A Micro-Doppler Flash Detection Framework for Hovering UAV Detection

This paper proposes a micro-Doppler flash detection framework for hovering unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) detection with linear frequency modulated continuous wave (LFMCW) radar under the dual constraints of strong ground clutter and severe thermal noise conditions. In such scenarios, conventional methods fail not only due to the spectral overlap between hovering targets and clutter but also because of the visual disappearance of micro-Doppler features under heavy noise. The framework consists of three sequential modules. A prior-template orthogonal projection (PTOP) module suppresses clutter via a single-step orthogonal projection, preserving the micro-Doppler flash signature without distortion while approximately maintaining the Gaussian noise statistics required for subsequent detection. A flash power spectrum construction module then collapses the periodic blade flash energy onto a sharp spectral peak in a one-dimensional (1D) power spectrum via Gabor transform, power projection, and fast Fourier transform (FFT). A cell-averaging constant false alarm rate (CA-CFAR) detection module with an analytically derived threshold factor finally renders a reliable detection decision. Simulations under a signal-to-clutter ratio (SCR) of −21 dB and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of −23 dB confirm that the proposed framework achieves reliable detection even when the micro-Doppler flash signatures are visually obscured by residual noise in the time–frequency domain. Parametric SNR sweep curves and a two-dimensional (2D) SCR–SNR detection-probability heatmap under a non-stationary clutter model further quantify the practical performance boundaries of the framework. By transforming these concealed periodic features into a sharp spectral peak, the framework provides robust detection performance where conventional range-Doppler and moving target indication (MTI)-based methods both exhibit severe performance degradation.