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.