Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation

John A Didomizio

Robert A Guarino

An AMTI radar employs a dual cancellation format to cancel the clutter in the radar returns received by the apertures of an interferometric radar antenna. The three-aperture antenna presents the radar returns to three receivers which demodulate the returns to a complex in-phase signal I and a quadrature signal Q which are sampled at a pulse repetition interval at all ranges of interest. After conventional motion compensation four data sets are derived from the returns of the three apertures, L(t), C(t-.tau.), C(t) and R(T-.tau.) which represents samples taken over multiple pulse repetition intervals for each range interval or bin of interest. Fast Fourier transforms change the data sets into the frequency domain and phase compensations for the data sets are calculated in a triple interferometric signal calibration unit. Compensation phase is further adjusted in a clutter phase calculator allowing a much reduced phase quantity to be applied to the delayed data sets as the second part of the dual cancellation signal. Following subtraction of doppler filter outputs of the delayed data sets from the undelayed data sets in the cancellation unit, maximum clutter cancellation is achieved. The resulting clutter-cancelled signals are presented to a detection and validation processor to determine range, doppler, amplitude and angle measurements to the moving targets with a high degree accuracy.

Dual cancellation interferometric AMTI radar

An AMTI radar employs a dual cancellation format to cancel the clutter in the radar returns received by the apertures of an interferometric radar antenna. The three-aperture antenna presents the radar returns to three receivers which demodulate the returns to a complex in-phase signal I and a quadrature signal Q which are sampled at a pulse repetition interval at all ranges of interest. After conventional motion compensation four data sets are derived from the returns of the three apertures, L(t), C(t-.tau.), C(t) and R(T-.tau.) which represents samples taken over multiple pulse repetition intervals for each range interval or bin of interest. The data is processed by both adjacent array processing and outer array processing, the latter only requiring a minimal amount of additional capacity. Compensation phase is further adjusted in a clutter/clutter-free phase calculator allowing a much reduced phase quantity to be applied to the delayed data sets as the second part of the dual cancellation signal. Following subtraction of doppler filter outputs of the delayed data sets from the undelayed data sets in the cancellation/enhancement unit, maximum clutter cancellation is achieved in the clutter region and optimal moving target response is obtained in the clutter-free region. The two-range maps that result after subtraction of the doppler filter outputs are presented to a detection and validation processor to determine range, doppler, amplitude and angle measurements to the moving targets with a high degree of accuracy.

Low target velocity interferometric AMTI radar

An AMTI radar employs a dual cancellation format to cancel the clutter in the radar returns received by the apertures of an interferometric radar antenna. Angle information generated on a first pass through the cancellation unit and the detection processor is recalculated in a second pass. Only those range doppler cells identified during the first pass as containing moving targets are used in the second angle calculation thereby enhancing the accuracy of this second angle measurement. This three-aperture system derives four data sets, L(t), C(t-.tau.), C(t) and R(T-.tau.) which represent samples taken over multiple pulse repetition intervals for each range interval or bin of interest. Fast Fourier transforms change the data sets into the frequency domain and phase compensations for the data sets are calculated in a triple interferometric signal calibration unit. Compensation phase is further adjusted in the maximized/minimized phase calculator allowing a much reduced phase quantity to be applied to the delayed data sets. Following subtraction of doppler filter outputs of the delayed data sets from the undelayed data sets in the cancellation unit, maximum clutter cancellation is achieved in the clutter region and optimal moving target response is obtained in the clutter-free region. The two-range maps-that result after subtraction of the doppler filter outputs are presented to a detection and validation processor to determine range, doppler, amplitude and angle measurements to the moving targets.

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Norwalk, CT, United States of America

John A Didomizio