Adaptive radar: Beyond the RMB rule

In this paper we discuss a number of recent, important developments in adaptive radar. Specifically, we comprehensively identify critical trends and describe in some detail a number of corresponding solutions helping transition space-time adaptive processing (STAP) from theory to practice. Specific issues considered herein include: (1) the impact of clutter heterogeneity on detection performance; (2) the role of sensor deployment and the inducement of clutter nonstationarity; (3) the influence of aperture on system performance; and, (4) limitations imposed by computational burden on the deployable solution space. The intent of the paper is to juxtapose STAP theory and practice, with an emphasis on some developments of the past dozen years or so.