Adaptive detectors with diagonal loading for airborne multi-input multi-output radar

The problem of adaptive target detection for airborne multi-input multi-output (MIMO) radars with space-time receivers in the presence of Gaussian interference (including clutter and noise) is studied. Previous work has assumed the interference covariance matrix to be known. The case with unknown covariance matrix is investigated here. By exploiting the low rank property of clutter subspace, generalised likelihood ratio test detector and adaptive matched filter detector with diagonal loading are suggested to improve the detection performance of MIMO radars in limited secondary data case. The closed-form detection probabilities and false alarm probabilities of the two proposed detectors are derived and numerically evaluated. Theoretical analysis and numerical results show the advantages of the proposed detectors.     

Non-coherent radar CFAR detection based on goodness-of-fit tests

This paper considers the problem of constant false alarm rate (CFAR) detection of radar targets using multiple observations. In the Gaussian clutter scenario, the structure of the optimum (uniformly most powerful) CFAR detector is rather simple, but when the clutter is heavy-tailed, that is non-Gaussian distributed, the derivation of the optimal detector becomes infeasible. For this latter relevant case, a new CFAR algorithm is porposed based on goodness-of-fit (GoF) tests. The performance of the proposed detector is numerically investigated through Monte Carlo simulations assuming heavy-tailed Weibull and Lognormal distributed clutter. Numerical results shown that, in heavy-tailed clutter and also when several interfering targets exist, the proposed detector outperforms the conventional CFAR detector based on binary integration. Performance is also tested processing real sea clutter data collected by a non-coherent navigation radar     

非平稳环境下主动声呐检测器研究

针对在水下存在多途、混响及噪声边缘等非平稳背景条件下主动声呐检测器的检测性能,给出了一种变异指数的恒虚警率(Variability Index Constant False Alarm Rate,VI-CFAR)检测器。VI-CFAR结合了单元平均恒虚警率、最大选择恒虚警率和最小选择恒虚警率的检测算法,它在均匀平稳环境和非平稳环境下都具有较强的自适应性。理论分析和仿真结果表明,该检测器在均匀平稳背景下的检测性能与单元平均恒虚警率检测器相似,在多途、混响等干扰背景条件下具有较强的抗干扰能力,在噪声边缘背景下有较好的虚警概率控制能力且运算量小,是一种稳健的检测器。     

Outlier suppression in adaptive filtering through de-emphasis weighting

A de-emphasis weighting approach is used to suppress the effect of outliers in background samples during the formation of a sample covariance matrix. The approach is relevant to a broad range of adaptive filtering techniques. Results from processing simulated and real coherent radar data using de-emphasis weighting are compared with results using no outlier suppression and censored sample matrix inversion pruning methods. De-emphasis techniques are shown to produce the most robust detection performance when outliers are present and are also shown to have minimal performance impact when clutter is homogeneous, that is no outliers present     

基于自适应子空间估计的DOA跟踪算法

运用特征子空间类高分辨方法的关键在于信号或噪声子空间的估计。实际上有些信号的统计特性通常随时间变化，为了得到参数的实时估计值，需要随时根据新的阵列接收数据对信号或噪声子空间进行更新?文中分析了一种自适应子空间估计算法，即MALASE(Maximum Likelihood Adaptive Subspaee Estimation)算法然后，把MALASE算法与最小范数(Mini—Norm)高分辨方位计算法相结合．并应用零点跟踪技术，提出了一种自适应Mini—Norm算法，可用于对时变的信号波达方向(DOA)进行跟踪估计。仿真结果验证了该算法具有较好的跟踪性能。     

Constant false-alarm rate algorithm based on test cell information

A new constant false-alarm rate (CFAR) detection algorithm, designated as switching CFAR (S-CFAR), is proposed and analysed. The S-CFAR algorithm selects CFAR reference samples using the magnitude of the sample in the cell under test, which is an information that has not been exploited in any other existing CFAR detectors. S-CFAR closed-form analysis is presented, and comparisons with other representative CFAR algorithms are given. An S-CFAR detector can be tuned such that it has a small CFAR loss when operating on a homogeneous background while achieving improved robustness in the presence of interfering targets and clutter power transition. The S-CFAR detector is also simple to design and implement since no sample ordering is required.     

