STOCHASTIC-CONSTRAINTS METHOD IN NONSTATIONARY HOT-CLUTTER CANCELLATION - PART I - FUNDAMENTALS AND SUPERVISED TRAINING APPLICATIONS

This paper considers the use of spatio-temporal adaptive array process ing in over-the-horizon radar (OTHR) and airborne radar applications i n order to remove nonstationary multipath interference, known as ''hot clutter.'' Since the spatio-temporal properties of hot clutter cannot be assumed constant over the coherent processing interval (CPI), conv entional adaptive techniques fail to provide effective hot-clutter mit igation without simultaneously degrading the properties of the backsca ttered radar signals, known as ''cold clutter.'' The approach presente d incorporates multiple ''stochastic'' (data-dependent) constraints to achieve effective hot-clutter suppression, while maintaining distorti onless output cold-clutter post-processing stationarity.