Space-time adaptive processing for airborne radar

Advanced airborne radar systems are required to detect targets in the presence of both clutter and jamming. Ground clutter is extended in both angle and range, and is spread in Doppler frequency because of the platform motion. Space-time adaptive processing (STAP) refers to the simultaneous processing of the signals from an array antenna during a multiple pulse coherent waveform. STAP can provide improved detection of targets obscured by mainlobe clutter, defection of targets obscured by sidelobe clutter, and detection in combined clutter and jamming environments. Fully adaptive STAP is impractical for reasons of computational complexity and estimation with limited data, so partially adaptive approaches are required. The paper presents a taxonomy of partially adaptive STAP approaches that are classified according to the type of preprocessor, or equivalently, by the domain in which adaptive weighting occurs. Analysis of the rank of the clutter covariance matrix in each domain provides insight and conditions for preprocessor design