Phased Array Radar Data Processing Using Adaptive Displaced Phase Centre Antenna Principle

Employing the autoregressive (AR) technique and the principle of displaced phase centre antenna (DPCA) we construct an optimum adaptive DPCA processor for moving target detection from airborne phased arrary radar data collected under nonDPCA conditions. It is fundamentally different from the existing adaptive DPCA which is not optimum. The number of range samples it needs to estimate its parameters is only approximately twice the number of antenna elements, significantly smaller than the number required by the conventional space-time adaptive processing (STAP) and other algorithms. Computationally it only requires 5-10% cost of STAP. The processor is tested using both the simulated and genuine airborne phased array radar data. With ample samples, its performance approaches optimum. In the case of reduced samples, it considerably outperforms STAP and others examined. APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE