Doppler Domain Detection and Doppler-Range Estimation of Slow Targets in Heterogeneous Ground Clutter

This paper addresses a new algorithm for airborne radar performing efficient moving target detection and range-Doppler estimation, in the presence of heterogeneous ground clutter and noise. The algorithm performance is investigated in terms of its Doppler resolution capability, i.e., minimum Doppler proximity of the multiple targets for single range cell and range-distributed targets. Both types of ground clutter, homogeneous and heterogeneous, are being investigated. The heterogeneous clutter includes diffused Gaussian component with or without intrinsic motion, and discrete component. Finally, the very challenging issue of discriminating discrete clutter from very slow moving target(s) is also being addressed. The new algorithm is computationally simpler and more robust than the standard STAP-based algorithms. Alternately, it can also support STAP algorithms by providing very high quality secondary data.