexible-array radar is provided. Numerical results verify all the theoretical analyses.

Interrupted-Sampling and Non-Uniform Periodic Repeater Jamming against mDT-STAP System

The difference between sampling data and detection data can degrade the performance of space-time adaptive processing (STAP). A jamming algorithm with a non-uniform periodic repeater based on interrupted-sampling is proposed against the reduced dimensional space-time adaptive processing (STAP) system for the first time. Firstly, the model of m-bins doppler transform (mDT) STAP training and processing signal samples is described. Then, the method of false targets generated by the non-uniform periodic repeater is analyzed theoretically based on the principle of interrupted-sampling. The simulation shows that numerous false targets with different amplitude and intervals can be generated by changing the retransmitted parameters. The independent identical distribution (IID) of system sample data can be destroyed after these false targets are received by the radar system, and the main lobe will be distorted when the system’s adaptive weight vector is formed. The processing performance of the mDT-STAP system is seriously degraded. The jamming method proposed based on interrupted-sampling and the non-uniform periodic repeater offers great potential for the interference research on STAP in real conditions.

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.

Cascaded Least Square Algorithm for Strong Clutter Removal in Airborne Passive Radar

Owing to the continuous random and nonperiodic characteristics of the passive signal, the random range sidelobe coupling (RRSC) effects of the strong clutter (i.e., the direct path signal and the strong multipath signal) will exacerbate the performance of space-time adaptive processing (STAP) algorithm in airborne passive radar (APR). This article analyzes the influence of RRSC caused by strong clutter on detection range cell of interest and illustrates that strong clutter should be suppressed before applying the STAP algorithm. A cascaded least square (CLS) algorithm based on the directional dependence of clutter Doppler frequency is proposed for side-looking APR, where the first least square (LS) algorithm is performed to achieve the amplitude estimation of the Doppler-shift echo signal, and the channel amplitude and phase error correction factor can be obtained by the estimated amplitude information of the direct patch signal and the APR geometric configuration. The second LS is employed to further estimate the amplitude information of the strong clutter, and the resulting weight vector can be utilized for clutter cancelation. To make the CLS algorithm more practical, a batch version of the CLS (CLS-B) algorithm is proposed in this article. The advantage of the method is that it cannot only cancel clutter along the clutter ridge but also effectively prevent the suppression of targets falling in the clutter Doppler band. In addition, the proposed CLS algorithm performs well in the presence of the channel amplitude and phase error. A series of simulations are conducted to test the proposed algorithms.

STAP Training Samples Selection Based on GIP and Volume Cross Correlation

Space-time adaptive processing requires reliable training samples to support clutter covariance matrix calculation of the cell under test in the process of moving target detection. However, the heterogeneous clutter and the existence of outliers in the training samples violate the assumption of independent identically distributed with the cell under test, which is crucial for statistical estimation. To solve this problem, this letter suggests a new strategy to select training samples that are homogeneous with the cell under test. First, the generalized inner product method is used to filter training samples with outliers and generate the corresponding load matrix. Second, a distance metric between the training sample clutter subspace and the cell under test clutter subspace is formed by the volume cross-correlation function, the distance metric is used to judge the clutter similarity between the training sample and the cell under test. Finally, the training samples with similar clutter distribution characteristics to the cell under test are selected. Experimental results show that Space-time adaptive processing performance can be improved effectively, especially in heterogeneous environments.

Multi-Resolution STAP for Enhanced Ultra-Low-Altitude Target Detection

In this paper, an ultra-low-altitude target (ULAT) detection approach, referred to as the multi-resolution space-time adaptive processing (STAP), is proposed to enhance the target detection performance in a missile-borne radar system. In this respect, the whole base band is divided into a series of equal-width and center-frequency-diverse sub-bands with the frequency diversity technique, which enhances the multipath-target coupled (MTC) effect with the decreased range resolution. Hence, it is feasible to exploit the multipath signal power to improve the output signal-to-clutter-plus-noise ratio (SCNR) performance of sub-band STAP. In this regard, the mechanism of the MTC effect is analyzed numerically for the efficient sub-band STAP. However, such SCNR improvement is achieved at the cost of target tracking performance loss. Hence, the full-band STAP is further applied for multipath-target separation based on the target range-Doppler locations detected by the joint multiple sub-bands ΣΔ-STAP, which also alleviates the dynamic target attenuation and the corresponding target Doppler history corruption within the long coherent processing interval (CPI). On this basis, the SCNR performance is further improved by applying coherent accumulation among sub-CPIs, in which the clutter suppression performance degradation and coherent accumulation loss of STAP are alleviated within the sub-CPIs. Numerical and measured results corroborate the effectiveness of ULAT detection with the considered multi-resolution STAP.

