Detection of SSR signals in multipath airport environments by a multichannel receiver

Multipath propagation is a serious problem with Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR) systems at airport apron and taxiway areas. In this approach, effective suppression of interference (garbling) by multipath components, using a multichannel receiver is presented. Thereby the SSR header format is exploited to detect multipath components, which are then eliminated by subspace based signal suppression. Extensive tests at Frankfurt international airport show the potential of the proposed approach to significantly improve reception at problematic sites.