Adaptive strategies for clutter edge detection in radar

In this paper, the problem of the detection and localization of clutter edges within training data is addressed. This is accomplished through a procedure capable of discriminating between either a unique homogeneous set or two heterogeneous subsets within a sliding window moving over the set of range bins of interest. The problem is first formulated as a binary hypothesis test assuming that the rank of the covariance clutter component is known and solved resorting to the generalized likelihood ratio test. Then, in the case of no a priori knowledge about the rank of the clutter covariance matrix, a preliminary estimation stage relying on the model order selection rules is devised. Interestingly, the estimates provided by the detection stage can be processed by a fusion algorithm in order to improve the quality of the location estimate of the clutter edge. Finally, the performance analysis conducted in comparison with a suitable competitor highlights the effectiveness of the proposed solutions. (C) 2021 Published by Elsevier B.V.