Effects of Mutual Coupling for Bistatic Airborne Radar with End-fire Array in Clutter Environment

Abstract The end-fire array is widely used in airborne radar systems for its specific physical configuration. However, mutual coupling is usually inevitable in the close-spaced end-fire array, which brings a great challenge for target detection in a clutter environment. In this paper, we investigate the effect of mutual coupling for the bistatic airborne radar with the end-fire array. Firstly, the signal model of the bistatic airborne radar with the end-fire array is presented. Then, the beam pattern and clutter model with mutual coupling are constructed. Furthermore, we analyze the clutter spectra with mutual coupling for different terrain types of the glistening zone. Finally, the simulation results validate the negative impact of the mutual coupling on target detection in clutter environment.