A Polarization-Space-Time Detector Without Secondary Data in Compound-Gaussian Clutter

Since heavy clutter seriously restricts the ability of radar to detect targets, it is significant to build the target detector under heavy clutter. For practical situations without the secondary data or prior knowledge of target and clutter, this paper proposes a polarization-space-time detector. First, a general radar model is constructed for multiple pulses, multiple arrays, and multiple polarizations. Based on the theory of ternary hypothesis, the secondary data free (SDF) GLRT detector is proposed, which can maintain the constant false alarm probability (CFAR) in inhomogeneous clutter. Then, this paper proposes a matrix transform operator and an adaptive detection method using sliding window. These two approaches do not need to know the steering vector of radar and the noncentral parameter of clutter in advance, so the SDF-GLRT detector can adapt to different application scenarios. In addition, this paper optimizes the polarization waveform of the radar system by constructing a projection matrix. This method yields closed-form solutions of the optimal polarization and worst polarization, rather than relying on numerical solution. Finally, the performances of the SDF-GLRT detector and three other detectors are compared by simulated and real data. The proposed SDF-GLRT maintains PFA of 5.4×10−3 and 2.6×10−3 on two IPIX datasets (#54 and #310) at a design PFA=10−3, whereas the other detectors deviate to 0.0249–0.7405. The optimal polarization yields a detection-probability gain of more than 0.22 over the worst polarization at SCR=0 dB.