The clutter range-ambiguity in hybrid bistatic space-based radar

For hybrid bistatic space-based radar (HB-SBR), which is composed of an illuminator on a satellite and a receiver on an airplane, range-ambiguous clutter is a serious problem for space-time adaptive processing (STAP). In this paper, based on a proposed spherical-earth assumption, it is shown that the range ambiguity of clutter returns is related to azimuth and bistatic central angle. Therefore, range ambiguities may be alleviated by proper configuration of illuminator and receiver. Simulation results demonstrate that the performance degradation of moving target indication (MTI) caused by range ambiguities can be mitigated with the proposed bistatic HB-SBR configuration.