Adaptive ground clutter suppression for conformal array radar systems

Conformal arrays (CFAs) possess certain desirable characteristics for deployment on unmanned aerial vehicles and other payload-limited platforms. However, the CFA non-planar geometry induces clutter nonstationarity, resulting in elevated signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) loss when applying conventional space?time adaptive processing (STAP) algorithms. Non-stationary clutter leads to covariance matrix estimation error and, consequently, an erroneous STAP frequency response. In this study, the authors examine two practical conformal antenna configurations: a belly-mounted canoe and a nose-mounted, chined shape. Using high-fidelity signal models, the authors show traditional STAP losses in excess of 10 dB because of the effects of clutter nonstationarity. The authors then investigate a number of ameliorating techniques compatible with standard STAP implementation, including localised processing, localised processing with time-varying weights, equivalent uniform linear array transformation, angle ?Doppler warping and higher-order angle?Doppler warping. The authors demonstrate very good performance for the higher-order angle?Doppler warping method applied to the chined radome shape, with peak adaptive SINR losses reduced from nearly 16 dB for the uncompensated case to 3 dB of loss consistent with performance attainable in a homogeneous clutter environment. The authors also find good performance for three-dimensional angle?Doppler warping over azimuth, elevation and Doppler when applied to the tapered canoe shape, with uncompensated losses of roughly 14 dB reduced to 3 dB, again a level compatible with STAP applied in a homogeneous clutter environment. The authors thus show that CFA STAP can yield performance similar to that of a conventional planar array when using appropriate compensation methods.     

Knowledge-based recursive least squares techniques for heterogeneous clutter suppression

The design of knowledge-based adaptive algorithms has been dealt with for the cancellation of heterogeneous clutter. To this end, the application of the recursive least squares (RLS) technique has been revisited for the rejection of unwanted clutter, and modified RLS filtering procedures have been devised accounting for the spatial variation of the clutter power as well as of the disturbance covariance persymmetry property. Then the authors introduce the concept of knowledge-based RLS and explain how the a priori knowledge about the radar operating environment can be adopted for improving the system performance. Finally, the authors assess the benefits resulting from the use of knowledge-based processing both on simulated and on measured clutter data collected by the McMaster IPIX radar in November 1993     

Analysis of an automatic sinusoidal detector with FFT and cell‐averaging processor

Abstract

A sinusoidal detector with adaptive thresholding CFAR (constant‐false‐alarm‐rate) processor operating in noise of changing statistics is analyzed for some very general situations. The detector contains FFT and a cell‐averaging processor, which can be easily implemented for real time applications, such as in pulse doppler radar. For signals in stationary noise in particular, the second‐order statistics of the FFT‐based periodogram of the windowed data are derived. In the AWGN case, this detector possesses the desired CFAR characteristics. For Gaussian colored noise, the detector performance is derived analytically with certain reasonable approximations. It is shown from some numerical examples that in this case the variation of the false alarm probability with respect to the unknown sinusoidal frequency and noise spectrum is not significant, which reveals the property of robustness. Moreover, the detection probability is satisfactory for most cases.     

Two-dimensional pulse-to-pulse canceller of ground clutter in airborne radar

It is well known that in the airborne radar, the location of the ground clutter spectrum in the angle- Doppler space is dependent mainly on the platform velocity and radar parameters. The authors propose a two-dimensional pulse-to-pulse canceller (TDPC) that can make full use of such prior information. The more detailed formulations of the ground clutter model and the signal model are given in a matrix?vector form. The least-squares-typical cost function associated with the filter coefficient matrix of the TDPC is established on the basis of the ground clutter model and the signal model. Like the classical displaced phase centre antenna (DPCA) processing, the proposed TDPC is also a spatial-temporal suppressor of ground clutter and can decrease the ground clutter signals, even though the DPCA condition is not satisfied. The proposed TDPC can also be used as an efficient pre-filtering tool before the conventional moving target indication (MTI) processing and the classical adaptive processing. Moreover, if only the TDPC plus the conventional MTI is used, it takes less computational time than the adaptive canceller. Experimental results show that the proposed TDPC has the satisfactory ground clutter suppression capability by using both simulated data and measured data.     

基于协方差扩展PM算法的波达方向估计

针对基于传播算子方法(Propagator Method, PM)的水听器阵波达方向(Direction of Arrival, DOA)估计在低信噪比或者小快拍数时性能变差的问题,文章提出一种改进的基于PM算法的水听器阵方位估计方法。该方法利用信号子空间的旋转不变性特征对协方差矩阵进行扩展和重构,通过分块协方差矩阵的子矩阵得到传播算子矩阵。通过传播算子矩阵构造扩展噪声子空间,然后利用信号子空间与噪声子空间的正交性估计空间谱。仿真实验和湖上实验的结果表明：相较于传统PM方位估计算法,文中算法在低信噪比或者小快拍情况下具有较好的方位估计性能,在信噪比为0 dB时,文中方法比传统PM算法均方根误差减少0.6°;在快拍数为150时,比传统PM算法的均方根误差减少0.1°。     

