Space-time adaptive processing for manoeuvring airborne radar

Space-time adaptive processing (STAP) techniques provide simultaneous rejec tion of jamming and clutter in airborne radar. Greatest benefits over conve ntional MTI (moving target indication) approaches are in terms of a capabil ity to detect slow-moving targets which possess the same Doppler frequency as mainlobe clutter returns. This paper examines the effects of platform ma noeuvre on STAP clutter and jamming rejection performance for a forward-fac ing array (i.e. where the array is orientated transversally to the directio n of travel). It is shown that STAP slow-target detection performance is no t sensitive to the radar platform orientation. It is also demonstrated that , under conditions of manoeuvre, STAP can provide better jammer rejection p erformance than architectures which cascade conventional clutter filtering and spatial adaptive beamforming.