Space-time processing for AEW radar

The authors deal with target detection by means of an airborne early warning (AEW) radar. The focus is on the space-time processing techniques adopted to cancel the interferences. In particular, an algorithm based on the QR decomposition is described together with the corresponding parallel processing architecture which is a triangular systolic array of processing elements. A comparison is made with respect to a more conventional adaptive algorithm (e.g. the one based on the direct inversion of interference covariance matrix), and the optimum algorithm based on the a-priori knowledge of the interference. Simulated as well as recorded live data are considered for processing. Finally, a first appraisal of the processing speed-up, related to the parallel nature of the algorithm and the systolic architecture, has been obtained by means of a benchmark done with a hypercube general purpose computer