Joint target angle and Doppler estimation with fractional lower-order statistics for airborne radar

We introduce a new joint spatial- and Doppler-frequency high-resolution estimation technique based on the fractional lower-order statistics of the measurements of a radar array. We define the covariation matrix of the space-time radar observation vector process and employ subspace-based estimation techniques to the sample covariation matrix resulting in improved target angle and Doppler estimates in the presence of impulsive interference. We name the technique “2-D Robust Covariation-Based MUSIC” or “2-D ROC-MUSIC”. We show that 2-D ROC-MUSIC provides better angle/Doppler estimates than 2-D MUSIC in a wide range of impulsive interference environments and for very low signal-to-noise ratios