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Introduction to Radar Systems

Clutter Rejection
MTI and Pulse Doppler Processing

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Radar Course_2.ppt ODonnell (2) 6-19-02

MTI and Doppler Processing

Propagation Medium Target Cross Section

Transmitter

Waveform Generator Signal Processor Pulse Compression Doppler Processing

Antenna

Receiver

A/D

Main Computer Tracking & Parameter Estimation Console / Display Recording

Detection

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How to Handle Noise and Clutter

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How to Handle Noise and Clutter


If he doesnt take his arm off my shoulder Im going to hide his stash of Hershey Bars !!

Why does Steve always talk me into doing ridiculous stunts like this ?

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Naval Air Defense Scenario



Moving Target Indicator (MTI) and Pulse-Doppler (PD) processing use Doppler to reject clutter and enhance detection of moving targets Smaller targets require more clutter suppression

Chaff Rain Clutter Birds Ground Clutter

Sea Clutter
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Outline

Introduction Moving Target Indicator (MTI) Techniques Pulse Doppler Processing Techniques Summary

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Terminology

Moving Target Indicator (MTI) Techniques

Pulsed Doppler (PD) Techniques

Just separate moving targets from clutter Use short waveforms (two or three pulses) Do not provide target velocity estimation

Separate targets into different velocity regimes in addition to canceling clutter Provide good estimates of target velocity Use long waveforms -- (many pulses, tens to thousands of pulses)

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Doppler Frequency
10000 Doppler Frequency (Hz)

1000

35

Hz 10 GH z 3 z GH Hz M

At S-Band (2800 MHz) fd ~ 1 kHz / 40 m/s

0 45

100

0 15

Hz

Doppler Frequency

2V fd =
1000
MIT Lincoln Laboratory

10 1
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10 100 Radial Velocity (m/s)

Example Clutter Spectra

70 60 Relative Power (dB) 50 40


Rain Clutter Land Clutter Sea Clutter

Clutter comes from same range/angle cell as a target Clutter RCS can be much larger than targets of interest (>50 dB) Characteristics vary with terrain (land/sea), weather, etc. PPI Display of Heavy Rain

30 20 10 0
Aircraft Chaff Clutter Birds

-10 -20 0

50 100 150 Radial Velocity (m/s)

200
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Radar Course_10.ppt ODonnell (2) 6-19-02

MTI and Pulse Doppler Waveforms


Tc = MTr Tr T
Time

T T B B T Trr f frr T Tc c M M

= = = = 1/T 1/T = = = = 1/T 1/Trr = =T T /T /Trr = = MT MTrr = =

Pulse Pulse length length Bandwidth Bandwidth Pulse Pulse repetition repetition interval interval (PRI) (PRI) Pulse Pulse repetition repetition frequency frequency (PRF) (PRF) Duty Duty Factor Factor Coherent Coherent processing processing interval interval (CPI) (CPI) Number Number of of pulses pulses in in the the CPI CPI M M= = 2, 2, 3, 3, or or sometimes sometimes 4 4 for for MTI MTI M M usually usually much much greater greater for for Pulse Pulse Doppler Doppler
MIT Lincoln Laboratory

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Data Collection for Doppler Processing

Time Range
Pulse 1 Sample 12 e.g. 8.3 km Pulse 2 Sample 12 e.g. 8.3 km Pulse 3 Sample 12 e.g. 8.3 km

Samples at same range gate

A/D

In-phase and Quadrature Sampling

Complex I / Q samples (the complex envelope of received waveform)

Pulse Number (Slow time) 1 1 Sample No. Range - > L

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Outline

Introduction Moving Target Indicator (MTI) Techniques Pulse Doppler Processing Techniques Summary

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Moving Target Indicator (MTI) Processing


Notch out Doppler spectrum occupied by clutter Provide broad Doppler passband everywhere else Blind speeds occur at multiples of the pulse repetition
frequency
When sample frequency (PRF) equals a multiple of the Doppler frequency
Clutter Notch MTI Filter Blind Speeds

Clutter Spectrum 0 fr = 1/T 2fr MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Radar Course_14.ppt ODonnell (2) 6-19-02

Two Pulse MTI Canceller



Fixed Clutter echoes
If one pulse is subtracted from the previous pulse, fixed clutter echoes will cancel and will not be detected

Moving targets
Moving targets change in amplitude from one pulse to the next because of their Doppler frequency shift. If one pulse is subtracted from the other, the result will be an uncancelled residue

Block Diagram
Delay Tr=1/PRF

Subtract

Input

Output

Voutput = Vi+1 - Vi
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Figure by MIT OCW.

MIT Lincoln Laboratory

MTI Improvement Factor


Sin and Cin - Input target and clutter power per pulse Sout(fd) and Cout(fd) Output target and clutter power from
60 Relative Power (dB) Land Clutter 40 20 0 Aircraft 0
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processor at Doppler frequency, fd (Signal / Clutter)out MTI Improvement Factor = I(fd) = (Signal / Clutter)in f d
MTI Improvement Factor
Rain Clutter

Cin Sout I(fd) = x Sin Cout

fd

-20

50 100 150 Radial Velocity (m/s)

200

Clutter Attenuation

Signal Gain
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MTI Improvement Factor Examples


Spread Clutter (v=1 m/s, c=10 Hz )
60

2-Pulse MTI
50

2 2 Pulse Pulse MTI MTI 3 3 Pulse Pulse MTI MTI

Voutput = Vi - Vi-1
3-Pulse MTI

Improvement Factor (dB)

40 30 20 10 0 0 Frequency = 2800 MHz CNR = 50 dB per pulse fd = 1000 Hz 200 400 600 Doppler Frequency (Hz) 800 1000

Voutput = Vi - 2Vi-1 + Vi-2

Three-pulse canceller provides wider clutter notch and greater clutter attenuation
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Staggered PRFs to Increase Blind Speed


MTI Frequency Response
Fixed 2 kHz PRI at S-Band
0


100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

SNR Relative to Single Pulse (dB)

-10 -20 0

Staggering or changing the time between pulses will raise the blind speed Although the staggered PRFs remove the blind speeds that would have been obtained with a constant PRF, there will be a new much higher blind speed

Radial Velocity (m/s) Staggered 2 kHz, 1.754 kHz PRI


0

-10 -20 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

Radial Velocity (m/s)


Radar Course_18.ppt ODonnell (2) 6-19-02 321-00423 HGT 03/04/98

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Outline
Introduction Moving Target Indicator (MTI) Techniques Pulse Doppler Processing Techniques
Pulse Doppler Filtering Concept
Basic Concepts Example - Moving Target Detector (MTD)

Range Doppler Ambiguities Airborne Radar

Summary

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Data Collection for Doppler Processing

Time Range
Pulse 1 Sample 12 e.g. 8.3 km Pulse 2 Sample 12 e.g. 8.3 km Pulse 3 Sample 12 e.g. 8.3 km

Samples at same range gate

A/D

In-phase and Quadrature Sampling

Complex I / Q samples (the complex envelope of received waveform)

Pulse Number (Slow time) 1 1 Sample No. Range - > L

Radar Course_20.ppt ODonnell (2) 6-19-02

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Pulse Doppler Processing


Doppler Filter Bank
Filter 1 (f1, v1) Filter 2 (f2, v2) Filter 3 (f3,v3) M Doppler velocity bins out Filter M (fM,vM)

M pulses in

Coherent integration of all pulses of a CPI Clutter rejection

Doppler Frequency Doppler Velocity

Resolving targets into different velocity segments and allowing for finegrain target radial velocity estimation
MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Radar Course_21.ppt ODonnell (2) 6-19-02

Moving Target Detector (MTD)


8 or Greater Pulse Doppler Filter Bank

Digitized Radar Echoes From Each Range Cell

Adaptive Thresholding Clutter Map Filter

Post Processing Thresholding Output Detections

Zero Velocity Filter

Pulse Doppler filtering on groups of 8 or greater pulses with a fine grained clutter map. Aircraft are detected in ground clutter and / or rain with the Doppler filter bank & use of 2 PRFs. Birds and ground traffic are rejected in post processing, using Doppler velocity and a 2nd fine grained clutter map

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ASR-9 8-Pulse Filter Bank

Courtesy of Northrop Grumman Used with permission. ASR-9 Filter Bank 10 Magnitude (dB) 0 Magnitude (dB) -10 -20 -30 -40 -50 -60 -70 0
Radar Course_23.ppt ODonnell (2) 6-19-02

ASR-9 One Doppler Filter 10 0 -10 -20 -30 -40 -50 -60 Aircraft Rain Echo

20

40 60 80 Radial Velocity (kts)

100

-70 0

20

40 60 80 Radial Velocity (kts)

100

MIT Lincoln Laboratory

MTD Performance in Rain


Unprocessed Radar Returns Time History of Radar Tracker Output August 1975, FAA Test Center

Doppler Spectrum of Rain


Received Power (dB)
80 60 40 20 0 60 Kt 0 + 60 Kt

Doppler Velocity
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Doppler Ambiguities
Sample Times