非一致性噪声条件下的特征空间波束形成

由于水声环境的复杂性,阵列的噪声分布可能是非一致性的。当阵元噪声功率各不相同时,阵列协方差矩阵特征分解得到的特征子空间与真实目标的特征子空间之间存在误差,导致特征子空间波束形成算法的性能衰减。文章提出了一种新的非一致性噪声条件下特征子空间的估计方法,将阵列协方差矩阵对角线置0,进行特征分解估计的特征子空间将不受阵元噪声非一致性的影响。将该方法应用到特征空间波束形成算法,提高了非一致性噪声条件下特征空间波束形成算法的方位分辨能力。仿真和实验结果验证了所提方法的可行性和有效性。     

Co-channel interference suppression by time and range adaptive processing in bistatic high-frequency surface wave synthesis impulse and aperture radar

Intense co-channel interference (CCI) severely depresses the target detection in high-frequency surface wave radar (HFSWR). In this study, the CCI cancellation algorithm by time and range adaptive processing is proposed for a novel HFSWR ? bistatic HF surface wave synthesis impulse and aperture radar. With the real data, the interference is firstly modelled and then its features are investigated. The analyses show that the same interference prevails over a few but different bins through different channels, whereas the echoes are relatively weak and exist in all bins; in range domain, however, the interference takes over all the bins including positive and negative bins and will spread over the same and considerable Doppler area through different channels, whereas the echoes appear only in partially positive bins. On the basis of the features, the interference covariance matrix can be obtained by selecting the samples whose average power is much higher than that of the others in time domain and in range domain; the samples from either or both of beyond the detectable bins and negative bins can be selected for training. The interference can be cancelled by projecting the polluted data into the orthogonal subspace, constructing the projecting matrix with the eigenvectors associated with large eigenvalues of the covariance matrix. Finally, the segment handling and samples requirement are also discussed for reducing the computation burden. The experimental results are provided to demonstrate the performance of the method.     

Adaptive pseudo-noise code acquisition scheme using automatic censoring for DS/SS communication in frequency-selective Rayleigh fading channel

An adaptive pseudo-noise code acquisition scheme based on automatic multipath signal cancellation for mobile communication systems in frequency-selective Rayleigh fading channel is proposed. The proposed system combines a serial strategy and an automatic censored cell-averaging constant false alarm rate (CFAR) detector based on ordered data variability. This system does not require any a priori information about the number of interferences caused by the presence of multipath signals in the reference channel. The mean acquisition time and the detection performances of the proposed processor are evaluated and compared with those of the conventional adaptive acquisition scheme based on fixed-censoring point detector. It is shown that the considered scheme outperforms significantly the conventional one. The effects of various channel parameters on the acquisition performance, namely the number of resolvable paths, the partial correlation length and the signal-to-noise ratio are also investigated.     

Performance analysis of ordered-statistic greatest of-constant false alarm rate with binary integration for M-sweeps

The performance of the ordered-statistic greatest of (OSGO) constant false alarm rate (CFAR) scheme with binary integration for M non-coherent sweeps in Weibull background was investigated for homogeneous and non-homogeneous backgrounds, with an assumption of known shape parameter. This kind of processing is based on the fact that the clutter can be segmented in regions in many real radar scenarios where a timevarying two-parameter distribution function family can be fitted, but the clutter power may vary locally inside the region. Under the assumption of known shape parameter, the authors examined the changes of the false alarm rate and detection probability of the OSGO-CFAR with binary integration when the shape parameter differs from the nominal one, and compared them to those of the OSGO-CFAR with single pulse processing. The authors have derived analytic expressions of the detection probability and false alarm rate during clutter power transitions for the OSGO-CFAR with binary integration in Weibull background. It is shown that the OSGO-CFAR with binary integration can not only improve the detection performance significantly, but it also control the rise of the false alarm rate at clutter edges more effectively compared to the OSGO-CFAR with single pulse processing. Moreover, it exhibits a good immunity to the variation of the shape parameter.     

Sea clutter transient spatial coherence and scan-to-scan constant false alarm rate

High-resolution radar sea clutter exhibits long-term temporal and spatial correlation features consistent with the sea surface wave structure. Data are presented showing that there is a transient coherence in the long-term fluctuations of the clutter, which locally appears to show the single periodic fluctuation of a dominant wave, but when averaged over a large area is seen to contain a wide band of fluctuation frequencies. This apparently non-stationary behaviour makes it difficult to predict the local sea clutter level for constant false alarm rate (CFAR) thresholding using conventional techniques. A new method of scan-to-scan CFAR processing is therefore proposed, which takes account of this behaviour. The scheme is analysed and its performance characterised.     