Clutter Suppression Method for Off-Grid Effects Mitigation in Airborne Passive Radars with Contaminated Reference Signals.

For an airborne passive radar with contaminated reference signals, the clutter caused by multipath (MP) signals involved in the reference channel (MP clutter) corrupts the covariance estimation in space-time adaptive processing (STAP). In order to overcome the severe STAP performance degradation caused by impure reference signals and off-grid effects, a novel MP clutter suppression method based on local search is proposed for airborne passive radar. In the proposed method, the global dictionary is constructed based on the sparse measurement model of MP clutter, and the global atoms that are most relevant to the residual are selected. Then, the local dictionary is designed iteratively, and local searches are performed to match real MP clutter points. Finally, the off-grid effects are mitigated, and the MP clutter is suppressed from all matched atoms. A range of simulations is conducted in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Multichannel Sea Clutter Modeling for Spaceborne Early Warning Radar and Clutter Suppression Performance Analysis

In this article, we propose a multichannel sea clutter model in a spaceborne early warning radar system and analyze the influence of the sea clutter motion characteristics on the space-time adaptive processing (STAP) performance. To establish a multichannel sea clutter model, the 3-D Gerstner wave model is applied to construct the sea surface. Then the Pierson–Moskowitz wave spectrum and the stereo wave observation project (SWOP) directional spectrum are combined to describe the amplitude distribution of waves in different frequencies and directions. At the same time, the two-scale model is applied to obtain the specific backscattering coefficients of sea clutter at different time and positions. In addition, breaking waves are added in sea clutter returns with the form of false targets. Finally, the space-time distribution characteristics of sea clutter in a spaceborne multichannel array system and the influences of sea clutter under different wind speeds and directions on STAP performance are analyzed based on the simulation processing results. Processing results of some real-measured radar data are also exhibited to verify the theoretical analyses.

Low complexity single dataset STAP for nonstationary clutter suppression in HF mixed-mode surface wave radar

ABSTRACT The nonstationary clutter is one of the biggest challenge to ocean remote sensing radar system such as high frequency (HF) mixed-mode surface wave radar. The performance of space-time adaptive processing (STAP) degrades badly with limited homogeneous secondary training data support. Single dataset algorithms overcome the problem by working on primary data solely. But the heavy computational complexity as well as the inaccurate estimation of the clutter covariance matrix restricts the practical application of these methods. In this letter, we propose a novel reduce-rank-based single dataset STAP to suppress the nonhomogeneous clutter in practical HF radar system. A fast implementation of subspace tracking algorithm is introduced to estimate the clutter subspace as well as reduce the computational cost via pulse iteration method. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by both simulated and experimental data. The results show it outperforms traditional single dataset STAP methods and the nonstationary clutter can be greatly suppressed.

Adaptive Doppler Compensation for Mitigating Range Dependence in Forward-Looking Airborne Radar

