Multi‐mode propagation mode localisation and spread‐Doppler clutter suppression method for multiple‐input multiple‐output over‐the‐horizon radar. Issue 8 (1st August 2019) - Yu, Wenqi
Abstract : Multi‐mode spread‐Doppler clutter (SDC), caused by a stratified ionosphere, affects the detection performance of over‐the‐horizon radar on slow ships. To improve a multiple‐input multiple‐output over‐the‐horizon radar (MIMO‐OTHR) system's performance and to mitigate the lingering effect of SDC, a novel multi‐mode SDC suppression method based on full‐mode spatial separation is proposed here. Furthermore, authors' method can estimate the elevation angle of direction of departure (DOD) and direction of arrival (DOA), contributing to mode localisation. By applying the bi‐orthogonality of matrices, the cost function of single‐mode component analysis is constructed under a least square criterion. By iteratively solving for the cost function, and by applying a systematic multistage decomposition, the elevation DOD and DOA and the slow‐time Doppler information of each mode are obtained sequentially. Compared with classical SOBI and SS‐SOBI methods, the proposed method improves the output signal‐to‐clutter‐plus‐noise ratio for spatial filtering. The estimated DOD and DOA do not need to be paired, reducing the angle error inherent in the SR method while performing the transmit‐receive cascade refinement searching step. Simulation results demonstrate the excellent performance of the proposed method, which is beneficial to improve the ability of MIMO‐OTHR to detect slow ships and determine the propagation mode.