基于全相位预处理的时域多重信号分类波达方向估计方法

低信噪比下,针对宽带短脉冲情况下频域多重信号分类(MUSIC)中噪声子空间估计不稳定问题,提出一种基于全相位预处理的时域多重信号分类波达方向(DOA)估计方法。①对线列阵接收数据进行分组处理;②按搜索角度对各组数据进行相移预处理,并对各组数据预处理结果进行相加,得到一组新数据;③对线列阵接收数据在时域构建相移后的协方差矩阵,在更短数据长度下,稳定实现噪声子空间估计,并依据估计出的噪声子空间含有的正交特性,通过单位矩阵加法器得到相应空间谱估计值,实现波达方向估计。数值仿真和实测数据处理结果表明,相比频域MUSIC方法,该方法有效提高了线列阵接收数据协方差矩阵中信号含有量和信噪比,能够在更短数据长度情况下实现对噪声子空间的稳定估计,具有较好的稳定性和检测性能,提高了MUSIC方法在实际波达方向估计中的鲁棒性。     

Eigenspace-based minimum variance beamforming applied to medical ultrasound imaging

Recently, adaptive beamforming methods have been successfully applied to medical ultrasound imaging, resulting in significant improvement in image quality compared with non-adaptive delay-and-sum (DAS) beamformers. Most of the adaptive beamformers presented in the ultrasound imaging literature are based on the minimum variance (MV) beamformer which can significantly improve the imaging resolution, although their success in enhancing the contrast has not yet been satisfactory. It is desirable for the beamformer to improve the resolution and contrast at the same time. To this end, in this paper, we have applied the eigenspace-based MV (EIBMV) beamformer to medical ultrasound imaging and have shown a simultaneous improvement in imaging resolution and contrast. EIBMV beamformer utilizes the eigenstructure of the covariance matrix to enhance the performance of the MV beamformer. The weight vector of the EIBMV is found by projecting the MV weight vector onto a vector subspace constructed from the eigenstructure of the covariance matrix. Using EIBMV weights instead of the MV ones leads to reduced sidelobes and improved contrast, without compromising the high resolution of the MV beamformer. In addition, the proposed EIBMV beamformer presents a satisfactory robustness against data misalignment resulting from steering vector errors, outperforming the regularized MV beamformer.     

复杂非均匀背景下的鲁棒声呐恒虚警检测算法

针对复杂非均匀水下环境中目标检测问题,提出了一种基于背景统计特性的鲁棒声呐恒虚警(Background Statistical Characteristics based Robust Sonar Target Constant False Alarm Ratio,BSCR-CFAR)检测算法。该算法将自动删除平均级检测(Automatic Censored Mean Level Detection,ACMLD)和排序统计恒虚警(Order Statistic CFAR,OS-CFAR)检测算法引入可变指数恒虚警(Variability Index CFAR,VI-CFAR)检测算法中,并通过评估背景特性,自适应选择更匹配的CFAR检测方法。仿真和声呐实测数据分析结果表明,相比较单元平均恒虚警(Cell Average CFAR,CA-CFAR)、单元平均选大恒虚警(Greatest of CFAR,GO-CFAR)、单元平均选小恒虚警(Smallest of CFAR,SO-CFAR)和OS-CFAR、VI-CFAR等检测算法,该算法在混响边缘、混响区、单/多强离散干扰等典型非均匀背景下的恒虚警检测保持了良好的鲁棒性。     

Knowledge-aided covariance matrix estimation: a MAXDET approach

The authors consider the problem of knowledge-aided covariance matrix estimation and its application to adaptive radar detection. The authors assume that an a priori (knowledge-based) estimate of the disturbance covariance M, derived from a physical scattering model of the terrain and/or of the environment, is available. Hence, starting from a set of secondary data, the authors evaluate the maximum likelihood (ML) estimate of M assuming that it lies in a suitable neighbourhood of the a priori estimate and formulate this ML estimation in terms of a convex optimisation problem which falls within the class of MAXDET problems. Both the cases of unstructured and structured disturbance covariance are considered. At the analysis stage, the authors assess the performance of the new knowledge-aided covariance estimators both in terms of estimation error and detection probability achievable by a class of adaptive detectors. The results highlight that, if the a priori knowledge is reliable, satisfactory levels of performance can be achieved with considerably less training data than those exploited by conventional algorithms.