Oversampling gain in adaptive normalised matched filter detector

In radar target detection, the adaptive normalised matched filter (ANMF) detector is often used to detect moving targets in sea and land clutter environment. Its performance depends on estimation of clutter covariance matrix. The sample covariance matrix (SCM) estimator has been thoroughly analysed for independent and identically distributed Gaussian clutter vectors. Many radar systems on service use range-oversampling receivers. Referred to the range-oversampling model in the weather and oceanic radars, the spatial correlation model of range-oversampled clutter vectors is established, the error of the SCM estimator is analysed, and the range-oversampling gain, relevant to the oversampling factor and the receiver´s bandwidth, is derived. The experiments using raw radar clutter data are made to verify the range-oversampling gain, showing that the range oversampling improves the performance of the ANMF detector.