Computationally-efficient range-dependence compensation method for bistatic radar STAP

Abstract

We address the problem of detecting slow-moving targets using space-time adaptive processing (STAP). The construction of the optimum weights at each range implies the estimation of the interference-plus-noise covariance matrix. This is typically done by straight averaging of snapshots at neighboring ranges. However, in most bistatic configurations, snapshot statistics are range dependent. Straight averaging results thus in poor performance. In an earlier paper, we proposed a range-dependence compensation method that provides optimum performance. However, this implies a large computational cost. In this paper, we adapt the method to provide optimum performance at low computational cost.