Impact of pattern distortion on Clutter Canceller Beamformer

Recently invented Clutter Canceller Beamformer (CCB) utilizes 3 beams. The cancellation of sea clutter (or to be more precise external noise) is performed by subtracting the estimated external noise signal received by the Estimator Beam from the Flat Beam and the Difference Beam outputs, respectively. Therefore, only little relative distortion of the respective antenna patterns is desirable. Robustness of the CCB with respect to distortion of array patterns by misalignment of antenna elements and by a reradiator is investigated. Simulation results for the impact of pattern distortion on Half Power Beamwidth (HPBW) and Signal-to-Clutter Ratio (SCR) are compared with those obtained with conventional Chebyshev beamformer (BF).