Pulse Doppler waveform samples target with sampling rate = PRF Sampling causes aliasing at multiples of PRF Two targets with Doppler frequencies separated by an integer multiple of the PRF are indistinguishable Unambiguous velocity
Moving V=3Vu Stationary V=0 Moving V=Vu

Vu =

fr 2
0 1 2 3

Time / PRI
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Range Ambiguities
Target 1 Target 2

R1

R 2 = R1 + R u

True Range

Radar Range

Unambiguous range Range ambiguities occur when echoes from one pulse are not all received before the next pulse Strong close targets (clutter) can mask far weak targets

cTr Ru = 2
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Unambiguous Range and Doppler Velocity


Unambiguous Range (km)
1500 1000 500 150 50 15 5 1.5

Unambiguous Velocity (m/s)

0 15

Hz

Vu =
M Hz
z GH
10 G

fr 2

0 45

100

Hz

35

Hz G

cTr c = Ru = 2 2 fr

10

100

1000

10000

100000 MIT Lincoln Laboratory

PRF (Hz)
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Sensitivity Time Control (STC)


Deliberately reduce radar sensitivity at short ranges
Why?
Both Targets Give Returns with Same Signal-to-Noise ratio

0 dBsm Aircraft at 200 km -64 dBsm Mosquito at 5 km

Attenuation of radar return by R-4 will result in constant SNR as a function of range for a constant cross section target STC cannot be used if the radars waveform is ambiguous in range
Targets which are beyond the ambiguous range of the radar will be attenuated, because they folded over to close ranges
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Classes of MTI and Pulse Doppler Radars


Low PRF Range Measurement Velocity Measurement Low PRF Wind blown clutter may be a problem Can use STC
Unambiguous

Medium PRF
Ambiguous

High PRF
Very Ambiguous

Very Ambiguous

Ambiguous

Unambiguous

Medium PRF Wind blown clutter may be a problem Range eclipsing losses Far out targets compete with near in clutter Cant use STC Ambiguities hardest to remove

High PRF Range eclipsing losses Far out targets compete with near in clutter Cant use STC

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Velocity Ambiguity Resolution


Unfold detections out to some maximum velocity

CPI #1 PRF = f1
f1 2f1 3f1 4f1 5f1

Blind Zones

CPI #2 PRF = f2
Individual CPI unambiguous velocity regions f2 2f2 3f2 4f2

Doppler (Velocity)

Doppler (Velocity)

Split dwell into multiple CPIs at different PRFs


Scan to scan, even pulse-to-pulse changes also possible

Moves blind velocities to ensure detection of all non-zero velocity targets True target velocity is where best correlation across CPIs occurs Choose PRFs so that least common multiple occurs above desired maximum unambiguous velocity
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Radar Course_30.ppt ODonnell (2) 6-19-02

Examples of Airborne Radar


E-2C APS-125 F-16 APG-66 , 68

JOINT STARS E-8A APY-3

F-18 APG-65 F-15 APG-63 , 70

AWACS E-3A APY-1

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MIT LincolnFigure Laboratory by MIT OCW. MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Airborne Radar Clutter Spectrum


Illustrative example without Pulse Doppler ambiguities

Figure by MIT OCW.


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Airborne Radar Clutter Spectrum


Illustrative example without Pulse Doppler ambiguities

Figure by MIT OCW.


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Displaced Phase Center Antenna (DPCA) Concept

T1 T2

If the aircraft motion is exactly compensated by the movement of the phase center of the antenna beam, then there will be no clutter spread due to aircraft motion, and the clutter can be cancelled with a two pulse canceller
344334_2.ppt RMO 9-01-00

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Summary

Moving Target Indicator (MTI) techniques


Doppler filtering techniques that reject stationary clutter No velocity measurement Blind speeds are regions of Doppler space where targets with that Doppler velocity cannot be detected Changing the PRF between sets of pulses can alleviate the blind speed problem MTI techniques have a limited capability to suppress rain clutter

Pulse Doppler techniques


Used to optimally reject various forms of radar clutter
Measurement of target radial velocity Moving Target Detector techniques are an example of optimum Doppler processing and associated adaptive thresholding


Radar Course_36.ppt ODonnell (2) 6-19-02

Ambiguities in range and Doppler velocity can be resolved by transmitting multiple bursts of pulses with different PRFs Airborne radars use multiple PRF waveforms to suppress clutter
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References
Skolnik, M., Introduction to Radar Systems, New York,
McGraw-Hill, 3rd Edition, 2001

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