Rao test of polarimetric detection for targets with energy spillover in non-Gaussian clutter

In this paper, we address the problem of polarimetric detection for targets with energy spillover in non-Gaussian clutter. The polarization diversity and spillover of target energy to consecutive range bins are jointly exploited to enhance the performance of target detection. Two adaptive detectors are designed according to the Rao test, as well as its two-step implementation, i.e., 2S-Rao test. It is shown that the 2S-Rao test detector coincides with the existing generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) detector, whereas the Rao test detector is new, and outperforms the existing detectors in probability of detection. Experiments based on both simulated and real data illustrate the superiority of the proposed detector.