Multiple-pulse STAP adaptation prior to radar Doppler processing

Abstract

This paper describes a space-time adaptive processing (STAP) architecture for use with radar systems. The method employs linear constraints to ensure that the Doppler spectrum of the desired signal is maintained, regardless of the covariance structure of the data matrix. In this approach, adaptive spatial/temporal processing is applied to successive radar pulses, each taken at the same range sample, to estimate the radar returns as a function of angle. If P of M pulses are employed, the method provides M-P+1 adapted output pulses which serve as inputs to the Doppler FFT processor. Examples illustrating the use of the method on Mountaintop data are provided.