SEVENTH ANNUAL
ASAP '99 WORKSHOP

Joseph R. Guerci and Travis H. Slocumb
Science Applications International Corp.

Lloyd Griffiths
George Mason University

Abstract This paper addresses the problem of interference suppression in airborne radar systems. Both hot clutter that is induced by interfering sources and cold clutter that results from the radar transmitter are considered. A new method is presented that allows calculation of the space-time covariance matrix that will be observed under specific topographical conditions. The method incorporates phenomenology observed under site-specific conditions as well as system effects such as array geometry, receiver filtering, and system bandwidth. This approach differs significantly from the usual approach in which sampled-data analysis is used to estimate the covariance matrix. The new approach allows direct calculation of the degree to which space-time adaptive processing can be used to mitigate hot and cold clutter components for a specific heterogeneous terrain environment. From these results, one can infer performance bounds which are tighter and thus more meaningful than the thermal noise floor limit.

Presentation (pdf format)