A SPECTRAL TECHNIQUE FOR THE DETECTION AND CORRECTION OF COHERENT INTERFERENCE EFFECTS ON INCOHERENT-SCATTER RADAR POWER PROFILES

We report a scheme for the detection and removal of coherent interfere nce from incoherent scatter radar power profile (total power versus ra nge) results. Our approach depends on the availability of highly signa l-aliased power spectra formed at each range gate from the same data s et that is employed to form the corresponding power profile point. We utilize the ratio R of the standard deviation of each power spectrum t o its average to ''measure'' the degree of contamination by coherent i nterference. When interference exists, R is usually significantly larg er than it is for the base statistical process. This fact is used to d etermine which spectra will be processed for interference removal. Thi s approach has been verified experimentally and is now used on a ''pro duction'' basis.