A Joint Detection Method Using Modulated Envelope Feature for Clutter Suppression

To reduce the impact of clutter on the target observation of surveillance radars, this article offers a new feature detection method that relies on modulation features throughout the radar azimuth scanning process to suppress clutter false alarms. In contrast to typical traditional time-domain detection methods, this work deviates from the standard method of measuring the signal-to-noise ratio for target identification by comparing the amplitudes of targets and the surrounding environment in the range direction. Rather, it makes use of the antenna azimuth direction, which is another dimension of the radar detecting space. This technique makes use of the obvious physical mechanism caused by the point-like distribution of targets and the planar distribution characteristics of clutter by building a feature vector based on the amplitude fluctuations of targets and clutter modulated by the antenna pattern during the radar scanning process. Based on this, this study suggests a joint detection architecture that combines traditional range detection with azimuth feature detection from the standpoint of engineering applications. Clutter false alarm suppression can be accomplished by incorporating an azimuth feature detection module into the conventional detection framework. The mechanism of the feature detection technique is validated in this study using simulation data, and its efficacy in decreasing clutter false alarms in radar target recognition is further confirmed by testing using real measured data from ground surveillance radar.