In this paper, we present ground moving target indication (GMTI) signal processing algorithm encompassing clutter suppression, target detection and parameter estimation. One of the most significant yet least publicized is the need of the GMTI mode for a forward-looking airborne radar. The integration of GMTI mode in a forward-looking airborne radar allows reconnaissance and surveillance operations in all weather conditions. In this context, space time adaptive processing (STAP) offers a unique prospect of enabling the GMTI mode in forward looking airborne radar. STAP is a two-dimensional filter designed to suppress platform motion-induced clutter Doppler spread. Interference is characterized by a covariance matrix. In the case of a forward-looking airborne radar, the clutter Doppler is dependent on range. Clutter Doppler dependency on the range renders the training cells heterogeneous. The heterogeneity effects are particularly prominent in the near range bins. Non-homogeneous training cells have a deleterious effect on STAP performance. In this study, we propose an adaptive Doppler compensation to mitigate the degraded STAP performance in the near range bins. The adaptivity feature circumvents the need for the availability of radar parameters in real-time. The real time implementation of STAP is impeded by requirements of a large number of training samples and covariance matrix inversion. Therefore, there is a dire need to devise a framework to detect and estimate target parameters within the STAP. In this regard, we propose an efficient STAP algorithm to detect and estimate target parameters. STAP weights are applied to the input data to obtain a 3D array. The range projection of the 3D array is utilized to detect and estimate the range of the target, while the angle–Doppler projection is used to estimate spatial and temporal parameters of the target. Most of the literature on STAP is geared towards a known covariance matrix. The assumption of a known covariance matrix may degrade STAP performance because of the inherent mismatches between the actual and assumed target steering vectors. In this study, we estimate the covariance matrix based on the synthetic data generated from a model of an airborne phased array radar. The developed STAP algorithms closely mimic a real-time implementation scheme in an airborne radar platform. The results of the proposed algorithm are validated through target parameter estimation and STAP metrics on synthetic data.

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.

Knowledge-aided sparse recovery STAP algorithm with off-grid self-calibration for airborne radar

Space-time adaptive processing (STAP) for airborne radar may cause lattice mismatch during sparse recovery processing, which is the off-grid problem. The off-grid problem may lead to degradation of STAP performance. To cope with this problem, this paper proposes a knowledge-aided sparse recovery STAP algorithm with off-grid self-calibration (AO-SR-STAP). The snapshots are decomposed by sparse processing firstly. The off-grid of spare dictionary is calibrated and dense interferences are removed according to the knowledge of clutter distribution. A standard steering vector set is constructed by the prior knowledge of clutter distribution, which is used to calibrate the off-grid of sparse dictionary. The dense interferences in snapshots are removed with knowledge of clutter distribution. Hence, the clutter information of snapshots is estimated accurately and the target in cell under test can be detected completely. The advantage of this algorithm is that the off-grid of sparse dictionary can be calibrated, and dense interferences are filtered effectively. Simulation experiments verify the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed algorithm.

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 FDA-STAP approach based on multiple response constraints

Frequency diverse array (FDA) has the ability to suppress the range-dependent interference and resolve the range ambiguity by using its additional degree-of-freedom (DOFs) in range domain. However, the spatial-temporal spectrum of fast-moving target is not ideally focused in spatial-temporal plane, which causes a large mismatch between the real and presumed target locations and significantly degrades the performance of space-time adaptive processing (STAP). To solve this problem, in this paper, a robust FDA-STAP approach based on multiple magnitude response constraints is proposed to improve the detection performance of fast-moving target. Specifically, several small uncertainty sets are employed to constraint the magnitude response, and then the worst-case based optimization problem is formed. To reduce the influence of the spatial-temporal-spectrum-defocusing of fast-moving target, a non-focused constraint on the STAP weight vector is devised. Finally, the proposed method is formulated as a non-convex quadratically constrained quadratic programming (QCQP) problem, which is efficiently resolved by using multiple constraints relaxation technique. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms other state-of-the-arts methods including well-controlled mainbeam and superior target detection performance.

Training sample selection for space–time adaptive processing based on multi‐frames

As training samples are not identically distributed with cell under test (CUT) in heterogeneous environments, the performance of space–time adaptive processing (STAP) to suppress clutter degrades. To improve the performance of STAP, this study proposes a novel training sample selection method for STAP based on multi-frames. The key feature of the new method is to overcome the deficit of independent and identically distributed (IID) training samples in heterogeneous environments. First, multi-frames are selected according to similarity from continuous frames; second, training samples which are IID to the CUT from current frame are selected; finally, combine the training samples of the current frame and same range samples in reference frame into final training sample set. The proposed method is applied to real-radar data, and experimental results demonstrate 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.

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.

Exploiting persymmetry for JDL‐STAP

Joint domain localisation (JDL) is a popular reduced-dimension space-time adaptive processing (STAP) technique for clutter suppression in an air-borne radar system. Here, the authors develop an improved JDL method by exploiting persymmetric covariance matrix, referred to as persymmetric joint domain localisation (Per-JDL), in order to make maximum use of training samples and further improve the STAP performance under small training data support. The proposed algorithm is verified to be efficient in training-limited scenarios by simulation results.