Fully Adaptive Space-Time Processing on nested arrays

This paper describes fully adaptive nonlinear space-time processing on nested arrays. Nested arrays are sparse arrays that in conjunction with nonlinear processing of the received signals enable more adaptive degrees of freedom than a conventional linear beamformer would allow. The Space-Time Adaptive Processing (STAP) architecture proposed in this paper consists of a nested array that samples received pulses on a nested temporal interval. The sparse spatial and temporal sampling pattern of the proposed architecture together with the nonlinear processing performed on the received pulses makes this STAP architecture fundamentally different from conventional STAP arrays. Simulated results for an airborne platform illustrate angle-Doppler nulling performance for illuminated ground clutter and for jamming interference.